I need the REAL scoop on the Thunderbolt

[johnriii]

Hello everyone!! this is my 2nd post to the Android Central forums, but I am in a quandry. I have been researching smartphones since August, primarily through reviews, written and video. My Upgrade date is November 26th, smack dab at the front of the Holiday season, and 30 days from right now. I am presently with an HTC Eris, my first smartphone, and I have enjoyed it. however, it's time for THE upgrade. after eliminating 3G phones from the running about a month ago, I settled in with the Revolution, Charge and Tbolt. I like a visually good looking phone, but my primary function is multimedia and music. I hit youtube on my Eris at least 1-2 hours a day. Quickly, I eliminated the Revolution from the running, based mostly on the consensus of reviews. The Charge has that beautiful display, is lightweight...but as of right now, doesn't "officially" run gingerbread. The tbolt, on the other hand, has the lead due to my familiarity with it's little, little, little brother, and it seems to be a more solid, well made phone. I have physically handled both phones, and i like them both. Of course, money is a primary issue. $200.00 is my limit.

I would choose the TBolt but for one thing that I really, really, really need to know: IS THE BATTERY LIFE REALLY THAT BAD??? I have read on THIS forum where people could SEE the battery draining from the phone. no freaking way. and no, I do not want to buy that hideous extended battery, which I don't have the cash for right now anyway. but even if I did, I keep my phone in my pocket while working my 2nd job (wal-mart), and I don't want a BRICK in my pocket while i'm trying to unload a truck full of groceries. On the flip side, I see and hear where people can get 6-8 good hours of battery life with light-medium usage, on 3G. KC is not fully 4G anyway, so i'm hoping there is a way to turn the phone to 3G only until it is.

sorry about the rant, but i will be stuck with this purchase for the next 2 years, and i know ONE person who has the Tbolt. so, I need to hear from those of you who have had this phone for a while, what is is really like, with the stock battery? thanks in advance for your input/advice....

 

[cclifft]

I am not a "power user" for my phone, but here is my $0.01 on this phone...(sorry this is long, but hopefully it will help you out)

First off, this is my first android smartphone, I was a iPhone user before hand and I really like being on android much better than iOS. I honestly just got burnt out by all the apple hype and same look and feel of my phone. Android gives me the chance to take control of my phone a bit more and make it my own. But that doesn't really answer your question about "how is this phone" since you already are familiar with the OS.

Well, the battery is suffice to say, a lot better now than before with the Gingerbread update. It's probably not as good as some other phones, but I bet it is better than others. I for one have not had near as many problems as others have had. Although, when I did get my TB back in July, my stock battery was crap on Froyo, it would only last about 3-4 hours a day and would sometimes just go dead during the night if not on the charger. I sort of felt that the batter was just bad. I went to VZW and explained my problem, they gave me the extended battery for free, so I gave that a shot. Big difference in battery life, but it did add some bulk and weight. I stuck with the extended battery up until the first Gingerbread OTA release ( i was one of the ones who managed to get it before they pulled it) and I ordered a stock battery from amazon to give it a shot, now I am getting a good solid day of use from my phone with the stock battery and able to use the case I got for it the day I got my phone which has been nice and I don't feel like I am carrying around an old zach morris brick phone anymore.

Again keep in mind that I am not a hardcore user, just some texts, emails, maybe a quick game of angry birds, and playing around with widgets, but nothing too intense. I am not a big you tube or media guy, so it might go down alot faster if I were. I will put in on my car charger to and from work, just as a way to "keep it fresh". However sine you are sold on not using the bigger battery and want to use your phone quite a bit for media then I can see your dilemma. I would say that you might be a little disappointed with the stock battery. Stock battery and Gingerbread gets me though the day just fine, but I also sit in front of a computer all day, so why use my phone when I can use my huge monitor for games or you tube.

Also, I try to conserve what power I can just out of habit now. I use only wifi when I am at home or in a place that has free wifi. Also, I pretty much stay on 3G CDMA mode all day long. We have 4G here in Memphis, and I have a solid strong 4G connection, but right now, I just don't use it like I should, so I just conserve the power the radio would use to stay on 4G. I have switched over to 4G just to test out my new Gingerbread and stock battery, and from what I can tell, it does go down a bit faster than using just 3G CDMA only mode.

It's a solid phone in my opinion. There were not many other choices I liked when I went to VZW to get my phone at the time coming from AT&T and an iPhone. The Charge was on my list, but it just didn't impress me like the Thunderbolt did. It just felt good in my hands and using it. Plus I liked the HTC sense UI. I wanted a 4G phone even if we didn't have 4G at the time. I didn't want to be behind the curve on that aspect of things. I figured OS and radio would improve down the road to help compensate for power management, and from the looks of things ICS might be moving in that direction.

I really like my thunderbolt, and again, this is just me, but if I had an upgrade coming up, then I would perhaps look at the RAZR or one of the newer 4G phones that might be on the horizon. We will always want the latest and greatest, that his human nature. I am happy with what I chose at the time in the 4G selection of phones. I guess it all just depends on how soon you are ready to upgrade. The price is right and falls into your budget, but if you could put back a bit more and wait another month or two, then you might be able to get the true latest and greatest phone at the time. At least here you can get feedback from people who already on Thunderbolts and see how they like phone. There will always be lemons no matter what you buy, so if that happens, just make lemonade and if possible, add vodka, stir and sip.

 

[natehoy]

The battery is only "that bad" when you use the screen a lot. Having said that, I highly recommend the extended battery. It really doesn't add that much heft, and I really like the extra gripping surfaces it provides in addition to doubling the effective battery life.

I came to the. Tbolt from a Blackberry, so this is my first Android smartphone. I have little to compare it to. But it's got a good enough camera that my regular camera stays on the shelf, the screen is absolutely stunning, and I love this phone.

Battery life is my only real gripe, but with the extended battery it easily lasts a day of heavy use.

 

[OhioG]

With the Razr coming out, the Bionic should drop in price.

Id go with that over the thunderbolt.

 

[electriclineman]

Hello everyone!! this is my 2nd post to the Android Central forums, but I am in a quandry. I have been researching smartphones since August, primarily through reviews, written and video. My Upgrade date is November 26th, smack dab at the front of the Holiday season, ABMs 30 days from right now. I am presently with an HTC Eris, my first smartphone, and I have enjoyed it. however, it's time for THE upgrade. after eliminating 3G phones from the running about a month ago, I settled in with the Revolution, Charge and Tbolt. I like a visually good looking phone, but my primary function is multimedia and music. I hit youtube on my Eris at least 1-2 hours a day. Quickly, I eliminated the Revolution from the running, based mostly on the consensus of reviews. The Charge has that beautiful display, is lightweight...but as of right now, doesn't "officially" run gingerbread. The tbolt, on the other hand, has the lead due to my familiarity with it's little, little, little brother, and it seems to be a more solid, well made phone. I have physically handled both phones, and i like them both. Of course, money is a primary issue. $200.00 is my limit.

I would choose the TBolt but for one thing that I really, really, really need to know: IS THE BATTERY LIFE REALLY THAT BAD??? I have read on THIS forum where people could SEE the battery draining from the phone. no freaking way. and no, I do not want to buy that hideous extended battery, which I don't have the cash for right now anyway. but even if I did, I keep my phone in my pocket while working my 2nd job (wal-mart), and I don't want a BRICK in my pocket while i'm trying to unload a truck full of groceries. On the flip side, I see and hear where people can get 6-8 good hours of battery life with light-medium usage, on 3G. KC is not fully 4G anyway, so i'm hoping there is a way to turn the phone to 3G only until it is.

sorry about the rant, but i will be stuck with this purchase for the next 2 years, and i know ONE person who has the Tbolt. so, I need to hear from those of you who have had this phone for a while, what is is really like, with the stock battery? thanks in advance for your input/advice....

I have the thunderbolt, this is also my first real smartphone.. Unless you consider the blackberry curve, I will make it simple for you, I love my TB.. It does everything I can think of & a lot more.. I got this phone the day it came out, charged it full & killed the battery in 2 hours.. BUT once you learn the phone it will let a good 8 hours & that's with a lot of use.. But is also got the extended battery & now I get 24 hours of battery life.. I played with the other phones that you mentioned & so happy I got the TB.. Now that it has gingerbread it's even better...,I would either get the TB or wait for the nexus.. But you will be happy with the good ole thunderbolt, this I know..

 

[Mikey D_PhD]

Like the OP, I came from an Eris to the TB. It's a world of difference. I never had any of the reboots from MR1 and have not had any problems with GB. I snagged 605.3 and just updated this afternoon to .5. I do have the extended battery and keep my phone in my pocket all day. It has the Seido active case too. I really don't notice it unless I pick up my wife's DINC. It's an awesome phone. Runs well, has a crap load of memory. I would recommend it. You'll see many posts on the forums about problems, but most folks who don't have any problems don't post. You won't regret it for the price.

 

[KingChicago]

There are grand things on the Verizon...errr Horizon. I would go with the newest tech thats available, but thats just me, I'm a tech-whore.

I love my Thunderbolt. Its a really fun phone to mess around with and has a pretty strong developer base. If you are in to that sort of thing, then definitely, go with the TB. Otherwise, the RAZR, Nexus, or anything that will be announced in a few months at CES will be better options for you. That, and as someone pointed out already, the Bionic should be plummeting in price once the RAZR lands...in theory. But we will see.

As far as the battery goes, the LTE radio sucks it dry quick. I can keep it running for long periods of time, it just takes some work, and some playing with.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

First of all, I love the Thunderbolt, but what I'm about to write really has nothing to do with that...

The Thunderbolt was released in March of this year, meaning it's already 7 months old. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but consider this: There are already new phones on the market, such as the Bionic, which have better specs than the Thunderbolt, and if you were to buy a TB now, it will be that much more "behind the times" when your next upgrade window opens up.

The harsh reality is that with the pace that new devices are coming out these days, even the most top of the line phone will usually only be able to hold that distinction for about 6-8 months at most, and within a year, most smart phones are already 2 generations behind the curve. For example, the Thunderbolt will most likely NOT get the latest version of Android (ICS) via official update, but newer phones like the RAZR and Bionic most likely will. This is unfortunate because most of the time you need to commit to a 2 year contract in order to get the subsidized price.

For me, paying an extra $100(+) can be worth it to get the newest device available just because I know I'll have device envy within 6 months anyway.

I agree with some of the other posters on here...I'd wait until some of the newer phones drop down to $199 (if that's your limit) rather than get a thunderbolt now.

It's a shame too, because I would LOVE to give you a positive review of the Thunderbolt. If you're willing to root, it really is a great device, and I personally like it better than the Bionic.

Given your price range, the Galaxy nexus is definitely out, but I'd be waiting to see what's up with the HTC Vigor/Rezound, which is rumored to be announced on Nov. 3rd.

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but that's my take on it.

 

[Edward_g]

My original Smartphone was also the eris. I still have it and I still like it a lot. It is rooted. It is not activated. I upgraded to the tbolt on launch day. I just recently rooted it. It's sort of like eris's big brother that went to college.
I don't have a battery problem. I do have an extended battery but it's not installed tonight. I got it just because I was interested in it. I got the Trident Electra case and battery that fits and feels good. So I change batteries like I change roms. For the fun of it. It's all good with tbolt in my opinion. Good luck with your choice.


Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[gutsploder]

I also came from the eris. What a lagging, slow, steaming heap. I HATED THAT PHONE, but the tb I absolutely love. One thing the eris did do for me was teach me all the battery conservation tricks. It's batt was terrible. That said, I usually get sixteen hours of heavy use on stock battery with no issues. 50 texts, ten phonecalls, multiple emails, Google chat, Facebook, internet surfing, etc. Battery loss is simple on this phone to take steps for prevention.
Turn that Damn screen down! #1 battery killer. Get an app from the market that you van set brightness %. I keep mine set at 20% almost always, unless showing pics or watching YouTube.
Keep wireless off
Keep Bluetooth off
Keep gps off
Periodically check battery status and screen that that tells you what is draining batt, and turn off or down whatever the drain is
Make toggles for all of these on one of the many
homescreens so you can easily turn on and off.
Space out your syncing more, so its not seaching every fifteen minutes.
I love this phone, I am stock with stock battery, and have zero issues. Not sure why everyone hates the battery, they apparently never had an eris.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Wait for the Rezound and RAZR. If you do this, like them then get a Thunderbolt

 

[Edwill86]

I honestly love my tbolt and it was the best thing when it came out and is still very good BUT i can NOT recommend getting one now. if your fine with the possibility of maybe never getting ICS/or are going to root then its a bit better. but with all the new devices out you should look at something more current then the bolt. HTC should have another 4g gem in the pipe for vzw soon i would think.

*also remember if your going from a 3g phone with unlimited data to a 4g phone be prepared to be forced into a tiered data plan

good luck!

 

[edgefever]

No way, go with razor or nexus this phone is old it will never have ICS.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I honestly love my tbolt and it was the best thing when it came out and is still very good BUT i can NOT recommend getting one now. if your fine with the possibility of maybe never getting ICS/or are going to root then its a bit better. but with all the new devices out you should look at something more current then the bolt. HTC should have another 4g gem in the pipe for vzw soon i would think.

*also remember if your going from a 3g phone with unlimited data to a 4g phone be prepared to be forced into a tiered data plan

good luck!

While I could be wrong, I believe that as long as you're eligible to upgrade, and it's your primary line, that you can still keep your unlimited data plan even if upgrading from a 3G device to a 4G device.

 

[edgefever]

Yes you are correct.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

I

*also remember if your going from a 3g phone with unlimited data to a 4g phone be prepared to be forced into a tiered data plan

Please dont pass on false information. As long as you are already on an unlimited smartphone data plan (3G, 4G does not matter) you get to keep it even when upgrading to a 4G device.

 

[johnriii]

I am not a "power user" for my phone, but here is my $0.01 on this phone...(sorry this is long, but hopefully it will help you out)

First off, this is my first android smartphone, I was a iPhone user before hand and I really like being on android much better than iOS. I honestly just got burnt out by all the apple hype and same look and feel of my phone. Android gives me the chance to take control of my phone a bit more and make it my own. But that doesn't really answer your question about "how is this phone" since you already are familiar with the OS.

Well, the battery is suffice to say, a lot better now than before with the Gingerbread update. It's probably not as good as some other phones, but I bet it is better than others. I for one have not had near as many problems as others have had. Although, when I did get my TB back in July, my stock battery was crap on Froyo, it would only last about 3-4 hours a day and would sometimes just go dead during the night if not on the charger. I sort of felt that the batter was just bad. I went to VZW and explained my problem, they gave me the extended battery for free, so I gave that a shot. Big difference in battery life, but it did add some bulk and weight. I stuck with the extended battery up until the first Gingerbread OTA release ( i was one of the ones who managed to get it before they pulled it) and I ordered a stock battery from amazon to give it a shot, now I am getting a good solid day of use from my phone with the stock battery and able to use the case I got for it the day I got my phone which has been nice and I don't feel like I am carrying around an old zach morris brick phone anymore.

Again keep in mind that I am not a hardcore user, just some texts, emails, maybe a quick game of angry birds, and playing around with widgets, but nothing too intense. I am not a big you tube or media guy, so it might go down alot faster if I were. I will put in on my car charger to and from work, just as a way to "keep it fresh". However sine you are sold on not using the bigger battery and want to use your phone quite a bit for media then I can see your dilemma. I would say that you might be a little disappointed with the stock battery. Stock battery and Gingerbread gets me though the day just fine, but I also sit in front of a computer all day, so why use my phone when I can use my huge monitor for games or you tube.

Also, I try to conserve what power I can just out of habit now. I use only wifi when I am at home or in a place that has free wifi. Also, I pretty much stay on 3G CDMA mode all day long. We have 4G here in Memphis, and I have a solid strong 4G connection, but right now, I just don't use it like I should, so I just conserve the power the radio would use to stay on 4G. I have switched over to 4G just to test out my new Gingerbread and stock battery, and from what I can tell, it does go down a bit faster than using just 3G CDMA only mode.

It's a solid phone in my opinion. There were not many other choices I liked when I went to VZW to get my phone at the time coming from AT&T and an iPhone. The Charge was on my list, but it just didn't impress me like the Thunderbolt did. It just felt good in my hands and using it. Plus I liked the HTC sense UI. I wanted a 4G phone even if we didn't have 4G at the time. I didn't want to be behind the curve on that aspect of things. I figured OS and radio would improve down the road to help compensate for power management, and from the looks of things ICS might be moving in that direction.

I really like my thunderbolt, and again, this is just me, but if I had an upgrade coming up, then I would perhaps look at the RAZR or one of the newer 4G phones that might be on the horizon. We will always want the latest and greatest, that his human nature. I am happy with what I chose at the time in the 4G selection of phones. I guess it all just depends on how soon you are ready to upgrade. The price is right and falls into your budget, but if you could put back a bit more and wait another month or two, then you might be able to get the true latest and greatest phone at the time. At least here you can get feedback from people who already on Thunderbolts and see how they like phone. There will always be lemons no matter what you buy, so if that happens, just make lemonade and if possible, add vodka, stir and sip.

I really appreciate the feedback, you sound like someone who charges like I do...anytime I get the chance....!!!

 

[johnriii]

With the Razr coming out, the Bionic should drop in price.

Id go with that over the thunderbolt.

That's EXACTLY my thought process. with so many phones coming out so soon, I figure the Bionic, being the "oldest" of the new phones, would drop, at least temporarily into my wheelhouse. it is my wildcard!!

 

[johnriii]

Like the OP, I came from an Eris to the TB. It's a world of difference. I never had any of the reboots from MR1 and have not had any problems with GB. I snagged 605.3 and just updated this afternoon to .5. I do have the extended battery and keep my phone in my pocket all day. It has the Seido active case too. I really don't notice it unless I pick up my wife's DINC. It's an awesome phone. Runs well, has a crap load of memory. I would recommend it. You'll see many posts on the forums about problems, but most folks who don't have any problems don't post. You won't regret it for the price.

I appreciate the reply, I usually squeeze in some music time with my Eris at walmart, usually about two hours, and I end up with about 70% battery at the end of the night. this is going in at 1730, (full battery) and running the music player nonstop for two hours. from what I'm reading, I may be lucky to leave walmart with 50% with the Tbolt. however, I'm quite paranoid about my Eris dropping below 50%, so maybe that's something i'm going to need to get over. at my primary job, I can charge up basically whenever I want, for as long as I want. thanks again

 

[johnriii]

First of all, I love the Thunderbolt, but what I'm about to write really has nothing to do with that...

The Thunderbolt was released in March of this year, meaning it's already 7 months old. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but consider this: There are already new phones on the market, such as the Bionic, which have better specs than the Thunderbolt, and if you were to buy a TB now, it will be that much more "behind the times" when your next upgrade window opens up.

The harsh reality is that with the pace that new devices are coming out these days, even the most top of the line phone will usually only be able to hold that distinction for about 6-8 months at most, and within a year, most smart phones are already 2 generations behind the curve. For example, the Thunderbolt will most likely NOT get the latest version of Android (ICS) via official update, but newer phones like the RAZR and Bionic most likely will. This is unfortunate because most of the time you need to commit to a 2 year contract in order to get the subsidized price.

For me, paying an extra $100(+) can be worth it to get the newest device available just because I know I'll have device envy within 6 months anyway.

I agree with some of the other posters on here...I'd wait until some of the newer phones drop down to $199 (if that's your limit) rather than get a thunderbolt now.

It's a shame too, because I would LOVE to give you a positive review of the Thunderbolt. If you're willing to root, it really is a great device, and I personally like it better than the Bionic.

Given your price range, the Galaxy nexus is definitely out, but I'd be waiting to see what's up with the HTC Vigor/Rezound, which is rumored to be announced on Nov. 3rd.

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but that's my take on it.

Hey, any input I can get from Owners of the Tbolt is welcome. I agree with most of your post, however I'm not one to "keep up with the joneses". I seriously considered going with the Dinc2, but my wife hit me over the head with a skillet, figuratively of course. she knew I would regret my decision 4-5 months after buying it, so why not go after a 4G phone instead. Now, she knows nothing about these phones, but she does know me. as far as waiting, I'm "gambling" on the Bionic to drop down in price to me, especially during the holidays. if not, I'm snagging the Tbolt. I've waited for 7 anxious months for a new phone, and November 26th can't get here quick enough!!!