HTC Thunderbolt Release Date

[leehblanc]

It will work over 3G as well.

The technology to talk and surf at the same time on a 3g CDMA network does not exist. If it did, this capability would be a selling point for all of the existing smartphones and upcoming ones...dx2, etc... It is only (lightly) mentioned with 4g phone's. Hence, a 3g and 4g network is required to do this. 3g doesnt have the bandwidth to do both at the same time.

It does exist, and it's called SVDO. Don't believe me? How about Engadget?

HTC Thunderbolt might be getting simultaneous voice and data on 3G after all -- Engadget

New lease on life: 3GPP2 publishes CDMA2000 1X Advanced spec -- Engadget Mobile

tl;dr "Perhaps more interestingly, the CDG is talking up simultaneous 1X Voice and EV-DO data -- SVDO"

 

[UNC]

Yes I know what it is but is it just super good quality or what

Technically speaking since it's voice over data it could result in unlimited minutes at a much lower cost. (just the cost of a data plan) This would likely be many years in the future though (3G still isn't everywhere yet) and I doubt Verizon would actually want to reduce any prices until they have to. Call quality should improve too...

Call quality will be worse not better when using voice and data over 3g. The reason AT&T drops calls is due to the GSM network being taxed by both.

Your download speed will be slower when on the phone, and your voice quality will suffer when downloading.

When you use 4g for data, and CDMA for voice, the call quality will remain untouched.

 

[vzwuser76]

Yes I know what it is but is it just super good quality or what

Technically speaking since it's voice over data it could result in unlimited minutes at a much lower cost. (just the cost of a data plan) This would likely be many years in the future though (3G still isn't everywhere yet) and I doubt Verizon would actually want to reduce any prices until they have to. Call quality should improve too...

Call quality will be worse not better when using voice and data over 3g. The reason AT&T drops calls is due to the GSM network being taxed by both.

Your download speed will be slower when on the phone, and your voice quality will suffer when downloading.

When you use 4g for data, and CDMA for voice, the call quality will remain untouched.

I had to register cause this is starting to bother me. You guys are confusing different things.

First, simultaneous voice and data over 3G is possible (SVDO as someone already stated). SVDO basically runs the voice on 1X and data on EVDO. The drawback is, according to black_man_x, is the data is very slow which is why Verizon isn't marketing it. The reason no other phones have it is because the chip that makes use of SVDO is so far only available on the Tbolt. No one has said if they plan to put it in any future phones.

Second, for the time being, voice on the Tbolt will be handled by CDMA as it has a large coverage footprint. Basically this phone is like any other phone currently on Verizon's network. It can do voice on 1X/ 3G EVDO, data on 1X/ 3G EVDO, PLUS it will also be able to do data on 4G LTE.

Finally, Voice Over LTE (VOLTE) is what Verizon wants to move to, as they said at MWC. They have done a few test calls, but have said that they do not expect to implement it until 2012 when the 4G coverage is more widespread. The benefits of VOLTE is basically doing away with minutes on rate plans. I'm assuming we will only be paying for a data allotment (text will be bundled in with it as it SHOULD be now). With the higher bandwidth call quality should be improved, and using the 700MHz carrier, towers should be able to cover a larger area with better building penetration (vs. the 850 & 1900MHz bands they are using now). I don't see them getting rid of CDMA voice until 2013 or later (after their entire network has been updated to LTE).

Hope tihs helps with the confusion.

 

[rage151]

It will work over 3G as well.

The technology to talk and surf at the same time on a 3g CDMA network does not exist. If it did, this capability would be a selling point for all of the existing smartphones and upcoming ones...dx2, etc... It is only (lightly) mentioned with 4g phone's. Hence, a 3g and 4g network is required to do this. 3g doesnt have the bandwidth to do both at the same time.

It does exist, and it's called SVDO. Don't believe me? How about Engadget?

HTC Thunderbolt might be getting simultaneous voice and data on 3G after all -- Engadget

New lease on life: 3GPP2 publishes CDMA2000 1X Advanced spec -- Engadget Mobile

tl;dr "Perhaps more interestingly, the CDG is talking up simultaneous 1X Voice and EV-DO data -- SVDO"

Good stuff right there! I do not frequent Engadget very much and missed those articles. Looks like it has potential! Nothing definitive as the the poster I quoted implied.

 

[champaned_out]

as long as verizon allows pre-orders for TB when it arrives ill be happy... at this point ive given up hope for a release date... im just happy this phone will be "coming soon"

 

[guitarchris123]

Man, haven't checked in here in a while...still not really any new, worthwhile, or confirmed information yet I see besides a couple screen shots. Bummer, I expected to at least have an announcement by now. I read in another forum that a VZW rep said the gag order has been removed, has anyone called their store recently to find out if they are talking about the TB or giving a date yet? I'm going to call both my BB and VZW store tomorrow to see if they have any "real" info yet.

Possible release dates still: (none "confirmed" or "hard")
Feb. 20, 21, 24, 28, early March? (not likely), or anytime in between if BB/VZW get them in stock.
I think a lot of people have been getting conflicting dates recently because it is possible that shipments will trickle in at different times for different stores (big vs. little) and cities (have LTE yet?), and depending on whether a BB or VZW store. Either that, or the actual date keeps changing for various reasons and only certain insiders have access to the most current information, and people further down the chain still have old information.

Possible reasons for "delay" still: (I used quotes since technically there has been no "official" announcement from VZW yet to be delayed)
-iPhone (having some time to itself without competition vs. 14-day return window & fear of exchanges)
-Skype (removing it, as evidenced by reference being removed from HTC site vs. waiting to get it working for release)
-LTE/3G handoff issue (as earlier mentioned by blackmanx)
-Samsung Stealth/LTE Phone (read on some random blog it could have something to do with it)
-Xoom (don't want simultaneous product launch on same day, not enough CSRs on hand)
-Shortage of supply (don't want another problem like with the Incredible release, not enough ready to get around to all stores yet)
-etc...did I miss any?
-some combination of the above

I hope Best Buy will know a date one way or the other on Sunday when their advertisement goes effective. The stores will have to have gotten them on the trucks by tomorrow to go on sale Sunday (no deliveries that day), but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

Verizon should really speak up and let us know the deal with all the leaked "dates," Twitter and Facebook teasers, BB and VZW screen shots, advertisements, dummy units, accessories, commercials, hands-on reviews, etc. showing up everywhere. The communication has been quite poor regarding this phone, needless to say.
VZW corporate executives are probably just sitting in their cushy offices video chatting on Skype and surfing the internet and downloading at LTE speeds on their TBs laughing at all of us geeks and idiots obsessing over a phone release and generating a huge amount of free marketing for them across multiple blogs and forums. You're welcome, jerks, now give me my phone!

 

[champaned_out]

^
stop calling best buy for info... they have already proved over and over again that they know nothing about anything... i honestly wouldnt believe BB even if their official website had a release date.... their credibility went down the toilet when they told consumers that it was dropping on the 14th...

i even had this idiot girl tell me it was still on for the 14th when i called in the night before... when she verified that it was still releasing on the 14th.. thats when i told her all your other best buy stores have told me its been delayed, are you guys a special store? she put me on hold for one minute.. came back and told me its been delayed and its "TBA"

 

[dbgoolsby]

Technically speaking since it's voice over data it could result in unlimited minutes at a much lower cost. (just the cost of a data plan) This would likely be many years in the future though (3G still isn't everywhere yet) and I doubt Verizon would actually want to reduce any prices until they have to. Call quality should improve too...

Call quality will be worse not better when using voice and data over 3g. The reason AT&T drops calls is due to the GSM network being taxed by both.

Your download speed will be slower when on the phone, and your voice quality will suffer when downloading.

When you use 4g for data, and CDMA for voice, the call quality will remain untouched.

I had to register cause this is starting to bother me. You guys are confusing different things.

First, simultaneous voice and data over 3G is possible (SVDO as someone already stated). SVDO basically runs the voice on 1X and data on EVDO. The drawback is, according to black_man_x, is the data is very slow which is why Verizon isn't marketing it. The reason no other phones have it is because the chip that makes use of SVDO is so far only available on the Tbolt. No one has said if they plan to put it in any future phones.

Second, for the time being, voice on the Tbolt will be handled by CDMA as it has a large coverage footprint. Basically this phone is like any other phone currently on Verizon's network. It can do voice on 1X/ 3G EVDO, data on 1X/ 3G EVDO, PLUS it will also be able to do data on 4G LTE.

Finally, Voice Over LTE (VOLTE) is what Verizon wants to move to, as they said at MWC. They have done a few test calls, but have said that they do not expect to implement it until 2012 when the 4G coverage is more widespread. The benefits of VOLTE is basically doing away with minutes on rate plans. I'm assuming we will only be paying for a data allotment (text will be bundled in with it as it SHOULD be now). With the higher bandwidth call quality should be improved, and using the 700MHz carrier, towers should be able to cover a larger area with better building penetration (vs. the 850 & 1900MHz bands they are using now). I don't see them getting rid of CDMA voice until 2013 or later (after their entire network has been updated to LTE).

Hope tihs helps with the confusion.

Glad someone else gets it! Thank you.

 

[hemorrdroid]

hahahaha you're funny. VZW doesn't charge for wifi access on their plans. that'd be dumb.

At one time you could get a wifi smart phone with wifi only and no data required.

its the wifi's and the 3G's man..... LOL

Aww, I can't believe no one caught/commented on that!
I need the bigger G B's!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[Maddixny]

[video=youtube;7TYVkXy0TeA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TYVkXy0TeA[/video]

 

[mslal]

Great video - thanks for sharing! It mentions Skype integration; it will be GREAT to get our collective hands on this device.

 

[ISeeTheLight]

Man, haven't checked in here in a while...still not really any new, worthwhile, or confirmed information yet I see besides a couple screen shots. Bummer, I expected to at least have an announcement by now. I read in another forum that a VZW rep said the gag order has been removed, has anyone called their store recently to find out if they are talking about the TB or giving a date yet? I'm going to call both my BB and VZW store tomorrow to see if they have any "real" info yet.

Possible release dates still: (none "confirmed" or "hard")
Feb. 20, 21, 24, 28, early March? (not likely), or anytime in between if BB/VZW get them in stock.
I think a lot of people have been getting conflicting dates recently because it is possible that shipments will trickle in at different times for different stores (big vs. little) and cities (have LTE yet?), and depending on whether a BB or VZW store. Either that, or the actual date keeps changing for various reasons and only certain insiders have access to the most current information, and people further down the chain still have old information.

Possible reasons for "delay" still: (I used quotes since technically there has been no "official" announcement from VZW yet to be delayed)
-iPhone (having some time to itself without competition vs. 14-day return window & fear of exchanges)
-Skype (removing it, as evidenced by reference being removed from HTC site vs. waiting to get it working for release)
-LTE/3G handoff issue (as earlier mentioned by blackmanx)
-Samsung Stealth/LTE Phone (read on some random blog it could have something to do with it)
-Xoom (don't want simultaneous product launch on same day, not enough CSRs on hand)
-Shortage of supply (don't want another problem like with the Incredible release, not enough ready to get around to all stores yet)
-etc...did I miss any?
-some combination of the above

I hope Best Buy will know a date one way or the other on Sunday when their advertisement goes effective. The stores will have to have gotten them on the trucks by tomorrow to go on sale Sunday (no deliveries that day), but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

Verizon should really speak up and let us know the deal with all the leaked "dates," Twitter and Facebook teasers, BB and VZW screen shots, advertisements, dummy units, accessories, commercials, hands-on reviews, etc. showing up everywhere. The communication has been quite poor regarding this phone, needless to say.
VZW corporate executives are probably just sitting in their cushy offices video chatting on Skype and surfing the internet and downloading at LTE speeds on their TBs laughing at all of us geeks and idiots obsessing over a phone release and generating a huge amount of free marketing for them across multiple blogs and forums. You're welcome, jerks, now give me my phone!

I can't believe I've been following this thread from the beginning, and we really don't have anything concrete to report. I'll add what I found out yesterday to the pile...

I went to my VZW Store friday afternoon to get one of my employees and iPhone. While there I asked the guy about this TB, he seemed pretty confident that the delays were due to a high demand, and they're afraid that they won't have enough phones to supply thus frustrating their customers. He claimed they were trying to avoid what happened w/ the INC launch, where all the phones were gone, and then you had to wait a month for the next wave of them.

I said that I heard the head of HTC said they were shipping this week for a 24th launch day. He had heard that as well, but seemed to think that they haven't shipped yet, and they are still pumping out more phones to satisfy demand. The delay seems to be real, I highly doubt we see a 24th launch day.

As for anything BB says... I've been hanging on their words for too long. don't. believe. it.

 

[avoltech]

will be glad when someone gets the TB and can post their personal review here on the forum and maybe post pictures of their own device.
Maybe for sure it will be out by the 28th.

 

[EgooEspada]

Technically speaking since it's voice over data it could result in unlimited minutes at a much lower cost. (just the cost of a data plan) This would likely be many years in the future though (3G still isn't everywhere yet) and I doubt Verizon would actually want to reduce any prices until they have to. Call quality should improve too...

Call quality will be worse not better when using voice and data over 3g. The reason AT&T drops calls is due to the GSM network being taxed by both.

Your download speed will be slower when on the phone, and your voice quality will suffer when downloading.

When you use 4g for data, and CDMA for voice, the call quality will remain untouched.

I had to register cause this is starting to bother me. You guys are confusing different things.

First, simultaneous voice and data over 3G is possible (SVDO as someone already stated). SVDO basically runs the voice on 1X and data on EVDO. The drawback is, according to black_man_x, is the data is very slow which is why Verizon isn't marketing it. The reason no other phones have it is because the chip that makes use of SVDO is so far only available on the Tbolt. No one has said if they plan to put it in any future phones.

Second, for the time being, voice on the Tbolt will be handled by CDMA as it has a large coverage footprint. Basically this phone is like any other phone currently on Verizon's network. It can do voice on 1X/ 3G EVDO, data on 1X/ 3G EVDO, PLUS it will also be able to do data on 4G LTE.

Finally, Voice Over LTE (VOLTE) is what Verizon wants to move to, as they said at MWC. They have done a few test calls, but have said that they do not expect to implement it until 2012 when the 4G coverage is more widespread. The benefits of VOLTE is basically doing away with minutes on rate plans. I'm assuming we will only be paying for a data allotment (text will be bundled in with it as it SHOULD be now). With the higher bandwidth call quality should be improved, and using the 700MHz carrier, towers should be able to cover a larger area with better building penetration (vs. the 850 & 1900MHz bands they are using now). I don't see them getting rid of CDMA voice until 2013 or later (after their entire network has been updated to LTE).

Hope tihs helps with the confusion.

Thank you for this. I'm glad someone else researches their stuff.

Sent from my Droid

 

[f15robyn]

Slightly Off Topic

I hope you'll forgive me for veering slightly off topic. But I'm a low tech cell phone user. I've owned an LG enV3 for 2 years and was about to upgrade to a smart phone when my NE2 came up on 2/13. And I'll probably keep the next one for 2 years.

I had settled on the Incredible because I like the Sense UI the best vs Motorola's and Samsung's UIs and I don't buy iAnything . The lower battery life is moot as I'm a very occasional user. And then I thought to check what was coming out soon by HTC on Verizon and found this thread (I had no idea there were all these forums about cell phones). I've been following for 2 weeks and recently been reading folks lament about this and that being removed from the phone's capabilities.

I need a phone to make the rare phone call when I'm not at home or the office (I average 20 minutes per month), text, occasionally look something up on the internet, occasionally go and check my email on the internet (I'm NOT having my email sent to my phone), occasionally shoot some pictures and video and upload those to facebook and I guess if I can load some music to it that'd be nice. I live in an area that has 3G, but even then, there are LOTS of dead spots (and Verizon is better than any other carrier in the area and I get a discount on my service due to my employer). And we'll be amongst the last to get 4G. But I like the idea of a nice big screen and I want the Sense UI.

Any reason not to just patiently wait for the Thunderbolt to release (not that patience is a virtue I have or I wouldn't be following a 355 page thread about a release date hoping to hear something soon )?

Thanks.