sean76
Android Expert
Ok, so I've had my ThunderBolt since Thursday, launch day! And this is what I have to pretty much say about our newest Super Phone.
Design: Awesome! I love the look of the TB, it's a really nice looking phone, who ever says otherwise has zero taste.Is it to BIG for some?
Yes, of course it'll feel too BIG for some people, or a little to heavy, all depends on what you consider BIG. I personally like a 4' screen. But I'll take the extra screen real estate in a heartbeat. To me it feels very good in the hand.
Display: For a Super LCD, it's pretty good! Not great in sunlight, but not totally horrible or as bad as the original incredible. What I'm saying is it's usable! In normal light, or indoors it's very good. Colors are bright and vivid, and Blacks do not look washed as they did on the original EVO or Droid X...Of course nothing right now is as good as a Super Amoled, but I'll take this as a close second.
Build Quality: I'd say suspect at best! HTC you really need to take notice on this stuff, we had these issues on the EVO, and some are having similar issues like, Light leakage, dust under the screen, recessed power buttons, and faulty volume rockers...COME ON HTC! Seriously you guys make beautiful devices, and market the hell out of em, at least back em up with Great Build Quality. Sorry, to me these are things that should not happen or be present on a high end phone.
Call Quality: Decent! Not Great & not Bad is my take. Calls are extremly loud, even with the volume half way up, however background noise is heavy, and I hear a Humm in the background when calls connect. Voices also sound a little high pitched and choppy at times as well! Some are calling it the best sounding device to date, I just dont hear it that way!
Data/4G: Amazing! The speed is insane, this is by far the fastest phone I have ever used. Not to much can be said, except for the fact that this phone is as fast or faster then my home land line house computer. That last line should be enough praise on how fast this phone really is. Pages load instantly, and GPS locks on in about 2 seconds, and Google maps pulls the data right up. I have not lost a 4G connection since I got the phone. Very Very Impressive VZW!
Overall feel of the phone UI/OS: I happen to like sense, I think HTC does a real good job of skinning they're phones and laying sense over Android. The TB is extremely snappy, and everything flows together real well. Some will say otherwise, and say they hate sense. To those I say download Launcher Pro! I had it on my Fascinate and loved it, however Sense is way more polished then Touch Wiz, so for now I'm leaving sense on and enjoying it. Would I like a straight Vanilla feel, of course I would, but thats reserved for the Nexus line, and until they decide to put micro SD cards, and 720p and above on there for Video, I'll pass!
Battery Life: So far, HORRID! Simple as that, this phone is right now one of the worst I've used when it comes to battery life! My EVO wasn't so good, but this blows it away with how it eats up the battery. There is only one way to point the Finger...Straight at HTC! a 1400mAh battery for an LTE 4G, 4'3 inch screen phone, with a super LCD? I'm sorry, but IMO that is just plain DUMB! The EVO came with a 1500mAh battery, why go smaller? Makes no sense, Oh because 2.2 is better on battery life then 2.1? Save it, there is no excuse to go smaller! Especially when Moto is shipping the Atrix out with a 1850mAh battery. Some are claiming they are getting great battery life, me and a few people I know that got the phone on Thursday are all seeing the same Terrible battery life. Some say shut 4G off? Really, so buy a 4G phone to use it on 3G when I live in a 4G area? I wont even consider that last option. The Fix...HTC needs to ship these phones with bigger batteries, plain and simple!
Overall Wrap Up: To say the least, I'm an Android Fan! So I will not sit here and say the phone is garbage, because it's not! It's a beautiful looking phone that needs a bigger battery, and maybe a software update to help a little bit with call quality IMO. Would I say to a friend go out and buy it? Sure, why not! Like I said, I support Android to the fullest and can't really see saying it's so bad, and that somesone shouldn't buy it! However be warned that Battery life is not very good right now, and maybe a good idea would be to wait a few weeks for new batches that may have better build quality to hit shelves. Overall, Android continues to grow, and this phone right here has the title of being the fastest phone to ever grace a human beings hands. To some the speed may out weigh any the bad, YES, it's that fast!
Design: Awesome! I love the look of the TB, it's a really nice looking phone, who ever says otherwise has zero taste.Is it to BIG for some?
Yes, of course it'll feel too BIG for some people, or a little to heavy, all depends on what you consider BIG. I personally like a 4' screen. But I'll take the extra screen real estate in a heartbeat. To me it feels very good in the hand.
Display: For a Super LCD, it's pretty good! Not great in sunlight, but not totally horrible or as bad as the original incredible. What I'm saying is it's usable! In normal light, or indoors it's very good. Colors are bright and vivid, and Blacks do not look washed as they did on the original EVO or Droid X...Of course nothing right now is as good as a Super Amoled, but I'll take this as a close second.
Build Quality: I'd say suspect at best! HTC you really need to take notice on this stuff, we had these issues on the EVO, and some are having similar issues like, Light leakage, dust under the screen, recessed power buttons, and faulty volume rockers...COME ON HTC! Seriously you guys make beautiful devices, and market the hell out of em, at least back em up with Great Build Quality. Sorry, to me these are things that should not happen or be present on a high end phone.
Call Quality: Decent! Not Great & not Bad is my take. Calls are extremly loud, even with the volume half way up, however background noise is heavy, and I hear a Humm in the background when calls connect. Voices also sound a little high pitched and choppy at times as well! Some are calling it the best sounding device to date, I just dont hear it that way!
Data/4G: Amazing! The speed is insane, this is by far the fastest phone I have ever used. Not to much can be said, except for the fact that this phone is as fast or faster then my home land line house computer. That last line should be enough praise on how fast this phone really is. Pages load instantly, and GPS locks on in about 2 seconds, and Google maps pulls the data right up. I have not lost a 4G connection since I got the phone. Very Very Impressive VZW!
Overall feel of the phone UI/OS: I happen to like sense, I think HTC does a real good job of skinning they're phones and laying sense over Android. The TB is extremely snappy, and everything flows together real well. Some will say otherwise, and say they hate sense. To those I say download Launcher Pro! I had it on my Fascinate and loved it, however Sense is way more polished then Touch Wiz, so for now I'm leaving sense on and enjoying it. Would I like a straight Vanilla feel, of course I would, but thats reserved for the Nexus line, and until they decide to put micro SD cards, and 720p and above on there for Video, I'll pass!
Battery Life: So far, HORRID! Simple as that, this phone is right now one of the worst I've used when it comes to battery life! My EVO wasn't so good, but this blows it away with how it eats up the battery. There is only one way to point the Finger...Straight at HTC! a 1400mAh battery for an LTE 4G, 4'3 inch screen phone, with a super LCD? I'm sorry, but IMO that is just plain DUMB! The EVO came with a 1500mAh battery, why go smaller? Makes no sense, Oh because 2.2 is better on battery life then 2.1? Save it, there is no excuse to go smaller! Especially when Moto is shipping the Atrix out with a 1850mAh battery. Some are claiming they are getting great battery life, me and a few people I know that got the phone on Thursday are all seeing the same Terrible battery life. Some say shut 4G off? Really, so buy a 4G phone to use it on 3G when I live in a 4G area? I wont even consider that last option. The Fix...HTC needs to ship these phones with bigger batteries, plain and simple!
Overall Wrap Up: To say the least, I'm an Android Fan! So I will not sit here and say the phone is garbage, because it's not! It's a beautiful looking phone that needs a bigger battery, and maybe a software update to help a little bit with call quality IMO. Would I say to a friend go out and buy it? Sure, why not! Like I said, I support Android to the fullest and can't really see saying it's so bad, and that somesone shouldn't buy it! However be warned that Battery life is not very good right now, and maybe a good idea would be to wait a few weeks for new batches that may have better build quality to hit shelves. Overall, Android continues to grow, and this phone right here has the title of being the fastest phone to ever grace a human beings hands. To some the speed may out weigh any the bad, YES, it's that fast!
