HTC Inspire vs. Thunderbolt

[masiv]

I'm actively searching the forums, but I'd like to hear opinions on why AT&T can offer the Inspire for $99 while VZW looks to be offering the TBolt for $249. Looking at the specs, these seem to pretty much be the same phone, save for the front camera on the TBolt and a small difference in battery.

Why the price difference? Can't be only because of the front camera. And VZW's LTE network can't be the reason for that big of a difference, can it?

I know the marketing BS about who's network is better, blah, blah, blah.

 

[pc747]

before jumping on the att bandwagon check this out:

AT&T Capping 4G Android Upload Speeds, iPhone 4 Still Faster with 3G

by Kevin Krause on March 9th, 2011 at 8:02 am

AT&T, you got some ‘splainin to do. We should have seen this coming with the initial reports that the carrier was disabling HSUPA support on their 4G Android phones. Though the company touts the enhanced speeds of their 4G network, we are faced with the embarrassing fact that the iPhone 4 and its 3G radio is consistently outperforming the HTC Inspire 4G and Motorola Atrix 4G in terms of upload speed. How much faster is the iPhone’s uplink? Try five times.
Several sources have put the claim through its paces and each time the result is the same. The iPhone 4 is getting an average 1.5Mbps upload speed while the supposedly faster 4G network servicing the Inspire and Atrix is capped at 300kbps. That’s right, capped at 300kbps when the radios installed in the Android devices are capable of up to 5.7Mbps upload speeds. You can see it in the below speed test video put together by YouTube member EchoRelay. So what’s the deal?

​

AT&T won’t provide an answer, but they are promising future devices (and future updates to current devices) will allow faster uploads over 4G. The hint is whatever cap is in place on the Inspire 4G and Atrix 4G will eventually be lifted. The problem is AT&T is advertising enhanced speeds making better experiences for things like video calling when the enhanced speeds simply don’t exist. One need only to check our own AndroidForums to find the complaints amassing with one user even starting a petition against the service provider.
From the sound of things, AT&T got caught up in the rush to deploy 4G devices on their HSPA+ network and might not have the infrastructure in place yet to support heavy traffic and still provide a consistent quality of experience. That’s not what early adopters want to hear, but it may be the truth they have to live with.
[via Android and Me]




[video=youtube;X5YMJT08N64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5YMJT08N64&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[masiv]

I have no intention of jumping to AT&T.

I'm just wondering why the same phone (minus the pieces already mentioned) is so much more on VZW. It can't be only because of the camera and LTE.

 

[pc747]

I asked the same question.

 

[mthorn79]

I'm actively searching the forums, but I'd like to hear opinions on why AT&T can offer the Inspire for $99 while VZW looks to be offering the TBolt for $249. Looking at the specs, these seem to pretty much be the same phone, save for the front camera on the TBolt and a small difference in battery.

Why the price difference? Can't be only because of the front camera. And VZW's LTE network can't be the reason for that big of a difference, can it?

I know the marketing BS about who's network is better, blah, blah, blah.

I jumped ship...couldn't wait for the Thunderbolt to be released or for the higher price of the TB compared to the Inspire. Personally, coming from a Droid & its horrid UI lag (even being rooted, OCed & ROMed to sh!t), the Sense UI is above & beyond any Motorola UI, period. I get the standard Up&DL speeds of 3G but they are just the same as VZ's current speeds of my Droid. Switching web pages on the Inspire takes almost no time at all. Only thing is the Speedtest results on paper suck. I honestly can't tell the difference actually using the device & AT&T's service the way it is now.

At least I have the option to root the Inspire & get the full potential of the phone if I want. Of course the Thunderbolt will have that ability as well but VZ just dropped the ball on its release dates (or maybe I'm just too impatient)