A Newbie to TB/Android and Keeping It!!!!
After much anticipation, I made the switch from my Blackberry Storm 1 to the Thunderbolt. I debated heavily whether to go to the IPhone 4 or wait for the Motorola Bionic (yup, I'm a Verizon guy). After talking to some friends about their android phones, I knew that I wanted to give it a try. After two weeks use, I absolutely love this phone. Now, you gotta remember that I came from the Storm 1 so any new phone was going to be better than what I had. I knew going into the deal that there were issues with the battery and Skype and a couple of other things but I still took the plunge. I have no regrets.
In the last two weeks, I have traveled to Florida and Utah from Washington State and have experienced both 4G and 3G coverage. Both blow anything Blackberry has regarding speed. 4G is absolutely blistering. I downloaded a golfing application that worked perfectly on courses in Florida and Utah. GPS function is outstanding and the Google Navigation application has been spot on!!!. I just love the size of the screen and my teenaged kids are absolutely jealous. Messaging and e-mailing are a snap and love how I can sync my contacts and calendars from my google account. It's been fun using the Widget feature to fill my screens with some pretty cool applications.
So now for the cons and to be honest they are challenging. Even so, I still will not give this baby up.
Battery: This has been my number one issue as well. I've gone to all the forums and tried many of tips given. The best tip so far for me has been to use WiFi. The performance of the phone is still excellent and has given me 25%more life. Other tips like reducing the frequency of updates/syncs can help but the WiFi has made the biggest difference. I'm fortunate that I have very good WiFi at work and at home. Without some of the recommended changes, the best I got was around 10 hours (under 4G usage). If I used my golf application, I was lucky to get 6 hours. If I kept it on 3G then I could add an additional three or fours hours. The one thing I did was get an extra battery (not the extended life pregnant one). It has been a big help when I ran out of juice on the golf course. I wish someone would have a dependable external charger. I have not seen a separate one yet.
Screen: Although the screen size is wonderful, it is hard to see it out in the sun. I have it turned all the way up (I try to keep it on low to save battery life) but it's still hard to see it.
E-Mail: Not as user friendly compared to the Blackberry. I'm still trying to figure out all the settings but I have been able to set up three different accounts and it's working fine.
Being new to the Android System and HTC I can in no way compare like phones. However, as a first time user of this type of technology, all I can say is, "WOW, what a great device!!!" It has been a lot of fun just playing with it and making sure my kids don't get their hands on it. The camera and video features are extremely cool. I really love the stand and hope that they will get the Skype feature to work soon enough. I love the OverDrive application which allows me to download books from my local library for free. There are so many "widgets" and applications to choose from that it is difficult to get any work done. The positives far outweigh any of the negatives and will stick with this, at least fore the next cycle.
