Thunderbolt? Yay or Nay

[mthorn79]

Yes, I've zoomed in pics from both on Picasa about as far in as one can zoom & I couldn't find any pixelation from the TB pic...whats your resolution on the TB yours tested set at? I actually had to change it because picture messages weren't going through to anyone & I couldn't figure out what it was, then I found the resolution was set so high it was making the pics 8Mb lol. They would upload to FB fine but took forever, guess I know why now.

Even outdoors in daylight, a pic of my daughter in a pile of leaves I could zoom in & see blades of grass with perfect clarity. When I would zoom in with my Droid I would get major pixelation.

 

[mthorn79]

I say Yay.... there is not one think on my original Droid I miss going to this phone, now that i have everything installed and working properly with notifications set the way I want them battery life is better than expected, sense is amazing and some of the HTC widgets are incredible. I'm in a 4G area and the browser is blazing fast. There is no lag at all and I have all 7 screens full with all kinds of stuff and well over 100 apps downloaded, not only do i have all 7 screens loaded but I have all 7 screens loaded on 3 different scenes i call daily (verizon) night (HTC) and weekend (social)
Did I mention its blazing fast and no lag.
One more thing to take a picture really really quick (no more saying hold that pose for 15 seconds)

Ahh yes, another great feature I forgot about the camera...instant snap shot! What every camera should have!

 

[pedromartinez]

I definitely prefer HTC Sense to Motoblur... which is why I have always run BB. Sense is awesome.

I wish I could have vanilla android... Sense and blur seem pretty cheesy to me.

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[Oxymoron]

My only experience with Sense was on my friends TB. I like it though. I think it enhances Android, unlike Blur which I feel does the opposite. Maybe it's just the novelty of it that is so appealing to me, since it's something new to me that I'm not used to. Who knows?

 

[christiansectas]

110% Yay! .... I've owned the OG, the fascinate, the droid x, the droid incredible, blackberries, stupid Iphones...and NO PHONE is compared to this one...specially the antenna, reception in general and the ability to process the internet signal the way it does it...No bull but my downloads are around 16 megs and uploads around 25 megs on the 4G LTE...I couldn't believe it on the beginning, but it is true...Then I love the fact that I can make calls and navigate on the net at the same time!...the processor is great and HTC sense is the newest version and is better than ever...The bionic might have dual core BUT the software processing is CRAP...I always root my phones but with this one i don't even feel the need to do it bloatware will always be there, on any phone, if you want to get rid of it, just root it and that's it, but lacking of space it just won't apply here, it comes with a free 32 gig card plus the internal memory that is around 8 gigs (only around 2.5 gigs usable the OS takes over those 5.5 left)...The battery dies quick, but of course depending on how you use it, if you have the screen 100% bright all the time, you're calling grandma, papa and Girlfriend, and while you do all this you're using google maps and navigation beta to find the nearest starbucks OF COURSE it will die quick, but it is written on stone that no matter what phone you have, if is a smartphone you gotta have three chargers, one for home, one in your car and a usb cable to recharge it in your work computer...or just get the extended battery...I love this phone and I will never go back to anything else...

 

[wctaylor79]

Yay.. love the TB.. IMO I would go with a one year. Let the rest has out the new tech and new systems and then upgrade once it is all optimized.

 

[pedromartinez]

My only experience with Sense was on my friends TB. I like it though. I think it enhances Android, unlike Blur which I feel does the opposite. Maybe it's just the novelty of it that is so appealing to me, since it's something new to me that I'm not used to. Who knows?

Yea sense is way better than blur. But sense feels like they ventured too far from the original Android.

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[sidsixseven]

I'm a "Yay" here -- I really like the phone. I'm in a 4g area and it works pretty slick. Haven't had any reception issues (in or out) of the building. And I have been "tweaking" the things I don't like about the phone out of it.

At least in my experience, the real battery killer is the display. It's comparable to a laptop -- you have about 2-3 hours of using the "display" before needing to charge the phone again.

4g, data synchs and the rest of it consume some battery for sure -- but it's not crazy out of control. If I'm not "looking" at my phone, all that stuff happens and the charge lasts long enough.

But if I web surf non-stop -- the phone can drop to 50% in an hour. Not because of the 4g, but because of the display drain.

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

If you can't wait yes. But I have one and I'm coming from an Incredible and its not much of an upgrade. From the Incredible the major plus is screen size and network speed. It is slightly snappier. But the screen size has the same resolution. The Bionic will at least increase the resolution with the bigger screen size.

Uhh OK. My wife's Incredible is really slow, smaller, and the display looks much worse than my Tbolt. The first two items are fact, the third is opinion, but it's a pretty good one.

If you have a lot of 4G coverage your battery will die quickly. I think people not experiencing any battery life issues are in 3G areas. And if you happen to be in a place where its bordering 4G coverage it will be worse because it's constantly switching between 3G and 4G. At least the makers of the Bionic are outing a 1900 mAh battery in their phone.

Perhaps you are right on the loss of battery life on 4G with no toggle. Someone will create a toggle for the Thunderbolt, I can almost guarantee it. Just because the Bionic has a larger battery, doesn't mean that it won't suffer the same 4G toggle issues. Also, it's possible that the Dual Core and/or MotoBlur UI will actually utilize more battery, so the battery performace could even be worse on the Bionic.

Coming from the Incredible the phone is massive and heavy. Not all that great.

Yes. Compare the Thunderbolt to the lightest/smallest Andriod phone on the VZW market... Apples to Oranges. When compared to my Droid X, the weight is hardly noticeable if at all, and I am betting that the D1/D2's Keyboards make it just as heavy. The Thunderbolt also feels 100 x's better in your hand than everything but perhaps the Incredible.

Like I said if you have Droid 1 or some other crappy smart phone definitely upgrade now. However if you have a Droid 2, X, Fascinated or Incredible it may be worth waiting for dual core.

Dual core does not necessarily mean faster or better, especially since none of the Apps will utilze the dual cores early on. Plus, MotoBlur might negate any performance enhancements in the Dual Core processor.

I mean with all the reviews no one is mentioning how expensive this phone is. You're paying over $250 bucks especially after accessories for something you can get twice as better in a few months. It doesn't even have Gingerbread. The problems with this phone I'm sure the Bionic won't have. They've already taken steps to address them.

The Bionic will cost about the same as the Thunderbolt. How is the Bionic "twice as better?" Gingerbread will release on the Tbolt sometime down the road, I'm not worried. What problems does the TBolt have? When I got my Droid X, it had Eclair 2.1 on it for a few months, they had to release a minor software update shortly after release to fix some issues, and it wasn't until FroYo was released that they fixed the ActiveSync Exchange issues. Christ, they still haven't fixed the issue with the Facebook Profile Pictures changing in the "Social Networking/Contacts" applications on the phone and that is specifically what Blur is supposed to be known for!

With all that in mind this is still the best phone out now. It's fast in both network and processing. Front facing camera and big screen. However it is only marginally better with rather unmarginal price differences.

I would say compared to other HTC 4G phones, it may only be marginally better, but it is far and away the best Android available on VZW. I have a hard time believing that the Bionic will be anything but marginally better (if at all) than the TBolt until App developers can best utilize the Dual Core, which if history holds true, it may be a while before we see that.

 

[sidsixseven]

If you have a lot of 4G coverage your battery will die quickly. I think people not experiencing any battery life issues are in 3G areas. And if you happen to be in a place where its bordering 4G coverage it will be worse because it's constantly switching between 3G and 4G. At least the makers of the Bionic are outing a 1900 mAh battery in their phone.

Perhaps you are right on the loss of battery life on 4G with no toggle. Someone will create a toggle for the Thunderbolt, I can almost guarantee it. Just because the Bionic has a larger battery, doesn't mean that it won't suffer the same 4G toggle issues. Also, it's possible that the Dual Core and/or MotoBlur UI will actually utilize more battery, so the battery performace could even be worse on the Bionic.

Call me lucky, but I've never NOT been in a 4g area since owning this phone and at least according to my battery stats -- the real battery killer on my phone is the display. And I don't use a toggle and I keep data synching on.

I honestly think what is happening is that people are excited about the new phone and are "heavy-users" at the moment using the phone all the time. As I wrote above, this phone is a lot like a laptop in that you aren't going to get much more than 2-3 hours of active heavy use on a full charge.

Spread that 2 hours in 15 minutes chunks over 8-10 hours -- no big deal. Use that 2 hours non-stop while you surf the web and play Angry Birds on your new phone? Big deal.

 

[want a droid]

I definitely say yay. Sense and 4g and just a beautiful looking phone.

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums App

 

[pedromartinez]

If you can't wait yes. But I have one and I'm coming from an Incredible and its not much of an upgrade. From the Incredible the major plus is screen size and network speed. It is slightly snappier. But the screen size has the same resolution. The Bionic will at least increase the resolution with the bigger screen size.

Uhh OK. My wife's Incredible is really slow, smaller, and the display looks much worse than my Tbolt. The first two items are fact, the third is opinion, but it's a pretty good one.

If you have a lot of 4G coverage your battery will die quickly. I think people not experiencing any battery life issues are in 3G areas. And if you happen to be in a place where its bordering 4G coverage it will be worse because it's constantly switching between 3G and 4G. At least the makers of the Bionic are outing a 1900 mAh battery in their phone.

Perhaps you are right on the loss of battery life on 4G with no toggle. Someone will create a toggle for the Thunderbolt, I can almost guarantee it. Just because the Bionic has a larger battery, doesn't mean that it won't suffer the same 4G toggle issues. Also, it's possible that the Dual Core and/or MotoBlur UI will actually utilize more battery, so the battery performace could even be worse on the Bionic.



Yes. Compare the Thunderbolt to the lightest/smallest Andriod phone on the VZW market... Apples to Oranges. When compared to my Droid X, the weight is hardly noticeable if at all, and I am betting that the D1/D2's Keyboards make it just as heavy. The Thunderbolt also feels 100 x's better in your hand than everything but perhaps the Incredible.



Dual core does not necessarily mean faster or better, especially since none of the Apps will utilze the dual cores early on. Plus, MotoBlur might negate any performance enhancements in the Dual Core processor.

I mean with all the reviews no one is mentioning how expensive this phone is. You're paying over $250 bucks especially after accessories for something you can get twice as better in a few months. It doesn't even have Gingerbread. The problems with this phone I'm sure the Bionic won't have. They've already taken steps to address them.

The Bionic will cost about the same as the Thunderbolt. How is the Bionic "twice as better?" Gingerbread will release on the Tbolt sometime down the road, I'm not worried. What problems does the TBolt have? When I got my Droid X, it had Eclair 2.1 on it for a few months, they had to release a minor software update shortly after release to fix some issues, and it wasn't until FroYo was released that they fixed the ActiveSync Exchange issues. Christ, they still haven't fixed the issue with the Facebook Profile Pictures changing in the "Social Networking/Contacts" applications on the phone and that is specifically what Blur is supposed to be known for!

With all that in mind this is still the best phone out now. It's fast in both network and processing. Front facing camera and big screen. However it is only marginally better with rather unmarginal price differences.

I would say compared to other HTC 4G phones, it may only be marginally better, but it is far and away the best Android available on VZW. I have a hard time believing that the Bionic will be anything but marginally better (if at all) than the TBolt until App developers can best utilize the Dual Core, which if history holds true, it may be a while before we see that.

You have many valid counter points but I want to address just two points.

Many wives tend to make things go so slow through user error. I use launcher pro on my incredible and that phone is fast ! Also I bought a later model incredible and the screen is actually better than the first ones (my girlfriend preordered hers).

And being a software engineer and having done OS development and doing some light Android development. I can say inevitably there will be huge gains from having dual core. When Android that takes advantage of multicore is released there will be huge gains. Especially because of the heavily multitasking orientation of the application model in Android. Having an extra core to handle background tasks and multithreaded browsing will almost eliminate bog downs.

BTW I live near DC and so I'm always in 4G.

Also I wasn't suggestions.g you compare the Bionic to the thunderbolt but to your current phone. If the Bionic is marginally better than the thunderbolt and the thunderbolt is marginally better than your current phone than that would indicate that the Bionic is double the margin better than your current phone. I was really just try.a illustrate the cost vs benefits.



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[Jac03x]

I ended up getting the TB and had it for two days, and a love it. It is SO blazing fast but i havent experienced the 4g power yet either. I live right outside a major city, so im sure it will trickle its way to me soon. Even on 3g this thing flies. The large screen is a change, but a good one coming from OG Droid. Battery life has been stellar. Only time i raped the battery was unboxing it. used it for like 3 or so hours straight and killed it. Fully charged it and its been running 10+ hours easy, with constant text, phone calls, fb, setting changes, web surfing, video watching, etc etc etc. So far i am very happy with the TB and im sure it will only get better from here.

 

[_JDW_]

Tbolt is pretty awesome. I stepped is from Droid 1 and its a huge difference. I don't really care about what the specs are on paper. This phone is fast. I'm glad I can switch screens with no lag and surf web and use apps with no problem. It connects to my WiFi better and 4G is Fast, up to 14 mbps on speed test. So I'm glad I didn't wait around another 3 to 6 to who knows how much longer till the Bionic drops. The TB is great. They need to fix NFL mobile!

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using DroidForums App

 

[champaned_out]

To each his/her own. I am waiting for the bionic, but my reasons are simpler than most others seem. A friend of mine has the TB, and I've been playing with it off and on for a few days.

1 - I do not care for the image quality of the camera on the TB. I don't know if it's the sensor itself, or the compression algorithim or what... but I don't like it. The quality of images from my D1 are superior. The TB images have artifacts typical of oversharpening, heavy compression, or a low quality CCD. (Photography is a hobby of mine.)

2 - I want gorilla glass.

3 - I prefer a higher resolution screen. My D1 has a higher resolution than the TB. I do not want to go backwards.

4 - The Bionic has HDMI out in addition to DLNA streaming. I like having a choice.

5 - I use a game-gripper on my D1 to play ROMs because I have a physical keyboard. When not using the game-gripper, I use Wiimote over bluetooth. As I understand it, this is not compatible with HTC Sense. My emulator and ROMs would be useless on the TB. I need my classic NES games.

The processor and battery are not really concerns for me. I like the TB a lot, but I believe for my own personal user experience the Bionic is a better fit, for the reasons mentioned above. That's just for me though. Everyone uses their device differently.

Whatever you choose, choose what best suits YOU. Not what suits others. Opinions are useful, but shouldn't be the deciding factor.

Happy Androiding (yes, I did just make that a verb).

First off, where in the world do you come off saying the camera on the Droid is better than the TB?? Have you even used this camera? By default this thing is set to 3624x1952 resolution & looking at them there is no grainy image that I've taken yet! Don't get me started on how well this thing takes night pictures compared to my old Droid, you can just forget about night pics in general with the Droid because they just down right sucked! Grainy as all get out, even with the flash on you could still barely see anything. In no way shape or form does it compete in this arena. The resolution may be slightly better spec wise on the Droid but on the TB it just looks way better to me. Ok so it doesn't have gorilla glass, I baby my phone as it is so I don't have to worry about that.

Seems like your just still drooling over your Droid, which is fine, leaves an extra TB for someone else to enjoy. But the TB is miles ahead of the Droid, ask any ex Droid user who's switched. I don't see any of them going back.

i am a EX Droid 1 user and believe me i loved my rooted and rom'ed droid 1... but the TB BLOWS the D1 away in every way possible.. camera, speed, overall use of the phone... to those that "played" with the phone for 5minutes and are reporting that its slower than their current verizon phone just hasnt given the thunderbolt a chance... ive also had the pleasure of having a droid X for awhile and i can tell you first hand... the TB is faster than the X... also the X's camera is par if anything... low light pictures with the X is just as bad as the D1... the TB on the other hand is amazing when it comes to low light pictures

yes, there are phones that are coming out soon that will be faster, but the fact that this phone will have great dev support like the d1 and be locked into an unlimited 4g data plan this phone WILL LAST for 2 years.. at least for me