Thunderbolt or wait?

[element192]

Hey everyone,

I'm wondering what most people out there are doing right now. I've got my wife's account eligible for an upgrade now and mine is in June. I'm on a D1 now but I've been anxiously waiting for the 4G phones. I know there are a lot of new models around the corner but I'm wondering if I should get the Thunderbolt now to "lock in" the unlimited $30/month 4G plan??? There are some rumors that this will disappear once the wave of new phones come out.

I also really like the Thunderbolt now that the kernel source was released by HTC because I'm very interested in being able to root my phone (I've had root on my D1 for a long time now, it's what has kept me on the phone this long...). I know most people knock the Thunderbolt because it was kind of rushed to the market so it isn't as perfect as it could be (ie: battery life).

So what does everyone think, wait for dual core and all the other stuff or jump on the Thunderbolt now?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dezymond]

Have you gone to the store and actually tried to demo the TB? That's the best thing I can recommend for you. Yes the TB can be rooted, but I'm sure root will come within later phones as well.

I say if you can be patient and wait that's what I would do.

 

[kodiak799]

Pretty much all phones have been rooted. Not the case with unlocked bootloaders, but for most people all you need is root to remove some bloatware and maybe a little wireless tether. Overclocking really isn't needed with the newer processors, especially dual cores. IMO a lot of the bells and whistles with the custom roms tend to be rather unnecessary and buggy.

As for losing "unlimited" 4G, don't let people scare you into rushing into a phone you don't really want. These same people were whining for months and spewing all kinds of VZW hate about how they were going to gouge us. VZW isn't going to change the plan overnight under cover of darkness - they've said "mid-summer" a while back and most recently "later in the year" as far as tiered plans.

The TBolt is a pretty good phone, as the above poster said test it out.

 

[element192]

Thanks for your thoughts. I've actually not played with it yet, I'm going tonight to check it out, but I've messed around with my friend's HTC Inspire and thought it was really nice. I really don't know what phone will be worth waiting for in the next few months? Is the Bionic really going to be that much better? I generally haven't been a fan of the Samsung phones (they feel plastic-y and cheap to me) and who knows about LG. But I guess I will need to go see it in person.

As for the rooting, being able to put custom ROM's on is huge for me. It just adds another layer of customization and can continuously make your phone feel new again. Just my thought.

Thanks everyone.

 

[yorxs]

As an unhappy Thunderbolt owner, I would strongly caution you. My OG Droid could go 2 days without charging, but my TB has yet to make it through an 8 hour work day. I cannot tell you how annoying it is to have to have GPS services always disabled becuase you are trying to milk your battery.

4 of use at my company have TBs and all of us agree the battery like is not only unaceptable its not even close.

BTW, 4g is kind of over rated most places in town the download speed is unimpressive it usually hits 3megabits a second which just doesn't get me all that excited. I have seen it hit as high as 12 but it is unusual.

 

[element192]

As an unhappy Thunderbolt owner, I would strongly caution you. My OG Droid could go 2 days without charging, but my TB has yet to make it through an 8 hour work day. I cannot tell you how annoying it is to have to have GPS services always disabled becuase you are trying to milk your battery.

4 of use at my company have TBs and all of us agree the battery like is not only unaceptable its not even close.

Thanks for the warning, I've heard the battery life can be pretty terrible. I have a question though, have you rooted the phone? I've read (on this forum) that if you install SetCPU and reduce the usage during the "screen off" time it drastically improves battery life. Obviously I don't know for sure, but that's what I've read.

 

[dezymond]

Thanks for your thoughts. I've actually not played with it yet, I'm going tonight to check it out, but I've messed around with my friend's HTC Inspire and thought it was really nice. I really don't know what phone will be worth waiting for in the next few months? Is the Bionic really going to be that much better? I generally haven't been a fan of the Samsung phones (they feel plastic-y and cheap to me) and who knows about LG. But I guess I will need to go see it in person.

As for the rooting, being able to put custom ROM's on is huge for me. It just adds another layer of customization and can continuously make your phone feel new again. Just my thought.

Thanks everyone.

Yup that's the best advice I can give, go to the store and demo the phone yourself.

It is helpful to get some input from owners of the phone, but we all use our phones differently as well. I know a couple of my friends with their Android phones that do alot of gaming, I personally don't play too many games on my phone so my battery lasts much longer. I also use my phone as a GPS compared to others who usually have a stand-alone unit or a built in gps in their cars.

I know you can't put the phone in your pocket or anything without looking ridiculous with that string attached to the back of the unit, but try to use it as best as you would if you were to own one.

As for comparing it to future phones not released, all I can say is, even though it looks better on paper, how is it going to be when it's actually released?

 

[Beka27]

I also hope you are considering what phone your wife will be interested in since this will affect her as well. She might be interested in the new wave of 3g phones. Would you only use the TB for a few months and then pass it to her, does she even want the TB?

From a woman's perspective... )

(from Beka's DX)

 

[element192]

I also hope you are considering what phone your wife will be interested in since this will affect her as well. She might be interested in the new wave of 3g phones. Would you only use the TB for a few months and then pass it to her, does she even want the TB?

From a woman's perspective... )

We would just be trading upgrades if I were to get the TB now. She's been on a super basic flip phone for years and doesn't even know if she wants a smartphone at all. But since my upgrade is in June she wouldn't mind waiting until then, she's in no hurry.

 

[Beka27]

Very good! Just checkin'! My personal opinion... Wait until there are more avail so you can actually do side by side comparisons. Don't jump on the TB just because it's "first"...

(from Beka's DX)

 

[czerdrill]

Yeah don't let everyone who screams "unlocked bootloader FTW!!!" influence your decision. When it comes down to it you need a phone that works and can last you longer than 5 hours when you're not near a charger. I would definitely say wait.

 

[element192]

Actually the main reason I'd jump on it is because of the unlimited plan that everybody keeps saying will be temporary... but hopefully they will give some heads up before switching to tiered plans.

 

[Idle_Chatter]

The Thunderbolt is a great phone - if you either don't use it much, or you carry an extra battery. Among our family, we've got the Motorola Droid, Droid X, and just tried the Thunderbolt. During a weekend in NYC, with access to 4G, using the Thunderbolt for occasional navigation to get around, text to keep in touch, and web to check out possible sites to visit, the Thunderbolt didn't last the whole day (Droid X did much better, but Google maps strains any battery). My guess is that the Thunderbolt lasted about six hours. Mid-afternoon we had to return to the hotel to give it a charge so it would get through the evening. The following week it was returned. I'm not ready to give up on it, but I'd like for someone to get the battery to last longer during 4G and Google maps use first.

 

[element192]

What concerns me, is that who says the next generation of 4G phones will have improved battery life? Any of the 4.3" phones are aiming to be slim, so how great will those batteries be?