T-Bolt among "5 Android Phones You Should Avoid Buying" according to this article

[WizeGuyDezignz]

I came across this article last week. Does anyone think it's fair that the TB was included on the list?

Five Android smartphones you should avoid buying - Android app article - Marty Gabel | Appolicious Android App Directory

 

[Buddha64]

I came across this article last week. Does anyone think it's fair that the TB was included on the list?

Meh... He links a article from June. That's no basis for avoiding the phone.

My last phone was a major POS, problems right out of the box - literally. No GPS, battery, three SW updates to fix issues.

 

[TxGoat]

Yes....

 

[garnto]

Yes....

based on what? a very small percentage, of the overall owners, coming to this forum to complain?

260,000 tb sold in the 1st 2 weeks. now lets say that there were 5000 people that have come to this forum complaining, that is still only 2%, and I am sure that there have been significantly more tb's sold since then

 

[Frisco]

I came across this article last week. Does anyone think it's fair that the TB was included on the list?

Five Android smartphones you should avoid buying - Android app article - Marty Gabel | Appolicious Android App Directory

Well, when it came time for me to upgrade a few weeks ago, I sought out and read reviews, customer/user reviews and specs, etc. I avoided the Thunderbolt based on that information, although in the store it was a beauty to behold and use.

I ended up with the Droid 3 based on playing with them, but mostly based on those customer/user reviews.

But I do think it's silly to mention battery life about any Android device now, given the resource hogging apps/services and CPU in the things now. We all have to take battery saving measures if we don't want our great devices to be on a charger more than once per day.

 

[TxGoat]

based on what? a very small percentage, of the overall owners, coming to this forum to complain?

Based on the delayed release, poor communication about the release, the 4G headaches, well documented poor battery life, the 1st update that did more harm than good, the finish peeling off of the kickstand, the poor recording volume, the poor 4G/3G handoff (before the latest update), the dimpled glass surface (look at the screen at about 10 degrees parallel to the glass itself in a bright room, the glass looks like a fat woman's thighs), the light leak (not that big a deal to me, but is a little poorly engineered when compared to other phones). To me none of these things are glaring problems (other than the random reboots) but when taken in as a whole and compared to other phones, then yes it belongs on the list, especially when this isn't supposed to be your dream phone, but the one AFTER that. Seems more nightmare-ish than dreamy IMO.

 

[robrecht]

The ThunderBolt is definitely not for everyone but for early adopters and power users who knew what they were getting into it has been a great phone. I've always needed a couple of extra batteries on all my smartphones and even had spare batteries on my dumb phones before that. As for reboots most of us probably only ever had a handful. This stuff happens when you like having cutting edge devices with 37 Mbps download speeds.

 

[garnto]

Based on the delayed release, poor communication about the release, the 4G headaches, well documented poor battery life, the 1st update that did more harm than good, the finish peeling off of the kickstand, the poor recording volume, the poor 4G/3G handoff (before the latest update), the dimpled glass surface (look at the screen at about 10 degrees parallel to the glass itself in a bright room, the glass looks like a fat woman's thighs), the light leak (not that big a deal to me, but is a little poorly engineered when compared to other phones). To me none of these things are glaring problems (other than the random reboots) but when taken in as a whole and compared to other phones, then yes it belongs on the list, especially when this isn't supposed to be your dream phone, but the one AFTER that. Seems more nightmare-ish than dreamy IMO.

might wanna re-read my post.

 

[angldvl81]

might wanna re-read my post.

What? That only a few people complain? Not everyone who has a smartphone is on a forum. And not everyone who has issues with their phone complains.

 

[garnto]

What? That only a few people complain? Not everyone who has a smartphone is on a forum. And not everyone who has issues with their phone complains.

my point is that noone here could even begin to make a blanket statement about the tb based on the little info that any of us have.

saying that the tb sucks and has so and so problems is ignorant to say the least. my phone has none of the aforementioned problems, so by his logic i could say that the tb is perfect

do some tb's have certain problems? yes. do any of us know how common those problems are throughout all tb's made? no

 

[AustinTech]

the re-booting was a major issue. It's fixed, for the most part, now, but still...it was a disaster for more than a month.

 

[robrecht]

the re-booting was a major issue. It's fixed, for the most part, now, but still...it was a disaster for more than a month.

No question it was a disaster for some but many of us were hardly affected if at all.

 

[Yeahha]

I saw the article and was amazed, the issues that have happened to the phone are (more or less) gone now. Yes some people still have problems with it and I feel for them, but the majority of bolts are without issues now. I still wouldn't tell someone to get this phone unless they are planning on rooting and tinkering, lived in a 4G area, and needed to actually use the 4G.

 

[robrecht]

I suspect most people had few problems.

 

[angldvl81]

I suspect most people had few problems.

That's not what you said in your last post. How can you say most had a few problems with and also say many didn't.

 

[Yeahha]

That's not what you said in your last post. How can you say most had a few problems with and also say many didn't.

He was discussing the reboot issue before. There are actually other issues than just reboots, like poor handoffs between 3g and 4g, external speaker volume, chipping kickstands, screens becoming unglued...any user may have had or is still having many issues and never experienced a random reboot

 

[Frisco]

He was discussing the reboot issue before. There are actually other issues than just reboots, like poor handoffs between 3g and 4g, external speaker volume, chipping kickstands, screens becoming unglued...any user may have had or is still having many issues and never experienced a random reboot

Thanks for bringing some clarity among the thoughts expressed in the thread, Yeahha.

 

[robrecht]

That's not what you said in your last post. How can you say most had a few problems with and also say many didn't.

Many of us were hardly affected at all. That is just a fact that is obvious to a casual reader of these forums. I don't know any absolute numbers but I suspect (note the word "suspect") that most people had few problems. That suspicion is based on a few things that I heard from a couple of techs that I trust. If everyone or even most people had the same level of disastrous problems that some people reported, more than half of the phones would've been returned and Verizon would've stopped selling the phone.

 

[Yeahha]

You may also want to remember in forums like these many times you will see a lot of people report the same issues because these are the people that are having a problem with something and turn to others in the community for help. What appears to be a large number of users could easily be a vocal minority because there may be many who would not join a forum just to say "My phone is working very well, never had a problem with it"

However due to this when large news outlets are researching stories and see that there are 3 different forums with devoted areas for TB users and all of them have threads about one certian problem they will report on it. Then months down the line when someone decides to make a blog about "Android phones to avoid" and they see that the TB made headlines they will include it on their list.

Overall I do not think the TB deserves to be on a blacklist for android phones, it is a great device but not without it's flaws, some of which were addressed by VZW and HTC. I firmly believe there is no phone that is suited for everyone and the TB does fit the needs of many users.

 

[dangerous]

based on what? a very small percentage, of the overall owners, coming to this forum to complain?

260,000 tb sold in the 1st 2 weeks. now lets say that there were 5000 people that have come to this forum complaining, that is still only 2%, and I am sure that there have been significantly more tb's sold since then

The 5,000 or 2% you refer to are probably the majority of registered TB owners here. How many have NOT registered here? 95% or better, so that leaves a bunch that probably are having problems that don't know about this place.

Say 5% registered in here in total or 13,000 (i think that is high though) and 5,000 are having problems, that is 38% of this population that is having issues.

How many registered TB owners are on this forum? any know how to tell?

 

[dangerous]

What? That only a few people complain? Not everyone who has a smartphone is on a forum. And not everyone who has issues with their phone complains.

Exactly !!!..

 

[garnto]

The 5,000 or 2% you refer to are probably the majority of registered TB owners here. How many have NOT registered here? 95% or better, so that leaves a bunch that probably are having problems that don't know about this place.

Say 5% registered in here in total or 13,000 (i think that is high though) and 5,000 are having problems, that is 38% of this population that is having issues.

How many registered TB owners are on this forum? any know how to tell?

the 5000 number I threw out was nothing more than a guess, and the actual number is probably several times less than 5000(I just gave that high of number to appease people like you)

the 260,000 refers to the amount of tb's sold IN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS.

like someone above said, if the tb was really as much of a failure as some of you like to think, then it would have been canned as soon as it was released

 

[brizey]

There is still no better 4G phone. AT&T and Sprint phones need not apply due to network inferiority. You can deny reality all you want...but there it is. That leaves the Tbolt and the Samsung and the LG. The LG is just not competitive in any way. Which brings us to the Samsung. Nice screen. Supposedly slightly better battery life. But unless you root...sense just knocks the socks off of touchwiz. I could not get past the form factor--it is just too huge for the screen size. The thickness is irrelevant in these phones--the area is what determines pocket comfort and the Tbolt wins hands down.

So, the charge may be as good as a the Tbolt, but it is certainly not better.

For the record: I never had a random reboot. I never have issues with GPS lock. I never have issues with 4G/3G hand off (btw--samsung does not offer an LTE only mode to force 4G). My kickstand does not peel. I have a bit of light leakage, but I am not a vampire that lives in total darkness so I had to purposefully look for it to see if I had it.

My phone is a REFURB. Yep, bought it that way.

I feel bad for the people that had issues with the phone. But I think this is clearly a case of a vocal minority drowning out the satisfied majority. This was a hot phone that sold in huge numbers.

And we can even hold the phone and use it at the same time without a case!

 

[dangerous]

the 5000 number I threw out was nothing more than a guess, and the actual number is probably several times less than 5000(I just gave that high of number to appease people like you)

the 260,000 refers to the amount of tb's sold IN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS.

like someone above said, if the tb was really as much of a failure as some of you like to think, then it would have been canned as soon as it was released

Verizon can't and never would admit a Failure on their / HTC part.

I have been through 1 NEW (the original one) 4 Refurbs and then they sent a Second NEW TB (and this is my wife's phone). It is still running the ORIGINAL software OK, and i am not going to upgrade the OS until GB comes out.

The phone for what i paid for it is a FAILURE and a POS all around. The Fascinate that she had was better, I shouldn't have sold it. I should have just taken the CHARGE as it's (the TB) replacement when i had the change.
So, if there are 1,000 TB owners registered here and 300 complain, it's still a High percentage. and if they sold 500,000 units and 30% are bad, well, you do the math.

 

[DILands]

Guys - I can complain as much as the next guy (and probably do) about this, and any other smartphone I have, or will have, until the end of time. Doesn't mean I would say "Don't BUY". I'm still waiting for the PERFECT (non-root) Android Phone. If anyone sees it, feel free to PM me. . .