Why I chose the TB and why I am still happy with it, despite issues.

[Vance]

Given that it is natural for any discussion forum to trend toward the negative about a product, I wanted to point out my reasons for getting a TB over the other options.

I should note that I bought my TB just recently, so I was fully aware of the battery issues and 4G issues, and was not blindsided by them (which I can imagine pissed a lot of you off). These negatives factored into my decision, and I still bought it over the DINC2, Charge, DX2 and even the elusive Bionic superphone. Here were my reasons:

1. Build quality. HTC just makes great hardware. My wife and daughter have DINC's, which have been great. The heft, the balance, the "fit and finish", all terrific.

2. I don't want physical buttons. Two of my other choices, the Charge and DX2 come with hardware buttons, not capacitive. I know it is a personal preference, but I prefer capacitive.

3. RAM. The extra RAM that comes in the TB was a MAJOR selling point. Coming from the cramped D1, I may be prejudiced toward more RAM, and maybe it is a placebo effect, but I just think it all moves more smoothly and will handle multiple tasks better.

4. Dual core not fully optimized. I decided that the extra RAM was more important than the dual core in the DX2 . . . for now. Maybe in a year or more when the firmware and apps are optimized for dual core it will be a deciding factor.

5. Sense UI over other skins. While I immediately put Launcher Pro on my TB, all of the "innards" of the UI are still going to be visible and if I can't have vanilla Android, I prefer Sense to the other two skins.

6. Battery life manageable. I did enough reading to know that with a few adjustments (such as the Blockbuster issue), I would likely be able to make the battery workable for me.

So, even with the known issues (including the reboot, of which I have luckily only had a few, and expect this to get fixed anyway), I could not be happier with my TB. I am sure I made the right choice for this time and place. Anyone else satisfied overall?

 

[mauiblue]

More RAM or Dual Core? That was the question I had coming into comparing the new 4G phones that are out. In the end, I would want to have dual core as that seems like the feature that will win me over. RAM (and more of it), dual core, and a larger screen will push me over the edge when shopping for my next upgrade.

 

[TN8Shooter]

Given that it is natural for any discussion forum to trend toward the negative about a product, I wanted to point out my reasons for getting a TB over the other options.

I should note that I bought my TB just recently, so I was fully aware of the battery issues and 4G issues, and was not blindsided by them (which I can imagine pissed a lot of you off). These negatives factored into my decision, and I still bought it over the DINC2, Charge, DX2 and even the elusive Bionic superphone. Here were my reasons:

1. Build quality. HTC just makes great hardware. My wife and daughter have DINC's, which have been great. The heft, the balance, the "fit and finish", all terrific.

2. I don't want physical buttons. Two of my other choices, the Charge and DX2 come with hardware buttons, not capacitive. I know it is a personal preference, but I prefer capacitive.

3. RAM. The extra RAM that comes in the TB was a MAJOR selling point. Coming from the cramped D1, I may be prejudiced toward more RAM, and maybe it is a placebo effect, but I just think it all moves more smoothly and will handle multiple tasks better.

4. Dual core not fully optimized. I decided that the extra RAM was more important than the dual core in the DX2 . . . for now. Maybe in a year or more when the firmware and apps are optimized for dual core it will be a deciding factor.

5. Sense UI over other skins. While I immediately put Launcher Pro on my TB, all of the "innards" of the UI are still going to be visible and if I can't have vanilla Android, I prefer Sense to the other two skins.

6. Battery life manageable. I did enough reading to know that with a few adjustments (such as the Blockbuster issue), I would likely be able to make the battery workable for me.

So, even with the known issues (including the reboot, of which I have luckily only had a few, and expect this to get fixed anyway), I could not be happier with my TB. I am sure I made the right choice for this time and place. Anyone else satisfied overall?

I too am extremely happy with my TB. I took the plunge and rooted the phone a while back and cannot believe howstable and fast it is. I am by no means a data hog, but I have not had any of the problems mentioned in the forums. No light leakage, no battery issues, no reboots, and I find the build quality on par with some of the best phones on the market. Kudos to HTC!

 

[aliasneo07]

Well, I too was aware of the battery issues etc when I purchased it. But i too felt that it was the best smartphone on verizon at the time. Am I satisfied overall? No. I will be satisfied when they fix the rebooting issue, and someone releases a hard case for the extended battery. A holster would be nice too.

I'm pretty patient with new technology. Verizon's first 4G phone...I knew there would be bugs. I don't have 4G where I live anyway, but where I work in Washington, DC, I do. So, it's a plus. But not a must at the moment.

This rebooting issue is really pissing me off, and I think its ridiculous that there is no hard case for the extended battery this long after release. Give me those two things and I'm satisfied.

Gps buggy...battery sucks...waiting for skype...4G iffy...I can wait those out. But give me proper protection and make sure my phone doesn't constantly reboot, please.

 

[Shel]

I've had my Thunderbolt for about a month.

I purchased it before a trip to Dallas (I'm in So. Cal), and figured I'd use the trip to give the phone a good test, and if I didn't like it, I'd return it when I returned home 8 days later.

Still have the phone, and I really love it!

I've had a G1 and the original Droid, now in my wife's possession.

The screen size on the TB is wonderful! Yeah, the TB is a little large, but it's thin enough that I can either slip it into my front pocket, or I have the Seidio hard case and holster, which works fine for me.

Love the speed of the phone! I play with my wife's Droid on occassion, and even though it has very few apps on it (She isn't into Androids, she's waiting for the next iPhone, so she doesn't really download and install every new app/widget that comes out, like I tend to), the Droid will still freeze, or the screen will show wallpaper with no icons and no widgets for about 5-10 seconds! It is REALLY annoying.

That does NOT happen with the TB! I don't know if it's more ram (I'm sure a big factor), or newer OS, or what, but the TB is smooth, and almost never hangs!

I haven't had the reboot problem on mine. Maybe I"m just lucky, but before and after the update, no reboot... once in a while, I'll see the HTC screen for about 1 second, then it immediately returns to my Home page. This isn't a reboot... not sure what it is, and it happens VERY infrequently, but the phone is NOT turning off, then back on.

Battery life: Yeah, I have to be aware of the battery life. I'm in Los Angeles, where we practically live in our cars, so I stick it on a charger when I'm in the car, and battery life has been more then adequet.

When I went to Disneyland, and didn't have access to a plug, I turned 4G off, and managed to go from 8am until midnight, and our drive home, before the battery was at 5%. By that time, I could and did plug it in to a charger! So... yea, I was without 4G at Disneyland, but the phone lasted all day... that's fine with me!

Solid build quality which feels good in your hand.

Anyways... kind of a long post, but I really love the Thunderbolt! Very happy with it.

 

[BetaMan]

I'm coming from the Incredible, which was/is a great phone, but I LOVE THIS ONE TOO! It does have a few issues, but overall, it's the best phone out there currently! I was in a Verizon store today to swap a phone for my son and played with the new SamDUNG "Charge". Screen was nice but it was not a better phone than the Bolt by far. Plus, it's a SamDUNG! Meaning, I've had SamDUNG phones before and they NEVER live up to the HIPE! AND Samsung RARELY releases any updates after the phone comes out! So, unless you root and change the ROM, you have to live with the phone AS IS!

No thanks. I love my TBolt and am happy with it.

Be glad when Netflix works on it WITHOUT having to use a beta Gingerbread ROM to make it work...

 

[Vance]

I tend to measure a phone not by my wishlist (every phone would fall short), or even by is negative issues, but against the other phones that are legitimate competitors for my purchasing dollar. So far, there is not another phone on Verizon that I would trade it for, straight up, right now, knowing all of the issues. Ultimately, that is the only determining factor over whether I believe I made the right decision.

 

[Whatstreet]

I tend to measure a phone not by my wishlist (every phone would fall short), or even by is negative issues, but against the other phones that are legitimate competitors for my purchasing dollar. So far, there is not another phone on Verizon that I would trade it for, straight up, right now, knowing all of the issues. Ultimately, that is the only determining factor over whether I believe I made the right decision.

Yes, I agree that the judgements should be made relative to a available products. Everyone complains about smart phone battery life no matter what phone they have.