Thinking of switching to the Thunderbolt. Thoughts?

[bbfan1983]

I'm new to Android (coming from BlackBerry) and I love the platform. Pretty happy with my Fascinate right now, but the larger screen of the HTC Thunderbolt is pretty appealing as I frequently use a remote desktop app to access my work PC when on the road.

I hate buying on contract, and there are some on eBay around $400-$450 - like this one - which I thought wasn't too bad

Anyone have both phones? What are your thoughts comparing these (minus the obvious 4G difference)?

 

[anon(94115)]

My daughter has the tb and I have a fassy. The only thing imo that the tb has the fassy on is the 4g.

With the help of everyone around here I think mine is faster.

I am not sure how you (or I) would feel about carrying around two devices but if you remote desktop that much, I would consider the xoom or another tablet.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[RunSilent23]

The first question to ask yourself is "Do I live in a location where Verizon has LTE coverage?" If the answer is no, that's a lot of money for an incremental upgrade. With Froyo, the Fascinate is an awesome phone and I would be a little bit reluctant to be an early adopter on the first LTE phone. Just my thoughts...

 

[Drootz]

I'm new to Android (coming from BlackBerry) and I love the platform. Pretty happy with my Fascinate right now, but the larger screen of the HTC Thunderbolt is pretty appealing as I frequently use a remote desktop app to access my work PC when on the road.

I hate buying on contract, and there are some on eBay around $400-$450 - like this one - which I thought wasn't too bad

Anyone have both phones? What are your thoughts comparing these (minus the obvious 4G difference)?

Well I did just that I picked up a tbolt on release day on a 1 yr and just the other day sold the fascinate. While I like the fascinate in many aspects especially the led screen and it's vibrant colors, I prefer the tbolt. As far as a bigger screen it is hardly noticable, in fact when placed side by side you really almost can't even tell. Size wise they look the same the fascinate is thinner and lighter. The tbolt feels heavier and a bit sturdier IMO. But if they both took a fall from the same height, I think the Samsung might have less damage because of the lighter weight.

I live in a 4G area so in that aspect it was a no brainer for me.

In comparison, I get a stronger signal both cellular and wifi on the Tbolt than on the Fascinate. Usually by about 1 bar on either cell or wifi. Not sure why, but the antennas on the fascinate seemed weak to me.

GPS needs work on both of them IMO. Tbolt gps is better but not by leaps and bounds.

I missed the led on the fascinate coming from a BB but the led on the tbolt pretty much is useless anyways so i got over that pretty quick.....

I really love the native fmradio app on the tbolt and found myself streaming from tunein more on the fascinate.

The allshare app on the fascinate makes file transfer from phone to pc via wifi easy and painless.

Found myself using an aftermarket launcher on the fascinate (adw ex or launcherpro) didn't like touchwiz since I couldn't arrange alphabetically and have been content with sense on the tbolt.

So they both have their pluses and minuses. I would say play with a tbolt in the store and see if it's for you.

If there are any specific's you want or more you would like to know just post it up and I will try to give my opinion if possible.

 

[bbfan1983]

My daughter has the tb and I have a fassy. The only thing imo that the tb has the fassy on is the 4g.

With the help of everyone around here I think mine is faster.

I am not sure how you (or I) would feel about carrying around two devices but if you remote desktop that much, I would consider the xoom or another tablet.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

No, I wouldn't carry two phones around. A tablet would be nice for my remote desktop needs, but I like to travel lite - very lite. It's mostly minor stuff anyway, just accessing certain programs on the work PC. I carry around a spare battery for the fascinate in my pocket and even with calls, email, and the RDP, I can get through a whole day no problem.

I did have a chance to compare the TB today and the screen isn't incredibly larger, but it is wider, which is nice. For the money though, I think i will stick with the fascinate until Sammy releases a 4G Galaxy S on Verizon (LTE wil be live in my area within 30 days, so I'm told).

Thanks for the input! Really loving these forums.

 

[MistaDee]

Wait for the bionic or something with an actual change up of the internals. Thunderbolt is almost the same as the Fascinate just a classier thicker shell with 4g

 

[spencer0279]

get the Droid Charge its basically a newer fascinate and it comes out as soon as the 4g network is back up

 

[Drootz]

No, I wouldn't carry two phones around. A tablet would be nice for my remote desktop needs, but I like to travel lite - very lite. It's mostly minor stuff anyway, just accessing certain programs on the work PC. I carry around a spare battery for the fascinate in my pocket and even with calls, email, and the RDP, I can get through a whole day no problem.

I did have a chance to compare the TB today and the screen isn't incredibly larger, but it is wider, which is nice. For the money though, I think i will stick with the fascinate until Sammy releases a 4G Galaxy S on Verizon (LTE wil be live in my area within 30 days, so I'm told).

Thanks for the input! Really loving these forums.

The one thing I did forget to mention is Battery life, for some reason with my fascinate it wouldn't even last a full day for me. By about 3:30-4pm in the afternoon it would need to be re-charged. So much so that I actually wound up buying another charger just to keep one at home and work. Not sure why....but just didn't seem to last for me.

Despite what people are saying about the Tbolt battery, I have leaps and bounds better battery life than my fascinate did. I can go easily all day with the Tbolt. 8am to 10pm before it needs a charge. And that's with the stock battery. not sure why the dramatic difference but, I am thinking the 4g area i live in has something to do with it. No 3g 4g switching...just 4g

If you like your fascinate check out the Samsung Charge which is due out anytime now....

 

[jack22182]

I'm new to Android (coming from BlackBerry) and I love the platform. Pretty happy with my Fascinate right now, but the larger screen of the HTC Thunderbolt is pretty appealing as I frequently use a remote desktop app to access my work PC when on the road.

I hate buying on contract, and there are some on eBay around $400-$450 - like this one - which I thought wasn't too bad

Anyone have both phones? What are your thoughts comparing these (minus the obvious 4G difference)?

My sister and brother in law just bought Thunderbolts for them, coming from Storm 2s.

I had a chance to play last weekend...

The TB is bigger, fatter and heavier. They initially were getting 3 hours out of the stock battery, so they upgraded to high capacity batteries. Now they get through a full day of pretty heavy use, but man the phones are even bigger and heavier now with the giant hi-cap battery bulge in the back. They have a very solid feel and a pretty cool little flip out stand in the back to hold the phone up on a tabletop in horizontal or vertical mode.

The TB was FAST. FAST as in snappier response, app loading, transitions, etc., and FAST as in 4G fast.

I came away from the experience not especially attracted to the TB. I thought it was just a bit too heavy and big for my tastes, but I liked what I saw in terms of GUI speed and data speed. I thought the front facing camera would be kind of fun to play around with too.

 

[mknollman123]

I don't see a reason to upgrade until I can get dual core, front facing cam, LTE, AND gingerbread - missing any one of those and I'll stick with my fascinate - still a great device - and SLIM

 

[molinap1]

I had a DInc and upgraded to the TB yesterday. Today after work, I returned the TB. I am a pretty heavy user and was dead in 4 hours. Plugging it into the car charger would only maintain my battery % and wouldn't charge it (streaming a podcast, but the DInc had no issue charging while streaming a podcast AND using GPS for navigation). Plus it was too bulky compared to my DInc. Weight difference is a lot more noticeable than my wife's Fascinate. The 4G was nice. I was pulling down 11 megs on a speedtest, however accurate that it, I don't know.

If 4G is not a big selling point, the DInc 2 was very nice. 4" screen while being the same size as the DInc1, and much better battery, from what I hear on the DInc2 forums.

 

[str8havoc1]

I'm new to Android (coming from BlackBerry) and I love the platform. Pretty happy with my Fascinate right now, but the larger screen of the HTC Thunderbolt is pretty appealing as I frequently use a remote desktop app to access my work PC when on the road.

I hate buying on contract, and there are some on eBay around $400-$450 - like this one - which I thought wasn't too bad

Anyone have both phones? What are your thoughts comparing these (minus the obvious 4G difference)?

Go with the TB, HTC makes a great phone. You won't be sorry or get the incredible 2

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[mknollman123]

I don't see a reason to upgrade until I can get dual core, front facing cam, LTE, AND gingerbread - missing any one of those and I'll stick with my fascinate - still a great device - and SLIM

I have read online in a few places (including the blog here I believe) that the Galaxy 2 will be coming to VZW and possibly even this month (late May). This will be what I go for as I have an upgrade available in a week. It is a beast - 4.3 screen, dual core processor, gig of ram, 8mp rear cam, 2mp? front cam, gorilla glass super amoled plus double plus good (nods to Orwell) screen.

This is the first device that has enough of a leg up on my SF to make me consider the upgrade - and lo and behold it is the successor to it from Samsung.

Every video I watch of this bad boy has me salivating.

 

[MrBigFeathers]

I have read online in a few places (including the blog here I believe) that the Galaxy 2 will be coming to VZW and possibly even this month (late May). This will be what I go for as I have an upgrade available in a week. It is a beast - 4.3 screen, dual core processor, gig of ram, 8mp rear cam, 2mp? front cam, gorilla glass super amoled plus double plus good (nods to Orwell) screen.

This is the first device that has enough of a leg up on my SF to make me consider the upgrade - and lo and behold it is the successor to it from Samsung.

Every video I watch of this bad boy has me salivating.

I doubt Verizon of all carriers would release the Galaxy S2 that soon. Especially right after the Droid Charge. The Galaxy S2 will need to be reworked for CDMA since it is a GSM phone currently. It is much more likely it will come to T-Mobile and ATT first. And I'm sure Verizon will want LTE on it if/when it does come which will make it take even longer.

 

[Mtn_Scott]

Fascinate is a lighter, thinner phone. The only benefit of a TB is LTE. The fascinates performance is spectacular after it is de-bloated, so an improvement in performance is unimportant to me.

 

[jackmei2]

I've just had the tbolt for a few days and here are my thoughts so far:

Pros of Fasinate (vs Tbolt):
- lighter, smaller
- brighter, better looking screen (altho I think the tbolt's screen is not too bad)
- easier to root! and odin makes it a breeze!
- layout of the vol & power buttons and charger location
- I like that with TW you have the gps, bluetooth, wireless and data controls in the drop down menu, sense doesn't have that.
- apps are more compatible (getting FC's on a few apps and some apps don't even work with tbolt yet, but I'm sure that should be resolved soon)
- battery cover is easy to remove, I think I almost broke the tbolt battery cover and power button trying to remove it
- swype! (altho you can get swype beta or the evo swype put on the tbolt)

Pros of Tbolt (vs Fascinate):
- 4G is quick!
- phone is smoother on stock than fascinate was on stock
- GPS works, locks within seconds as opposed to a minute or so
- better signal
- sense ui flows better for me, looks like launcherpro which is what I used on the fascinate
- more dev support (can't wait for cyanogenmod!)
- more room around the power connector so any power cable can plug into it.
- kickstand! (altho I haven't used it yet...)
- LED light
- front facing camera

some other items to keep in mind:
- battery life on the tbolt, seems to me, the same as it was on the fascinate so far. just leaving it on overnight, both phones would drain about 10% overnight. I haven't had any issues with the tbolt draining power for no reason yet (knock on wood).

if vzw hadn't sent me an offer to let me get the tbolt for $150, I wouldn't have gotten it. There was no way I'd pay full retail for this phone (nor any phone), especially since it is just a minor upgrade and there are much nicer phones coming on the horizon. What I wanted was a phone that would be supported by the manufacturer and vzw and also by the devs, cuz let's face it, without any releases or leaks from the manufacturers, devs hands are somewhat tied.

I'm still trying out the tbolt, and not entirely sure if I'll keep it yet, but it's making a good case for itself. there are things I like about it and things I don't, so we'll see in about 10 days.

 

[420fan]

I have to say, I had both phone for the last two weeks, and went back to the fascinate, rooted running evil fascination rom. I don't live in an LTE area, so the only thing that I was getting was being able to surg the web and talk on the phone (which isn't a big deal for me). I didn't like the extra weight of the tbolt, after being used to my fascinate for so long. The battery on my fascinate was WAY better than the tbolt too. I didn't root the Tbolt, but my fascinate is. Bottom line, everyone has different things that are important, and for me it was size and weight over the ability to talk and surf. When 4g hits my market, I will change, but now I'm sticking to my fascinate.

 

[MegaSoundwave76]

Since I live in the Bay Area, 4G would be a nice thing to have, especially since that signal penetrates walls a lot better (due to the 700MHZ spectrum it runs on). I love the Fascinate; it is my first high end Android device (and I came from a Droid Eris before that). I'm still debating on whether to say go for the T-bolt, wait it out for the Charge or the LG Revolution. Either way, I'm dead once I show up at home and my wife sees the thing. "Not another new phone!!!" She doesn't understand my geekiness!!!!