Thunderbolt First Impressions/Reviews

[CrimsonAvenger#AC]

First post is a review!

- Aesthetics
I love it, the build quality is solid and I just came from a htc incredible and droid x. I loved the DX build and was scared as to how the thunderbolt would feel and look to me. But I am extremely happy.

- Screen
Better than the Incredible but for some reason I do prefer the DX's TFT display just because it seemed a little bit sharper. In the end though, the screen is not too hard on the eyes.

- Hardware
The Kickstand is actually kind of nice to use and I like the fact that they took out the optical button (hated it on the Incredible). Having the light under the earpiece grill is nice too for some reason.

- Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
I found that the phone quality is very good, I haven't been in a situation that requires me to use voice and data at the same time though. I watched the new captain america trailer on my phone while out on my campus and it was surprisingly loud which was nice.

- Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense)
While the DX had a lot of good 'looking' widgets, I found HTC sense still to be much more stable and fluid. Even though the DX had the better 1ghz processor I still had some lag. Basically, HTC sense (for me) enriches the android experience. I used to have LPP on both of my past devices but I am actually content with what the HTC sense has given me.

- Widgets
I was disappointed to find that the stock android news & weather app was absent on the TB. I loved that widget. But HTC makes up for it with some good weather and news widgets. Even though I am using the 'Glass widget' from the market.

- Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
I go to school in L.A. and I am going to be moving back to S.F. after this spring since I am graduating so I will get 4g no matter what ! But I have not had any of the 4g to 3g switching and only once have had problems with the 4g signal where I had to reboot.


- GPS
Locks on super quick and 4g definitely helps, only have used it once though so I can't vouch for too much.

- Social Networking
SMS is a breeze, if thats what you mean by social networking. I mean facebook loads super quick.

- Email/Calendar
HTC Sense is awesome but I still prefer the native Gmail app and that works great. Although sometimes I do experience some long loading times when it is trying to 'loading conversations.'

- Battery Life
Contrary to some of the nay sayers, I get as good or better than the HTC incredible. This could be the fact that I don't experience a great deal of signal switching. I am a pretty heavy user too, I usually watch some online videos, listen to music, download or update some apps and make some calls. I usually get through the day with about 20 to 30 percent around 9 or so.

- Performance
I was actually leaning more towards the Bionic before I got the TB but I have found what really matters is the experience. HTC Sense makes things really smooth. And from what I experienced on the DX (yes I know it has the crappy blur not the Bionic Blur on it) even with LPP is that it was still less fluid than the HTC incredible. Plus if you want to break it down to specs, the TB has the newest iteration of Snapdragon which is a big upgrade from the HTC incredible's snapdragon. Also I have been getting a consistent 1900ish score on quadrant. Basically this is what I boil it down to, the TB is basically a super refined device it uses the 1ghz very very well. Not to mention it has 768 ram which I think is DDR.

- Media (music, movies, DLNA)
Doubletwist does wonders for me and I love the setup they have going. I have not put on any movies but I want to with all of this space.

- Keyboard's
I bought swiftkey a while back and I just transferred it over, it works wonders and is really intuitive. One of the biggest things I liked about the DX was the keyboard. HTC sense's is ok but I feel as though the buttons are relatively small.

- Camera (both still & video)
I have the vignette demo version but have not had the chance to really take some good photos or videos so I will update with if I do.


- How the Thunderbolt compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
AWESOME...I have already kind of talked about that through the whole review so yea you get my point.

- Disappointments (if any)
Even though I am happy with the battery, it would be nice not to have to wait to buy a OEM slim 1700mah battery. Other than that, there is really nothing else. I really like the phone.

 

[akira751]

I am missing my old BB Storm interface, and all of the ways you can customize the BB. I still do not know how to delete some of the contacts as the delete button does not show, and I miss the sync features of the BB sync system. The phone is amazingly fast, even in poor signal areas. It has a better antennae than the BB. If you like to save messages, that feature does not exist on the Android system. Its a little large, but its a great phone. I do wish BB had a similar phone!!!

Check out the " How to section" Its very helpful for former BB users and the Android OS has way more features than BB.

 

[SixStringMadness]

* Aesthetics Very nice
* Screen Awesome
* Hardware Jury still out
* Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage don't know yet
* Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) Getting used to
* Widgets not sure I like
* Signal quality (Compared to other devices) seems comparable
* GPS Decent
* Social Networking Wide open
* Email/Calendar Disappointing
* Battery Life apparently it sucks
* Performance We'll see when I hit a 4G network
* Media (music, movies, DLNA) Have not used yet
* Keyboard's Not very fond of
* Camera (both still & video) Why an 8MP sensor that small?
* How the Thunderbolt compares to your previous smartphone Faster, bigger screen, more media, but just not a balckberry.....
* Disappointments Can't customize the way I'd like, NFL app doesn't work, typing on the keyboard blows

I like the phone, but I don't like the phone. I hated my Storm at first but I got used to it and loved it. I'm still a crackberry, always will be (work phone is a berry), but I just don't know about this Droid thing yet..... Doesn't seem all that special for VZW to ram it down my throat since my renewal came around.

Not gonna rule it out as a good device, but I sure liked the way Blackberry did things, it suited me and my lifestyle, I did everything with it that it could do, and I was just all around happy with it despite it's few quirks. BTW, the Droid already froze up once, I had to clear cache once and it apparently has a sucky battery.

(FYI, my Storm crashed right after getting of the phone with VZW, and I was able to bring back to life, and even with a back up, very important stuff was wiped forever and no acceptable Blackberry was available, and waiting for a QNX was not an option at that point.....)

Overall, it's a very techy device, I'm a very techy guy. Hopefully I will learn the ins and outs of this thing and grow to love it, but right now I'm not fond of it.

 

[SixStringMadness]

BTW, I've been a BB user for 7 years, and I've used, fixed, tweeked, hacked many a Blackberry, and used 2 at a time for the past 3 years.... I am a Crackberry poster child.

 

[Smuuth]

My review can be seen at Smuuth Tech

You can also read it below, if you like.

Setup

Activation of this phone requires a little different process than for previous Verizon Wireless devices. Unlike simple CDMA smartphones, the LTE network requires the use of a SIM card, which must be activated first before the phone itself can connect to the network. If the phone is acquired in a store, obviously they will take care of the activation for you, but if you acquire it online and intend to activate it from home, you cannot simply dial *228 as you could with previous handsets. The easiest way if you are activating from home is to go to your Verizon Wireless ?My Account? page and go to the ?Activate Device? page. Entering the MEID of the Thunderbolt there will send to a new page for 4G/LTE devices so you can activate the SIM card. Once you enter the SIM card number, you simply insert it in the Thunderbolt, put in the battery and turn the phone on. It will then go through the activation procedure and lead you into the rest of the setup procedure for the phone. I thought the guidance included with the phone was not very clear on how to do this and had the potential to actually damage the SIM card if done wrong.

Synchronizing

Being an Android phone, the easiest way to synchronize your mail accounts, contacts, and calendar is to have a Google Gmail account. During setup, once you enter your Google account information, your contacts and calendar will synchronize automatically and your phone contacts list will populate itself. The phone does have the ability to synchronize contacts and calendar with your computer via USB using HTC Sync, but I have not tested that method.

Form Factor/Design

I love the form factor of this phone. It is much as if a Droid Incredible were bumped up to the screen size of a Droid X. It has a more sleek feel to it than the Droid X, primarily due to the rounded corners and edges. I like the textured back and the overall appearance of the device very much. It includes a kickstand which will support it in almost a vertical stance, either in portrait or landscape mode. One problem with the kickstand, however, is that it is not usable in a landscape position if the charging cable is connected. The charging/data port should have been located on the opposite side of the phone.

Operating System

The Thunderbolt comes with Android OS 2.2.1 (Froyo) and rumors are already circulating that an upgrade to Gingerbread will be coming in April. I don't know why this device did not have Gingerbread at launch, perhaps HTC could not get their Sense UI to mesh with it before the launch. Although a rooting method has already shown up in the wild for the Thunderbolt, I have not tried it so cannot comment on how well it works.

UI

HTC has installed their Sense UI on this device and it just works well. I believe it is much-improved from the Sense UI I saw on the Incredible and I far prefer it to Blur on the Droid X. There are some things I do not like about the Sense UI, such as having a redundant Facebook app for Sense UI, which tries to link two different facebook entries in each of your contacts who are using Facebook.

Display

The display on this phone is good as long as you are indoors. It just plain sucks if you are outside in the sun. As much as I love the 4.3 inch size, I really do not like the lack of legibility in bright light.

Web Browser

The browser is great and easy to use, once you make some settings changes. I had to turn off the setting to open pages in overview, so the pages would be readable when loaded. I also turned off Mobile view, so the browser acts more like a desktop browser.

Email

You can set up email accounts with just about any type of provider, and it just works. I use two different Gmail accounts with mine and it synchronizes flawlessly.

Navigation

Google Navigation, although still officially in beta, just works with this device. You can speak or type your destination and the turn-by-turn voice directions are clear and accurate

Signal Strength

As I said, I am in the Denver area and everywhere I have traveled around town has shown 4G/LTE on the phone. I have not seen the phone drop into 3G or 1x anywhere since I have had it.

Speed

This is probably the best aspect of this device. I am amazed at the speeds I am seeing for both upload and download on this phone. It just flies, both with the phone itself and when I use the mobile hotspot feature to connect another device. It is averaging twice as fast for both uploads and downloads as my DSL at home. I am not sure why the speed test website thinks I am in San Francisco, however.




Camera

The camera works adequately, although I don't believe it delivers overall quality images as good as the Verizon iPhone or even the Droid X. I have not yet tried to make a call over Tango yet, so I haven't really tried the front facing camera. I do know the front facing camera is not autofocus, so that may or may not be a problem when using it.

Applications

What can I say? There are thousands of applications available for this phone through the Android market. Some of them, such as NFL Mobile, do not yet work with the Thunderbolt, however, but I am sure the app developers are working that issue.

Deficiencies

You may have noted I did not have a section above to comment on the battery. That's because there is nothing good to say about the battery on this device. Battery life sucks. Period. With the OEM battery, I am lucky if the phone will stay on for 3 hours before it is giving me the low battery warning. This is unacceptable performance. The only way to use this device is to have a charger handy. I have done everything I could think of to reduce the power draw, including setting the screen brightness to 25% and turning off every automatic notification on applications that I could. Whether it is the 4G/LTE technology that is the power hog, or simply an inadequate capacity battery itself, it makes the device unusable as it is sold for most people. I will probably buy the 2750 mAh extended battery if I decide to keep this phone as my daily driver, although I think it makes it look like a bloated whale.

Summary

The Thunderbolt is absolutely the fastest phone I have ever used. The size and operation are ideal. This would be my perfect device if they could fix the battery life. I will continue to use it for a while to see if a fix is forthcoming, either through a software update or something else, but I would not recommend it for every day use at this point.

Note: As a member of the Verizon Wireless Customer Council, I have received free equipment from Verizon Wireless or its partners for the purpose of evaluation and testing. This review document may be the result of that evaluation and testing.

 

[droid747]

I got my THunderbolt last Thursday and I liek it a lot. The battery life is not as good as my OG Droid, but I can't complain for 4g and a larger screen. My phone lasted me over the weekend for 2 days and 12 hours. Granted I did not use it that much. I made a few phone calls some texts, and browsed the web a tiny bit. I also did a handfull of speedtests. My droid would last me 3 days if I used it like that, so really it is not that much less battery life.

During the work week, my Droid lasted 1 day, and I have been getting a day out of the Thunderbolt on the weekdays, so I can't complain.

 

[whiteshadow001]

I absolutely love this phone so far, haven't had any issues thus far, I've been getting a day and a half out of the battery and I live in a 4g area. This thing is insanely fast on 4g and that new snapdragon processor is amazing. I'm scoring high on the smartbench and quadrant.

 

[E90 Commie]

I am very impressed with my Thunderbolt. It's a bigger difference than I thought compared to my HD2 running imilka Vision Sense 4.1 (Desire Z based) with 32 GB class 2 SanDisk card. The Tbolt is now rooted and is running the Perfect Storm 1.0. I have not done my full configuration yet but the initial impressions are extremely good.

I say this about the different points:

1. Build quality. It feels solid in general but obviously a bit plastic compared to my HD2 - that device is extremely well built and feels luxurious - the Tbolt can't really match it. But the quality is still good.

2. Performance. The difference is really noticable. The Tbolt feels snappier - certainly a newer generation. Scrolling etc are smoother than the HD2. It's a bigger difference than I originally thought (8250 vs 8650) - I didn't expect something like that. I believed that the different 1 Ghz Snapdragons was relatively similar but in some areas it feels like the step from Touch Pro 2 (528 Mhz) to HD2 (1 Ghz) during the WM days.

3. Sound quality. My Tbolt sounds very good with my Grado RS2 - even powered directly from the device itself. Normally I use my Audio Technica headphone amp. With PowerAMP I feel that the sound is slightly more controlled than the HD2 (which is a very well sounding device in my opinion). It's not a big difference between them but slightly better with the Tbolt.

4. The display quality. Compared to the HD2 I got the impression that the Tbolt offers more deep and rich colors and a more deep black tone. Both devices has good displays but obviously there has been some development in that area.

5. The battery life. I think my Tbolt has a relatively good battery life now on the stock battery but I have the extended one ready. It lost approx 10 percent in 8 hours in standby with 4G activated after my power saving measures. Now I have underclocked it in screen off mode with SetCPU.

But it drains more power compared to the HD2 even with power saving measures applied (according to CurrentWidget) but in practical use the consumption seems to be acceptable now. My impression is that the battery life now is relatively similar to my HD2 (when that device is on a 3G network using HSDPA). But obviously the LTE radio is using power so when easy efficient switching is available I will set up the device to be on 3G most of the time and only on 4G when fast data connection is needed.

6. Android experience. I think it's working very well in the systems department. I am used to the UI since the HD2 which I have flashed with both EVO 4G based ROMs and later Desire Z base. The Tbolt is offering the same UI as the Desire Z (or Desire HD) so there's no "conversion training" needed at all. It works exactly as I'm used to. It was a much bigger step when I got Android on the HD2 and retired Windows Mobile.

The Perfect Storm 1.0 is working very well already in this early stage - it's clearly snappier than the stock ROM (as usual).

So I give the Tbolt a very good rating - the only thing I miss is a higher build quality identical to the HD2. But I can live with the more plastic build because of the high performance it offers. The functionality is great.

The data speeds is very good - quicker than the HSDPA I have used for the last four years (I'm from Europe and got high speed 3.5G HSDPA in 2007 on the Hi3G (3) network with the Nokia E90 Communicator). The Tbolt is my first "US device".

The call quality of my Tbolt is also good. I checked if I could here the hiss but not in this case. It sounds good without hissing (I have not enabled the hearing aid mode).

This 1st 4G LTE device is a very good "first". Compared to the first 3G device I got in Februar 2004 (Motorola A920) the Tbolt is like a fully working solution already. It was much bigger issues with the network and the device itself when the 3G was introduced. I know because I was early adaptor. If we talk about battery life - this LTE device fares pretty well despite higher power consumption than 3G (and way higher consumption than GSM networks). Back in 2004 the battery life was so bad that the A920 was delivered with TWO batteries and TWO chargers because the official standby was 50 hours, 1.5-2 hours of use meant battery empty.

So I know what bad battery life is and the Tbolt is working much better than that and the new LTE network has far fewer issues than the 3G had when it was newly introduced.

So this early adaption has worked very well for me until know.

 

[SixStringMadness]

from what I was told, the 4G is in the NFL towns, and the VZW NFL app doesn't work on this device. WTF?

 

[Batmyte]

I am a Mac fan, but I bought an android phone (4 days ago). I like my Thunderbolt, but still not sure I made the right choice (over the iPhone). The battery suck ~ it took all day on charge to charge is and with in 4 hours, the phone was dying. I have almost everything I can think of off to help conserve the battery, and today I have a reg. wallpaper instead of the live wallpaper which I think is cool, but drains battery life. My husband is getting the same phone and we are hoping Tango works as well as everyone says it does bc he works in No. Cal and we live in So Cal. I like the phone and hoping to love it with time.

 

[Chrisy]

Music sounds great with earbuds in! Much better than my Blackberry!

 

[Treknologist]

OK, I've had the TBolt now for over 2 weeks so I figured I'd write my own review. This is my very first Android phone and, overall, I have to say that I'm very impressed. I came from an HTC Touch Pro (WinMo) and have, in fact, had HTC smartphones always. I did a lot of reading before I decided to get an Android phone and the TBolt. So, here go my comments:

• Aesthetics - I like how the phone looks overall. It certainly looks much sleeker than my Touch Pro.
  
• Screen - WOW! After using a 2.5" screen for 2 years, I have to say this 4.3" screen is fantastic! I originally was a bit concerned with the size but I have definitely gotten used to it. I've been watching videos in HD and they look sharp and crisp.
  
• Hardware - Well built and feels solid in the hand. I think it is lighter than the Touch Pro! LOL I've liked using the kickstand when watching video and just like to stand it vertically when charging.
  
• Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage - I had no issues connecting the TBolt to my Lexus bluetooth nor to my Motorola bluetooth earpiece. The sound quality has been very good as well. I have used the speaker phone and found it to be more than loud enough and clear (no distortion).
  
• Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) - OK, I was used to TouchFlo 3D and that is the reason I decided to stick with HTC when I moved to Android. I just love their interface and how user friendly it is. For me, it really makes Android shine with the extra polish that it gives the OS. I have to say that I love the leap function to quickly get around.
  
• Widgets - Also excellent. I found myself feeling up the screens with widgets rather quickly so I had to slow down to pick the ones that I really wanted the most on the home pages. I was used to having certain functions from TouchFlo 3D, so I wanted several of those same functions on the homescreen here. Love the ability to customize!
  
• Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - I travel frequently. The signal for calls has been the same as with the Touch Pro wherever I've been. Call quality has been good.
  
• GPS - Had not really tested this until today. Used it to walk to a pharmacy close to the hotel I'm for a meeting. Used both the Google Navigation and MapQuest. One word - AWESOME!
  
• Social Networking - Don't really use it, so no opinion either way.
  
• Email/Calendar - I'm syncing with my Outlook using GoogleCalendarSync and it works like a charm. Love it. The calendar works well and I keep the agenda widget on one of my home screens for quick access. I have not used the email app. I just check mail using the browser - it's a matter of personal preference.
  
• Battery Life - This varies depending on my level of use. With light use, it will last all day no problem. With moderate use I get about 7 hours. With heavy use it does not last so much. I can easily recharge, so it has not been an issue; however, I've ordered the 1700 mAh battery since I don't want to use that monstrosity of an extended battery.
  
• Performance - What can I say? Fantastic! Everything I do on this phone is buttery smooth.
  
• Media (music, movies, DLNA) - The music player has been great. I transferred all my music directly into the memory card with the artwork. The player displays the artwork perfectly and the music sounds great. I've listened through the phone speakers and with earphones and it all sounds good. I have transferred a number of videos in a variety of formats. The native player cannot play them all but I'm using Summer Player which is a superb video player and can handle all formats. HD video looks and sounds great! I couldn't be more pleased. I've not used DLNA, so can't comment on that.
  
• Keyboard's - I was already used HTC keyboard on my Touch Pro (which was substantially smaller), so adapting to the virtual keyboard on the TBolt was easy. Once I did the calibration, the keyboard performed even better. I really like how it is able to suggest words to save me time while typing. I also type in Spanish and the keyboard is quite effective with its suggestions both in English and Spanish.
  
• Camera (both still & video) - I've taken pictures which have come out well - certainly better than the pictures on the Touch Pro! I have not tested the video camera yet.
  
• How the Thunderbolt compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable) - I don't think I can add more from what I've said throughout the review. This phone is just great and it is so much better than the Touch Pro. I still want to stick with HTC phones as my experience with them has been positive. I love using the cloud to keep my contacts/calendar as it makes life much easier. I'm sure there is still a lot to learn about my TBolt and Android but I'm really enjoying it.
  
• Disappointments (if any) - No Netflix but I know that is coming later. I did try the apk that was available but it does not connect to stream. Skype isn't such a big deal for me.

To me, this is an excellent phone and I am quite happy. I'm looking forward to receiving the new battery for better performance in that area.

 

[Bearly]

Did anyone come from a Fascinate? Any comparisons?

 

[JC4131a]

My Review:

Background: My last phone was an envy touch and I have had this phone for two weeks. I do not use the phone too often each day, maybe about a total 1-2 hrs with one or two phone calls and several text messages. Never near 4G.

Battery: Gets me through the day and some. That said, I have a pretty good feeling that if I needed the phone on the go, meaning I couldn't be periodically recharging it, I would have a problem.

Aesthetics: Feels nice and looks beautiful. The kick stand is a real nice touch.

Durability: Hard to say but I have not cover or anything and have dropped it twice and have it in my pocket by itself most of the time. It is not showing any wear.

System:Wow. Sense is awesome. I was all about trying to get a stock android but my feeling has changed to sense being akin to ubuntu, for you linux users. Something that is well supported and works very smoothly. A decent amount of customization is allowed. The only thing you're stuck with is that you must have 7 screens, can't change the notification pull down and can't change the three buttons on the bottom (app drawer, phone, and customization....this last one really confuses me as to why they decided its always useful). I went back to the verizon store the other day to play with other phones and the TB blows away the fascinate, droid x, and droid 2. THere is no comparison in speed or smoothness. The iPhone 4 seemed smoother in its animations but the TB was just as fast if not faster and it has the advantage of all of google's little goodies. Just try voice commands, its is amazingly awesome. Not to mention the androids appear to have a newer version of google maps that feels nicer.

Screen:Its not quite the iPhone 4 retina's display but other than that I thought it was nicer than all the other phone's in the store. Not comparing it to anything else, the resolution seems crisp. Very nice contrast between black and white text when reading web pages. The touch sensors are also very responsive and I rarely have the issue of a mistype. I've played several youtube videos and movie trailers and the videos looks awesome on the phone and rune so smoothly.

Complaints: As everyone has said...how do you overlook putting the usb connector on the resting side when the kick stand is open. Swype needs to be fixed with sms (btw, I think swype is reason enough to not get an iPhone until they have something similar. If you load no other apps, load swype). Battery could be better but this "phone" is a large screen away from being a laptop or a tablet.

I'll edit this later is anything else comes to mind.

 

[ThomasT626]

Music sounds great with earbuds in! Much better than my Blackberry!

I'll second that. Used some Zune HD earbuds for the first time this past week to listen to Pandora at work and it sounded fantastic!

 

[muzhik]

Did anyone come from a Fascinate? Any comparisons?

+1 - would like a comparison as well...

 

[berdinkerdickle]

I have a client I've worked with for some time.

He has had the At&t iPhone4 since it's release.
He had lots of signal issues, they sold him a bumper.
He still had issues.
He had a Blackberry before, so he was used to having better reception.

He went into a Verizon store to sign up to trial the iPhone4 to see if it worked any better with Verizon.

The store rep told him flatly, your issues aren't the carrier, it's the iPhone4.
The rep told him he will have the same issues with the Verizon iPhone4 as he's having with At&t.
The rep said straight-up; "Here, this is want you want!" and lead him to the Thunderbolt. My Friend/Client is now stoked! He really likes the Thunderbolt.

If I tried to post this over at Precentral, I'd get flamed.
The reply would be; 'yeah, well... the iPhone4 has sold millions upon millions upon millions.'

 

[Chrisy]

The more I'm learning, the more I love this phone!

 

[wetwaterdog]

Doing some venting here....!

I come from a computer background. I have built my own computers for over 20 years.

I just bought a bolt...and in defense of me and the bolt, I have been too busy to really spend any time with it so far. BUT....BUT....I will say....as of now ANDROID SUCKS!!!!!

A phone should be a phone first....I have no desire to sync all of my old contacts and phone #'s to google so they can get hacked and have my info. I come from a business (computer) world and the interface is terrible. So much bloat crap I have to scroll pass to FIND anything that might even resemble anything like sending a text to any # or just working with general info. This is a short message because Survivor is on now and really, if I have to spend the next 2 days learning how to just send a message or manage my contacts, well then back to a phone and company that offers a simple pc based app that allows me to manage my contacts without giving google the business.

Btw...the signal bars are weak, the 4g goes in and out...and the interface is NOT user friendly. Just my OP.

vent off....maybe this weekend I will do and learn more...but I had hoped I would be able to pick this up and run....and then begin the root and roms...did someone forget this is a phone FIRST!!!!

 

[dajogejr]

I think there's an iphone with your name on it....and I'm not trying to be a smart arse.
Trying to figure out your last statement...
IF it's a phone first...please tell me what root and roms will do for you....I'm curious.

I too, have a computer background, build my own as well as the networks they reside on.
Had everything from a bag phone to a StarTac to blackberries, Moto phones, windows phones, tested a few models of droids (motorola) and this device.

There's a learning curve. Give it a week.

You didn't pick up your first computer 20 years ago and run with it, you learned it.
This is no different.

I am not trying to sound like a jerk...just being realistic...