[CCVirginia]

After 2 weeks I have returned the thunderbolt and exchanged it for an iPhone. Coming from an AT&T iPhone 3g I had great hopes for the Thunderbolt! The fast LTE network, simultaneous talk/data, Android flexibility and better VZ network. Based on the reviews I expected to have to do soma power management, but thought that a bit of power management would be an acceptable tradeoff. Here are my conclusions:

Issues (in rough order of criticality):
• Battery life – after spending way to much time trying to optimize the battery, including dropping back to 3g and 20% screen brightness, all I could get was about 6 hrs standby and 2 hrs usage. This is simply not acceptable and the one thing that can’t be overcome as it seems to be due to a power hungry screen.
• Stability – I had issues with exchange sync, mail crashes, weather channel crashing and wifi/4g switching. Overall I am concerned about the stability
• Application quality – overall I found the Android applications to be of lesser quality and functionality that the iPhone. i.e. CNBC application.
• Visual voicemail quality – very poor, and they charge you for it
• Speakerphone quality – poor
• Operation is not quit as smooth as iPhone and at times the touch seems to have a mind of its own
• It is a bit large

Good stuff:
• LTE is very fast and available in my area (DC)
• Talk and data at the same time works well {and is important to me}
• Overall I liked Android
• The screen is very nice
• Reception is very nice – clear and large
• Voice quality good, but not quite as good as the iPhone
• There are a lot of applications available

So, I am an iPhone user again- upgraded to iPhone 4. I spent way to much time trying to accommodate and debug the Thunderbolt and am not sure I would be happy with it even with some of the great features. I’m sure some of these issues could be overcome, but the weight of the evidence seemed against it. I am technically savvy and have used smart phones for years. I post this for information only – it is my personal experience.

[RetiredJedi]

Sorry you had a bad experience with it and to each his own but my question is if you think the phone is big as a negative then how is the big screen a positive? Also, if simultaneous voice and data are important then why did you get an iPhone? Is that a Verizon iPhone or did you go back to At&t because no other Verizon phone does simultaneous V&D.

Just curious.

[Forgetful]

bo. You had some correctable issue that was eating battery. Look at mine. Display is consistently 4-5 hours with 20-22 hours up. Bummer you're done.




I'm sure glad my bolt doesn't suffer from some of the issue others are having. If someone made me give it up they'd lose an arm.
Google has free VVM app btw. Some people are better off with Iphone, android is not for everyone and visa versa

[SoDev]

To each their own. My wife got the iPhone4 (it's good for her), it feels so freaking restricted/uncustomizable and basically like a beefed up iPod touch that I had a couple years ago. Ugh.

March 17th 2011... a date which will be remembered gloriously.

[RetiredJedi]

I'm with you Dev. I also want to add that for those that think the iPhone is flawless you should check the TiPb website (link at top of this site) and check the forums over there.

[nativi]

Yeah I get a full day out of mine ten or eleven hours sometimes 12 hours

Send using Tapatalk Pro via Thunderbolt

[bjboucher]

Good thing about the thunderbolt, you can change batteries if you want/need to. Can't do that on the iPhone!

[itsdollar]

Sorry it didn't work for you. Did you root? I noticed that everything in your battery life/stability issues can be (or already is) fixed. Did you check out the threads on this forum and XDA? I do understand different preferences for everyone so I hope you enjoy your phone. Good luck.

[nate44]

Issues (in rough order of criticality):
• Battery life – after spending way to much time trying to optimize the battery, including dropping back to 3g and 20% screen brightness, all I could get was about 6 hrs standby and 2 hrs usage. This is simply not acceptable and the one thing that can’t be overcome as it seems to be due to a power hungry screen.
• Stability – I had issues with exchange sync, mail crashes, weather channel crashing and wifi/4g switching. Overall I am concerned about the stability
• Application quality – overall I found the Android applications to be of lesser quality and functionality that the iPhone. i.e. CNBC application.
• Visual voicemail quality – very poor, and they charge you for it
• Speakerphone quality – poor
• Operation is not quit as smooth as iPhone and at times the touch seems to have a mind of its own

Those are symptoms of a defective device

[Air Force One]

only an ***** would buy an iphone 4 now. thing is a year old, no LTE....no "technically savvy" person would do that

[r-nice]

only an ***** would buy an iphone 4 now. thing is a year old, no LTE....no "technically savvy" person would do that

Maybe he doesn't need the newest thing on the block.

[Air Force One]

Maybe he doesn't need the newest thing on the block.

Obviously not

[striders]

bo. You had some correctable issue that was eating battery. Look at mine. Display is consistently 4-5 hours with 20-22 hours up. Bummer you're done.




I'm sure glad my bolt doesn't suffer from some of the issue others are having. If someone made me give it up they'd lose an arm.
Google has free VVM app btw. Some people are better off with Iphone, android is not for everyone and visa versa

Jesus, how did you get that much battery life?! I have tried almost every recommendation and can't get more than 6 hours, tops.

I do average 50% on brightness and have Exchange push, so maybe that was it.

[nate44]

Jesus, how did you get that much battery life?! I have tried almost every recommendation and can't get more than 6 hours, tops.

I do average 50% on brightness and have Exchange push, so maybe that was it.

Well, he's rooted and running an undervolted kernel. That may help a bit

[RetiredJedi]

Well, he's rooted and running an undervolted kernel. That may help a bit

And using WiFi

[mzazthang]

exactly! iphone soooo uncustomizable! who cares about battery life...they all suck! just get more than one battery! i LOVE LOVE my t-bolt! iphones blah! lol

[johnsonwcjw]

Yea I'd say most of your problems could have been fixed with a simple Root and install of the "the perfect storm" Rom.

[striders]

I came from the iPhone, had the original iPhone, then 3G --> 3GS and finally iPhone 4. Now that I have the Thunderbolt, I simply will NOT go back to iPhone.

Apple restrict the iOS so much that it's beyond irritating. For example, Apple recently forced a developer of iCab, one of THE BEST browser for the iPhone (plugs-in, etc.) to remove JavaScript. Seriously?! Apple's own iOS Safari browser HAVE JavaScript, so what's the problem?

With my Thunderbolt, I can do WHATEVER I want. I now have a Thunderbolt (replacing iPhone 4) and a Nook Color with CM7 (replacing iPad). Yep, I am Droid ALL THE WAY!

[Kronko]

You will be back sooner than later . Good luck though.

[JoJoCal19]

I came from the iPhone, had the original iPhone, then 3G --> 3GS and finally iPhone 4. Now that I have the Thunderbolt, I simply will NOT go back to iPhone.

Apple restrict the iOS so much that it's beyond irritating. For example, Apple recently forced a developer of iCab, one of THE BEST browser for the iPhone (plugs-in, etc.) to remove JavaScript. Seriously?! Apple's own iOS Safari browser HAVE JavaScript, so what's the problem?

With my Thunderbolt, I can do WHATEVER I want. I now have a Thunderbolt (replacing iPhone 4) and a Nook Color with CM7 (replacing iPad). Yep, I am Droid ALL THE WAY!

I love my Verizon iPhone 4 but I'm looking at moving to a Thunderbolt shortly. I'm tired of not being able to customize it and the notification system can't even compare with smartphones of the early 2000's.

[CCVirginia]

Answers;
- Did I check out threads - yes, did all the tricks.
- Did I root it, no - didn't want to go that far - I wish I could have waited for the 2.3 release.
- Is it defective - could be, last day when I could return it and VZ would not extend
- Is it the iPhone VZ - Yes, and it is a compromise, but ATT had network issues (dropped calls)
- Is Android for me, no reason it could not have been – lots of cool stuff. After all, it was my first choice!
- Did I say iPhone was flawless??? Don’t think so! I do think it is more reliable.
- Am I an ***** – could be, didn’t want to buy a year old 3g phone but old one died and it was time to get back to work.
- Is the iPhone working – so far, looks ok. No surprises. Got 2meg on 3g USB-Hotspot.

TTFN (Ta-ta-for-now)

[Jude526]

I finally made my way into the store yesterday. I was waiting to see the Incredible 2 and the TB at the same time. I have the original Incredible and love it. I loved the TB and will be upgrading to it. I am disappointed in the new Incredible 2. I think the TB is awesome and I was hesitant at first. I played with it for quite awhile.

[nate44]

TTFN (Ta-ta-for-now)

Yep. Definitely an iphone owner.

[Droid_Evo_8]

I love my Verizon iPhone 4 but I'm looking at moving to a Thunderbolt shortly. I'm tired of not being able to customize it and the notification system can't even compare with smartphones of the early 2000's.

Welcome to the Dark Side. I looked back comparing my Tbolt to my sister's iphone 4 (I had an iphone 4 too before I got the Bolt). Screen's too small (compared to the Bolt), limited customization, crappy signal (AT&T, no surpise), cant do wireless tether. Good amount of launchers (I have 7 of them, each with different home screens. Can't do that on the iPhone), 4G, multitask, faster, etc. I go on for more but I guess I'll stop here for now. LOLz

[bthomp21]

ha, iphone. now you can join the cult of hating android because you cant figure it out. folders, fake multi tasking, etc. awesome!