ok, if these prices hold up at launch then i am DEFINITELY not springing for a thunderbolt. at least until they price it competitively. the atrix is, stats-wise, a superior phone with a laptop dock, and as much as i like htc phones there is no way that a thunderbolt is worth a hundred buck premium.
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
thunderbolt $250? atrix $150?????
- Thread starter shocka
- Start date
-
- Tags
- htc thunderbolt
That's the price on Amazon. Places like Amazon, Wirefly, LetsTalk, etc. are usually much cheaper than what you pay through the carrier or one of their direct resellers. The catch is they have very restrictive stipulations in the contract you sign with them. You cannot make any changes to your plan for usually 6 months, and if you decide to cancel after the 30 day period, you face the carrier's etf plus a $250 etf from them. Also, your warranty for the phone has to go thru them for a certain period (anywhere from the initial 30 day trial to the 6 month mark I mentioned earlier). As long as you sign up and don't change your plan, cancel, or have a warranty issues, they are the better deal, otherwise you maybe looking at costs that come close to the retail price of the phone.
The Tbolt is only going to be available thru Verizon or Best Buy, no other resellers direct or online, so prices like these will not be available. If you look at the Incredible the price didn't drop for quite awhile, be it on Verizon, thru direct resellers or online resellers. It's not a metter of a lesser device being sold at a premium, it's that those retailers who take the deep cuts in price don't have access to it.
As far as the Atrix being the second coming, it will have some of it's own issues. Dual core isn't optimized in Android, testers are reporting horrible battery life due to the power management not being optimized, and today they are reporting that the phone will ship without 1080 recording capability or the ability to use the hdmi output, waiting for a software update to unlock them. The tbolt may not have all of the bells and whistles, but it is 99% done, whereas the atrix (and bionic) have a lot of issues to overcome. I said awhile back that I was going to stay away from the first dual cores because I thought they were going to have issues, & it looks like I was right.
You can get it from costco and that for 150 also. Verizon is a rip off plain and simple selling old outdated tech at higher prices. The EVO has been out months and the thunderbolt is a copy of that with some minimal changes. Nothing that warrants this phone being anything more than 199. Im sure the off contract price will be 50-100 more than the EVO also. Good thing I decided to wait for something better
Costco I would bet is like walmart in that they are actually using LetsTalk, so the same things I said above are true.
As far as Verizon selling old tech I assume you are referring to AT&T with the Atrix. AT&T is losing their exclusivity with Apple/iphone, so they had to do anything to show they were being progressive. I would imagine they are eating some of the cost of the Atrix just to have it.
At CES, besides the 2 Moto offerings (1 ATT, 1 VZW) who else had dual core phones? Sprint & T-mobile didn't show off anything with dual core, & I'm betting that if the dual core rumors are true the Samsung Galaxy 2 will have a variant at Verizon. I'm thinking that many vendors are waiting until the MWC to show off their dual cores, but I may be wrong. If anything the tbolt is a copy of the DesireHD, but with a kickstand. That came out late 2010, so it's not unresonable for an early 2011 phone to be somewhat similar to a late 2010 model.
We still have the MWC in February and CTIA in March. If there are more dual core phones coming, I'd look for them there as 1. they'd want them more polished/finished before showing them off, and 2. most of the big phone releases happen in the end of Q2 to the end of the year. The stuff at CES is supposed to be released before the end of Q2, or the middle of the year.
rdalcanto
Android Enthusiast
If the fact that the Thunderbolt is only almost twice as fast as the EVO is a minimal change to you, then I guess you're right....
http://www.phonearena.com/image.php?m=Articles.Images&f=name&id=36036&name=C
Roaddog
Well-Known Member
Twice the speed of the Evo, more ram and the ability to do simultaneous voice and data over 3G just to name a few. Yeah. Clearly you've decided this phone isn't what you want, but it also isn't the slouch you keep painting it as.
so you claim it is twice as fast but im sure it isnt as noticeable as people make it seem. I mean look at what the galaxy s was getting for benchmarks and it wasnt any noticeably faster than other higher end phones with lower scores
Little Green Robot
Well-Known Member
That is because it is bloated up with Touchwiz crap. Sense runs much smoother than touchwiz.
woodstorm
Android Enthusiast
Adding insult to injury, AT&T is releasing the HTC Inspire (Thunderbolt clone) for $100 after rebate on 2/14. BOHICA
HTC Inspire? 4G at AT&T
HTC Inspire? 4G at AT&T
Benchmarks don't necessarily mean faster in everyday use. That's why an Incredible is zippier than an X or Fascinate. Their UIs are slowing down the phone. If they had come with stock android they would be as fast if not faster than the Inc. Sense just doesn't seem to slow down the phone like some other skins do.
As far as it being an Evo clone or just a small step up, it has a newer gen processor and gpu, more ram, more internal memory, a 32GB microsd card preinstalled, a better 8mp camera then the Inc or Evo, a kickstand that works in landscape or portrait (only landscape for the Evo), the ability to do voice and data simultaneously over 3G, and 4G to boot. Plus with sense 2 it has a multitude of features (remote find & wipe, ability to send apps to the phone from htcsense.com, and a 10 second boot time). If you want to compare quadrant scores the tbolt is in the mid 1900 range out of the box.
If you don't want to buy it fine, that leaves 1 more for the rest of us. But you have been bashing this thing since you found out it wasn't dual core. If that's a problem for you, fine. If you're arguing to justify not getting it yourself, I can't help you there. I guess I'm just curious why you're going out of your way to bash something you're not going to use. You'd probably be happier at either the bionic, revolution or samsung 4G forums.
P.S. The info on the camera, sense 2 features, & kickstand is from a youtube vid by one of the testers that was posted here in the tbolt forums by Eazail70x7. Link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcsbCA3uXek
I never said anything about not wanting it because it doesnt have a dual core. For me i could care less about dual core right now since it will have its fair share of problems im sure. But for you to put words into my mouth im not bashing it for not having a dual core so maybe next time when you accuse me of saying something make sure i actually say it. smh
Ok, you were referring to outdated tech in your post, so what "outdated tech" are you were referring to? So far the only things that would be considered old tech in the tbolt is the cpu. That cpu I believe came out in late summer 2010. Other than that nothing really has an advantage over the tbolt (depending how dual core performs, could be advantage or disadvantage).
Were you referring to super amoled screens. Sammy's holding onto that for their phones, show me another manufacturer that has a new model with SA screens. Were you referring to the Atrix's ability to dock with a laptop? Don't see the advantage over a usb connection for my purposes. Maybe it lacking a hdmi port? I could see using that, but it's probably one of those things I'll think I'll use and actually never will.
Sorry if you weren't referring to dual core when you said old tech, but that's the first thing that people bring up when they say it's outdated. So I apologize. Please let me know what you were referring to.
snuggles
Android Enthusiast
I believe it, motorola has never been a favorite for me.
Im not a big fan of super amoled screens they dont show true colors. There are many other methods to make screens I mean motorola made a new kind of screen and resolution easily could be increased on a phone with such a large screen. Battery life will im sure be bad with a 1400mah battery I mean HTC and battery life don't go together
What new kind of screen did Moto make? As far as I've read the Bionic/Atrix is either LCD or S-LCD. The S-LCD was developed by Sony.
As far as battery life the clear winner is up in the air right now. The battery life on the tbolt could be better or equal to the Inc. It has a slightly larger battery, and a more efficient 45nm cpu. The lte radio will suck more juice but that can be shut off. The screen is larger but the S-LCD is more efficient on whites, so if the majority of use is web browsing then it should be more efficient as most web pages have a white background.
The battery life on the bionic is the wild card. Right now according to a tester (blck man x) the battery life is horrible, even worse than the tbolt which has a significantly smaller battery. He says the power management hasn't been dialed in yet, but who knows if that will make enough of a difference to be called good battery life. With froyo (& also gingerbread I've read) not being setup to take advantage of multi core hardware, it's benefits are dependent on the software retooling that moto has done on top of android. Call me skeptical, but software is not moto's strong suit (blur).
As far as the htc and battery life comment, we have been delaing with that for years. I remember when the phones were still analog & I had to make a choice between moto & nokia. The signal was stronger on the moto's, but the battery was twice as good on the nokia's. There always seems to be a trade off between manufacturers. Some are good with signal, some with battery, some with software, some with build quality, etc., etc. The thing is to find the phone or manufacturer that works best for you. If you look at what htc's done with having nothing else to their name (unlike Motorola, Samsung, & LG who are all household names for things other than cell phones), then they must be doing something right.
The battery life on the Incredible SUCKED! I had it and couldnt even make it through a day with moderate use. So if it is equal to the Incredible with a larger screen it will be even worse.
The Inc. was an amoled screen, it sucks more power on bright colors than on dark, but it has better blacks than lcd. Like I said, with most of the web having white backgrounds on web pages, that will be an advantage over amoled.
I've been leaving my phone on until the battery reaches around 28%. With about 4 hours of use in the period, I can get 24+ hours. The only thing that are syncing is weather (every hour) & gmail (once a day). My screen is set to around 25%, & I leave wifi on instead of 3G. I have a network extender so it is not constantly searching for signal (I'm right on the fringe of our tower). That 4 hours of use is a combination of web browsing, offline games, listening to music off of the sd card, & phone calls. I have two batteries, stock and a Seidio 1750. The seidio only edges it by 1/2 to 1 hour. I also charge them in an external charger, which I believe charges them more fully.
Now if you're constanly syncing facebook, twitter, or email, or streaming pandora, then obviously the battery life will suck. If not I'd look at the apps running as one is problably sucking your battery down. These phones are basically miniaturized netbooks, why do we think these phones will get better life than they will? Barring a jump in bettery tech, it's what we have to deal with.
Roaddog
Well-Known Member
I really don't get how you can keep on sating "the battery life WILL suck" without having used the phone or citing a single review to back it up. HTC specifically addressed this issue during their CES conference and said they'd made adjustments. Until you actually use one for a few days, there's no way you can possibly know. So shake your head all you want, but you're stating an unknown as gospel fact unfairly.
gobluejd
GOBLUE!
My GF can make it through the day with moderate use, no problem. Me not so much on stock, I have the seidio 1750 and I make it no problems. If I bump charge I do not worry.
I, as well as others I am sure will buy another bigger battery. It's become a factor no matter what Android phone you have. I have users on the Original DROID and they suffer as well. Its not just HTC.
digdug1
Android Expert
however some phones suffer more than others. my dx for example has a larger screen than my d1 and gets far better battery life.
sean76
Android Expert
All this Atrix vs Thunderbolt stuff is stupid! Both are running on untested 4G networks, so who knows how fast they will be and how well they perform in the real world! I for one will try them both out, as I have service with at&t and vzw. I will say this, the Thunderbolt is starting too look very exciting to me, it didn't at First because I took it as an EVO refresh! But after some looking into, its not, and looks to be very promising if you like HTC products. Yes we all love Technology, but who knows how these newer faster networks will treat battery life, as well as what kind of juice these duel cores eat up as well. Guess we'll all see very soon.
And to those stating that the Thunder will be slow! LOL...I can't see that being the case, these newer snapdragons are supposedly insanely fast, and yes sense runs Android really smooth. Couple that together with vzw's already proven 3G and the addition of 4G, and I think we have a Speed Racer on our hands...just callin it as I see it folks!
And to those stating that the Thunder will be slow! LOL...I can't see that being the case, these newer snapdragons are supposedly insanely fast, and yes sense runs Android really smooth. Couple that together with vzw's already proven 3G and the addition of 4G, and I think we have a Speed Racer on our hands...just callin it as I see it folks!
SirKronan
Android Expert
I really would consider an Atrix, and not because of the price, but because of the 1GB of RAM and the desktop/laptop environment you can attach it to.
Unfortunately it's on the ONLY network I would never even consider doing business with. Not only do I despise them with a passion for many reasons and shady things I had to deal with myself as a phone reseller for them back when my store was a dealer, but they simply do not have the coverage Verizon does, including some key areas I know I will need coverage, yet they charge the same prices, higher than both sprint and T Mobile. I would consider Sprint or T-Mobile as alternatives to VZ, as they now have coverage in two specific areas I frequent, that I knew would've been problems before, as well as having good coverage where I live now.
With ATT I would pay the SAME and get much less. With Sprint or T Mo I would at least only pay a little less and get a little less. I'd be fine sticking with VZ, too, if they had a phone I wanted.
Thunderbolt looks like the EVO with a weaker battery and no longer having video output. What is it with Verizon and taking all your video outputs away, a la Fascinate?? It's like they intentionally want ONLY MOTOs to have that capability. I'm so sick of this crap ...
Unfortunately it's on the ONLY network I would never even consider doing business with. Not only do I despise them with a passion for many reasons and shady things I had to deal with myself as a phone reseller for them back when my store was a dealer, but they simply do not have the coverage Verizon does, including some key areas I know I will need coverage, yet they charge the same prices, higher than both sprint and T Mobile. I would consider Sprint or T-Mobile as alternatives to VZ, as they now have coverage in two specific areas I frequent, that I knew would've been problems before, as well as having good coverage where I live now.
With ATT I would pay the SAME and get much less. With Sprint or T Mo I would at least only pay a little less and get a little less. I'd be fine sticking with VZ, too, if they had a phone I wanted.
Thunderbolt looks like the EVO with a weaker battery and no longer having video output. What is it with Verizon and taking all your video outputs away, a la Fascinate?? It's like they intentionally want ONLY MOTOs to have that capability. I'm so sick of this crap ...
nkk
Android Expert
I'm sorry....but what on Earth are you saying? Could you please explain either the citations for the untested 4G (it has been tested and has had speeds published or at least leaked), but also how on Earth are those two statements reconcilable with each other? You seem to contradict yourself.
-Nkk
PS I am not picking a fight or calling you out. You just seemed pretty sure the 4G networks were unstable or something (what else would untested imply?), and I am curious why.