The official "I got my Thunderbolt thread!"

[anon(2632)]

I got mine 1st thing this morning. As i was walking across the road from work, the rep texted me to tell me she was running late. So i waited about 15 minutes and went in (2nd in the store, both for thunderbolt). Got my phone, car dock, case, charger, screen protectors. Took a while to get setup though.
I also had to show them where the sim card went and explain why there was no activation screen (thanks AC for the pics and info). All the while listening to Irish Folk music playing in store... I told them i was gonna stop by at lunch just to see if they still had the music on.
Went back to work to find my boss looking for me. ( they were in "meetings all day" so i went in 30 min early so i could leave long enough to get my phone). Almost busted, but boss is cool/understanding.
Could hardly get any work done with my phone staring at me from my desk.
Then my kids start to call me to tell me i was ignoring them. The had been texting me and they weren't coming thru. So i texted them and they told me they were coming from a "weird" number. Restarted and good to go.
Had some trouble with the car dock fitting, but stopped by the store and they got it to fit. Had to put it down to cook supper and jump on here for a few.
LOVE THIS PHONE

 

[ipb_11]

I just got mine!!!!! I LOVE THIS PHONE.

 

[I am Fake Jesus]

ugh long story, so i made appointment at 7 to come in. i get there an they have no record of me. so they take my name an hour an half later i finally get up there. but i have my bolt, i got the car dock an got a droid 2 essential pack for 80 with my company an a new cust discount. sadly the media dock is out of stock but soooo happy setting up everything now

 

[cgc2]

By far best Android device i have owned. Blows Fascinate out of water.
Only played with for couple hours.

 

[SoMD_Double]

I got mine this afternoon and so far it is everything I wanted in a new phone! Coming from a Storm1 it is night and day!!!!

 

[goalie]

got it at best buy - anyone else get it there?

i was happy with the service and help there...

it's my first smartphone, so i am a bit overwhelmed already - but i'll count on the community here to hold my hand a bit!

got it at 1:30pm - needed to go back to work. battery lasted till 5:00pm, under light usage - but i think it only had 1/2 or 1/3 charge...

and now i'm home, and trying to figure out to do with this thing!

 

[dslayton]

I pre-ordered at BB. I was the first customer in the store as soon as the doors opened. They told me that they couldn't find my upgrade eligibility in the system, even though it was clearly on VZW website. Frustrated, I left empty handed. I drove straight to the closest Verizon and waited for over a hour. Fortunately, because of promotion discounts on my account, I got the TB for 199.99 and a 25 percent discount on my accessories.

Coming from a Droid 2, I love the "polish" on this phone. I am still digging deeper into Sense, but I think I made a very wise decision. I am also taken back by the quality of the of the camera. Further thoughts coming later.

 

[SpaceHippie]

I think the best part about my day was showing up to best buy and actually getting the price i thought. Love not getting surprised.

 

[EvanGMan]

Battery Life

So, after picking my TBolt at Verizon at 9AM, I charged the phone fully. I left for a meeting around 3pm, unplugging my phone in the process. By 8pm, I was in the red as far as battery life is concerned (6% by the time I plugged it in). That was with light to moderate use. (Occasional email reading, one or two emails sent, one or two Foursquare checkins, etc.)

So after a quick charge after getting home, I had 40% battery. After using it nonstop (browsing, installing apps, etc) I had it at 10% in less than an hour.

I know I'm not the only one dealing with abysmal battery life issues. Yes, the phone is lighting fast, but what good is that if I can't make it through the day without needing ANOTHER full charge?

I'm going to give it another shot tomorrow. If it struggles again, I hate to say this... but it's going back to the VZ store.

 

[Raptor007]

I got mine today, I haven't even had time to play with it yet, its on the charger along with my new XOOM.

 

[AllanManangan]

I picked up my ThunderBolt™ from Best Buy. The activation process took a little while and I had trouble with people receiving text messages from me until I restarted the device. Before the restart my contacts outside Verizon could not receive messages and those within Verizon could, but it displayed a very long number rather than my actual phone number.

The Best Buy I picked up from was outside 4G LTE and I slowly made it into Los Angeles, which definitely has coverage. During my drive I ran Ookla SpeedTest ten (10) times. I then averaged the results:
Chino Hills, California average: 74 ms ping, 5974 kbps down, and 31624 kbps up.
Culver City, California average: 76 ms ping, 28041 kbps down, and 30693 kbps up.
West Los Angeles, California average: 76 ms ping, 11385 kbps down, and 31602 kbps up.

I am curious to know what numbers others with 4G LTE coverage are seeing via SpeedTest.

 

[miss chris]

What a ride, went to BB in hopes that we might be able to work some price matching magic. As bad as I wanted the phone today I could not justify paying 70 more than I would if I got it through amazon. Well, no big surprise they would not budge. I left resigned to the fact I would not get the phone until next week. On a lark, hubby and I decided to stop by a B&M Verizon and see if we could get them to sell it for the $199 online price. Well after some serious finaggling and physically pulling up the online screen that shows the phone at 199 they gave us two phones at that price plus we got hubby's NE2 thirty bucks off as well. WAHOOO!

 

[evilmunkeh]

I was the first in line at the Rego Park Best Buy in NYC today at 10am. Jason, the awesome associate, took care of me from beginning to end. The activation process took a while since I was transferring from my Incredible to the Thunderbolt and LTE swap was not "typical" to say the least. Walked out of there talking on my Thunderbolt at 10:36am. Just got home but ended up using my mobile hotspot for an emergency at work. Thunderbolt saved my life.

Check out my Thunderbolt Speed Test results.

 

[crespen]

Got mine this morning at 9AM. Took 20 minutes to buy & set up. Store had 27 but only 2 left by the time I finished. I paid $199 but I didn't have the NE2. I'm moving up from the Incredible and the difference is very noticeable. It hasn't kept a steady 4G signal indoors. Almost reminds me of the change from analog to digital. This phone is nice. Get an extended battery to help with battery life issues. I like the phone feature that allows me to easily toggle between bluetooth, earpiece and speaker. Phone is running a little hot but I've been playing on it all day.

 

[crespen]

Oh, and though it's going away, I'm a big fan of the free hotspot. Not likely I'd pay the $20/month fee after May.

 

[rdmartin1]

Used my last NE2 that i'll ever get on the T-Bolt... so far so good

 

[kvigil007]

i got my thunderbolt...

And then two hours later dropped it downed a flight of stairs! It's fine just scraped up abit but I nearly $!@# my pants when I dropped it.

 

[withravenoushunger]

Somehow my mom working at barnes and noble got me 25% off the phone and accessories. I dont see how I keep getting these great discounts from BnN. I get 15% off at gamestop too. I decided to pick up a case and screen protectors while I was there. with the data plan included it was $260ish total.

 

[SUB-dawg]

my mom had to wait in line for 45 minutes and her store sold her the last one they had.

 

[docampo69]

I got mine. First Android phone coming from a Blackberry Tour. Loved that keyboard but I know that I'm going to love this large screen even more!