Thunderbolt First Impressions/Reviews

[dloseke]

A friend of mine picked it up at lunch today and thought I had a case on it because of how solid it feels. Coming from a Blackberry Storm this thing is blazing fast. No 3G in my area (Omaha, NE) yet...maybe next year. Battery life seemed good, but I "widgetized" my phone and with wifi on and not connected it's sucking down the battery pretty fast. Have to try out the Hotspot and see if it sucks it down too. Screen is wonderful....overall SUPER impressed....so far I don't regret not waiting for the Bionic....we'll see if that holds when the Bionic gets released though...

 

[dloseke]

I came from a storm 1 as well and it is basically the same as unlocking the storm. If you carry it in your pocket you lock your storm every time anyway.

That's the problem with 4 capacitive buttons at the bottom instead of physical buttons...

I was rarely able to wake my storm by pressing the screen...after 21-22 months of use, I usually had to wake it with one of the front buttons and rarely got it right the first time...just wasn't intuitive I guess. However, it may have had something to do with locking the screen all the time....because you had to press the unlock button anyway...

 

[jm013]

Coming from a bb tour. This phone rocks!

 

[SoraKy]

One of the first things I did was to get the thunderstorm paper and put it on the Tbolt.

That is all.

 

[Edwill86]

so..ummm I just got 21mbps/ 41mbps

thats a bit hard to fathom, Maybe there is something wrong with the speed test app on 4g.......

 

[mlee21]

How do I open the "task manager" when I want to exit out of programs?

On my epic4g I was able to hold the Home button and it would show me the recent apps/task lists.. but for the thunderbolt it only shows me recent apps.

 

[Edwill86]

How do I open the "task manager" when I want to exit out of programs?

On my epic4g I was able to hold the Home button and it would show me the recent apps/task lists.. but for the thunderbolt it only shows me recent apps.

Pretty sure most is not all the Apps close as soon as you leave it. Might be wrong on this though, but it seems that way though.

 

[terrain]

Screen is much more vibrant than my DX
Audio out through BT and Headphones seems crisper and more even toned

Very snappy
Sense is much more functional and better looking than Blur
Battery life during heavy use is about seven hours, I'm sure once I get all my apps and start using this as normal I will get about ten hours from it.
Browser seems faster than my DX

Did you run your x over with your car. If you x display was less vibrant than your TB you probably had a bad one. Not even a close call when you compare the x side by side. Lte is great though.

 

[terrain]

so..ummm I just got 21mbps/ 41mbps

thats a bit hard to fathom, Maybe there is something wrong with the speed test app on 4g.......

Speedtest.net app is bogus for up and closer to being accurate on down. Try another bandwidth test to get accurate up speed.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

I came from a storm 1 as well and it is basically the same as unlocking the storm. If you carry it in your pocket you lock your storm every time anyway.

Yes, but with the storm all you had to do to unlock it was press on the upper left part of the phone, which is much easier to do. With this Droid the button is much smaller and less convenient to reach. I'm just saying they could have made it easier.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

Pretty sure most is not all the Apps close as soon as you leave it. Might be wrong on this though, but it seems that way though.

I'm not positive they close automatically - the Verizion store guy told (and showed) me to use "advanced Task Killer" free app to shut down all, or some, open apps. I was shocked at how many apps were open and running. I'm guessing this is what Droid users do instead of the battery pulls that Blackberry users do?

 

[cgc2]

Most task killers after they are done, allow those very programs you thought you shut down fire back up. Edwill86 is better informed than your vz Rep. Most, not all apps, do not need to be powered down or "task killed ".as they are idle till you need them. Some do run in the background and i've tried a app called Watch Dog that sniffs out those programs and notifies you so you can take action. I don't have any affiliation to the vendor. Just sharing info for the masses.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

Most task killers after they are done, allow those very programs you thought you shut down fire back up. Edwill86 is better informed than your vz Rep. Most, not all apps, do not need to be powered down or "task killed ".as they are idle till you need them. Some do run in the background and i've tried a app called Watch Dog that sniffs out those programs and notifies you so you can take action. I don't have any affiliation to the vendor. Just sharing info for the masses.

I noticed that, after "killing" the app, some popped open again (Pandora in particular). What "action" can you take if there is no "close app" button to push and the "kill app" doesn't "kill" it?

 

[SoraKy]

I'm concerned about this too. Maybe I'm phobic of idle running apps since those notoriously KILL blackberries. o.o;

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

Barely making it through my second day with this Droid. Had to Charged the phone TWICE again today. Right now, 8:43 PM and my battery is yellow and less than 15%.

Usage:
89% Display (set to to full - I need to be able to see the screen in daylight) I'm out side most of the day.

3% Android System

2% Phone idle

2% internet

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

It just went RED and told me to plug it in!

 

[AndroidJay]

After a few hours of use, all I can say is WOW. I came from the Dinc. This phone is faster, brighter screen and much better. I do not live in a 4G city, but will be visiting one on Monday to test out the LTE.

While playing with the phone, a friend of mine called. Needless to say, browsing the internet and talking on the phone in CDMA 3G worked like a charm.

I also put some music on the phone and the speakers are amazing.

All in all, I will be happy with this phone for some time to come.

 

[Jace]

You don't even have to have a phone on that line. If the Verizon rep has a clue he can just assign a dummy number to that line with no phone used on it at all. I've done that before but there are a lot of clueless reps out there, you'll need to find one that knows what to do or you can even try explaining it to him/her. You'll get the new line with a new number, then have them switch the phone to your old number and leave the new number as a dummy line.

R

How does this work? Don't you need a data plan on the new line? The discounted prices always say with 2-yr contract and data plan.

 

[chelseafbclub]

Two questions...in the Verizon store today with the Thunderbolt I tried to play video on espn.com and it didn't let me ! (just like the iphone) You know the blue arrow that appears when you move your mouse over it. it just showed the video picture and never started playing! That is not good, espn.com video is an absolute must, and I thought the Thunderbolt was supposed to be Flash friendly. Any thoughts, just a bug?

Also, I am thinking about buying the Thunderbolt on sale tonight at Let's Talk. When you get to the checkout screen, it gives you that long list of Verizon plans. I have no idea what plan my family is on, and I don't want to change the plan, just continue the same service. Do I have to select a plan on that screen if I just want the phone?

One more thing, if I buy the phone online, how do I a) activate it, and b) transfer my contacts? Thanks!

 

[iLLusive]

Two questions...in the Verizon store today with the Thunderbolt I tried to play video on espn.com and it didn't let me ! (just like the iphone) You know the blue arrow that appears when you move your mouse over it. it just showed the video picture and never started playing! That is not good, espn.com video is an absolute must, and I thought the Thunderbolt was supposed to be Flash friendly. Any thoughts, just a bug?

Also, I am thinking about buying the Thunderbolt on sale tonight at Let's Talk. When you get to the checkout screen, it gives you that long list of Verizon plans. I have no idea what plan my family is on, and I don't want to change the plan, just continue the same service. Do I have to select a plan on that screen if I just want the phone?

One more thing, if I buy the phone online, how do I a) activate it, and b) transfer my contacts? Thanks!

When you receive the phone there is large booklet that says follow these steps to activate you phone. You call 1-800 activation number FIRST. Do Not I repeat Do Not rush because it is a new toy and put in the sim card / battery first. You will brick the sim card and have to get a new one. Sim card when powered automaticaly finishes the activation process so if you haven't made the call first it is not ready to activate.

So step by step
1. Call 1-800 number
2. Put in Sim card don't touch the gold part
3. Power on phone and give it a minute to hit the actual network and see some 3G / 4G action.
4. Go forward with first page on setup which is Backup Assistance (Answer to your second question if you are previous Verizon customer)
Continue through adding all other accounts you wish and finish setup.