I walked into Verizon and asked 2 of the reps to point me in the direction of there BEST smart phone and i was lead to the HTC Thunderbolt.
I asked to look at the iPhone4 because they had the white one which looked nice but no one had anything to brag of when speaking of the i4. I asked what the main differences were and was told
Cam=TB
Screensize=TB
Resolution=i4
Speed=TB
Network access=TB with 4G speeds vs 3g with i4
Customization=TB Andriod with HTC sense and 7 homescreens
Apps=Equal
Facetime=TB not Wifi nessesary
So i left with the TB. Thanks for listening guys!
I have had the Verizon iPhone 4 since launch (had an AT&T one last year) and I had been looking at the Thunderbolt since before launch. I have had the original Droid, Droid X and Fascinate and I have missed the customizability of Android and the widgets so I had been wanting the Thunderbolt since launch. I picked one up last Friday to try out along with my iPhone 4.
I agree with your assessment except for the camera and the apps. No way in hell is the TB camera better. Under the right circumstances the TB takes almost as good photos but the iPhone 4 takes much better pictures in every other instance. The speed with which the iP4 snaps the shots with or without flash makes a huge difference when snapping pics of a child. I took several pictures of various objects and places on both cameras and compared them on the phone and on my laptop. iPhone 4 wins hands down. Video capture is also butter smooth on the iPhone 4 and is amazing, especially in outdoor shooting. The TB camcorder is good but not as smooth in its video capture.
As for apps, for the most part you can find a specific app in either store when it comes to major companies apps but I can tell you the quality of the iOS app is better, visually, functionality-wise and performance. Some apps just off the top of my head that are better than their counterparts on Android are BoA, Weatherchannel, KBB.com, Dropbox, Twitter, Flixster, ESPN ScoreCenter. Those are some that I'm using on both. Also I know I've been flamed before for saying this but Google Voice app is so much more polished and works better on the iOS app than the Android version.
At this point I'm having issues with the Thunderbolt randomly dropping data. I'm at the edge of 4G coverage but should still have it. When I pick up the phone and hit the power buttoon I have 4G but then it always drops to 3G, sometimes dropping to no data at all then 3G. I continually had instances where the phone would drop 4G coverage and come back. I tried factory wipe with no luck. I then did the MR2 leak and it does the same thing, however GPS is super fast.
I'm probably going to return the TB and wait for HTC to release a phone comparable to the Sensation or Evo 3D, on Verizon.
I've had a ton of experience with both iOS and Android and I like having both platforms. Each has their positives and negatives.