HTC Thunderbolt User-Thoughts After One Month

[WenWM]

Having had the Thunderbolt for a month, I thought I would share my experience with you.

Good:

• Bright responsive display
• Fast 1Ghz processor
• Fast LTE 4G: giving me a 19Mbps speedtest.net result
• Decent call quality
• Talk and surf

Bad:

• Priced pretty high
• Battery life is horrible

This phone has some pretty incredible features that made for a pleasing experience. I used this device while living from two different houses. This was great because the WiFi tether feature came in handy when I was at my second house without internet access, and it's actually faster than my internet provider. The phone is a bit on the thick side, almost the size of the HTC Evo4G that was released over a year ago, and that was a let-down because phones are started to fit the same technology in a much smaller device like the Galaxy S II.

If you're in the market for a an ultra-fast phone with a large display, runs HTC's Sense UI and is easily hacked, then this is certainly a great choice. It is number one on my list. If you're going to buy this phone, you'll need either one of two things. You should also purchase either a portable battery recharger, or an extended battery pack. If you don't want to get either of these things, then you better stay close to a wall plug, because this phone does take the cake for "worst battery life" I've ever experienced. But, that's what comes with the speed and I didn't mind it much.

Any Thunderbolt owners out there want to share their experience with us?
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[jntdroid]

Any Thunderbolt owners out there that can share their experience with us?

holy can of worms...

 

[pdroid]

Any Thunderbolt owners out there that can share their experience with us?

holy can of worms...

Just ordered mine last night, so I can't quite participate in the ensuing flame war.

 

[Detonation]

How is this Droid News?

 

[WenWM]

How is this Droid News?

I guess if this isn't news, neither are the reviews we do and the giveaways
So you should also add that comment to every giveaway article we do.

 

[drakenhoffen]

I love mine. I have been using the moble hot spot and like it to.
I rate it a very good phone, but not great.
If the random reboot problem is fixed it will be a great phone.

 

[redoregon]

Thanks for the info. Yes, it is news, yes, it is useful, and yes, I at least appreciate the article, since upgrade time is coming soon.

 

[mikeytcarpenter]

I bought my TB from wirefly for $150 (great deal) and I rooted and flashed a kernel... I now get great battery life (more than 35 hours medium usage), So both cons listed are negated in my situation. I love this phone, I have only had 1 reboot in the month that I've had this phone. The only thing I don't like is sometimes the navigation doesn't work. I can go into maps it finds my location within 30 seconds but if I switch over to navigation it says searching for location and switches between my actual location and the cell tower I'm using. This phone is better than my sister's Droid X and my mom's Epic4G (except for the screen)

 

[Immolate]

You listed that the phone is very hackable as one of the selling points, and anyone who looks at the dizzying array of ROM threads on XDA for this phone will have to agree. It is the premier phone for development at this time, in my opinion.

With a little effort, anyone can find a ROM/kernel combination on the Thunderbolt that will provide acceptable battery performance, though it will never be excellent like the Charge. I am currently on Imosyn's 3.01 test kernel and das BAMF 2.0.6 and was at 13.5 hours yesterday and 38% charge when I decided to plug it in. That's just ordinary phone/text usage without any game playing or Netflix activity so YMMV. I have been on numerous ROM/kernel combination that have given me as-good or better performance. In fact, all of the das BAMF Froyo ROM's gave me better battery life, but I can't give up the Sense 3.0 elements or Netflix for that.

I've got an upgrade on another phone that I'm pondering right now so I've been looking hard at the Charge and Revolution, along with DX2 and D3 that's supposed to come out around 7/7. Of course there are many question marks around the D3, but we're pretty sure it's going to be 3G only, so that really hurts it in my book. The Revolution is interesting I admit as I'm a fan of LG products, but it's under-powered and under-featured and simply looks lame next to a Thunderbolt running Gingerbread. They do have CM7 though, so good for them.

The Charge is also a contender, but other than the screen and battery life, it doesn't impress next to the thunderbolt, and it has the two big problems of mediocre performance and feeling and aging like a cheap phone. I know some of you probably still have Charges in perfect condition, and I'm the kind of person who can keep a cheaply built phone looking good as well, but I would much rather have a brute like the DX or at least one that's extremely well-made like the Tbolt.

Anyway, hope that helps. If I had to buy another phone today, it would be a Thunderbolt. My daughter's birthday is on the 30th though, so I think I'll hang tight and see what develops between now and then.

 

[Beardface]

Hey, I'm a TBolt owner, I'll make a go of it!

Great:
Speaker is very loud
4G speeds are incredibly fast (was getting 31MBps over the weekend in DC... I was floored)
Very good and responsive touch screen
Front Camera is awesome on video calls through Skype (leaked version)
768MB of RAM
Very fast 1Ghz Processor
Adobe Flash works flawlessly with this device. You will be impressed. Works better than my laptop.

Good:
Call Quality. You can hear just fine, but sometimes you break up on the other end.
Display Brightness. Only need it at 25% indoors, and at 100% outdoors, the screen is easily viewed.

Bad:
My Verizon still doesn't work
Battery Life is terrible... if in 4G, you need the Extended Battery
LED notification light only flashes in Green or Red

Unacceptable:
Reboots. If you were one of the unlucky few (its more than a few... trust me) the reboot issue with the recent update is simply unacceptable. Verizon and HTC broke the devices, and have taken 2 months to supply a fix that we're still waiting on.



All in all, I do love the device. I got the extended battery for when 4G hits this area later this summer, and should really love this phone after. Hopefully the pending update fixes all problems, but so far, its just annoying.

 

[djsiva]

How is this Droid News?

I guess if this isn't news, neither are the reviews we do and the giveaways
So you should also add that comment to every giveaway article we do.

Amen to that!!

 

[justin82]

well i am a thunderbolt owner here is my experience

cant test 4g speeds so i turned it off makes battery not so bad

root and custom rom kernal and radio makes battery little better.. i get 10 - 14 hours of normal usage .. can go all day if people dont bother me or i do a lot of surfing

screen resolution is great.. camera is decent.:icon_ banana:

now for bads

cant see the screen in the sun
needs screen protector screen not near as tough as it was on my X
Audio quality not the best..

all in all glad i have the phone does a couple of things for me
1- grandfathers me in to unlimited LTE ( i have 5 lines only 3 smart phones i am sure you can figure out that 3 lines will never upgrade.. the other 2 will)
2-UNLOCKED BOOTLOADER-- large following lots of people making custom roms etc ck out ADRYNALYNE -twitter- he is on XDA best rom in IMO and makes kernals .. may remember his work with team chaos on original droid ..

 

[Underscore_Hero]

question: If I turn on the 4g hotspot, will USB charging from my notebook give enough juice to keep it alive?

 

[mikeytcarpenter]

Yes... Hotspot uses a lot of battery but not not enough to kill it while charging.

 

[Underscore_Hero]

Yes... Hotspot uses a lot of battery but not not enough to kill it while charging.

not too bad then, good thing I got car charger as well