Not the Phone I Had Hoped For

[OME6A]

*Not trying to troll or hate. Just offering a perspective for others interested in this phone.*

This is going to sound crazy to some people, but coming from the Droid X, the Thunderbolt just isn't doing it for me.

Reasons for this:
The battery life is horrible, even with 4G turned off and proper application management.
The vibration is super-weak in comparison to the X.
The phone is annoyingly heavy.
The body is super-slippery. I've almost dropped it several times.
The LED notifier sucks.
Lack of physical camera button is really aggrivating to me.
Blur isn't great, but I just find Sense annoying. I really wish there was a stock option in Android settings to go with the vanilla experience.

I will say the screen is nice and vibrant though, and the speaker is very loud.

I don't know. It seems like a good device, just isn't the one for me. I've given it a couple days to try and adjust to it, recalling how I felt initially coming from BbOS to Android when I got my X, but I just can't get into it.

In the end, it just feels like this device was rushed out so that VZW could be in the 4G race.

 

[Yourself]

I'm coming from a much smaller much older phone(LG Dare), so I am having difficulty dealing with the weight of this thing. On that front I have to agree with you. Lovin the screen size though...

 

[ShaggyKids]

This is my first Android and coming from a Storm 1 we're talking leaps and bounds over what I had. You could get a case to help w/the slipperyness. I held other droids in the stores and other people's and I don't find it all that heavy. I think it's actually about the same as my Storm and it's much bigger Don't mind not having a camera button, the app works fine for my purposes. I agree the vibration could be a little better but it's ok. Battery life, yeah could use some improvement but I repeat mine has never been charged for say 24 hours, maybe 6hrs at most so I think that's part of my reason. That and I've been on it constantly. Once I get settled in I think my battery will do much better. Hey, it doesn't have to be the phone for everyone, I'm sorry you're not happy with it.

 

[Jaymil]

I agree with you on a few points but I love my thunderbolt.

Also coming from a Droid X I'll agree that the LED is a POS.. it's hard to see being behind the grill but I can live with that.. I just hate that it's only a 2 color LED and not a RGB.

I also agree it felt alot slicker to hold. I like the feel but I think since the droid x isn't as wide and it had the bump it was just easier to hang on to. I have a seidio innocase for my tbolt though and I like it. I used my X naked but I just don't feel like I can do that with my tbolt for long before I ended up with a scratch or gouge.

I also agree on the vibrate. With my droid X I could leave the phone on the nightstand upstairs and then be downstairs in the kitchen.. I could hear the phone vibrate from there. Seriously if there was no tv on or anything I could hear it vibrate from downstairs. On the thunderbolt? Not so much.. I barely feel the vibration in my pocket and forget about hearing it from a room away, I barely hear it on the desk in front of me.


That said I love this phone and I think it's the best I've had. I also don't care for sense one bit but that will be fixed as soon as we get some decent roms out. I love that the screen is wider than the X.. 16x9 is great for movies but for every day stuff... not so much imo. I also love the FFC and the 4g is smoking fast here at work. I had the extended bat on my X so it's not even a fair comparison but I'm never far from a charger so I don't really mind. It's incredibly easy for me to slip the phone on the charger for 15-20 minutes a pop several times a day while I'm doing computer work. I'm also digging the kickstand.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

This is my first Android and coming from a Storm 1 we're talking leaps and bounds over what I had. You could get a case to help w/the slipperyness. I held other droids in the stores and other people's and I don't find it all that heavy. I think it's actually about the same as my Storm and it's much bigger Don't mind not having a camera button, the app works fine for my purposes. I agree the vibration could be a little better but it's ok. Battery life, yeah could use some improvement but I repeat mine has never been charged for say 24 hours, maybe 6hrs at most so I think that's part of my reason. That and I've been on it constantly. Once I get settled in I think my battery will do much better. Hey, it doesn't have to be the phone for everyone, I'm sorry you're not happy with it.

I think you're right. I thought the same thing when I got the phone. I thought to myself "Wow, this is pretty much the same weight as the Storm." I thought it was going to be a brick, but I was pleasantly surprised.

As for the physical camera button, I set one of my Storm buttons as a shortcut to the camera and it was so slow that going through the OS on the Thunderbolt is just as quick as using the shortcut on the Storm for me.

 

[RetiredJedi]

Not trying to sound like a jerk but it's pretty awesome that you decided to start yet another brand new discussion thread for why you don't like this phone instead of just posting your opinion on one of the many many other threads that have already been started. I will say though that for every thread that is started on why someone hates the phone the same can be said for starting a thread on why people love this phone. I think if someone loves the phone they won't say anything because they sit around, enjoy the phone, read some of the complaints, say to themselves "Man I'm glad that didn't happen to me." and move on. I made a few tweeks to suit my needs and can go all day not recharging my battery. I turn it off at night while I'm sleeping and wake up the next day and do it again.

Sorry you don't like the phone but is it really necessary to start your thread with "Not trying to troll or hate." and do just that. Take your phone back and get your X because that is the phone you like better or wait for something else to come by that you might like. Stop trying to bring everyone else down please.

I hope you find the perfect phone for you.

Good luck.

 

[rdmartin1]

I cannot agree with the vibrate being weak. My isn't. I would like a camera button as well. Probably would switch it to open messages or something else but that button is missed. But even if it didn't have volume control buttons i'd still prefer it over a Blur device. My Droid 2 was my first android device. Now I don't think i'll ever buy another Moto unless it is stock android.

 

[Kronko]

Not trying to sound like a jerk but it's pretty awesome that you decided to start yet another brand new discussion thread for why you don't like this phone instead of just posting your opinion on one of the many many other threads that have already been started. I will say though that for every thread that is started on why someone hates the phone the same can be said for starting a thread on why people love this phone. I think if someone loves the phone they won't say anything because they sit around, enjoy the phone, read some of the complaints, say to themselves Man I'm glad that didn't happen to me." and move on. I made a few tweeks to suit my needs and can go all day no recharging my battery. I turn it off at night while I'm sleeping and wake up the maxt day and do it again.

Sorry you don't like the phone but is it really necessary to start your thread with "Not trying to troll or hate." and do just that. Take your phone back and get your X because that is the phone you like better or wait for something else to come by that you might like. Stop trying to bring everyone else down please.

I hope you find the perfect phone for you.

Good luck.

One word for the above post, Thanks.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[KSmithInNY]

I'm sorry you don't like the device but it's important to keep in mind that a single device doesn't suit every single persons needs. Some want huge phones, some want small, some want keyboards .... To that i say WELCOME TO ANDROID!!!

The amazing thing about this Android revolution, is we have tons of devices, from multiple manufacturers, on every carrier. Honestly this is an amazing time to be an android fan. I truly hope you find the phone that best suits all your needs and, with a little luck that phone will be an Android phone.

Good luck Ome6

 

[petaf]

My TB's battery seems to be improving. Yesterday it was off charger for 14 hours and had 20% battery left. That's good enough for me. Notification light is sort of tiny but at least it HAS a notification light, unlike my iPhone 4. . This phone is perfect for me.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

I'm coming from a much smaller much older phone(LG Dare), so I am having difficulty dealing with the weight of this thing. On that front I have to agree with you. Lovin the screen size though...

I'm coming from a BB Storm1, surprisingly they feel about the same weight, with the TB POSSIBLY feeling sightly less.

Although I really liked the idea of the huge screen for visibility, the size does take some getting used to.

There are other things as well that will take some adjustment, but that is always the case when doing drastic changes.

The 4G speed, however, needed very little acclamation.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

I'm coming from a BB Storm1, surprisingly they feel about the same weight, with the TB POSSIBLY feeling sightly less.

Although I really liked the idea of the huge screen for visibility, the size does take some getting used to.

There are other things as well that will take some adjustment, but that is always the case when doing drastic changes.

The 4G speed, however, needed very little acclamation.

LOL, that is very true. I thought I would need to get used to a regular touchscreen phone, but I actually don't miss surepress at all. Now to go back to a Dare type screen (I used to have a Dare), that would be hard to do.

 

[IntheStorm]

I think you're right. I thought the same thing when I got the phone. I thought to myself "Wow, this is pretty much the same weight as the Storm." I thought it was going to be a brick, but I was pleasantly surprised.

As for the physical camera button, I set one of my Storm buttons as a shortcut to the camera and it was so slow that going through the OS on the Thunderbolt is just as quick as using the shortcut on the Storm for me.

Totally agree...the camera was slow on the Storm 1. I also came from the Storm to the bolt and really the weight is not an issue. I just need to get use to the size more.

I don't think you will hear one complaint from those who switched from the storm 1 to the bolt. Just grateful to be over the storm finally.

 

[Suntan]

Not trying to sound like a jerk but it's pretty awesome that you decided to start yet another brand new discussion thread for why you don't like this phone instead of just posting your opinion on one of the many many other threads that have already been started.

While I agree this didn?t need a new thread, I would like to point out that bagging on a guy for stating his opinion of the phone doesn?t really help the numbers of us that are still undecided.

Verizon has 4 or 5 phones coming out that are (arguably) very similar to each other. That makes for a lot of pondering for a lot of people that haven?t already decided which phone they want to get/wait for.

As such, negative reviews are still just as useful as positive reviews. Personally, I like to hear people?s opinions and decide for myself if the info is valid, not have some good-intentioned vigilante trying to clean up the forum of all negative posts.

-Suntan

 

[bthomp21]

some people cant handle "smart" phones, no need to get mad.

 

[OME6A]

Not trying to sound like a jerk...

Not trying to sound like a jerk but it's pretty awesome that you decided to critique my starting a thread, instead of just moving on to something that meets your approval. I will say that for every person that scolds people for new threads, the same can be said for people that just keep out of it and carry on about their business.

is it really necessary to start your thread with "Not trying to troll or hate."

I felt it necessary in order to avoid any cries of being a fanboy for one thing or another. I'm an avid supporter of Android, and favor it over all other mobile operating systems.

As I said in my initial post, "It seems like a good device, just isn't the one for me."

 

[asianrage]

*Not trying to troll or hate. Just offering a perspective for others interested in this phone.*

This is going to sound crazy to some people, but coming from the Droid X, the Thunderbolt just isn't doing it for me.

Reasons for this:
The battery life is horrible, even with 4G turned off and proper application management.
The vibration is super-weak in comparison to the X.
The phone is annoyingly heavy.
The body is super-slippery. I've almost dropped it several times.
The LED notifier sucks.
Lack of physical camera button is really aggrivating to me.
Blur isn't great, but I just find Sense annoying. I really wish there was a stock option in Android settings to go with the vanilla experience.

I will say the screen is nice and vibrant though, and the speaker is very loud.

I don't know. It seems like a good device, just isn't the one for me. I've given it a couple days to try and adjust to it, recalling how I felt initially coming from BbOS to Android when I got my X, but I just can't get into it.

In the end, it just feels like this device was rushed out so that VZW could be in the 4G race.

I understand your perspective, though I think you've expected the world from the phone and it failed so easily at matching it.

I want to address a few of your complaints though, if I may.

I'm okay with the battery life. I knew there would be issues. Plus I plug it in when I'm tied to my desk for 9hrs/day.
I don't care for the vibration. It's there, I can feel it and that's enough for me. It's different for every phone, but that doesn't make it bad either.
Unless you're weak sauce, this phone is not heavy at all. I've had an all plastic Samsung Omnia and this phone is only noticably heavier than that. I've held heavier feature phone that does only phone calls.
I don't have huge hands, but I can hold this phone without dropping it. I do realize that if my hand is sweating, the chance of dropping will increase.
I like the fact that the LED notifier is integrated. It's a plus for me.
I don't use my phone to take pictures unless my DSLR isn't available to me at the time. The size of the phone makes it easier to hold and touch the shutter button though.
It would be nice to have a stock Android build to use on this phone. However, Sense UI is the most polished interface compared to everything else on the market. IMHO, of course.

In the end, I don't think the device was rushed. None of your complaints even hints at a problem created by "rushed device". In fact, the hardware's been in the work since the EVO debut. If they've rushed anything, is in the manufacturing stage, where you get issues like light leaking and display-to-panel gap.

 

[RetiredJedi]

While I agree this didn’t need a new thread, I would like to point out that bagging on a guy for stating his opinion of the phone doesn’t really help the numbers of us that are still undecided.

Verizon has 4 or 5 phones coming out that are (arguably) very similar to each other. That makes for a lot of pondering for a lot of people that haven’t already decided which phone they want to get/wait for.

As such, negative reviews are still just as useful as positive reviews. Personally, I like to hear people’s opinions and decide for myself if the info is valid, not have some good-intentioned vigilante trying to clean up the forum of all negative posts.

-Suntan

Thanks but my point was that we didn't need another thread saying the same thing. I totally agree that we need people's opinions on here so that we can learn and make our own decisions on the phones etc. I'm not mad at the person at all, heck I don't even know them. I am glad they posted what they had problems with and heck maybe someone from HTC or VZW will read these boards and get their heads out of their behinds and fix the problems. I'm not a fanboy by any stretch of the word, heck this is my first Android phone but again, I just didn't think we needed a whole new discussion why someone doesn't like it. It seems like every individual on here that doesn't like the phone starts a brand new thread on why they don't like it and it's nnot necessary.

That's all. I hope everyone has a great night and your weather is as nice where you live like it is here.

 

[OME6A]

Some more issues I've uncovered today (I don't have time to return it until the weekend)...

You can't rely on the LED notifier to alert you to new messages while the phone is charging, because the notifier is constantly on.

When listening to music through headphones on my X, if I got a call, I could take the call while hearing the audio of the call through the headphones (the music would automatically stop until the call ended). I can't do that on the Thunderbolt. I have to take the headphones out and wait like 10 secs in order to talk to the caller on the Thunderbolt.

Also when listening to music, if I get an audible notification like from a text or email, the Thunderbolt will interrupt the music to play the notification. My X plays both simultaneously. Really annoying when chatting with someone.

Lastly, if you're listening to audio on a site through a flash player (like youtube, or streaming audio), the audio stops when the screen times out and goes dark.

This is really leaving a sour taste in my mouth for HTC devices.

Anyone else experiencing these issues?