There's a storm brewing...

[Effenhimer]

Hi there Seminoles Fan.

Oh Gods, he's back...

Done with this thread... Gonna be an inferno soon... I'm out.

 

[paulmike3]

No vendetta at all. I am just saying what the mods have pointed out. That he was verified through a twitter page? Why wouldn't you send a picture of your Verizon badge or something, anyone can be whoever they want on twitter. That's all I am saying. And please just tell me 1 thing the guy has said that has been correct? Just 1 and I will never say another word!! Because I haven't seen anything yet to be honest..

He's given future dates and product info, so obviously nothing has happened. What he has given that has passed, has been because of delays. Now where have I seen a VZW TB date delayed before? hmmmmm

Edit: I'm not going to talk to Seminoles Fan anymore either, so consider me done with this thread as well.

 

[unibolt]

Ok, I will say this and then I am done because I don't want this to get closed. His product info has never been verified on any of the working devices we have seen so far. Maybe they all are prototypes but I am just saying, don't you think at least 1 would have some of the stuff he says its going to have? I don't understand the sentence"Now where have I seen a VZW date delayed before?" I don't think Verizon has said ANYTHING on the matter what so ever. So they have no reason to offer any releases for delays when they haven't even offered a release date yet.

 

[miss chris]

I PM'd him asking for verification that he was who he said he was. I was provided with a twitter account. This account is private. I requested permission to follow him, and when I told him he needs to accept me he told me he didn't know how to.

I have throroughly enjoyed the ride Bennnnn has taken us on and will continue to read his posts and speculations. But seriously, he is a high level Verizon employee who claims he has enough knowledge to avoid being detected by Big Red, yet he does not know how to accept a follower on twitter. Not a single one of his predictions have come true. Come on people. People ask why he would go to the trouble to do this if he were not legit. Well, I work in the mental health field and trust me when I say they are plenty of people that need attention in whatever fashion they can create it. Not saying this is true of Bennnnn, but all evidence points to all of us being played.

Again, I have enjoyed the ride and harbor no ill will. If anything I am grateful for this long wait being interrupted by some fun and levity.

 

[Mapex]

On the topic of Ben^5's identity - we don't know. He could be bsing us, he could be legit. The reason everyone believed him, by the way, is because he confidently stated that he verified his identity with the mods and not one of them said otherwise until today. Normally such a statement would be shot down almost instantly if it weren't true, which in turn would prevent someone from being ballsy enough to make that claim in the first place without double-checking. The fact that he was/is so coveted is not surprising at all.

We won't truly know whether Ben^5 was trolling us or telling the truth until the end of summer, by which we can either confirm or disprove that the T-Bolt will get all the goodies he claimed such as Netflix, Onlive, and Google Music. Although, these are very convenient examples that few phones would be barred from receiving; Netflix can and will be added to all phones once Android itself possesses some sort of CPU-neutral DRM solution, Google Music will definitely be a standard Android app/service for 2.2+, and HTC invested heavily into OnLive so why wouldn't they want to support it with all of their high-end devices?

Either way, we have to accept the device as what it is. We know the hardware specs and we know it comes with Sense 2.x, FriendStream, Skype, DLNA streaming, and a few other goodies. That is probably it. HTC and Verizon don't owe us anything for "delaying" the phone so long because technically it hasn't been delayed; they couldn't hit their February early release (we can assume the 14th because Best Buy had pre-orders as early as the 6th) so they seem to be defaulting to their original mid-March release, the one hinted at CES.

I think the constant delays are definitely true, especially since many/all of us saw the internal system leaks regarding the non-working Skype and mobile hotspot features. But really anyone could have told you that.

Ben^5 doesn't have to prove anything to us and doing so might even cost him his job. And as much as I am against religion, I do admit that often enough unquestioning faith can help shorten a long period of uncertainty for a majority of people. So, it's up to all of you, on an individual basis, to believe or ignore him, but make sure you are still willing to accept the way others decide to go about it.

 

[Green_Laser]

I have throroughly enjoyed the ride Bennnnn has taken us on and will continue to read his posts and speculations. But seriously, he is a high level Verizon employee who claims he has enough knowledge to avoid being detected by Big Red, yet he does not know how to accept a follower on twitter.

i had a feeling some1 would get at that. to be fair, i think he knows how to accept a request on twitter, what he meant in other words is "im sorry, i cannot add you"

we'll just have to all wait and see. the phone is to be release this year (hopefully), we'll see how it all plays out.

 

[fatrob]

I was provided with the same Twitter account as the mods. I did not ask to be followed but I did more digging. If this guy made up this identity then this is an elaborate hoax.

It is possible he borrowed this guys name and background to throw people off or to give his posts more weight.

Either way, he seems as legit as we can possibly, reasonably verify.

I could be wrong and if I am, I will apologize to everyone but I am going to take a chance on him. If I am wrong, my life won't end.


Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

i cant believe The Deceiver is remaining positive!

 

[prakash99]

He is not Ben5... He is Ben10 .. he can take different shapes ..LOL!!! jk

 

[paulmike3]

Ben^5 doesn't have to prove anything to us and doing so might even cost him his job. And as much as I am against religion, I do admit that often enough unquestioning faith can help shorten a long period of uncertainty for a majority of people. So, it's up to all of you, on an individual basis, to believe or ignore him, but be willing to accept the way others decide to go about it.

what he said. +100

 

[dlc423]

Ok, I will say this and then I am done because I don't want this to get closed. His product info has never been verified on any of the working devices we have seen so far. Maybe they all are prototypes but I am just saying, don't you think at least 1 would have some of the stuff he says its going to have? I don't understand the sentence"Now where have I seen a VZW date delayed before?" I don't think Verizon has said ANYTHING on the matter what so ever. So they have no reason to offer any releases for delays when they haven't even offered a release date yet.

Listen, I totally understand Verizon's silence on the matter. It's simply not good business practice to highlight a setback of any sort. That being said, the repeated defense of the company, as if to suggest that a predetermined release date hasn't already passed (on numerous occassions), is silly. In fact, they *have* said something on the matter -- weeks of print, internet and broadcast advertising as well as the hard-to-overlook "coming in February" line that once accompanied them.

So, no, Verizon doesn't owe its customers anything. However, defending a company as though they continue to follow their release plan to a tee, and that the thousands of hopeful ThunderBolt owners don't have reason to voice concern, is ridiculous.

 

[asianrage]

How many pages will be taken up discussing wether Bennnnn is legitimately or not? This is totally stupid. He obviously has a connection to VZW. If you believe him (like I do) great. If not, ok, don't believe him or don't read his posts. Why does it have to be discussed for 10 pages?

QFT! Seriously, people! I actually go to this thread for any "news", not for pages of almost meaningless discussion on someone's legitimacy.

 

[asianrage]

Listen, I totally understand Verizon's silence on the matter. It's simply not good business practice to highlight a setback of any sort. That being said, the repeated defense of the company, as if to suggest that a predetermined release date hasn't already passed (on numerous occassions), is silly. In fact, they *have* said something on the matter -- weeks of print, internet and broadcast advertising as well as the hard-to-overlook "coming in February" line that once accompanied them.

So, no, Verizon doesn't owe its customers anything. However, defending a company as though they continue to follow their release plan to a tee, and that the thousands of hopeful ThunderBolt owners don't have reason to voice concern, is ridiculous.

I don't remember that VZW ever said anything about "coming in February" . Can you point it out for me? Not trying to mock you or anything.

 

[ShawnMeds23]

I don't remember that VZW ever said anything about "coming in February" . Can you point it out for me? Not trying to mock you or anything.

It was on a Thunderbolt ad that Verizon had on their youtube page.

 

[Mapex]

It was on a Thunderbolt ad that Verizon had on their youtube page.

Specifically the Spanish one. It said "FEBRERO" at the end of the trailer (with the girl counting the number of seconds between lightning strikes), but in the English one that came out a week or two later, it simply says "COMING SOON," implying that the February date was killed a while ago.

 

[asianrage]

It was on a Thunderbolt ad that Verizon had on their youtube page.

Ah. I haven't followed those videos. I've seen the (BTTF-inspired) one on TV but didn't notice anything regarding release month.

 

[asianrage]

Specifically the Spanish one. It said "FEBRERO" at the end of the trailer (with the girl counting the number of seconds between lightning strikes), but in the English one that came out a week or two later, it simply says "COMING SOON," implying that the February date was killed a while ago.

Ah, yes, now I remember that you guys have discussed this video.

 

[elemerica]

I think the constant delays are definitely true, especially since many/all of us saw the internal system leaks regarding the non-working Skype and mobile hotspot features. But really anyone could have told you that.

I'm sure this will ruffle some more feathers, but the phone hasn't really been delayed at all, per se. Some may remember miami1683 made a post in one of the Thunderbolt news headlines quite some time ago (that I can't seem to find now) that the phone would be released on March 17th and the Bionic between April 23rd-29th; I remember because I marked them on my calendar.

The phone has never had an official public release date, so there fore it hasn't been delayed as far as the "general" public is concerned. It's only delayed in our minds because we've seen the leaked documents trying to push for an earlier date and because we're eagerly awaiting it's release.

Maybe I'm alone on this, but I'd rather buy a phone that is working correctly on time, than a phone that has a number of issues a few weeks early.

 

[eloverton2]

Maybe I'm alone on this, but I'd rather buy a phone that is working correctly on time, than a phone that has a number of issues a few weeks early.

I'd rather a company as large as verizon handle releases appropriately, and get their crap together. Either don't announce a product until it (and the network) is ready, or announce it when its ready. They put all the ads out there and announcements etc and built all this hype, then say "There technically hasn't been any release date"... Then ask for everyone to not talk about it. Frustrating.

 

[paulmike3]

I'm sure this will ruffle some more feathers, but the phone hasn't really been delayed at all, per se. Some may remember miami1683 made a post in one of the Thunderbolt news headlines quite some time ago (that I can't seem to find now) that the phone would be released on March 17th and the Bionic between April 23rd-29th; I remember because I marked them on my calendar.

The phone has never had an official public release date, so there fore it hasn't been delayed as far as the "general" public is concerned. It's only delayed in our minds because we've seen the leaked documents trying to push for an earlier date and because we're eagerly awaiting it's release.

Maybe I'm alone on this, but I'd rather buy a phone that is working correctly on time, than a phone that has a number of issues a few weeks early.

Yes, we know there has not been an "official press release". Each time I've heard someone attempt this arguement (at least 100x in this thread alone), they never mention the official Thunderbolt commercial that said "febrero" at the end? Why is that?

 

[amotter]

Fan-damn-tastic. Saw that one coming...

So, at this point, this has all been a bunch of BS. In my 40 years of watching highly anticipated products before they have launched, I have never witnessed something so lame in my life.

I think it's clear at this point that their is something wrong with this phone or the Verizon 4G network. I'll be damned if I jump into this fire first. Until I hear some feedback first, there isn't a chance in hell that I'm going to give Verizon a damn dime.

Everyone else would be well advised to do the same. Dont' be a fool. Something is wrong with this situation.

I think this is veryy solid advice, some twisted part of my brain is hoping they do not announce it and it jsut drops...and then "life" gets in the way for a day or two so I can't drop everything and buy two of them. this way if their are any issues....we are going to know about it right away and then make the choice. The other part of my brain is like "as soon as I hear the news...". Crazy!