To buy or not to buy: A prospective BlunderDolter

[dannar]

TLDR? I'm on the fence about picking up a TB. Is it the best choice out there due to the possibility of future phones getting tougher with locked bootloaders? Is the community sufficient enough to sustain custom usage of this phone for years down the road (like the OG droid)? After its rooted and ROM'd does this thing get enough mileage out of its battery?


Meat and Potatoes:


So there I was, ready to choose a cell phone provider and get a nifty phone. My friends all used picture texting, and I was with Cingular(AT&T) on some dinosaur plan. I rather liked my one buddy's LG Envy, because he was just...doing so much with it for a phone in my opinion. So, May 2009 rolls around and I walk into the Verizon store (all my buds were on big red) to get myself up to date. What I ended up with was a LG Voyager which I think I payed 70 bucks or so for (post rebate) on a talk and text plan – no interwebz. I'm rather sure they discontinued selling that phone about a month or so later. Way to stay up to date, yeah?


Two years and one contract later, I find myself horribly inadequate in terms of phone functionality. My significant other went from an iPhone 3GS to a 4, and I'm incredibly envious of all the functionality she has...from gaming to GPS service and back again. I find myself wanting a smart phone. I've been following the release of the thunderbolt since Feburary, and I still keep reading about it after its release in March. I will stick to Verizon as I have a nice discount through my employer, and of the verizon phones on the market no or in the near future, the TB seems like the best choice.


I give props to Apple's phone, but if anything I'm somewhat anti-mac. I love the customization ability of andriod; rooting is certainly in the cards for me. I used to build my own computers; I figure it's something I can handle, right? I have no love for bloatware, and we all know the TB could use a leg up in terms of battery life. I hope rooting and ROMs are my answer to this. Even so, I still am considering the extended battery. I am very turned off by how much a brick the TB becomes with it in. Perhaps there's something better than a 1400mAh battery out there that fits in the existing slot without requiring an extended backplate.


With all the talk about locked bootloaders (ala moto) being the wave of the future, we're not sure if this is one of the last great phones we can seriously tinker with. As such, I hope that there's an active and mature community to back it up for some time. It's at least two years until the upgrade train visits again, and even when it does, I hope to keep my prospective TB chugging long after.


You folks would be once such litmus test of community friendliness and aptitude. If you made it this far, I thank you, and I hope you've got some nuggets of wisdom for me to devour. I've been researching this for awhile, and this is my first time trying to provoke some discourse. Hoping it actually happens!


- D

[Hawaiian Princess]

Welcome to the forum! Well like many other phones out there, they each have its own issues. I couldn't been happier with my Droid 2 Global, yes battery was an issue in the beginning but after some tweeks here and there, customizing it to my needs, I'm enjoying it. U really don't have to root and add new ROMs to make it a great phone but if u like customizing then yes root will give u an edge.
Good luck in ur findings and I'm sure whatever phone u decide on, I'm sure it'll be sell worth it.

sent from my Hawaiian Xoom...ALOHA