Thunderbolt ain't bad -- My performance so far, and why.

[dr3am]

I've had the bolt for about a week now. Rooted, Das Bamf 1.6.3, and imsoyeun(sp?) extreme kernal at 1.4ghz, interactivex governor. Original radio. 3G only.

I'm averaging about a day with average use, texting, a few phone calls, and web browsing with discretion. This morning battery stats reported 1 day and 10 hours of use, with 7% of battery left. The screen taking most, in 2nd cell phone idle. The awesome roms released here, kernals, AND I practice good battery health seems to make a difference. I make a point to fully charge my phone then unplugging it before bed. This lets the battery slowly discharge at idle rather than rapidly discharging immediately after reaching full capacity. I don't know why, maybe temperature of the battery, and/or letting the battery slowly discharge over more time (rather than discharge, charge cycles every 9 hours)...but on the days I do this, I can get much more use out of my phone than on days I let it charge overnight. For example....if I let it charge overnight it's usually dead or near dead by 7 the same day. If I let it sit overnight unplugged, I can use it all the next day and usually have enough charge left over to sit overnight without charging, but typically requiring a charge by noon the next day.

I've experienced random reboots ONLY after flashing new radios -- for instance the das bamf 1.6.3 radio. Solved *immediately* by flashing back to the stock radio.

GPS issue was solved...and is now faster and more accurate than I've ever seen using GPS tools.

All in all this phone is phenomenal. The battery life is about what I was getting with my moto droid which was overclocked to 1.1ghz and running bugless beast...but the thunderbolt is MUCH smoother, and I love the sense UI -- its much more refined...no more lagging when I'm dialing a number just one thing I can think of that I appreciate.

 

[jeremycnly]

Sounds good but one altercation though.

Your doing all this while disabling (or LTE isn't live in your area) 4G. The main feature on the phone. If you wanted 3G only and decent battery life why didn't u wait a couple of days for Droid X2 with higher specs just no 4G?

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[dr3am]

That's not an altercation...really. I haven't been able to test 4G is all.

#1: X2 wasn't out yet at time of upgrade, and if it was it still has less RAM, lacks sense UI. It has the dual tegra, but speed isn't an issue of mine anyway.. and last but not least 4G will never be a possibility for it...at all. Maybe this isn't important to you, but RESELL value is everything. This point goes double if you are paying the same upgrade fee between a 4G and a droid x2... if both cost you 200-250 dollars anyway.
#2: My area is going to be packing 4G within a month, and while traveling it still has its utility, especially if tethering.
#3: Thunderbolt already has a good developer base... I say good...not great as of yet but better than the charge and the droid X2 which being new won't see good support for awhile yet.


My original post wasn't to discuss the motivations of my decisions or what device is better overall. Rather it was a post to dispel the "hardware" problems of the thunderbolt. All of these problems with the exception of the GPS location, and reboots, I experienced on the OG droid-- all attributable to bloatware, a need for a more efficient kernal and/or software.

If people would stop flashing bad radios, and operated while rooted responsibly I think the device wouldn't have such a bad name. All in all its a really decent device, I didn't test with stock however.

 

[jntdroid]

The X2 has 512mb or RAM, Bolt has 768. Yes the X2 is dual core, but until the OS is optimized for dual core (as well as apps) I'd argue that the RAM is more important. Don't get me wrong, the X2 is snappy as well, but the Bolt is still a smoother experience. It helps that Sense is much more optimized on the HTC hardware than Blur is on the X2.

 

[yakitori]

Even though the phone is 4G...any 4G phone is going to have poor battery life. If u cannot handle using a 4g phone on 3g and turning on 4G when u need the speed....then don't get a 4G phone.

Rooted and romed is the way to go man. I hated being stock and unrooted. Bloat and ads drive me nuts. Pandora was irritating with all the ads...that bothered me more the couple reboots I has over a week. I have not had any reboots or issues since rooting and battery life is much better. That was the reason I chose the tbolt anyway...development.

ridin the lightning

 

[gthotie5]

Its nice to see that a lot of people enjoy this phone.
I guess its all about preference after all.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums

 

[Ambushbug]

Its nice to see that a lot of people enjoy this phone.
I guess its all about preference after all.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums

My sentiments exactly, it's all about preferences. A friend and I have been debating on what phone to get since we both had an upgrade available, we had narrowed it down to the Thunderbolt and the Droid X2. At the end of the day he went the X2 route and I went the Thunderbolt route, and I couldn't be happier myself.

 

[Larry_ThaGr81]

The X2 has 512mb or RAM, Bolt has 768. Yes the X2 is dual core, but until the OS is optimized for dual core (as well as apps) I'd argue that the RAM is more important. Don't get me wrong, the X2 is snappy as well, but the Bolt is still a smoother experience. It helps that Sense is much more optimized on the HTC hardware than Blur is on the X2.

Amazing, it's like you took the key points out of my mind minus the applications and put them into a post in your own words. I couldn't agree with you more. I don't think at this point you will see a noticeable difference in performance between the TB and DX2. I can't speak for Motoblur on the DX2, but as a owner of the DX, it made the phone seem sluggish. So I ended up buying both Launcher Pro Plus and ADW EX, which I haven't felt necessary to put on the TB because I'm more than satisfied with Sense UI.

 

[jntdroid]

which I haven't felt necessary to put on the TB because I'm more than satisfied with Sense UI.

Gr8 minds think alike... forgive the pun .

That's why I'm currently trying out the Inc2 alongside the DX2 - the Inc2 is like a smaller Thunderbolt with no 4G and better battery life (even comparing on 3G only). Same internal specs and all - only difference is less internal storage.

It's telling that the DX2 only has 40-80mb of memory free at any given time, while the Inc2 (and Bolt for that matter) fluctuate between 200 and 400mb, depending on what's running. Because of the original DX, I want to love the DX2, but it's not helping its own case... and, as already said, HTC has done such a great job with its current phones.

 

[Backnblack]

Even though the phone is 4G...any 4G phone is going to have poor battery life. If u cannot handle using a 4g phone on 3g and turning on 4G when u need the speed....then don't get a 4G phone.

There is no need to turn off LTE

Rooted and romed is the way to go man.

Personal Opinion...

 

[mkw87]

I chose the TBolt because it's HTC. I had a D1, went through 4 of them due to hardware issues (reboots mostly and VZW chose to exchange them), eventually they upgraded me to a D2. Had it for 6 months then the screen quit working........displayed vertical lines all over it except the notification area. Mainly I wanted to get a non-moto phone because I was tired of dealing with shoddy hardware. As you stated I love the TBolt. I only have 3G in my area, but will be moving to a 4G area. Battery life on 4G was what you'd expect for 4G, but if I put the phone in 3G only my battery lasts all day which is all I ever got out of my D2 so I am satisfied.