Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderbolt?

[jecilop]

I'm considering a carrier switch. I LOVE my Evo, but I'm not the only one on the family plan and Sprint signal and data signal surprisingly varies to badly in the home area....It's disappointing, and it's affecting missed business calls.

Thunderbolt is equivalent to my Evo on Verizon, so as I'm considering if they really do have better coverage in my specific area of use and need to decide before the tiered pricing kicks in I need some advice.

What outstanding problem issues to any of you have with the Thunderbolt?

I just updated to 2.3 on the Evo which is a total mess now - they screwed that update up...It's enough to make me wise enough to ask the questions about the Thunderbolt.

I generally know what to expect, but I am specifically curious about the 1400ma battery life? Anyone who has well 'tweaked" their phone without task killers have any real use time to share on this?

Thanks!

 

[Charmed Juan]

Re: Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderb

I'm considering a carrier switch. I LOVE my Evo, but I'm not the only one on the family plan and Sprint signal and data signal surprisingly varies to badly in the home area....It's disappointing, and it's affecting missed business calls.

Thunderbolt is equivalent to my Evo on Verizon, so as I'm considering if they really do have better coverage in my specific area of use and need to decide before the tiered pricing kicks in I need some advice.

What outstanding problem issues to any of you have with the Thunderbolt?

I just updated to 2.3 on the Evo which is a total mess now - they screwed that update up...It's enough to make me wise enough to ask the questions about the Thunderbolt.

I generally know what to expect, but I am specifically curious about the 1400ma battery life? Anyone who has well 'tweaked" their phone without task killers have any real use time to share on this?

Thanks!

The two phones are very similar. the T-bolt does use up it's battery a bit faster. You will need to be able to charge your phone often, carry spare batteries and a charger for them, or go with the extended battery.
There are some issues with the transition from 4g to 3g. Check the Verizon site for the current map of 4g coverage.
I am about 5 miles inside of the 4G coverage area here in Everett WA. I work in a VERY large metal building and most of the times I don't have any data coverage despite the fact I have 5 bars. The rest of the time I have only 1X with 3G and 4G sprinkled in.
Other than the tremendous speeds, I average about 7-9mbs down 3-10mbs up, you probably won't see much difference from you Evo.

 

[Edwill86]

Re: Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderb

There are still some battery issues for some people. 3g-4g hand off seems to be the issue, and VZW and htc have been working on it. the most recent radio update (mr1) caused some ppl in certain network areas to have rebooting issues. again mr2 fix is in the works.

I do get 9-15 hours with 4g on 100% of the time and the stock battery and brightness set to auto.

The evo is similar in looks mostly. Most of the internals are all upgraded to 2nd gen parts.

here in North central NJ I get 10-30mb/s down and 3-10 mb/s up on 4g. average is 20mbs down 4 up

the biggest difference is going to be the network going from sprint to vzw. you can always try vzw and the bolt for the 10 days vzw gives you to cancel your contract without any ETF (still $35 restock fee) and see if you like the device and the network or not.

good luck!

 

[robrecht]

Re: Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderb

I have a 2nd 1400 mAh battery and the 2750 mAh battery. I've had similar set-ups with my last 4 phones so I never have to worry about battery life on my phones. I do find myself using my extra batteries more with my ThunderBolt than I did with my other phones. The battery door is really snug so it is a bit annoying to switch more frequently to a spare battery, but the speed and coverage on Verizon in my area and in my travels is really worth it. Verizon is way better than Sprint, especially in coverage and in customer service. They've always a been a little slow in getting the best phones, but that is turned on it's head for the time being with 4G LTE. Fastest I've seen here in central Jersey is 37 Mbps down and 9 up. Someone here posted 55 Mbps in St. Louis.

You may have some rebooting or data-connectivity issues with the ThunderBolt. The cheap looing Sammy Charge or LG Revolution (Netflix works out of the box) might be a better option if you have severe problems with the ThunderBolt in your area, but you'll have 14 days to consider these options. Personally, I would not hesitate to get the TB again 'cause I've only had rather minor issues with occasional reboots or lost data connection problems.

I doubt you'll regret trying out the ThunderBolt. It is clearly the best option at this point if you like custom ROMs & such. Now's the time to move to Verizon to lock in unlimited data for $30/month for the time being.

 

[chuckh0308]

Re: Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderb

I'm in Seattle and not having reboot or any other trouble with my TB. The phone is, well, AWESOME! It does burn through the battery in 6-8 hours (sometimes less), but I have two spares. I've been using the hotspot heavily for the past two hours and it's down to about 50%, so that's one way to kill it faster than 6 hours. I'm OK with that though because I LOVE the phone and I LOVE the 4G hotspot.

Granted, the setups are probably wildly different, but I seem to be getting wildly better battery life than my friend does with her EVO. She was killing hers in just a couple hours on the stock battery and even now with the 3500 (?) extended she can't get through the day.

Anyway, I think it's safe to say you should like it at least as much as your Evo. Verizon's 4G network is worlds better than Sprints interpretation, so that will be your main advantage.

 

[Unobtanium]

Re: Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderb

I've had my ThunderBolt for about 3 weeks - it came with version 1.12 - something of the software, so it has not had the "update(s)" applied to it. No reboots that were not of my making, and I very much like the phone. I live in a 4G area, work in areas ranging from 4G to "Verizon who?" and was in DC fro a week on business.

I'm still deciding on extended battery or not, though I am leaning that way, in spite of the fact that only Seidio makes a rugged case for the extended TB.

 

[gaygeek]

Re: Considering carrier switch..Any unresolved issues on Thunderb

I got my Thunderbolt about 2 weeks ago--I went into the Verizon store thinking I would get the Samsung Droid Charge, but I just liked the way the TB felt better--and HTC's UI is worlds better than Samsung's from what I saw. I haven't had the dismal battery life that most people report, but I also use it on WiFi at home and I also got the Anker 1700mAh batteries (2 pack) from amazon. These have proven to have better battery life than the stock battery for me, and with moderate usage, I haven't had to charge during the day, just overnight on my bedstand.

One reason to buy now (before July 7) is that Verizon will be ending the unlimited data plan and replacing it with tiered options, with the current price for unlimited becoming the 2GB tier. They will surely honor the unlimited for the time of your contract, but I'm hoping it will apply to future phones as well.