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[Q] Should I buy a TB out of contract?

I am really really sick of this Droid 2 that VZW replaced my Droid with. I'm sick of Moto services invading my phone and slowing it down. There's no true ASOP build. This phone sucks balls.
I was set on buying an Incredible 2 OoC b/c it was cheap at $440 and saving my upgrade till later, but where I'm moving to next week already has LTE towers.
Do I really want to wait 2 months using this laggy trash? And possibly end up getting a TB anyway because the other phones coming out suck.
Or do I want to get a TB and save my upgrade till later in the Q4 2011/Q1 2012 when NFC Ice Cream Sandwich phones come out.

Don't want a Charge, poor build material choices.
Don't want a Revolution. Bing...

Does it really matter? Not really... You just root and you can put whatever you want and however you want.
Motorola tends to lock their bootloaders and make it hard to do what you want.
Samsung stated that they'll never lock it that way(Not in those words, but given the sense that they will leave it open)
HTC has been locking down their devices, but not as tough as Motorola does.
So basically pick a device with the hardware you want, and make sure it's root and you can install custom roms/kernels.

The T-Bolt is a great phone, and it has excellent community support. I have absolutely no complaints about my phone (aside from the battery life).
That being said, the Galaxy S II that's coming out looks sexy as hell. It might be worth the wait to hold out for that. Honestly, it's totally up to you.
There was talk about tiered 4G plans, which is what made me opt for the early upgrade to the T-Bolt (hoping to be grandfathered in to unlimited 4G). I haven't heard much on that front, but it's still a possibility.

wait a few months
from everything i've ever read about samsung phones, their software support is absolutely horrible. slow updates, faulty gps etc. i've heard a ton of people complain about the issue, and it seems to be the case with all their phones... never had one, but that's the impression i get.
the thunderbolt is a decent phone, but all it really has over the droid x is 4g. the t-bolt screen might be a little better, but not much. in day to day use it's not faster, the battery isn't even close and the build quality of the DX is equal or better. if i were you i would pick up a DX on craigslist for $175 and save your upgrade for a few months. The dx has even more dev support than the T-bolt and it's the best phone I ever had.
bottom line is, if you really want 4g speeds right now, really really bad, then get the thunderbolt. if you can do without that for awhile i think you will be really happy with a DX, especially after using the Droid 2, and you'll spend less than half the money.
the above is just my .02.

Show me a HTC or Motorola phone with latest software on it
Not you fat Jesus

I bought mine off contract and am very happy I did it. Yes there are a few issues, but nothing a little root cant fix.
Though waiting a few months for a better phone won't hurt, the TB is a great choice.

00negative said:
Not you fat Jesus
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I just have to say that this cracks me up every time I see you post it.

Once you get a taste of 4G, you will never want a phone that is 3G only. So if you are moving to 4G area and don't want to pay full retail, I suggest you get a used Tbolt from craigslist and use it until something comes along that you like better, then sell the Tbolt

i love my TB, i have it rooted with das bamf NTE 1.6.3 and its about the coolest thing since MP3s.. as with others, the battery life on this thing is fkin AWFUL!! i have the extended battery and i still dont feel like its enough, however i use my phone probably more than i should or more than others. either way the LTE network is retarded fast and i'd never want 3g.

First off I just want to say I owned a droid 2 and it wasn't that bad. I jumped to the thunderbolt just to lock in the 4g rate. The bigger screen is a nice plus but other than that is the same thing. I wasn't overly impressed as other owners of the droid x and 2 have stated is not that big of a jump.
Before I end let me just say other than software wise android phones are exactly where I want them. I don't need a dual core chip in my phone and 4g is. good enough for anything I would ever want to do with my phone. I'm sure most of you will disagree but that's just how I feel. Flame away!
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

I picked up a TB on craigslist for $350. The custom roms still seem a bit premature, however they should evolve over time. Nonetheless it's an amazing phone. If you have a desk job or spend a lot of time in your car, the battery life is not much of an issue. Just stay plugged in.

Got my TB off Craigslist for a fascinate trade plus 150$. I love it so far.. 4g is amazing..once you.have it you won't want to go back.
Roms are not bad. I'm waiting for a complete cm7 or sense 3.0 rom but other than that das bamf runs fantastic.
If you have the cash and want a great phone with a growing dev community, go for it.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Thank you for all the input.
It's funny the other 2 forums told me I'm a moron and this one says Buy a TB!!!
I use over 2GB of data a month so the 4G unlimited (Hopefully grandfathered for life) makes it very tempting since my upgrade isn't till mid July which is around the time the rumors of tiered data plans landing. I'm also not to optimistic about an actual new phone coming out then. Maybe the SGSII but I really hate the fact that it doesnt have a search button. It's a damn Google phone and I use the search button all the time, for GOOGLE, not Bing!
I didn't even think about craigslist. That might be a good option.
As for a cheap DX. No way. It basically is a D2 minus the keyboard. I like the keyboard, I can sacrifice it for a 4G newish phone but not for an X. and I hate the Blur invasion, and locked bootloader. My D2 has been running custom roms. They're just too laggy and buggy still. Fab, Kejar, and Rummy are awesome, but they all had DXs and the D2 ports were just not good. Most of it I blame on Blur still having to be in there. I've been running GB stock blur and custom and for the first time since my D1 ADW launcher gets kicked out of memory and has to reload when I hit home.... I hate it.

EBay is your friend. Lots of Tbolts available every day, including NIB models. Prices similar to Craigslist, depending where you are.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

doomedromance said:
It's funny the other 2 forums told me I'm a moron and this one says Buy a TB!!!
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well... if you go to an iphone forum I'm sure they'd say get an iphone! we are only somewhat biased here

Balthazar B said:
EBay is your friend. Lots of Tbolts available every day, including NIB models. Prices similar to Craigslist, depending where you are.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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Honestly I never buy anything without having it in my hands first. Learned my lesson when eBay burned me not once but twice.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Nexus to name just 1
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

jackmei2 said:
well... if you go to an iphone forum I'm sure they'd say get an iphone! we are only somewhat biased here
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Haha it wasn't an iphone forum. they were android and droid forums.

Get the tbolt. You will not regret it.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

(Q) thunderbolt or charge

OK folks,
I have been a member follower of these groups for a longtime now. I love the android environment. I bought a charge yesterday that is giving me problems. I have not even begun to hack and am having lockups, robot voice, slow response, etc.
I have just factory reset before I take it back but wanted to know what the groups feel about the 2. I am looking for opinions with a reason. Please don't flame either device or me.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium

I'm actually thinking about getting a charge. The product designer needs to get fired for making the tbolt. Not enough testing was done and it surprises me.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

Honestly if you can live without the charges screen, id go with the thunderbolt. In my opinion it has much better build quality, and the dev. support behind it is amazing, and will only get better with time. I dont think as many devs. will jump ship to the charge seeing how it isnt that much different then the fascinate. But thats just my two sense, both are great phones either way and are going to have their quirks.

def thunderbolt. faster, more support so far on xda sites, and samsung has been lazy with their updates..

Last week when I finally switched from Sprint to Verizon, I literally played with working models of the Thunderbolt and the Charge in the VZ store for 45min. I played with the app drawers,apps themselves,the cameras,hell I could probably have told you how many squares were on the back of the Charges battery case. After the 45 min there, I went to Best Buy and played with non working models for another 30 min (im VERY indecisive when it comes to new phones). I only went there because of my Silver reward zone membership and I had money off from the Zone rewards. In the end I chose the TBolt. I was very accustomed to Sense for one coming from my Evo for almost a year, and while sure the Charge as the Super Amoled screen, I like the screen on the Tbolt more. Touchwiz felt like a childrens coloring book in terms of the range of colors used opposed to Sense. The TBolt also feels good when held,actually feels like a phone while the Charge felt like a cheaply manufactured toy with a UI to match.
I read one review that I ended up agreeing with that said "The Droid Charge isnt worthy of the "Droid" name at all. Its nothing more then a Galaxy S class phone and Verizon needed a Droid branded 4G phone,so they slapped it on that (LTE radio) and bam, the DROID charge

Tower1972 said:
Last week when I finally switched from Sprint to Verizon, I literally played with working models of the Thunderbolt and the Charge in the VZ store for 45min. I played with the app drawers,apps themselves,the cameras,hell I could probably have told you how many squares were on the back of the Charges battery case. After the 45 min there, I went to Best Buy and played with non working models for another 30 min (im VERY indecisive when it comes to new phones). I only went there because of my Silver reward zone membership and I had money off from the Zone rewards. In the end I chose the TBolt. I was very accustomed to Sense for one coming from my Evo for almost a year, and while sure the Charge as the Super Amoled screen, I like the screen on the Tbolt more. Touchwiz felt like a childrens coloring book in terms of the range of colors used opposed to Sense. The TBolt also feels good when held,actually feels like a phone while the Charge felt like a cheaply manufactured toy with a UI to match.
I read one review that I ended up agreeing with that said "The Droid Charge isnt worthy of the "Droid" name at all. Its nothing more then a Galaxy S class phone and Verizon needed a Droid branded 4G phone,so they slapped it on that (LTE radio) and bam, the DROID charge
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I kinda feel the same way about the Thunderbolt TBH. I've had mine since Tuesday (the Thunderbolt), and I am really disappointed with Verizon's 4g initial lineup. The whole thing feels like Verizon had to rush there LTE network out, by annoucing it last year when they did (what Nov or Dec) and then they had to force out LTE phones, and none of them seem ready. I feel like we are all there test subjects, the problem is this isn't a test environment, and they are making some serious cash off the tests...
I am still torn on what to do. I have basically another 12 days before my 14 days left and I might switch to the charge within then.
Then again it doesn't matter for me...as LTE won't be in my area til later this year (as only based on Verizon press releases), I am only going this route to try for the grandfathered LTE...and kinda made up my mind this is the last phone I will ever buy on contract...

Go with the N64....
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA App

miketoasty said:
Go with the N64....
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA App
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I would buy a 4G mobile nintento 64. i would also fail every class ever because of super smash bros and mario kart

squeakyl said:
I would buy a 4G mobile nintento 64. i would also fail every class ever because of super smash bros and mario kart
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There is a n64 emulator on the market. I love it.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA App

Main reason I didn't go with the charge, is because I had the fascinate. And Samsung's customer service, and updates for the phone are almost non existent. I will never go back to Samsung because of that fact. HTC is great about keeping there phones up to date. Just my 2 cents.
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zachsx said:
Main reason I didn't go with the charge, is because I had the fascinate. And Samsung's customer service, and updates for the phone are almost non existent. I will never go back to Samsung because of that fact. HTC is great about keeping there phones up to date. Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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Yeah, Samsung has a long way to go in terms of US software support before I'll own another one. I went android for the development community and no or long delayed updates/source code stifles development. Heck, most of the developers won't even touch a Samsung device.

astefanik said:
Honestly if you can live without the charges screen, id go with the thunderbolt. In my opinion it has much better build quality, and the dev. support behind it is amazing, and will only get better with time. I dont think as many devs. will jump ship to the charge seeing how it isnt that much different then the fascinate. But thats just my two sense, both are great phones either way and are going to have their quirks.
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I could not have said it better myself. It's a great phone, and with all the dev support behind it, it will only continue to improve. T-bolt all the way.

I'm not a fan of the physical buttons on the Charge, and while Samsung was on the list of companies who would consistently update their devices at Google I/O, I'll have to see it before I believe it.

love my thunderbolt, hate the battery, but love the phone.

love my tb and the way the charge feels.. all plastic and they want 300? I would pass plus look who makes it.

[email protected]|ice said:
love my thunderbolt, hate the battery, but love the phone.
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I feel the same. Phone is awesome, but battery sucks so much Coo-Low.
I got bamf remix 1.6.3 with the 4.7.7 kernel and while the battery is much better now when on standby, if i start using my 4g is like my battery has a leak... drains so fast.

Utnapishtia said:
I kinda feel the same way about the Thunderbolt TBH. I've had mine since Tuesday (the Thunderbolt), and I am really disappointed with Verizon's 4g initial lineup. The whole thing feels like Verizon had to rush there LTE network out, by annoucing it last year when they did (what Nov or Dec) and then they had to force out LTE phones, and none of them seem ready. I feel like we are all there test subjects, the problem is this isn't a test environment, and they are making some serious cash off the tests...
I am still torn on what to do. I have basically another 12 days before my 14 days left and I might switch to the charge within then.
Then again it doesn't matter for me...as LTE won't be in my area til later this year (as only based on Verizon press releases), I am only going this route to try for the grandfathered LTE...and kinda made up my mind this is the last phone I will ever buy on contract...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I still have 6 days left in my trial,but im liking it so far. Only issues I have are signal strength. Guess I LIKE seeing full bars but in my house,backyard even, I sit at 0-2 tops. Tho my area is slated in the new June 16 LTE rollout (Menomonee Falls WI), im still on the fence because of the little to no bars issue. This is strange tho because even with this, I can get 1.9-2mb download speeds on speedtest lol

reason's to buy the thunderbolt:
(1) the charge is cheap plastic
(2) it took team cyanogen forever to get sammy phones to run CM
(3) touchwiz vs sense isn't nearly a fair fight
the thunderbolt is heavy, but it's a solid "i'm a $250 on contract phone" heavy

Thunderbolt..just the battery blows. but from stats and everything ive read id go TB

I wouldnt buy a samsung made phone other than the Galaxy S2 or Nexus S. The former wont be out on verizon until probably winter sometime and the later probably never will be (but you could buy the version made for sprint and probably activate it for use with verizon).

Thunder bolt is a bust

To: ALL
I got the TB first week of its release. I was its biggest fan, defending it, learning everything about it, rooting , roming, kerneling, tweaking. Everything like a normal flashaholic would do.
To set the Hate straight, I adore HTC because its rooted in my DNA and I support my countries products. But OMFG the Thunderbolt is a bust. I know our natural reaction is to defend it because most of us are locked up for 2 years, and maybe some even spent cash to buy this phone out of contract. God bless you.
But this phone has not lived up to the hype. not one bit. This is not the phone of my ****ing dreams. all i see is the potential for this phone to be great. While we are waiting for this potential to happen, other phones are slowly coming in and smashing our Dreams..
The sooner we can be honest with ourselves is when we can finally appreciate what this phone is. Its average, maybe its better then the older phones, maybe this was the next gen android, but this is the pre alpha next gen android.
If i was going to buy anything based on potential and speculation i would buy this phone for $100.. if i were to buy a phone of my dreams, then i would pay $250..
1st round BUST.

I like the TB but have three advantages over most people.
1. I didn't have any expectations going into the purchase. When I found out that Verizon was going to tiered pricing I just looked at the available phones and picked the TB. A colleague has one and he had good reviews. It replaced my ageing Droid Incredible and has done a fine job of doing that. Not having expectations makes a phone better. I didn't set the bar higher than the device could live up to.
2. I don't change ROMS. I'm happy with the stock phone based upon #1 above.
3. I'm in a situation where I don't have to worry about contract length. If I want to change in a few months, I will. It puts a lot less stress on me to make sure the phone performs. I'll probably have a different phone by the end of the year.

I love my Thunderbolt. Now that I'm running CM7 and a custom kernal it great. I had an Eris for 18 months, I know pain
Plus something better is always going to come along within months, it's the nature of the industry.

I have had my Tbolt since Launch and Im have been happy with it. I never experienced any of the issues that were reported around. Its done everything I could ask and running strong. I only rooted to have the wifi teather..

My only peeve with the bolt is that the screen won't turn off when I'm in a call.
other than that i am ok with it.
And i qualify for an upgrade within 6 months (didnt pay full price for the bolt either). hopefully vz will get a LTE nexus phone.

failsaf3 said:
I love my Thunderbolt. Now that I'm running CM7 and a custom kernal it great. Plus something better is always going to come along within months, it's the nature of the industry.
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sums it up quite nicely!

At the time I think it was the best phone out. It's still holding up nicely for me. I'm curious what phone do you think is better and why?
Sent from my PUR3 A05P using XDA App

The TB is still the best LTE phone. For verizon in general though the DX2 and Droid3 are not bad options especially if you are not in a 4G area

MisterDonut said:
To: ALL
I got the TB first week of its release. I was its biggest fan, defending it, learning everything about it, rooting , roming, kerneling, tweaking. Everything like a normal flashaholic would do.
To set the Hate straight, I adore HTC because its rooted in my DNA and I support my countries products. But OMFG the Thunderbolt is a bust. I know our natural reaction is to defend it because most of us are locked up for 2 years, and maybe some even spent cash to buy this phone out of contract. God bless you.
But this phone has not lived up to the hype. not one bit. This is not the phone of my ****ing dreams. all i see is the potential for this phone to be great. While we are waiting for this potential to happen, other phones are slowly coming in and smashing our Dreams..
The sooner we can be honest with ourselves is when we can finally appreciate what this phone is. Its average, maybe its better then the older phones, maybe this was the next gen android, but this is the pre alpha next gen android.
If i was going to buy anything based on potential and speculation i would buy this phone for $100.. if i were to buy a phone of my dreams, then i would pay $250..
1st round BUST.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Sent from my PUR3 A05P using XDA App

damn I've never been so happy with a phone before, does everything short of getting me off.

I love my TB. If u think its pre alpha or whatever u can wait. But in the end ur always going to be waiting cuz there is always going to be a phone thats better then the last one.

So far the pros have outweighed the cons. Not many smartphones will deliver 35+Mbps download speeds. I at times get data speeds that is faster than most peoples home wifi. Of course its not perfect. It also has things I don't like. But I intend to keep it until the next HTC with LTE is released.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

TB has been awesome here. I had misgivings originally but after the radio update from stock it has been perfect ever since. I am eligable for my upgrade in a few months but will be sticking with this thing for a while.
Sent from my PUR3 A05P using Tapatalk

ScoobarSTI said:
damn I've never been so happy with a phone before, does everything short of getting me off.
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this right here

Add me to the loving my TBolt since launch group. It's still the best LTE phone on VZW IMO. That could change when the Bionic drops, but by then I will have been enjoying this phone for 6 months. I'm a patient man, but not that patient.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt

animez said:
Add me to the loving my TBolt since launch group. It's still the best LTE phone on VZW IMO. That could change when the Bionic drops, but by then I will have been enjoying this phone for 6 months. I'm a patient man, but not that patient.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
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Click to collapse
I've got no patience. I bought my TB on January and since I've bought a INC and OG Droid. I haven't even received the droid but I want a Droid 3 now. I'm actually thinking of selling my Glock for the Droid 3 but I know in 6 months I'll feel bad for doing it.
Edit: The Tbolt is a great phone I'm just bored already.

I got my Thunderbolt about a month after release and other than the battery life I have had no complaints. There will always be things that it owuld be nice to change on any phone.....(hence rooting). But even the things I can't change are still ok to me. I got in before the tiered plans started and when the bionic comes out I am seriously considering it but if I don't get that and I wait a bit longer these things I know for sure when I get a new phone.
1) It will be a 4G LTE phone. 4G is exceptional in the Spokane area and I am addicted to the download speeds. After playing with my sons phone and my wifes Droid X, I will happily stay with 4G
2) I want a same size screen. (Just cant imagine squinting my eyes to see my phone screen again
3) It will have to be a VZW phone because other than AT&T nobody else has as good a connection to me
4) I gotta be able to root it because crapware\bloatware sucks

someone please close this thread.

loonatik78 said:
someone please close this thread.
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I agree. The OP is a reoccurring troll.

If he was trolling I think he's failed pretty miserably. Every post has been pro TB.
I'll leave it for now. If it goes south...
Subscribed.

[Q] Considering Thunderbold

I'm looking to move to Verizon (for coverage reasons - I travel in the rural midwest and plains and have issues with AT&T coverage).
I currently have a Samsung Captivate, running a Gingerbread custom rom. I have no desire to get another Samsung phone - there post release ROM development is non-existent. Don't get me started.
It seems that all of the Android phones currently on Verizon have some issue (from my perspective), but the closest to being a good all-around smartphone is the Thunderbolt.
The primary issue with the TBolt is battery life (from what I can tell).
Here's my question:
Using a stock battery and running a custom rom is it reasonable to get 14 hours of battery life with the following usage:
- 2 hours talk time
- 1 hour email
- 30 minutes web browsing
- 1 hour streaming music (OK, I could do without this)
[edit] From browsing the TBolt Dev Forums, I am leaning towards the Cl3anTh3ory ROM. [/edit]
I would have 2 email accounts - 1 GMail, set up for push notification, 1 IMAP that would poll every 30 min (using K9). I have 6 GCal's to sync and just over 300 contacts.
If I can get 14 hours, here's a follow up question: would you personally wait for the next round of phones to be announced (Sept and Oct) or would you go ahead with a TBolt for $69 (from Amazon with 2 yr contract)?
thanks,

Any future HTC released for Verizon is going to have the same basic guts as an EVO 3D with LTE. At this point, the Tbolt is right in the prime of development. The newer bases are much better in every area and I have no problems getting the kind of life you need doing a bit more than what your asking. My setup is in my sig. Being mostly on cdma, as it sounds like you would be, will stretch your battery even further. And if the stock battery doesn't do the job, the 1750mAh unit that's the same size certainly will.

More than possible. Check out gingeritis 3d and chingys 7/17 radio leak. I get over 24+ hours with average use
Sent from my TBolt using my f***king thumbs...

Using custom roms, definitely

id wait for the tbolt successor or the gs2 to come tbh.

myself, I would probably wait and see what htc announces next, or maybe the bionic if it ever hits the shelves. Depending on those releases, yeah the tbolt is a great phone that should meet your needs. It's not hard for me to swap batteries if needed, but with the newer roms, battery life is improving.

nrfitchett4 said:
myself, I would probably wait and see what htc announces next, or maybe the bionic if it ever hits the shelves. Depending on those releases, yeah the tbolt is a great phone that should meet your needs. It's not hard for me to swap batteries if needed, but with the newer roms, battery life is improving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
by the time the bionic comes it will be outdated. verizon waits too long to release phones.

I'm assuming the bionic will have locked boot loaders, which a deal breaker for me. Also, not sure about a 4.5" screen... I actually prefer 4", but can live with 4.3". But 4.5"? Guess it depends on overall device size and weight.

It'd possible on monolithth3ory or cl3anth3ory.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

knothead said:
It'd possible on monolithth3ory or cl3anth3ory.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
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Those are not the only two ROMs that get that life.
Come on off the bandwagon.

this is the best phone ever, and ive went through alot.. sure people complain about this and that. but ultimately imho i think its the best verizon phone hands down and built rock solid (physically) and great dev support, i bought the extended battery and never looked back.. my only problem is which theory rom to run sense or aosp lol.. but i think from att to verizon + LTE would be a great upgrade for you =]

subsoniic said:
this is the best phone ever, and ive went through alot.. sure people complain about this and that. but ultimately imho i think its the best verizon phone hands down and built rock solid (physically) and great dev support, i bought the extended battery and never looked back.. my only problem is which theory rom to run sense or aosp lol.. but i think from att to verizon + LTE would be a great upgrade for you =]
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AT&T is no competition to Verizon.
They lack the customer service and the network to compete.

cobeebs said:
I'm assuming the bionic will have locked boot loaders, which a deal breaker for me. Also, not sure about a 4.5" screen... I actually prefer 4", but can live with 4.3". But 4.5"? Guess it depends on overall device size and weight.
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Click to collapse
The only phones rumored to have larger than 4.3" screens so far are 2 Samsung phones, and they are expected to be similar to the size of current 4.3" phones because the extra screen size will most likely be in the area of the current buttons at the bottom since ice cream sandwich will not need them. The Bionic has been confirmed to be 4.3"

subsoniic said:
this is the best phone ever, and ive went through alot.. sure people complain about this and that. but ultimately imho i think its the best verizon phone hands down and built rock solid (physically) and great dev support, i bought the extended battery and never looked back.. my only problem is which theory rom to run sense or aosp lol.. but i think from att to verizon + LTE would be a great upgrade for you =]
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Click to collapse
Where I travel on business, there is really no comparison. Verizon's coverage is sooooo much better. Thanks for the thoughts on the tb hardware.
CanesDrew said:
AT&T is no competition to Verizon.
They lack the customer service and the network to compete.
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Click to collapse
Agreed. Although I haven't really had major issues with customer service.

I have pretty much the same use as you and I am getting about 1 1/2 days out of my phone. sometimes 2 days between charges and I am on stock battery. '
I am running the monolithth3ory rom and it is great so far. I also have ultimate juice defender running.
so get it, root it, and love it! I sure do

How's the Thunderbolt holding up?

I have never owned a Tbolt... I've owned the Charge, Bionic, DX, and now the Rezound. As many of you are probably aware, the Rezound is a great phone but it still has no true dev support to get the bootloader unlocked, and I miss flashing ROMs and such. I know someone who has their Tbolt for sale and it's very tempting for me to buy it and just hold on to the Rezound until proper dev support happens, IF it happens. But I need something to hold me over for now. Maybe I'll just return the Rezound and buy the Tbolt until the next batch of 4G phones come out. Who knows.
My question is simply this... how's the Tbolt holding up for as old as it is? I see there's a lot of support here and some awesome ROMs.

To be honest, and this is my opinion only. The Tbolt to me happens to be one of the best phones on verizon still. From everything I have looked at, there is no phone that has everything the Tbolt has. Yes there are dual core now or 1.5 ghz phones but you dont get the whole package the tbolt has. Still love that you can surf and talk on both 3g & 4g (i dont think they have any other phone that does that, but I could be wrong)
I personally have never experienced any issue with my phone that others have posted. Its always worked except when verizon data is down and its solid. The phone has received 5 updates since release (9 months) and that is impressive to me that they are still looking at the phone and sending patches for it.
I am fine waiting till my upgrade around 11/12. This phone has been fine for me..
The dev community is awesome and there is alot of support right now.... The Devs rock...

I've read so many posts about the bolt being "the red headed step child". After seeing Lindsay Lohan in playboy, I'm fine with that analogy. I have ZERO complaints from battery life to performance. There are sense 2.1,3.0 and two variations of 3.5. We have CM7 and several variations of it as well as MIUI. ICS is being worked on by some incredibly motivated and devoted devs, it's only a matter of time. Grab a Rezound battery, root and reap the benefits of the best 4g community there is (for now). Even though I haven't spend substantial time with any of the new phones, none have grabbed my eye. Besides dual core there haven't been drastic changes IMO, and dual core will be trumped by quad core in a few months. I've owned the OG DROID and now the Tbolt and I can't come up with a complaint for either....
Sent from a smoke filled room

Awesome thanks guys. I wanted to grab a Tbolt when I returned my Charge to Costco but I read about the call quality being hit or miss, so it's a crap shoot with the phone I might be buying.
The only thing that prevents me from returning the Rezound is the fact that I sold the Beats headphones that came with it, lol. So I have to find another pair, undo my red button modification and send it back to the store since I bought it after they launched their "holiday return policy".

I am a former thunderbolt owner and have nothing but good things to say about it. My wife is using and running soab. I have a nexus but actually miss the thunderbolt in many ways. The radio is much better and I miss sense. I don't think you could go wrong buying this phone although development has definitely slowed.
If this gets ice cream sandwich it should be relevant for a lot longer
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Bought a like-new Tbolt last night, should be here by Saturday... just in time for Christmas!
I'll use it for now and if the Rezound doesn't get S-off by the time Verizon's holiday return policy ends, it goes back for good. If it does happen, then I'll hand the Tbolt off to my girlfriend. Win/win for everyone.

I've had my Tbolt since march 2011 and ive had no problems from the phone. everything still works flawlessly, despite my meddling and screwing things up a little =P. its not as flashy as the newer phones, but its beyond exeptional in terms of quality of use.

The TB I bought back in March has been working great, a few months ago I picked up the extended battery for it and while it's much more bulky, I can do whatever I want on the phone all day long without having to worry about the battery dying. The dev support has been great, I don't believe any other phone for VZW other then the new Nexus has had as much dev support behind it.

I'm confident in the radio in the phone I'm getting, the guy had a pic of his phone with FULL 4G signal and he lives in Wilmington, NC. It's not often that you see all bars lit up in a 4G area, so that's great. Screen looked perfect with no scratches, he said he's never had an issue with it... can't complain on the price I got it for either.
I'll admit, if I end up returning the Rezound I am going to miss the excellent call quality, the beautiful screen, the sheer speed even with Sense and bloat installed... makes me want to hold onto it anyway and wait for s-off, then switch back to it. Even if it's a couple of months from now. I did pay full price for it though...

I've had a number of VZW smartphones over the last few years (Moto Q, Moto Q9m, Samsung Saga, BB Pearl, BB Curve, BB Bold, HTC Droid Eris, HTC Thunderbolt) and so far the Thunderbolt has by far been my favorite. My only complaint was battery life (only getting around a day with heavy use), but as long as I get a full day, I don't care too much. It's a little bulky (compared to my Eris), but once you get use to the screen size it's hard to use anything else. Finally, it has a great modding community, and is relatively simple to mod these days. I would definitely recommend this smartphone to anyone with Verizon.

triton302 said:
I'm confident in the radio in the phone I'm getting, the guy had a pic of his phone with FULL 4G signal and he lives in Wilmington, NC. It's not often that you see all bars lit up in a 4G area, so that's great.
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Just to advise, the bars have nothing to do with 4G. The bars are voice signal strength indicators for cell service. the only indicator of 4G service is the 4G symbol..
You can have no bars and have great 4G service...

Jrocker23 said:
Just to advise, the bars have nothing to do with 4G. The bars are voice signal strength indicators for cell service. the only indicator of 4G service is the 4G symbol..
You can have no bars and have great 4G service...
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That's true, just feeling hopeful is all

I have owned my Thunderbolt since March 2011 and have had no issues. I really like this phone and have not even been tempted yet to look around at other phones. It has the perverbial buttload of features and I often wonder why it became the "red headed stepchild".. yeah there were issues at first that HTC/Verizon had to deal with but now that they are in the past, I think this is one of the better phones in the arsenal.
Mine is rooted and custom rom'ed .. no bloatware with my choice of everything possible instead of what Big Red tells me I want and that has a lot to do with why I like my phone.
I say if you can get a good deal then get one.

Got my Tbolt today, so far the phone is running great. No issues with anything at all on the latest OTA update. Not as quick or as beautiful as the Rezound, but I can manage easily.

Thunderbolt is a very good phone. Support(NotVZW) is great. Once i rooted the phone I can't put it down. The phone is stable, relatively quick and compared to newer phone smaller.

It's a great phone, but it seems all the devs are concentrating on the g nex now. Hopefully they don't forget about the bolt.

dirtyfingers said:
It's a great phone, but it seems all the devs are concentrating on the g nex now. Hopefully they don't forget about the bolt.
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Excellent phone, hopefully they come out with a very good ICS rom soon.

I got a thunderbolt from cowboom.com tonight for $138 shipped and 30 day return policy. Used coupon code Holiday15 for 15% off only good until tonight (the 25th).
Ill be swicthing from a DX.
Does it cost extra for 4g?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

I've had my bolt since the day it came out and still loving it. I don't plan to change until quad core phones become the standard, cause IMO, dual core will be obsolete soon.
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium

rajuabju said:
I've had my bolt since the day it came out and still loving it. I don't plan to change until quad core phones become the standard, cause IMO, dual core will be obsolete soon.
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
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+1 Quadcore will replace dualcore in less than 4 months.
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