Nexus vs Thunderbolt comparison

[CharlzO]

I posted this over in the Thunderbolt forums, but figured I would also link it here, for anyone that is thinking about switching to the Nexus, or anyone comparing them side by side for purchase.

http://androidforums.com/htc-thunderbolt/465728-my-tbolt-vs-gnex-comparison.html#post3670284

About as real-world a review as I can put. Both devices for me, have been completely trouble-free in every aspect since day one (granted the GNex is only a few days old, but still..). So, take my words with a grain of virtual salt, in that people with issues with their phones, might be swayed because of those options and that's ok too. Also, I'm comparing stock v stock. Never rooted either phone, don't really intend to start.

(short version, if you're on a rooted Bolt, you're probably not going to be too inclined to switch over unless you just have to have the new toy on the block)

 

[jcnyc]

I feel the same way. I have a rooted tbolt on a sense 3.5 rom and my battery life has skyrocketed since every rom i put on it before. Not sure if it's the rom, the radio, or maybe the tbolt just decided to treat me well but I can get 15-20 hours on light-moderate use out of it now which is all you need now. When I got it however, the battery was completely abysmal.

My girlfriend got a nexus yesterday and I set it up/played with it. While the phone and OS are both amazing, i need a few more days to conclude on the battery and I'm not a big fan on the length of the phone (lots of wasted space). Besides, cm9 should make its way o the public in a month or two so unless my gf wants to switch with me, not gonna drop 700 on this phone.

 

[BzB]

i have a stock nexus and a rooted thunderbolt. in my opinion the nexus is a better phone than my rooted tb (bamf 1.10 with imo's kernel). sense is famous for smoothing out the stock android os, but in this case i'd say ics on the nexus is smoother than sense on my oc'd tb. it's not leaps and bounds at this point, but it's apparent. as ics and apps get more optimized i think the gap will continue to grow.

the nexus is longer, but noticeably thinner and seems like a ton lighter. did i say it feels much lighter? because of that the added size of the nexus is really offset since it's so much lighter. no problem in my pocket.

battery life on my rooted tb is greatly improved over stock. this is my 3rd day with the nexus and after half a day of normal use (not setting it up and playing around) i'd say my stock nexus is getting pretty much the same battery life as my rooted tb. i think battery life on the nexus is pretty good especially stock and should last me all day into the evening hours.

all that said, i wanted a phone that came standard with ics, had the hardware to run it without hiccups and would receive good developer support and fast updates for a while to come.

 

[efdisaster]

my girlfriend has a TB (bamf 1.10 with that 3++ kernel) and it runs fairly well, but my Nexus is a little more smooth. She refuses to work with anything but that brick of an extended battery, but I think her battery life is actually ok... the signal, however, is another story. My Nexus (was stock rooted, now running Fab's rom) consistently gets twice or thrice the speed on speedtest results (especially on download, though upload usually is a few Mbs/s better as well) when we ran them one after another while sitting next to one another... perhaps there's a new radio for her phone that I should check out.