Why is the Thunderbolt so successful.

[EgooEspada]

They are successful for 4 reasons.

1. Its just a really good phone. Very well made, and it doesn't feel like it will break in half if you sit on it or drop it.

2. Sense is a good UI. Its smooth, straight forward, and clean. Drastic change from Blur or iOS.

3. LTE. Being the first with Verizon 4G made it the leader without a single device sold.

4. Unlocked bootloader. Not that important to the general public, but it will sell itself (exclusively, at this point) to the Mod community.


Add all those things together, and its no surprise it is the biggest seller on the market right now.

I'd like to add that the large sales are probably coming from the mentality that its basically an Evo for Verizon. It's a wildly popular and we'll recognized phone that people would love to own. The Thunderbolt basically rides on that success and failure HTC branding,

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[Cloud36426]

I got mine for pretty much all the same reasons that the OP pointed out. Also just to say to hell with MOTO. When the response was to buy elsewhere that is exactly what I did. The TBOLT is a great device.

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[Vulcan1600]

Got my D1 the day they came out in Nov 2009 - came from a BB Storm. Never looked back. Like others are saying, the D1 has run its useful life. It opened my eyes to what a great OS android has and the ability to root your phone. The D1 was the first Motorola phone I owned since my bag phone in 1993. The TB came out and I was eligible to upgrade so I jumped on it before the tiered data pricing came out. Was it a wise choice, heck yes! It's everything I wish the D1 and D2 were. I'm very satisfied and don't think I'll mind owning this phone for the next 20 months (hey 19 months now). It's nice to see new devs making things for the TB too. I'm looking forward to seeing what Chevy has in store for us when he gets settled into his new home too.

 

[pc747]

Chevy has a tbolt now....hmmm interested to see what he does as well. I always liked his kernels on the d1.

 

[thedefectkid]

Came from my d1 and am simply in love with the phone its fast and is way better gald I switched and didnt hold out for the bionic

 

[twistdhood]

This is my first smartphone...but I did a lot of research for about a year and a half. I wasn't really interested in the iPhone or Droid at all until the N1. There was a rumor it was coming to VZW but that never happened. Then the dinc came along but I was holding out for a N1.
I followed android pretty religiously after that. But what really convinced me on the tbolt was my friends EVO. Make no mistake, they are very different but I was concerned with the size of the phone. After seeing how nice it was to use in the real world I was hooked on getting the tbolt. It's like a refined EVO where they stepped back and said "let's fix all the things we wish we had on the EVO."
Less mentioned is simultaneous voice and data which is pretty sweet to have. It should be a much larger selling point. You don't think about it until you need it.
4G did not influence me, more concerned me. You didn't quite know how VZW would execute it, but after having it for a little bit they are not failing to impress.
The worst part of the phone is the battery, make no mistake. It's not as bad as some say but it is difficult to go 10 hours unplugged. But coming from a phone is only charge once a week its a huge change no matter what you buy, so I think most of the battery "issues" have more to do with what you came from rather than what you expect.
Bottom line, my family bought three Tbolts and we love them. I bought it because my contract had been up for a while, I did my research and had a good idea of what I was getting. Not to speak bad of MOTO, but I love Sense. If you like MOTO, that's fine, but if I bought MOTO I would make sure I could root the device before I bought it. Which means is pick an older device, and with how quickly stuff gets outdated that really wasn't what I wanted.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt

 

[shneeko6]

I did the same exact thing. I love this phone and can certainly see why its outselling the vzw iphone. Its so smooth and fast, plus with the update, the battery life is great.

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums

What update? My battery life has been great since I got it, but that was the end of March. Was the update before then?

BTW, I LOVE the phone. It's fast, a big screen and the 4g is awesome when I have a use for it (I normally stay on 3g).

Theres a leak of the next update available. It improves battery life, reception, and a few other things as well. If you google it, you can find it. The cool thing is that you dont need to be rooted to apply the update.

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[DROID11]

I agree with the reasons pretty much everyone has stated. Former BB Storm, to the Tour (for a week or 2) user. Traded tour for the d1 straight up and fell in love with Android o.s. dabbled with rooting and modding and thought it was ok but didn't do much for me. Then I got the incredible which was an amazing phone minus me hating the what now seems like a tiny screen. Rooted it and enjoyed the cyanogenmod 7, but the tbolt came out and I lusted for the 4g speeds and the screen size. I jumped on board and I couldn't be happier. Battery life isn't great and varies drastically from day to day even with consistent use, but I'm getting the extended life battery so I will be happy. I'm still running stock until I get bored then its cm7 stable for me!

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[pc747]

I agree with the reasons pretty much everyone has stated. Former BB Storm, to the Tour (for a week or 2) user. Traded tour for the d1 straight up and fell in love with Android o.s. dabbled with rooting and modding and thought it was ok but didn't do much for me. Then I got the incredible which was an amazing phone minus me hating the what now seems like a tiny screen. Rooted it and enjoyed the cyanogenmod 7, but the tbolt came out and I lusted for the 4g speeds and the screen size. I jumped on board and I couldn't be happier. Battery life isn't great and varies drastically from day to day even with consistent use, but I'm getting the extended life battery so I will be happy. I'm still running stock until I get bored then its cm7 stable for me!

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The extended battery is worth the money.

 

[camaroguy41208]

They are successful for 4 reasons.

1. Its just a really good phone. Very well made, and it doesn't feel like it will break in half if you sit on it or drop it.

2. Sense is a good UI. Its smooth, straight forward, and clean. Drastic change from Blur or iOS.

3. LTE. Being the first with Verizon 4G made it the leader without a single device sold.

4. Unlocked bootloader. Not that important to the general public, but it will sell itself (exclusively, at this point) to the Mod community.


Add all those things together, and its no surprise it is the biggest seller on the market right now.

This^^^^

You've been........Thunderstruck!

 

[DROID11]

I agree with the reasons pretty much everyone has stated. Former BB Storm, to the Tour (for a week or 2) user. Traded tour for the d1 straight up and fell in love with Android o.s. dabbled with rooting and modding and thought it was ok but didn't do much for me. Then I got the incredible which was an amazing phone minus me hating the what now seems like a tiny screen. Rooted it and enjoyed the cyanogenmod 7, but the tbolt came out and I lusted for the 4g speeds and the screen size. I jumped on board and I couldn't be happier. Battery life isn't great and varies drastically from day to day even with consistent use, but I'm getting the extended life battery so I will be happy. I'm still running stock until I get bored then its cm7 stable for me!

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums

The extended battery is worth the money.

I am actually getting it for free from customer service. Its not in stock currently, but the rep told me she would contact me when it was in stock and send it out next-dated. I just called and explained my love for the phone but wish that I had a better battery life and that I wasn't thrilled about spending money considering my phone bill (3 smartphones on a 5 lines talk and text 1400 plan).

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[shneeko6]

I know if i called customer service, i could probably get the extended battery. Im just afraid that its going to really make the phone akward. I like this phones form factor a lot.

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[DROID11]

I had the same concern. I have read reviews of people liking it more than the standard back. It makes gripping the phone more comfortable which I could actually foresee. If you use a carrying case, though, the extended life isn't for you obviously

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[pc747]

The extended battery was uncomfortable for the first 10 minutes, now I feels weird holding a tbolt with out it.

 

[a320ca]

They are successful for 4 reasons.

1. Its just a really good phone. Very well made, and it doesn't feel like it will break in half if you sit on it or drop it.

2. Sense is a good UI. Its smooth, straight forward, and clean. Drastic change from Blur or iOS.

3. LTE. Being the first with Verizon 4G made it the leader without a single device sold.

4. Unlocked bootloader. Not that important to the general public, but it will sell itself (exclusively, at this point) to the Mod community.


Add all those things together, and its no surprise it is the biggest seller on the market right now.

Spot on to the above! Also, for me I left AT&T and the Atrix "2-3g" behind and am NEVER going back! No more poor muffled voice quality from Moto or lies and false promises from AT&T.