any tips for a new Thunderbolt owner?

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Geekbabe

Geekbabe

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 16, 1999
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www.theshoppinqueen.com
have a shiny new Thunderbolt for Verizon, will activate without a plan, was wondering what roms and apps I should try first, also concerned about battery life, what tricks do you use to stretch it?
 
prism

prism

Senior member
Oct 23, 2004
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What made you choose the Thunderbolt? I figured from some of your previous posts that you were more bleeding-edge and would get one of Verizon's dual-core offerings. Please don't take this as me being argumentative, I'm honestly just curious :)
 
L

lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
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No kidding.
I thought she was a Bionic fan.

I guess she was tired of waiting?
 
Pliablemoose

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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How are you going to activate it without a plan?

Verizon wants a premium for their data plans :(

Welcome to the club BTW, you'll love the LTE speeds.

Score an extra battery or wall charger or car charger, they suck up the juice.
 
gsaldivar

gsaldivar

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2001
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The Thunderbolt is a power-hungry beast. I'd go for the HTC extended battery and an extra charger. Get the "LTE OnOff" app and switch to 3G mode if you are in a place with no charger and want to make your battery stretch. This app will supposedly become unnecessary in a future update when Verizon finally gives us a simple way to toggle 4G on/off.

Also make sure your car charger is charging at full voltage. Plug it in your phone and dial *#*#4636#*#* then select Battery Info and it will say either Charging USB (charging at half voltage) or Charging AC (charging at full voltage). If you need one, you can get super cheap brand name chargers on Amazon. I'm using this one.

All that hassle aside... LTE speeds are a dream come true. If you are tethering, the speed will blow you away

Good luck.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
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Think of it as "settling" for a day or two of battery life instead of a couple of hours. :D

(Sense eats all the RAM anyway.)
 
Bateluer

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
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s44 said:
Take it back and get a Charge.
Click to expand...

Why would you do that? The T-Bolt is the better phone.


s44 said:
Think of it as "settling" for a day or two of battery life instead of a couple of hours. :D

(Sense eats all the RAM anyway.)
Click to expand...

AT's review proved this false, the Charge and T-Bolt get nearly identical battery life.

To the OP, root it and install either CM or OMFGB. The phone will be buttery smooth and you won't have all the Verizon bloat and Sense crud dragging it down.
 
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gsaldivar

gsaldivar

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2001
8,691
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Bateluer said:
install either CM or OMFGB. The phone will be buttery smooth and you won't have all the Verizon bloat and Sense crud dragging it down.
Click to expand...

Beware though that Sense UI still has some features that are apparently missing from stock Android, specifically - Exchange ActiveSync directory lookup and server email searching. You might lose these features if you plan to connect the phone to an Exchange server and your ROM doesn't support them. :)
 
Pliablemoose

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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I installed SkyRaider a week or so ago, and the GPS sucks...

Who's got the best daily driver with good GPS?
 
Unheard

Unheard

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2003
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Disable 4G when you aren't using it. Root it, install CM7 and get about a day of battery life.
 
D

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
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Thunderbolt > Charge, it boggles my mind why anyone would say otherwise.

As posted above, do yourself a favor and get the official extended battery. The stock battery is decent but it's not good enough if you really want to use the phone as much as you want for anything you want and leave LTE on without having to consider how much juice you have left.

The Thunderbolt with the 1st party extended battery gets iPad level battery life.
 
Geekbabe

Geekbabe

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 16, 1999
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www.theshoppinqueen.com
prism said:
What made you choose the Thunderbolt? I figured from some of your previous posts that you were more bleeding-edge and would get one of Verizon's dual-core offerings. Please don't take this as me being argumentative, I'm honestly just curious :)
Click to expand...

HTC gifted me with a Thunderbolt, I want 4G sooner rather than later,being bleeding edge is great but having some speed NOW is greater. Besides,my Droid 2 is beginning to show it's age,has developed some issues that are hard to live with and I can't argue with getting a great new phone for free :)
 
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M

MotF Bane

No Lifer
Dec 22, 2006
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1) Root and ROM, immediately. It should include a new kernel with at least some undervolting. You'll nearly double your battery life.
2) LTE On/Off app, and shut off LTE when you want to preserve battery life and/or don't have a 4G signal available. If you want to enable it to check for 4G, wait 2-3 minutes before deciding it can't find anything. I suspect you'll be okay in Boston; I can get a 4G signal in Somerville when I'm on the side of my building facing Boston.
 
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