EVO vs Thunderbolt Sprint vs Verizon

[Armyntt]

Help guys. This is the first post and thread i have ever started. I want to get the Thunderbolt or the Bionic but im sick of my Iphone 3G. Is Verizon coverage better than Sprints? Im in the Army and in August going to Camp Shelby MS. I was there about a year ago and AT and T sucked ass there. Only the edge network. I like the Iphone but not enough to stop me from getting something better.(Bionic/Tbolt). I want a phone i can do video chat with my family up until the day i take off. Anyone hear of any release dates before March on these phones? I have an old high school g/f that works at Verizon and she thinks the bionic will ship before the Tbolt. Im leaning away from the Iphone because i have kids and i dont want my wife to have to drive to a Apple store if the phone breaksdown. Nearest Apple store is about 1.5 hours away. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Damn_Smooth]

The thunderbolt will definitely be released before the bionic, it is being marketed as the first 4g phone on verizon. I would definitely go with one of the verizon phones though because lte is faster than the wimax that sprint claims is 4g. Whichever way you go I personally think you are making a great decision in abandoning the iphone. It was great in it's day, but that day has long since passed. Good luck to you and I hope you find what works the best for you.

 

[DolfanCole]

Help guys. This is the first post and thread i have ever started. I want to get the Thunderbolt or the Bionic but im sick of my Iphone 3G. Is Verizon coverage better than Sprints? Im in the Army and in August going to Camp Shelby MS. I was there about a year ago and AT and T sucked ass there. Only the edge network. I like the Iphone but not enough to stop me from getting something better.(Bionic/Tbolt). I want a phone i can do video chat with my family up until the day i take off. Anyone hear of any release dates before March on these phones? I have an old high school g/f that works at Verizon and she thinks the bionic will ship before the Tbolt. Im leaning away from the Iphone because i have kids and i dont want my wife to have to drive to a Apple store if the phone breaksdown. Nearest Apple store is about 1.5 hours away. Thanks for the input guys.

HTC and Verizon have stated that the TB will be the first 4G phone on Verizon (just check the ads -- "first to 4G again"). So, it will be out first. I'm hoping that the Bionic is released soon afterwards, but will probably be at 3-4 weeks to allow for the TB to have exclusive sales.

 

[Armyntt]

Thanks guys. Ive studied the coverage maps trust me. In real life though who has the better coverage Sprint or Verizon? I had Sprint about 5 years ago and never had a problem with a signal for talking but now in the era of smartphones i want a phone that wherever i go for the army it will give me "atleast" 3G data. I want the ability to tether, whether pdanet or MyWi so i can communicate digitally with the family.

 

[Damn_Smooth]

From what I understand, you can roam on verison's towers for free on sprint. With the difference in 4g though, I think verizon will have a better coverage area.

 

[zero157h7]

I was with Sprint and am now with Verizon. In my area Verizon has better coverage, and I believe this will be the case in most of the US. However this may not be the case where you go. Sprint does have roaming agreements with Verizon so that helps (although I think Sprint's coverage is better than AT&T and T Mobile.) Do keep in mind that the roaming that you would get would be voice and 1xrtt only though. 3g roaming is not going to happen or at least it wasn't here and then.

 

[Armyntt]

I heard you can "roam" with Sprint on VZW but like you said though its not 3G? Id think about Sprint if they roamed in 3G but if its just talk Id rather roll the dice on VZW. Both companies have Android phones but i just wish VZW was gettin the Atrix soon and not AT n T later.

 

[Alex Quinn]

Wait for the Thunderbolt!!!

Wait for the Thunderbolt!!!

I was in exactly the same boat. I had an iPhone 3G and was getting impatient, so I bought the Evo 4G. It is an excellent device, true to the reputation. However, I ended up returning it and going back to my iPhone 3G. The Evo has some limitations that aren't so bad now, but are likely to become become bigger issues down the line. Here's my rationale:

1. Thunderbolt has 8 times as much internal storage as the Evo. The Evo only has 1 GB of internal storage and it comes about 70% full, out of the box. Sure, you can put many apps onto the SD card, but some apps and data can't be put on the SD card. I installed 20 apps and moved as much to the SD card as possible, but still it was 80% full. If I had kept it for another 6 months, it might well have reached have been 100% full, especially after they update it to Gingerbread. Who knows? Besides, file systems don't run well when they're that full.
2. Thunderbolt about 60% faster than the Evo. It's hard to measure and it depends on what you're doing, but on the Quadrant benchmark, the Thunderbolt gets 1926 whereas the Evo tends to get around 1200 or less. The Evo definitely felt fast and snappy to me, but that might change down the road as apps and Android itself get more demanding. For example, when I downloaded the Gingerbread keyboard, the Evo felt a little bit laggy. There could be various reasons, but I expect it won't be a problem with the Thunderbolt. Also, the Thunderbolt will have an updated graphics processor, so I expect the whole experience will feel a little smoother, although the Evo was still very, very nice as is.
3. Verizon's LTE more promising than Sprint's WiMax 4G. Sprint's WiMax 4G isn't available where I live and even when it is, it sucks the battery, so it just wasn't very useful. Other than that, Sprint was great. Sprint's 3G service was much faster than the AT&T 3G I was getting on my iPhone 3G. However, it looks like LTE will be rolled out sooner and will ultimately be a faster service. This analysis of LTE vs. WiMax says LTE will be quite a bit faster, and more widely adopted in the long run, even though it is getting a somewhat later start.
4. Thunderbolt LTE can do simultaneous voice and data; Evo can't. I missed this capability from the iPhone. AT&T's regular service can do this. Verizon's normal 3G CDMA service can't, but their LTE can, as their internal slides confirm.
5. Thunderbolt will have a longer shelf life. If nothing else, consider how many things the 3G can't do right now, just because it's a little further back in the cycle. If you buy the Evo 4G now, it will be great for a while, but eventually it's going to be like that during the second year of your contract.
6. Thunderbolt likely to get Android updates for longer. From what I can see, it seems like carriers tend to update the OS for roughly a year or so after they launch - not a year after you buy it, but a year after they are first released. According to this informal study, Verizon tends to update their devices a little faster than Sprint does, although both are pretty good. Although this article says the Evo will almost certainly get Gingerbread, who knows if it will get any OS updates after that. It's much more likely that the Thunderbolt will stay up to date longer than the Evo.
7. Thunderbolt likely be released very soon. Several sources (here, here, here, etc.) are saying February 14 or sometime mid-to-late February. Given that Verizon is already training salespeople, that sounds likely. Also, all of the official, posted specs say the Thunderbolt will come with Froyo (2.2). Verizon and HTC have said that clearly. If it were going to be released any later, I think they'd just ship it with Gingerbread. So I think you've got about a month to wait.

I hope that helps. If you like Sprint, as I do, you might wait for their big announcement event on February 7. Maybe they'll have something new to compete with the Thunderbolt. Personally, I find Verizon to be a bit obnoxious.

------------------------------

(And no, you don't have to remind me what a lousy bum I am for returning the Evo without a better reason. You can if you want to, but I already know. The fact that the 1 GB of storage turned out to be mostly full was annoying, but it is certainly an awfully weak reason to return a pricey item like that.)

 

[thebizz]

I was on sprint moved to vzw. I've found sprint has better speeds on 3g but vzw has more coverage

 

[Joelist]

I'll vouch for Verizon too. I've actually had 3G in rural Michigan and driving through areas where every other carrier is either 1X or dead (like rural PA and south central Ohio).

Add to the Thunderbolt advantages that it ships with a 32GB Micro SD card, and it has the latest version of Sense, which is quite an upgrade.

 

[usguyver]

You can Rom with 3g on Verizon I have and I'm on Sprint so I think you would be fine on Sprint

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[WhitePhone]

Honestly, either would be better than what you have. They are both pretty equal in coverage. The two top carriers hands down. If you are looking for a great price, then go to Sprint. If you don't mind as much about the price and you are LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING 4G, Verizon. Sprint has been slow with their 4G rollout and the frequency they run 4G on doesn't get into buildings like at all and it has short range and likely will NEVER see rural areas. Verizon's 4G runs on 700MHz, the absolute best cellular frequency possible for getting in buildings and traveling long distances and covers way more area and will be in more rural areas someday soon, while Sprint's 4G is probably going to stay in just cities.

 

[Armyntt]

You can Rom with 3g on Verizon I have and I'm on Sprint so I think you would be fine on Sprint

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I was told Sprint only roams VZW towers for phone calls and not for data.

 

[WhitePhone]

I was told Sprint only roams VZW towers for phone calls and not for data.

No, data too but its only 1xrtt which is about 144kbps

 

[usguyver]

No you can Rom on data that's why they have a data cap when roming but don't have a data cap when on There network

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

I was with Sprint and had the EVO. I luued the EVO a lot and Sprint was OK. But I decided to go to Verizon and get the Droid X and now I am much happier. I would definitely choose Verizon over Sprint as a carrier. I would also choose the Bionic over the Thunderbolt. Motorola makes better hardware in my opinion. My EVO creaked and seemed plasticky. My Droid X feels very sturdy as I would guess the Bionic will too.

 

[Armyntt]

Just seen over on Phandroid.com theres a pic of a computer screen with a MAP for the TB at $249. Ill pay 50 bucks more as long as there isnt any additional 4G fees.

 

[edoublediz]

I was with Sprint and had the EVO. I luued the EVO a lot and Sprint was OK. But I decided to go to Verizon and get the Droid X and now I am much happier. I would definitely choose Verizon over Sprint as a carrier. I would also choose the Bionic over the Thunderbolt. Motorola makes better hardware in my opinion. My EVO creaked and seemed plasticky. My Droid X feels very sturdy as I would guess the Bionic will too.

it would be tough for the TBOLT to feel cheap and plasticky as it is an aluminium unibody construction! Motorola puts a cheap and plasticky feel on the most important part..... the user interface!

 

[BobbyC#AC]

I currently use both Evo (Sprint) and BB 9650 (VZW).

I've been in remote areas of NC and both phones had similar service where AT&T (friend's iphone4) had none.

I've had a BB for a while and find that I use it less and less since I got the Evo a few months ago but don't want to leave VZW. Android does everything I want/need better than the BB but VZW didn't have a droid that I want until now. I've had a Samsung Fascinate for a few weeks and it was crap (was carrying 3 phones). Works fine until you install just one app. The screen is nicer than the Evo but useless with crashing, battery draining down to 0% for no reason, etc. The smaller screen size was definitely noticeable. I've also played with a Droid, DX and a few other droid phones and the Evo was always up there as the best I've used. The Thunderbolt is just a better version of the Evo. I'm defintely going with the Tbolt when it becomes available.

 

[Lightor]

WiMax > LTE

Sprint has WiMax, verizon has LTE for 4G

LTE is 30MHz
WiMax has 120MHz

Think about cars on a highway, same amount of cars, but sprint has 4x more lanes, less slow moving traffic.

It has better speeds and can handel more traffic.
Sprint soley owns WiMax, but they are getting LTE awsell.

LTE might be better through buildings but its speed and load it can handel is far less, and sprint's 120 can still expand to almost double that, and soon sprint will have both.