I'm playing with a thunderbolt as we speak!

[Android 19]

Then how am i able to still look at different smartphones at vzw online at month to month, one year, and two year contracts?

 

[pnicho]

Verizon killed one year contracts as of about a month ago, same with NE2. If you were Gfathered in, you can still use it. But once you re-up your contract, 2 year only, and no more NE2... :-\

They never killed one-year contracts. They killed annual upgrades for primary lines.

 

[iLive an iLife]

Verizon killed one year contracts as of about a month ago, same with NE2. If you were Gfathered in, you can still use it. But once you re-up your contract, 2 year only, and no more NE2... :-\

I think you are confusing 1 year contracts with annual upgrades. Annual upgrades and the NE2 credits were discontinued in January. 1 year contracts are still available (at least on all of their current devices).

Hopefully I will be picking up a Thunderbolt next week on a 1 year contract! Bye Bye BlackBerry!

 

[ruger141]

I just want to say a Big Thank you to OG and can we get a round of applause for the man

 

[matt0715]

i got come good info from a online chat with best buy mobile take a look! FYI: took my name out because i dont wanna show it to pubic






Kimberly:
Thank you for contacting Best Buy Mobile! My name is Kimberly and I'll be more than happy to
help you out with any questions you have today. Just so you know, this chat will be
monitored and recorded for quality purposes. Now to start off, can
I get your email address and telephone number so that I can further assist both of us today?
7:51 PM :
hello i would like to have some details on the htc thunderbolt
7:52 PM Kimberly:
I would be happy to give you some details on it, how can I help you?
7:53 PM :
could you give me a release date and pricing? ive been looking to get this phone for a while and really want it soon
7:54 PM Kimberly:
I can let you know that with an upgrade the phone is going to be 249.99, but they have not given us a release date yet on the phone.
7:54 PM :
will it be this month? can you give me a timeframe?
7:55 PM Kimberly:
I am so sorry I would love to be able to give you a time frame for the release date, but verizon has not given us any date or time frame as to when we can release the phone.
7:56 PM :
so do best buys have the phone but just cant release them yet?
7:56 PM Kimberly:
yes that is correct.
7:57 PM :
ohhh ok thanks for the help! looking forward to the launch!
7:57 PM Kimberly:
You are welcome, is there anything else that I can help you with?
7:57 PM :
nope that will be all thanks

best buys have the phone!

 

[Mapex]

Verizon killed one year contracts as of about a month ago, same with NE2. If you were Gfathered in, you can still use it. But once you re-up your contract, 2 year only, and no more NE2... :-\

They never killed one-year contracts. They killed annual upgrades for primary lines.

I think you are confusing 1 year contracts with annual upgrades. Annual upgrades and the NE2 credits were discontinued in January. 1 year contracts are still available (at least on all of their current devices).

Hopefully I will be picking up a Thunderbolt next week on a 1 year contract! Bye Bye BlackBerry!

What pnicho and TechnologyNerd37 said is correct. One-year contracts are still possible with a +$70 to +$80 upfront cost (which more than makes up for being stuck in a two-year with outdated technology).

What they cancelled was the ability for discounted upgrades to be given out as early as 12 months into a two-year contract. Furthermore, NE2 is dead so you don't get a huge reduction/almost-free phone every two years anymore. It seems that instead they want to keep plans cheaper (to compete with other networks), requiring the devices to be more expensive upfront to make up for the lowered profits. I'd rather pay the same $30/month for 4G as I do for 3G and +$50 to +$100 for a device than have to deal with even a +$5 increase in monthly pricing.

 

[somnambulator]

best buy may have the phones in their warehouses but we havent heard any confirmation of them being in the stores. there's a big difference in terms of "is this product coming out tomorrow or next week". it would only take a day or 2 to ship from warehouses to all stores, so until we see it in store inventory/warehouses there's still going to be at least a day or 2 more of waiting.

 

[canesfan44]

What pnicho and TechnologyNerd37 said is correct. One-year contracts are still possible with a +$70 to +$80 upfront cost (which more than makes up for being stuck in a two-year with outdated technology).

What they cancelled was the ability for discounted upgrades to be given out as early as 12 months into a two-year contract. Furthermore, NE2 is dead so you don't get a huge reduction/almost-free phone every two years anymore. It seems that instead they want to keep plans cheaper (to compete with other networks), requiring the devices to be more expensive upfront to make up for the lowered profits. I'd rather pay the same $30/month for 4G as I do for 3G and +$50 to +$100 for a device than have to deal with even a +$5 increase in monthly pricing.

Agreed. Even if LTE were only $10 more, per month, that would be $120 in one year and $240 for 2. I'll take a $50 increase on the phone over an increase in service.

 

[Android 19]

but do vzw stores offer one year deals-or just on their website?

 

[Effenhimer]

I guess I must have thought because the option to switch 1 year and 2 year contract pricing (when buying a phone on My Verizon) only lets you choose 2 year, that when they made all the changes, that was another of them... Maybe thats just because it shows up on my account as a new contract upgrade?...

 

[sammy303]

Droid-Life now adding March 10th as a possible date with a screen shot from Best Buy.

Add March 10th to the List of HTC Thunderbolt Release Dates - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

 

[whiteshadow001]

Hey OG have you heard anything about the new March 10th release date? Is that an old date or is it the real deal?

 

[O.G Incredible]

Hey OG have you heard anything about the new March 10th release date? Is that an old date or is it the real deal?

No I haven't heard anything about the 10th if I find anything out about a different date other than what ive said before ill let u guys know.... And as far as netflix and skype on the ThunderBolt that's a BIG NEGATIVE!

 

[canesfan44]

No I haven't heard anything about the 10th if I find anything out about a different date other than what ive said before ill let u guys know.... And as far as netflix and skype on the ThunderBolt that's a BIG NEGATIVE!

That's a big negative for good, or just a big negative for the time of the release.

 

[swamp]

Its an "upgraded Snap dragon" according to the HTC rep. She stated that the type of upgrade this was was sort of like a 2 in 1 (processor strength) chip sent. The only thing they confirm was the 5 hour talk time.

Not quite...

Evo 4G uses a "1st generation" Snapdragon, the QSD8650. It has the Adreno 200 graphics system.

The TB uses a 2nd gen (basically meaning a much smaller semiconductor manufacturing process 45 nm as oppossed to 65 nm, which primarily gives is lower power consumption at the same clock speed). Its Snapdragon MSM8655 also has an updated Adreno 205 graphics system. Adreno 205 is substantially faster than Adreno 200.

Both are 1 GHz but the 2nd gen is certainly a much better system.

 

[ncbryan]

Based on the most current picture floating around from BB, I am going with a release date of 3/10. VZW always releases phones on Thursdays it seems, so I am going with possibly 3/3 but more likely 3/10.

 

[ncbryan]

Dang OG, just noticed that you have been thanked more times than you have posts! You go man!

 

[XStroX]

People should really stop referring to the "new" Best Buy screenshot since it shows release dates in 2010! Obviously this picture is from November at latest. This would make any information in that screen shot out of date by about 3 months. Perhaps March 10th was the original date but we all know things have changed....

 

[RetiredJedi]

People should really stop referring to the "new" Best Buy screenshot since it shows release dates in 2010! Obviously this picture is from November at latest. This would make any information in that screen shot out of date by about 3 months. Perhaps March 10th was the original date but we all know things have changed....

That's a good point because it has been posted that HTC has said they were going to release it sooner than orignally scheduled. Wasn't that supposed to be the case?

Also I never heard of a Thunderbolt...I've heard of a Lightning Bolt and Thunder...hahahaha...Sorry, just being stupid.

 

[Maelonzky]

yea but if they having problems with the phone the release date could just be when it was expected... mid march