Let VZW Replace my Droid X with Thunderbolt?

[pwscott]

I have had two bad/failed replacement Droid X phones under warranty here and Verizon offered to possibly replace my DX with refurbed Thunderbolt. I initially refused and got another DX because I didn;t want to buy all new accessories and am hoping to use my remaining upgrade for a Droid Bionic when it comes out.

But now the last refurb phone they sent me can;t keep GPS lock and 75% of the time it can't find GPS at all despite being out in the wide open. So would you accept a Thunderbolt as a replacement from them if you were me?

I know it might mean buying the big battery and a new dock or two...but I have had it with Droid X failures out of the replacement box...awful.

 

[gordol]

Are you currently using an extended battery on the X? If so, which one? I know someone with an X and when he put in the monster Sedio (2400?) battery, the GPS stopped working. Put back a smaller battery, and the problem went away.

If you are using an extended battery, swap back to the stock and see if the GPS issue goes away. I am using the Moto extended battery (1800) with no such problems and it fits without needing a replacement door.

 

[pwscott]

Stock BH6X Moto batteries here, full charged.

 

[ultravisitor]

I would go with a Thunderbolt before I'd go for an X2. The Thunderbolt is an LTE phone and I think it will have a stronger presence in the developer community.

 

[mhans311]

Thunderbolt.

 

[gordol]

Stock BH6X Moto batteries here, full charged.

My X, new in December, came with the BH5X as the stock battery. The BH6X should be the stock battery...

 

[gordol]

I would go with a Thunderbolt before I'd go for an X2. The Thunderbolt is an LTE phone and I think it will have a stronger presence in the developer community.

The OP doesn't say where he is. LTE is only available in sporadic areas. I'm in the NH Seacoast area, about an hour's drive from Boston MA. I believe Boston has LTE, but I do not nor do I expect to for at least 18 months. By then, I'll qualify for an upgrade.

If the OP is in a similar situation, then it would make more sense to get the issue he's having with his X's GPS fixed and hold off on the upgrade until LTE is available to him, if that is the primary reason to consider such a device. Of course, if LTE is available now, then he may as well go for the upgrade now.

 

[mhans311]

The OP doesn't say where he is. LTE is only available in sporadic areas. I'm in the NH Seacoast area, about an hour's drive from Boston MA. I believe Boston has LTE, but I do not nor do I expect to for at least 18 months. By then, I'll qualify for an upgrade.

If the OP is in a similar situation, then it would make more sense to get the issue he's having with his X's GPS fixed and hold off on the upgrade until LTE is available to him, if that is the primary reason to consider such a device. Of course, if LTE is available now, then he may as well go for the upgrade now.

Good point, although from what I understand he wouldn't be using an upgrade. They are just going to replace his X with a refurbed TB.

Even though I voted for the TB, I think it may be worth looking into the X2 if he doesn't have LTE coverage.

 

[gordol]

Good point, although from what I understand he wouldn't be using an upgrade. They are just going to replace his X with a refurbed TB.

When the tech at the VZW store realized how ridiculous it was that I had to keep exchanging BB Storm2s for the same OS issues (five or six times!) and I was still having OS/firmware issues and got the manager to approve a change, it was counted as an upgrade to move to a different system and I had to pay the regular contract price for the Droid X.

If the refurb TB is not going to count as an upgrade, then great.

 

[bberrynewbie84]

I would do it if not going to count as an upgrade

 

[davidnc]

Between the phones you mentioned as long as it didnt count as an upgrade I would get TB .

 

[Obsession]

Have you tried using gps status to help fix your agps, it worked for my dx. I lock on quickly and stay connected now.

 

[ultravisitor]

The OP doesn't say where he is.

I know that, but it needed to be mentioned because we don't know exactly how long he'll be keeping the phone before possibly upgrading to a Bionic. For all we know, he may already be in an LTE-enabled city, or they might be getting it very soon in his city. Or maybe he travels a lot and there are areas where he goes that have LTE already. So I mentioned it because it should be a consideration.

 

[jdbower]

People place a bit too much emphasis on whether they have LTE where they live right now when deciding on a phone. There's no reason to pass on an LTE phone just because you don't have LTE service now. You may get turned up next month, you may move, you may just visit relatives and be in zone for a few days. 4G phones work perfectly well over 3G and in a short time when you do have 4G that phone may be worth more to whoever has it.

That said, even though I live in a 4G market 4G is only a minor consideration in my phone choices (3G is fast enough and I'm on WiFi most of the time anyway). I dislike HTC phones since Sense is way too invasive for my tastes, but there are apparently decent ROMs out there that wipe it out. The OP already seems to acknowledge battery life as a TBolt issue, beyond that try one in a store and see if you like it.

BTW, you're learning a lesson I learned a while ago - I don't buy phone-specific accessories anymore unless I really need to. Rather than an extended battery, try finding an external USB battery instead. I have a 10,000mAH APC model that I just love and it works with both my Droids, my wife's BB, charges my Bluetooth devices, and numerous other things.

 

[greydarrah]

I'd download GPS Test (free) and try clicking the Update agps. I'm always amazed at people who go through 3 to 5 devices and believe that it must be the user. Not meaning the user doesn't know how to operate the device, but maybe they are continually trying to run some apps that just cause problems when used together.

As to the Thunderbolt (or ANY other htc phone), they are great as long as you're OK with 4 to 6 hours of battery life. That's all they get. I think it's a Sense thing.

 

[kklier]

I could not get a GPS lock on DX, so I tried GPS Test as you mentioned, but it did not fix my problem. Now I have a DX refurb that works fine.

 

[mbar9607]

i would totally trade a X for the bolt anytime especially if i dont have to use an upgrade and i would totally have them swap out the accessories too since its not your fault with the bogus replacements

 

[Redcliffe]

Only problem with the tb is it doesn't have hdmi, and of course battery life.

 

[sniffs]

Stock BH6X Moto batteries here, full charged.

BH6X is not a battery the DX has ever shipped with. If you got one, it was a mistake. The BH5X is the DroidX battery.

The BH6X is thicker and BARELY fits the DroidX. It was designed for the Motorola Atrix. When you return it for it's "issues" put the BH5X back in otherwise Verizon can blame it on a non-standard DroidX battery.


All that aside.. Get the DroidX2. You'll have dual core and able to play all the cool tegra2 games smoothly.. 4G is a huge battery drain and all the TBolt users in my IT company actually disable 4G and only use it when absolutely necessary.. so in essense, they have a big Droid Inc.

Plus, Motorola makes their own first party accessories, so you know you're getting something designed for your device.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

BH6X is not a battery the DX has ever shipped with. If you got one, it was a mistake. The BH5X is the DroidX battery.

The BH6X is thicker and BARELY fits the DroidX. It was designed for the Motorola Atrix. When you return it for it's "issues" put the BH5X back in otherwise Verizon can blame it on a non-standard DroidX battery.


All that aside.. Get the DroidX2. You'll have dual core and able to play all the cool tegra2 games smoothly.. 4G is a huge battery drain and all the TBolt users in my IT company actually disable 4G and only use it when absolutely necessary.. so in essense, they have a big Droid Inc.

Plus, Motorola makes their own first party accessories, so you know you're getting something designed for your device.

The BH6X is the "Extended Battery" offered for the Droid X (It ships with a battery door). I would not attempt to use the stock battery door with the "extended battery" as it potentially could damage the screen.