I'm back after a long hiatus

[nickdalzell]

I am not sure if anyone on this forum still remembers me but I'm an older member returning after a long time absent. I have been known in the past to rant about things I struggled with in early Android days, coming from Apple once iOS 7 came out. I have had many phones/tablets of all types since. Samsung, Google, Nexus, Apple, you name it. I've also been kinda old fashioned and my have the forums changed (I can't navigate them at all now haha)

Either way, I'm back to Android and loving every minute of it. It might be hard to be believe but my new favorite phone is....an HTC Thunderbolt! Yes, you heard that right! I seem to love what everyone else hated or hates. But I never got to experience classic HTC Sense and I'm really fascinated by it. The phone I got used on Amazon for $50. It still works, in 2022, despite not being VoLTE compliant I managed to get it to work anyway (don't ask it's a long process). I still have all my songs on local storage (don't do the cloud) and I still cling to SMS and don't need things like typing indicators or other stuff to complicate it. It's really the best Android phone I've ever owned, perfect size for my hands, and built like a brick. The battery lasts an entire day as well (why were there so many complaints about battery life? The Galaxy S3 couldn't last as long as this beast does)

I wish I had really experienced Sense back in its heyday (I did have a One M8 for a few months but they really ruined it with flat UI and BlinkFeed) but hey, better late than never, right?

 

[ocnbrze]

welcome back to AF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my first android device was the HTC Hero. my first stint into rooting was with the HTC Evo. and i agree i did love the sense ui. i do miss those days. rooting phones and checking out different custom roms made android so much fun to be on.

nowadays most phones (at least for me, since i like flagship phones) are a beast with technology. i am rocking the z fold 3 and i'm loving every minute of it. once Samsung incorporates a s-pen holder into the phone, i'll wait.

 

[nickdalzell]

I do the same things with this phone that I've done with all the others:

1. Listen to local music
2. take pictures
3. email
4. text messaging
5. quick searches/web browsing
6. PDF viewing
7. Ebooks
8. Notes
9. Calculator
10. Alarm clock
11. Classic mobile games before the In-app purchase/ad infestation. I got the original APKs for Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Plants Vs. Zombies to name a few backed up onto an SD card and NAS.

Since my needs are simple, and I don't believe in updates (sorry, iOS 7 and Android 'Lollipop' ruined it) and I have used the same apps since my first Android tablet, I can literally use the thing blind. I think it's funny though that I can pair true wireless buds to the Thunderbolt so I have modern features on a classic device. They really don't make phones my size anymore. Today they're all designed for basketball player hands and then they remove features I like and call it an 'upgrade'. To me, they're downgrades. Everyone considers the Thunderbolt a failure, but it works fine for me? I would have chosen a different HTC but I needed LTE compatibility via Verizon so this was the only option to give me classic Sense plus a nice Gingerbread aesthetic. Everything works 100% on it, too. Phone calls, SMS/MMS, it gets a decent signal and great battery life. Of course, it no longer connects to 1x/3G so all it gets is LTE or nothing so maybe it wasn't LTE that ruined battery in 2011?

 

[olbriar]

Welcome back to AF!!!!

 

[mikedt]

Welcome back Nick.

 

[nickdalzell]

Happy to see that Blob emojis live on here BTW.

I just read an old post from Funkylogic regarding me possibly using a G1 in ten years (from a post in 2015) well, he's partially right. Only it's an HTC Thunderbolt from 2011 in 2022. 11 years after release (had it since 2020). I wonder what he'd think now?

I've usually been into Samsung's TouchWiz (never grasped OneUI much, find it kinda ugly) but this is the first time I've tried Sense UI since the One M8 (the One M8 really downgraded it too). The lockscreen weather effects are really neat! Skeuo the way it should be, almost a bit WebOSy.

 

[Freshbutbaked]

I still have all my songs on local storage (don't do the cloud) and I still cling to SMS and don't need things like typing indicators or other stuff to complicate it. It's really the best Android phone I've ever owned, perfect size for my hands, and built like a brick. The battery lasts
View attachment 162792

Similar here! I'd never do the google nonsense all of which solely aims to collect more data about you. The masses don't realize.
You may want to consider cubot kingkong mini2, which I got now for the reason you mention: perfect size for a PHONE. Anything bigger, and people should carry a proper laptop instead.
It's also built like a brick. (my phones always fall down after some time)

 

[Hadron]

Happy to see that Blob emojis live on here BTW.

I just read an old post from Funkylogic regarding me possibly using a G1 in ten years (from a post in 2015) well, he's partially right. Only it's an HTC Thunderbolt from 2011 in 2022. 11 years after release (had it since 2020). I wonder what he'd think now?

I wish he could tell us. I'm afraid that we lost Funky in July 2015.

I've usually been into Samsung's TouchWiz (never grasped OneUI much, find it kinda ugly) but this is the first time I've tried Sense UI since the One M8 (the One M8 really downgraded it too). The lockscreen weather effects are really neat! Skeuo the way it should be, almost a bit WebOSy.

I had an even older Sense on my HTC Desire, but as that device only had 147 MB available storage in its stock configuration repartitioning was essential, which meant that Sense had to go.

I personally preferred the flatter Sense of the One M7, but by that point I'd been using AOSP ROMs for 3 years so it was more like what I was used to. And even then I replaced the launcher because Blinkfeed...

 

[nickdalzell]

TBH I'm surprised so many of the old members I knew from the last login (2015) still exist on the forum. I've kinda gotten used to most forums having short-lives on members who tend to leave quite often. Funky I last saw on Google+ right before they EOL'd it. He was still quite active there.

I get people who look at me like I got two heads whenever I say all my music is on the phone, while they got 256GB iPhone X's with nothing but ad-infested Pandora on them. At work, where there is almost no signal on any carrier, the boss's phone is always cutting in and out of playback--which would drive me nuts. When I go out hiking, there's a lot of no-signal areas and I prefer my music keep playing. Plus, with the deaths of Samsung Milk Music, and Google Play Music, plus many songs eventually disappearing due to licensing issues, I'd rather buy my stuff. I still do physical media as well, and don't have even a Google Account on this Thunderbolt. I did, but it reduced it to its knees and ran out of storage real quick. All the Google apps, what little exist, such as Play Music (still works locally) and Chrome/Maps/YouTube work fine without an account anyway and without support for the Assistant there's nothing really depending on a Google account on this phone. I only have my email set up for Hotmail and that's the only thing syncing.

I still prefer skeuo over flat so there's very little chance short of them EOLing LTE to give me any reason to upgrade. I got a few other phones I've collected such as many classic Samsungs and some newer phones like the S20 FE but modern phones really don't fit me at all. I can't stand gesture navigation, I can't stand huge screens (I'm not Zack Morris!), and I can't stand modern UI design. It feels so backwards given I was around when Flat UI was all a computer could do. Palm OS was flat, DOS was flat, Windows 1.x, CP/M, DeskMate, VisiON, and the like were all flat. To me, skeuo will always be the future and eventually holographic UI but we just had to revisit the 80s again. If only we could've revisited the better parts of the 80s like music, movies, or TV. Skeuo makes a phone unique, fun to use, and is much easier on my eyes. It brings me back to a good time in my life (2010-11 were great years for me). The phone having a grippy back, built like a tank, having stuff like a removable battery, and being the right size are just bonus points. Plus, I like when phones had names over confusing acronyms that make little sense, like Galaxy A02s, A12, A57, etc. The number doesn't even represent the screen size. Let's have creativity back, variety back, Be different, not the same, etc.

I can't look at the Thunderbolt and feel it's dated at all. In fact, it feels more 'modern' than any phone out there. I wish it had a sliding keyboard but AFAIK there were no classic HTC phones of that era made for LTE on Verizon with a sliding keyboard.

FYI Verizon in Kentucky still has 1x/3g as my S4 mini has defaulted to them at work, but due possibly to my inner hacker the Thunderbolt won't connect to any network other than LTE. In fact, if you go into the status section of settings, it just shows LTE and not LTE/1x as it would out the factory. I'm using a Straight Talk SIM in it as well. Early 2020 it had issues making phone calls (we are sorry, but we were unable to authenticate your phone) and messages (message failed, cause 2) but a call to Straight Talk and a PRL update seemed to have fixed it (although I argued for half an hour because they thought I had an iPhone, and kept telling me to reset network settings, an option that does not exist in Android)

 

[Unforgiven]

Welcome back Nick.

Funky I last saw on Google+ right before they EOL'd it.

Sadly funky passed away a few years ago. We've lost a few others along the way as well.

 

[nickdalzell]

Oh really? Wow. Never knew that.

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, I'm afraid that thread I linked was his obituary here

 

[nickdalzell]

On a lighter note, I noticed I'm not the only one on this forum who still clings to the old Android days. There's another thread or two regarding an S4 and old LG Volt.

This is perhaps the only forum where I don't get roasted by posts claiming 'ya gonna get hacked using something that old!' or labeled a troll because who in their right mind prefers an HTC Thunderbolt today?

Well, I've always been unique in that regard. I haven't been doing anything today that I wasn't doing on my first smartphone--an iPhone 3GS. Well, I can do LTE now, and VoLTE is being accomplished via a technicality, but hey at least I can keep what I love (Android 2.3, with all its bugginess, remains my favorite version,, and the Thunderbolt, despite running version 4.0, still has the 2.3 aesthetic.)

I can still pair true wireless buds to it, connect to Bluetooth in my car to play music, use the AppRadio APK in my car to get in-dash navigation going (aftermarket head unit), and navigate via Google Maps if I so prefer. At work, I play Kmart muzak via the video player with a speaker connected to the headphone jack, using a volume booster APK. (downloaded YouTube videos of old Kmart music/in-store announcements).

I use a cheap RCA Voyager III tablet to shop and pay via apps such as Walmart or Kroger Pay. I have other 'classic' tablets also acquired via Amazon like the original Galaxy Note 10.1, (the 3G still works ironically--even though it constantly receives texts claiming the end is near since last year), Tab 2 10.1, my first Samsung tablet (and intro to TouchWiz), Galaxy Note 8.0 (2013) (with LTE), Tab 2 7.0 (bring to parks to read books), and so on. I actually bought two Thunderbolts, since the first one had a broken or loose USB port meaning it couldn't charge, so it's now a parts unit. There are still Thunderbolts sold used on Amazon. My current one looked brand new, not a scratch on it, very little if any wear (some dust under the screen glass).

I had to change the APN, use a BYOP Straight Talk Verizon-based SIM, and lie to the rep about what model of phone it was to activate it (the website refused the IMEI), and fooled the network by placing it into a modern phone so it'd provision then swap back to the HTC. But it's been working fine other than that bug I had in Spring 2020 where it had data but wouldn't send messages or make calls (but received both). A phone call to tech support resolved it and it's been fine since.

 

[Davdi]

I'vr still got my old HTC M9 on Android 7 and an Infocus IN610 on Jellybean, both have batteries that last at least a day. Oh, and welcome back!.

 

[Hadron]

An M9 that's still working? Wow! My daughter had one, it failed, replaced it with the same, failed, wouldn't look at HTC again.

Though my M7 does still work (also the only Android 7 device I've ever owned since I put Lineage on it), and my wife's HTC 10 had the longest live as a daily driver of any phone in the family.

Actually my original Desire also works. But as that only does 2G/3G it is a bit limited for me these days.

 

[nickdalzell]

We still got 3G and you have to use a BYOP MVNO SIM to activate since ATT has said 'screw you' to everyone, but obviously they never shut it down. I still have a Galaxy Note 10.1 running an active SIM on it. It's on Wifi mainly but if my internet drops it auto-switches to H+ and allows videos from YouTube to still play. Everything works on it as well, but I had to disable text notifications (it actually is a smartphone in tablet clothing) due to the 'your device is no longer compatible UPGRADE NOW! or else!' texts coming in every day, and they make the screen light up and it never turns off so it drains the battery. It stopped respecting the screen timeout setting about a year or so ago.

I also got a Pantech Breakout (Android 2.3 Gingerbread) as a home phone, still working as well (also 4G LTE Verizon).

If the phone is took care of it should last so long as the network it depends on remains compatible. The threat of shutting down due to VoLTE was a myth at best, since the Thunderbolt works anyway. I can still use it as a phone or messaging device, and internet continues to work. I got consipiracy theories as to why they wanted everyone to upgrade to modern hardware in 2020 that go as far as making sure everyone can be data mined/tracked to running the various Covid Passport apps, but I dunno what's true anymore...Just that I find it a bit of a red flag that a modern flip phone that doesn't even run Android or Google has support for the Google Assistant and 'Hey Google'.

 

[Hadron]

We still have 3G here, because it's not due to be shut down for another couple of years in the UK.

Personally I've no time for conspiracy theories, not least because keeping a large scale conspiracy secret requires a greater degree of competence than most organisations (public or private) can plausibly manage. But a device doesn't need to run Android to support Assistant: when you get down to it it really only needs a data connection and the ability to recognise one phrase (which can easily be hard-coded).

 

[nickdalzell]

My point was that flip phones are not smartphones, and are oftentimes preferred by those caring about privacy and not being data-mined. But all the modern flip phones have Google tracking built in, and there's no need for that. Makes one wonder why they want to get rid of all the older phones anyway. It's not about VoLTE or my Thunderbolt would have already ceased to function/SIM been hotlined.

They also picked originally 2020 as the cut-off date until more recently delaying it to February, 2022. Why 2020 of all years? It's just a lot of red flags. Why cut folks off of older, more private phones? Obviously 3G still works, and then there's the whole mess about the AT&T Whitelist that doesn't even allow every VoLTE phone on their network for weird reasons.

Don't you folks in the UK also got active 2G in some places?

 

[mikedt]

Don't you folks in the UK also got active 2G in some places?

I did read that why some carriers are still maintaining 2G, but shutting down 3G, is not because of phones. It's because of many legacy things in service that might need telemetry and/or other data access, e.g. ATMs, EPOS terminals, vending machines, utility meters, remote substations, vehicle tracking, etc, these usually don't need much bandwidth. And it's not just the UK.

 

[nickdalzell]

I mean the US was the ones doing the whole 3G shutdown, but there's tons of threads online about the UK still having 2G as well as 3G and no plants to shutter those. But I don't live there and don't plan on visiting so I'm only able to trust what I am reading.