Is the Rezound enough of an upgrade from the THUNDERBOLT?

[rickt1152]

I have been a relatively happy Thunderbolt owner, especially since GB dropped. I never got into the whole rooting and custom rom thing with the Thunderbolt as I did with my OG Droid. I have been leaning toward the Galaxy Nexus, but the drama surrounding its release has me rethinking that option.

For those that have upgraded from the Thunderbolt, does it seem like there are enough improvements to make it worthwhile? I realize once ics arrives, that may be justification by itself, but that could easily be three or more months away.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[skyjjc]

I love my thunderbolt and still have it in the family. The only irritation I had with the TB was the GPS which didn't work at all in the beginning, but got to rellatively fast lockup on 4 to 6 sats after all the OS and radio upgrades.

With the resound, GPS lockup is instant and finds 8 to 12 sats without fail. With wifi, the resound supports dual band (2.3 and 5 ghz) where the tb only supported 2.4. The beats audio is definetly nicer sound than the tb, and the camera features are a bit better.

However for me, the main reason it was worth the upgrade was the faster processor (50% faster clock speed plus dual core) and the high definition screen....man that screen display is awesome. Everything seems to run a bit smoother on the resound and sense 3.5 is nice if you like sense. Plus you can be pretty sure the resound will get ICS where ICS on the TB is rather iffy.

Bottom line for me...I'm happy I upgraded from the Thunderbolt to the Resound.

 

[milan03]

Huge improvement in battery optimization, screen itself is enough, it's the best on the market, period.
Also they fine tuned the LTE performance out of that same MDM9600 radio. I'm seeing 70mpbs speeds, never seen before. Just sick.

 

[GtoJon]

IMHO ..... not enough! If you run a clean Bolt & a Clean Rez, there is almost no dicernable difference in speed. I have had 5 Bolts & still have #4. I have had to redo my Bolts 7 times. The slowest to setup was my Rezound! I am in a 3G area only & when downloading the apps I would have 3 & 4 downloading & installing from the market at the same time with the Bolts. On the Rezound you can select multiple downloads, but only 1 at a time will do anything!!! Not happy about that! The FM radio to some is not important, but for me it is ..... no app available for it. The hardware is there, but nothing to run it! The screen is nice, but not that much better & I'm a photographer! Beats is actually a load of crap .... I don't like wired head phones & never will ...... I advanced with technology & Beats did not I love my old Jabra BT320s BT headset .... & it sounds great with both! I made a call that is normal for me while on headset while playing music...... the Bolt would do it with out a problem ..... the Rez had issues with moving back & forth between the music & phone

The Rezound does have bugs, but they are harder to find! If you have problems with your Rezound, report it!!! That is the only way they will acknowledge issues! FM is totally not an issue with them at this moment in time .... 90% of all HTC phones have it .... why shouldn't it work with the Newest & Best .... Rezound??

Cheers

I would have to say NO!

 

[SoulWeaponry]

IMHO ..... not enough! If you run a clean Bolt & a Clean Rez, there is almost no dicernable difference in speed. I have had 5 Bolts & still have #4. I have had to redo my Bolts 7 times. The slowest to setup was my Rezound! I am in a 3G area only & when downloading the apps I would have 3 & 4 downloading & installing from the market at the same time with the Bolts. On the Rezound you can select multiple downloads, but only 1 at a time will do anything!!! Not happy about that! The FM radio to some is not important, but for me it is ..... no app available for it. The hardware is there, but nothing to run it! The screen is nice, but not that much better & I'm a photographer! Beats is actually a load of crap .... I don't like wired head phones & never will ...... I advanced with technology & Beats did not I love my old Jabra BT320s BT headset .... & it sounds great with both! I made a call that is normal for me while on headset while playing music...... the Bolt would do it with out a problem ..... the Rez had issues with moving back & forth between the music & phone

The Rezound does have bugs, but they are harder to find! If you have problems with your Rezound, report it!!! That is the only way they will acknowledge issues! FM is totally not an issue with them at this moment in time .... 90% of all HTC phones have it .... why shouldn't it work with the Newest & Best .... Rezound??

Cheers

I would have to say NO!

I'm seriously going to print this out and frame this because this is the funniest consumer review i've ever seen. Sounds like my senior mom trying to figure out how her new phone works.

Aaaaanyway, as a former thunderbolt owner i can tell the op that this is indeed a very nice step up. And one that i didn't even expect to make in the first place.

I got the bolt a month after launch during "bug-gate". The period in which the bolt couldn't do a damn thing right even in the eyes of android fanboys. Horrible 3g/4g handoff, data loss, battery drainage issues, audio in the video being quiet to a damn near silence, etc. It was painful to experience and that period before the updates came is what people remember the bolt for. Later on after the phone was all fixed up and working well, nobody would even admit it was a good phone because of how bad it was "in recent memory".

It was so bad that i've been holding off for the nexus ever since the announcement. With the release date pushed back and forth and it only living on rumors for the time being, i decided to "rent" a rezound until nexus comes out.

Well, my rental turned into a full on purchase. This is exactly what the bolt should've been and more. Bugs are minimal, build quality is solid, processor is super fast, camera is improved, beats audio is more than the gimmick i always assumed it was, the screen is hands down the best ever seen on a phone and ice cream sandwich is a guaranteed thing.

I could go on and on and on, but i'll probably save that for a real review. To sum it up, even if you're just a casual smartphone user who doesn't use all the features these phones come with, you WILL notice the differences between the bolt and rezound in a big enough way to justify the purchase. Amazing phone

 

[Jude526]

Keeping my thunderbolt

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk

 

[droidman2177]

2 words. HELL YEAH!

 

[matthew2109]

For me yes! The screen is amazing.

Sent from my Rezound using Tapatalk

 

[Droid800]

IMHO ..... not enough! If you run a clean Bolt & a Clean Rez, there is almost no dicernable difference in speed. I have had 5 Bolts & still have #4. I have had to redo my Bolts 7 times. The slowest to setup was my Rezound! I am in a 3G area only & when downloading the apps I would have 3 & 4 downloading & installing from the market at the same time with the Bolts. On the Rezound you can select multiple downloads, but only 1 at a time will do anything!!! Not happy about that! The FM radio to some is not important, but for me it is ..... no app available for it. The hardware is there, but nothing to run it! The screen is nice, but not that much better & I'm a photographer! Beats is actually a load of crap .... I don't like wired head phones & never will ...... I advanced with technology & Beats did not I love my old Jabra BT320s BT headset .... & it sounds great with both! I made a call that is normal for me while on headset while playing music...... the Bolt would do it with out a problem ..... the Rez had issues with moving back & forth between the music & phone

The Rezound does have bugs, but they are harder to find! If you have problems with your Rezound, report it!!! That is the only way they will acknowledge issues! FM is totally not an issue with them at this moment in time .... 90% of all HTC phones have it .... why shouldn't it work with the Newest & Best .... Rezound??

Cheers

I would have to say NO!

Nonsense.

The thunderbolt is a Toyota Corolla, while the Rezound is a Lexus LFA. Its not even a comparison. The screen, processor, and battery life alone are enough of a step up to warrant an upgrade.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Well, my rental turned into a full on purchase. This is exactly what the bolt should've been and more. Bugs are minimal, build quality is solid, processor is super fast, camera is improved, beats audio is more than the gimmick i always assumed it was, the screen is hands down the best ever seen on a phone and ice cream sandwich is a guaranteed thing.

I could go on and on and on, but i'll probably save that for a real review. To sum it up, even if you're just a casual smartphone user who doesn't use all the features these phones come with, you WILL notice the differences between the bolt and rezound in a big enough way to justify the purchase. Amazing phone

This is my reaction as well. I have both devices sitting here still active and in almost every way the Rezound is better. with only a couple exceptions.

1. I didn't really expect to but I really miss the kickstand lol
2. the phone is taller and not as wide (even though the screen size is the same). For things like talking this is great, however if you are using rich media like videos and pics they seem a little smaller.

Now all that being said, is the Rezound a true successor to the Thunderbolt? Yes and no. Setting aside the lack of a kickstand for a minute, there is one more thing that the device lacks that a true successor to the Thunderbolt should have: HDMI out. Yes there is a way to do this through an adapter via the USB port but that also means you cant have it plugged in when streaming video which is a major downer.

If you are looking to actually replace your phone, unless you are really disappointed in how your Thunderbolt is working, I would wait for the inevitable Thunderbolt 2 which will land sometime this next spring which will (probably) have the kickstand, dedicated HDMI out, and incorporate all of the advances we have in the Rezound with the possible exception of Beats which seems to be a marketing thing here but we shall see.

 

[JavierP2588]

I came for tbolt and just about everything is an upgrade. I absolutely love my rezound, its everything I wanted my tbolt to do

 

[SoulWeaponry]

there is one more thing that the device lacks that a true successor to the Thunderbolt should have: HDMI out. Yes there is a way to do this through an adapter via the USB port but that also means you cant have it plugged in when streaming video which is a major downer.

For what it's worth, you can have your rezound plugged in and charging at the same time as blowing up porn on the big screen. The required MHL adapter sold by htcpedia (and others like it with various models) let you plug your power cord in to the adapter itself while you're mirroring content on your hdtv.

if you are looking to actually replace your phone, unless you are really disappointed in how your Thunderbolt is working, I would wait for the inevitable Thunderbolt 2 which will land sometime this next spring which will (probably) have the kickstand, dedicated HDMI out, and incorporate all of the advances we have in the Rezound with the possible exception of Beats which seems to be a marketing thing here but we shall see.

You didn't realize that this IS the successor to the thunderbolt? This is the next generation of bolt without a kickstand. So if you're going to dily daly and sit around waiting for the next best thing from htc, you'll probably be waiting awhile to get something comparable on the same carrier. And at this point in cell phone technology, what IS worth waiting for? I used to have a checklist of things that i'd need to have in a phone before i upgraded from my thunderbolt and this has just about everything going for it

^speedy processor that can handle what i'll need for the next year and a half
^better camera
^better battery life
^better design and over aesthetic comfort
^better screen. How will sceens improve beyond HD 720? Come on now. We won't be looking at 1080 technology in phones, so what are we waiting for? Holograms?
^ice cream sandwich is a sure thing and maybe even jellybean (or whatever the hell dessert they decide is worthy for us) htc commited to 18 month support, we won't be outdated for awhile. Not in the sense that matters anyway
^something different. This "gimmick" that is beats audio+free headphones is the best gimmick i've ever experienced as a consumer. Some consumers would upgrade on this alone. I know there is a small vocal percentage of users that like to trash "beats" like they're guru audiophiles and sit back as armchair critics telling everyone else what they consider a "useless gimmick", but for those casual users that don't like to nitpick and read into things to the point where the experience stops being fun, this is a solid feature

This phone will be overlooked in some areas or trashed in others by "google purists", but the reality is this phone looks and feels exactly what we should be experiencing from android right now. Load up ics with hardware acceleration with those new features brought to the table and this is a device i won't sell in the future for my next phone.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

For what it's worth, you can have your rezound plugged in and charging at the same time as blowing up porn on the big screen. The required MHL adapter sold by htcpedia (and others like it with various models) let you plug your power cord in to the adapter itself while you're mirroring content on your hdtv.

Thanks for that I was looking for that yesterday.

You didn't realize that this IS the successor to the thunderbolt? This is the next generation of bolt without a kickstand. So if you're going to dily daly and sit around waiting for the next best thing from htc, you'll probably be waiting awhile to get something comparable on the same carrier. And at this point in cell phone technology, what IS worth waiting for? I used to have a checklist of things that i'd need to have in a phone before i upgraded from my thunderbolt and this has just about everything going for it
.

Actually no its not. The Thunderbolt is a modified Evo and the Rezound is Verizon's version of the Sensation. Two different phone lines and it is a virtual certainty that given the popularity of the first Thunderbolt that there will be a second one. To follow your logic the Thunderbolt would be the successor to the Droid Incredible but low and behold we have a DInc 2.

The Rezound is merely replacing the TBolt in the line of top tier phones (the ones on display near the big Droid sign in corporate stores) not a direct replacement.

And maybe you haven't been paying attention, but I buy almost all of the best Droid phones on VZW so I am not waiting for anything. I have a Rezound, will definitely have a Nexus, am still mulling the Razr, and will most likely get a TBolt 2 unless it turns out to be a meh upgrade like the DInc 2 and DX2 were. But the topic of this thread isnt about me or people like me.

This thread is about weather someone should replace their Thunderbolt with Rezound now simply weather the Rezound is a better (not just spec wise) phone which clearly it is. Since Annual Upgrades are now gone as are one year contracts most people who do that will be either paying full retail OR taking someone else's upgrade. Something that they should think long and hard before doing.

 

[SoulWeaponry]

And maybe you haven't been paying attention, but I buy almost all of the best Droid phones on VZW so I am not waiting for anything. I have a Rezound, will definitely have a Nexus, am still mulling the Razr, and will most likely get a TBolt 2 unless it turns out to be a meh upgrade like the DInc 2 and DX2 were. But the topic of this thread isnt about me or people like me.

.

By "you" i really meant the op and people like him who are on the fence waiting for the next best thing. It's important to understand your needs and when to jump on what phone.

You seriously buy that many phones? Really?! Reading you say that made me realize i need more money. To switch that often considering how much of a hit it is money wise, you must really have a passion for technology. For that, props to you man. Or woman. Having a phone and then a new phone coming out 2 months later, what makes you want to jump so much?

 

[YourMobileGuru]

By "you" i really meant the op and people like him who are on the fence waiting for the next best thing. It's important to understand your needs and when to jump on what phone.

You seriously buy that many phones? Really?! Reading you say that made me realize i need more money. To switch that often considering how much of a hit it is money wise, you must really have a passion for technology. For that, props to you man. Or woman. Having a phone and then a new phone coming out 2 months later, what makes you want to jump so much?

You're right I do have a passion for mobile tech. I also sell them so that makes things a little more tempting than most people. I don't change per se I have several lines of service with upgrades spread out over two years. Some phones are bought full retail while others are subsidized. For me the interest is in the differences. I've used most of the major smartphone platforms.

If you are interested:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/android-central-lounge/135144-my-phone-collection.html#post1420113

 

[mrksbrd]

Simple....YES, they have done their homework

 

[jas o]

The Rezound is a nice upgrade to the TB. It is probably what the TB should have been at release. To use an upgrade to go from TB to Rezound I haven't decided yet.

Battery optimization is the biggest improvement. I can make it all day at work on 4g. I would have been dead by lunch on TB. 7 more days to decide. Like I said not sure if enough to stick for another year or so.

 

[milan03]

This improvement alone is good enough for me