Who is ditching the thunderbolt and who's keeping it?

[natehoy]

While not looking at replacing the Thunderbolt, I'm finally reaching the point where I may need to relegate it to a work-only device and just use it for my work email, and get another device for personal use. Verizon's data network, never a speed demon around here, is getting steadily worse. 4G is OK when I can get it, but my wife's Galaxy S2 on AT&T HSPA runs circles around my phone in every regard, including data speeds (other than artificial speed tests).

Now I just need to decide.. LG Optimus Pro, Galaxy S4, HTC One, or do I spring extra bucks and get a Note II? The Nexus 4 was originally my "best" option, but I might as well get a subsidized handset, then if I want a Nexus device I can buy one later and sell off the existing handset.

The Galaxy S4 has the early lead since it actually runs up-to-date Android for the moment, and the camera appears to beat all the others hands-down at least according to GSMArena's comparison tool.

 

[chuckh0308]

You may actually be able to get reliable 4G on VZW with a different device. The Thunderbolt was notoriously finicky in maintaining 4G. Or any signal, for that matter...lol!

 

[quickdraw86]

You may actually be able to get reliable 4G on VZW with a different device. The Thunderbolt was notoriously finicky in maintaining 4G. Or any signal, for that matter...lol!

I agree with this. The bolt needs to reach a kernel/radio sweet spot to get good reception because of its sketchy RIL. Newer devices on VZW, besides the Gnex (which also has notoriously poor reception), are likely much more reliable and consistent in regards to signal. S3, razr HD, note 2, and DNA are all known to handle data handoff better than the bolt. I do agree that GSM can be more consistent for daily usage though. GSM networks are horrendous where I live though.

 

[natehoy]

I agree with both of you - I know any phone but the Thunderbolt is going to be an improvement on even 3G, much less 4G/LTE. However, my current phone is owned by my employer and is not eligible to upgrade until September. While I'd gladly give them retail price for an upgraded phone to continue my corporate unlimited plan, they simply aren't set up for that. They also won't cough up for tethering on corporate phones, and that's bit me in the tush a few times as I've been stuck at home in case I get a call.

Edit: Who knew that the word "but" with an extra "t" was a swear word? Interesting.

Verizon offers a very pathetic discount for an individual plan, whereas AT&T is offering me a plan with 2GB of data and 1000 text messages for about $35 a month. No talk airtime is included in that, but I usually end up with just a few minutes of talk time a month and at ten cents a minute that doesn't bother me much. That's cheaper than StraightTalk, with clearly defined limits and roaming coverage.

So while coverage is a bit better with Verizon around here (when my phone can use it!) and I have an unlimited account with Verizon bought and paid for, if I can't connect when I want to, it isn't doing me any good.

The downside is that I really don't want to carry two phones.

 

[oberkc]

Edit: Who knew that the word "but" with an extra "t" was a swear word? Interesting.

As in cigarette ****? **** of a joke? **** Joint?

I had no idea I was using profanity.

 

[natehoy]

As in cigarette ****? **** of a joke? **** Joint?

I had no idea I was using profanity.

I just love ****ing heads with a profanity filter that bites me in the arse.

 

[redcat22]

Just ditched it today for a Samsung GS3. I'm not a launch day Tbolt-er, i got it in Dec.2011 when it was more of a stable phone. Still had to replace my original Tbolt about 4 months ago and was less than thrilled with the refurbished phone Verizon sent to me. Meh, my 2 year old daughter can have the Tbolt now. So anyways... on a side note my wife is great. I used her upgrade to get my new phone (didn't want to lose unlimited data) on my mother's day of weekend, of all weekends to do it. Actually she did get something out of this though, a better data plan. She had a 300MB data and now has 2GB. Win-win lol.

 

[dpham00]

Just ditched it today for a Samsung GS3. I'm not a launch day Tbolt-er, i got it in Dec.2011 when it was more of a stable phone. Still had to replace my original Tbolt about 4 months ago and was less than thrilled with the refurbished phone Verizon sent to me. Meh, my 2 year old daughter can have the Tbolt now. So anyways... on a side note my wife is great. I used her upgrade to get my new phone (didn't want to lose unlimited data) on my mother's day of weekend, of all weekends to do it. Actually she did get something out of this though, a better data plan. She had a 300MB data and now has 2GB. Win-win lol.

The 300mb plan is $10 cheaper than the 2gb plan.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[redcat22]

The 300mb plan is $10 cheaper than the 2gb plan.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

Correct. The 300mb data plan is no longer available too. So having to choose between losing 300mb or unlimited data, well that's a no-brainer.

 

[dpham00]

Correct. The 300mb data plan is no longer available too. So having to choose between losing 300mb or unlimited data, well that's a no-brainer.

Obviously :beer:

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[o2bnclemson]

Ditching. Big time. My Thunderdud has been just that. When it works, it's great. But as for the rest of the time - random reboots, display auto-brightness adjusting at random for no reason, Bluetooth connectivity issues, poor battery life, slow to respond, dropping from 4G to 3G or lower at random, etc etc. It was a good phone, but with little to no support from the manufacturer and carrier, that sealed the deal.

I'm planning on getting the Galaxy S4 and paying full price (installments) to keep my unlimited data. With the Galaxy, I'll get a fully supported phone with a wide variety of accessories, proven reliability, longer batter life, etc. It's going to mean an extra $50/mo, but with a restart time of about 8 minutes, and my Thunderdud resets itself 1-2 times/day (often at the worst times), I think it will be worth it.

 

[dpham00]

Ditching. Big time. My Thunderdud has been just that. When it works, it's great. But as for the rest of the time - random reboots, display auto-brightness adjusting at random for no reason, Bluetooth connectivity issues, poor battery life, slow to respond, dropping from 4G to 3G or lower at random, etc etc. It was a good phone, but with little to no support from the manufacturer and carrier, that sealed the deal.

I'm planning on getting the Galaxy S4 and paying full price (installments) to keep my unlimited data. With the Galaxy, I'll get a fully supported phone with a wide variety of accessories, proven reliability, longer batter life, etc. It's going to mean an extra $50/mo, but with a restart time of about 8 minutes, and my Thunderdud resets itself 1-2 times/day (often at the worst times), I think it will be worth it.

You could transfer the upgrade to another line without unlimited unthrottled 4GLTE and activate it on that line, if you have a family plan

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[wlaw422]

Before I get to my thunderbolt story let me say I was shocked at the 4g difference on different phones. Sitting in the same spot of my house, downloading say a 10MB app from the play store took noticeably longer on the Thunderbolt than the note 2. I had always thought 4g is 4g, the hardware can't make that much of a difference. But it certainly does. Maybe just a better radio?

So i got the Bolt on launch day, March 2011. Was a lot of fun. First smartphone I ever owned. Had a lot of ups and downs. One day in April about a month after launch 4g was down and it was either 3g or 1x for the day. Had random reboots and the handoff from 3g to 4g and vice versa was always tricky. My biggest pet peeve was when I had solid 4g and the data would just freeze. The little upload arrow under the 4g icon would get stuck and for several minutes I would have zero data access. That stunk. Believe it or not that same problem still happens on my new phone, but not as often. Maybe once every two months as opposed to 2-3 times a week.

However I did so much rom flashing on the bolt phone I learned a great deal. Felt like I was in control of my phone and could really customize it. It was a durable sturdy phone and lasted me quite a while. Lots of memories with the tbolt.

Was ready for a change and got the note 2 from Verizon on it's launch day. And kept that unlimited data. I can't ever let that go I find it too valuable.

I'll always have a soft spot for that inaugural 4g device. Made me want to pull out my hair sometimes but it's all good looking back.

 

[chuckh0308]

Before I get to my thunderbolt story let me say I was shocked at the 4g difference on different phones. Sitting in the same spot of my house, downloading say a 10MB app from the play store took noticeably longer on the Thunderbolt than the note 2. I had always thought 4g is 4g, the hardware can't make that much of a difference. But it certainly does. Maybe just a better radio?

So i got the Bolt on launch day, March 2011. Was a lot of fun. First smartphone I ever owned. Had a lot of ups and downs. One day in April about a month after launch 4g was down and it was either 3g or 1x for the day. Had random reboots and the handoff from 3g to 4g and vice versa was always tricky. My biggest pet peeve was when I had solid 4g and the data would just freeze. The little upload arrow under the 4g icon would get stuck and for several minutes I would have zero data access. That stunk. Believe it or not that same problem still happens on my new phone, but not as often. Maybe once every two months as opposed to 2-3 times a week.

However I did so much rom flashing on the bolt phone I learned a great deal. Felt like I was in control of my phone and could really customize it. It was a durable sturdy phone and lasted me quite a while. Lots of memories with the tbolt.

Was ready for a change and got the note 2 from Verizon on it's launch day. And kept that unlimited data. I can't ever let that go I find it too valuable.

I'll always have a soft spot for that inaugural 4g device. Made me want to pull out my hair sometimes but it's all good looking back.

The radio on the Note 2 is FAR superior to that of the T-Bolt, not to mention the extra processing power. The Note 2 will download and install probably at least 5 apps in the time it takes the T-Bolt to do 1. It's nice that it doesn't take 5-10 minutes to do app updates anymore...lol!

Edit: I was also going to also say that in the two months I've had the Note 2 I have not noticed any complete signal loss and only maybe twice where it dropped 4G in favor of 3G. The T-Bolt would flip flop between 4G and no signal multiple times throughout each day. Every time I would take it out of my pocket it would have no signal (which also meant I missed a lot of messages and calls while it was in my pocket) and it would take several minutes to get it back after taking it out. Not at all a problem with the Note 2 so far.

 

[recDNA]

The radio on the Note 2 is FAR superior to that of the T-Bolt, not to mention the extra processing power. The Note 2 will download and install probably at least 5 apps in the time it takes the T-Bolt to do 1. It's nice that it doesn't take 5-10 minutes to do app updates anymore...lol!

Edit: I was also going to also say that in the two months I've had the Note 2 I have not noticed any complete signal loss and only maybe twice where it dropped 4G in favor of 3G. The T-Bolt would flip flop between 4G and no signal multiple times throughout each day. Every time I would take it out of my pocket it would have no signal (which also meant I missed a lot of messages and calls while it was in my pocket) and it would take several minutes to get it back after taking it out. Not at all a problem with the Note 2 so far.

I still miss the excitement of 2 or 3 new roms every month with weekly updates. My razr maxx hd does everything better than the tbolt but boy do I miss all that flashing and the excitement of trying out new roms.

I still have my original bolt with 3 roms loaded on it and it works great on wifi. If the cards were interchangeable I'd still carry the tbolt sometimes.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[Spacemaker24]

I had a chance to use a Galaxy S3 for a few minutes the other day. Big mistake. Now I feel like it's going to be forever until my September upgrade.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[chuckh0308]

I still miss the excitement of 2 or 3 new roms every month with weekly updates. My razr maxx hd does everything better than the tbolt but boy do I miss all that flashing and the excitement of trying out new roms.

I still have my original bolt with 3 roms loaded on it and it works great on wifi. If the cards were interchangeable I'd still carry the tbolt sometimes.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

Mine is hooked up to the stereo receiver in my garage and being used as a music source. I was using my iPod Touch, but it couldn't maintain a solid WiFi connection and the Thunderbolt can, so there you go!

 

[natehoy]

For the moment, my official answer to the question is "Yes!"

My company buys me a Thunderbolt and it's still under contract. However, even the extended battery is starting to go (you'd expect that after 18 months of hard use) and signal is getting harder to hold on to.

So I've ordered an AT&T-based Optimus G Pro, but my contract for my T-bolt won't be up until September, so I'll probably have a "work" and "personal" phone for a while.

 

[808TBolt]

Yah, the Note 2 may not be for everyone due to the size. I had that concern initially, but you adapt pretty quickly to it and now I can't imagine going back to anything smaller than a 5.5" screen. Anything smaller just looks and feels like a toy now in comparison.

I too always liked the display on the Thunderbolt though. I'm guessing the RAZR Maxx HD may not look as good because of the Pentile matrix display it's using.

my thoughts exactly. I love my Note 2

 

[natehoy]

Well, the day has come. Friday, my company announced that they were looking to get rid of company-owned Androids (the only company-owned phones would be iPhones, which is understandable given that the support team is one person and there are hundreds of corporate smartphones here). As a result, I was able to terminate my contract and go with the "bring your own device" plan, and my company email is now on my LG Optimus G Pro.

The Thunderbolt is still mine for a couple more days, but the plan will be discontinued soon and it will be relegated to the "spare phones bin".

It's been a pretty good phone overall, but going back to it is hard after the 5.5" screen and quad-core speeds of the Optimus G Pro, not to mention Verizon's "urine"-poor 3G speed compared to AT&T HSPA+.

I'll continue to scan the threads for a while in case I can contribute any random bits of info based on a couple of years with the Thunderbolt, but onward and upward.

EDIT: Forgot the word filter doesn't like the alternate word for urine.