Looking for a new Verizon phone. iPhone 4 or Thunderbolt?

[Jules]

Hey fellas, Im looking to upgrade from my Droid phone. The lack of memory makes the phone kinda slow and yes i have messed with a bunch of roms.
Im looking for a upgrade. Im looking at picking up a iPhone 4 32gb or a HTC thunderbolt. Im not sure yet. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[nsafreak]

Could you wait a bit longer perhaps? In a couple more months Verizon should have a few of the new dual core Android phones available and they'd be a better choice for you. I've heard a couple of reports that the Thunderbolt doesn't have great battery life. Oh and why would you want an iPhone 4 if you like using alternate ROMs? That's really not going to happen with an iPhone.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Thunderbolt owner checking in, the standard battery is useless, and I burned through the extended battery in 9 hours for 2 days in a row now...

I use the ThunderBolt to tether at home, so I'm willing to put up with the battery life issue, however, I would return it if I didn't tether.

I'd get the iPhone.

 

[Mopetar]

Honestly, I'd wait on getting a 4G phone as the battery life on all of them are far from great. The iPhone 4 isn't a bad phone, but if you're heavily invested in Android there are plenty of other great Android phones on Verizon. Personally I'm a fan of anything in the Droid lineup.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Not the iPhone 4. Not when its so close to an update.

Geeks that buy iPads in Feburary or iPhones in April/May need to turn in their geek cards.....

 

[Anubis]

wait to see if there is an iphone 5 and for the rest of the droid based phones to be released

 

[runawayprisoner]

iPhone 5 won't be released until Fall this year. Or so rumors say. It's kind of true given the minimal amount of leaks we have heard lately. Even the fact that Sony CEO just admitted a few days ago that they were still building camera sensors for the iPhone 5 means it's still a long way away from mass production.

My suggestion would be to get an old iPhone 4 for cheap if possible, and use it to see if you'll like the phone first. Dual-core or not, it's still one of the best phones on the market currently.

 

[YoungGun21]

Go with the Tbolt.

 

[s44]

wait

 

[zerocool84]

wait

This

 

[Mopetar]

Not the iPhone 4. Not when its so close to an update.

Geeks that buy iPads in Feburary or iPhones in April/May need to turn in their geek cards.....

There have been a lot of rumors that the next iPhone won't be released until the Q3, so no one is quite sure when it will see an update. Between the recent disaster in Japan and the claims that iOS 5 is behind schedule, there's a lot of reason to believe that Apple won't ship a new phone until September.

I don't want to trash Apple and say they're bad or discount the iPhone, but if someone already has an Android phone and likes the experience, I think they should stick with it if the main problem is that the hardware is starting to feel aged.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Being an Android user, I would say that if the performance is getting to you, then it's time to switch.

There is no way for you to get better performance or a much better experience overall. Some stuffs just don't change. Go to the enemy camp and see if you'll like it better there. If not, he'll just come back to Android and enjoy it more.

 

[Jules]

Could you wait a bit longer perhaps? In a couple more months Verizon should have a few of the new dual core Android phones available and they'd be a better choice for you. I've heard a couple of reports that the Thunderbolt doesn't have great battery life. Oh and why would you want an iPhone 4 if you like using alternate ROMs? That's really not going to happen with an iPhone.

I didn't really like using alternate roms. Only tried them to see if i got better performance. Ended up being a waste of time as im back on stock os.

 

[Throckmorton]

Having had both an iPhone and a Droid 2, I can now safely say that the iPhone is a much better device. The interface is much more streamlined and usable, the apps are better, it just works better. The only reason to ever buy an Android phone is for the physical keyboard, which is awesome on the Droid 2.

If I could choose between my work phone, the Droid 2, and my 2 year old unserviced iPhone 3G, the iPhone wins hands down.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Sounds like an iPhone 4 is what you want. Android will not be as polished out of the box as Apple for a long time.

 

[Kabob]

As an Android guy who hates Apple as a company...get an iPhone. Android has tons of potential but it's just not quite there yet, the iPhone is a MUCH more polished/user friendly setup.

Agree though, wait for word of the iPhone 5.

 

[poofyhairguy]

There have been a lot of rumors that the next iPhone won't be released until the Q3, so no one is quite sure when it will see an update.

Yeah, but I would still wait for June to make sure because if they do release an iPhone 5 in June (with tasty upgrades like a dual-core or a larger screen) you will find you won't be able to kick yourself hard enough to alleviate the pain.

 

[dguy6789]

There's always going to be something significantly faster coming out in the near future. If he needs a phone now there's zero reason to wait. There's no regret to be had buying a Thunderbolt today. It's worlds better than the iPhone 4.

 

[simonizor]

Having had both an iPhone and a Droid 2, I can now safely say that the iPhone is a much better device. The interface is much more streamlined and usable, the apps are better, it just works better. The only reason to ever buy an Android phone is for the physical keyboard, which is awesome on the Droid 2.

If I could choose between my work phone, the Droid 2, and my 2 year old unserviced iPhone 3G, the iPhone wins hands down.

I couldn't disagree with you more. Having used both devices, I love my android phone way more than the iPhone. My favorite thing about Android is that you don't have to crack the phone to customize it. You can download a vast assortment of live wallpapers, icons, launchers, lock screens, music players, text messaging apps, etc all without having to modify the phone's software to make it allow you to do so (as you would with the iPhone).

I also really like the huge amount of apps. The iPhone might have a few really great apps that Android is missing, but Android just has a huge variety, and a lot of them are free because the system is open. Don't like the stock email app? Download a new one! Don't like the stock text app? Download a new one! Don't like the way your phone looks? Download a new home launcher. I could go on and on, but all of those that I just listed are things that Apple would say "duplicate core phone functions", so you wouldn't be able to do any of that on an iPhone unless you jailbreak it.

 

[Spicedaddy]

iPhone 4 if you can't wait for the 5.

 

[Mopetar]

Yeah, but I would still wait for June to make sure because if they do release an iPhone 5 in June (with tasty upgrades like a dual-core or a larger screen) you will find you won't be able to kick yourself hard enough to alleviate the pain.

The problem with that logic is that no one should buy the Thunderbolt either because there will be a better Android phone out by June as well.

 

[s44]

The problem with that logic is that no one should buy the Thunderbolt either because there will be a better Android phone out by June as well.

Android phones arrive constantly, so the improvement from one to the next is gradual. (We'll see models improve the TB with a better screen, dual-core, better battery...) So there aren't as many inflection points (though I actually think you *should* wait a week for the Droid Charge instead of the TB). iPhones improve in great annual leaps, and when you get close to one, waiting makes far more sense.

 

[bonkers325]

wait for the ip5 or the droid bionic. i got the thunderbolt and am pretty happy with it. i rooted it, tweaked it, and easily get a full day of use on one charge.

 

[prism]

You have to ask yourself what's more important to you. I was in the exact same dilemma as you and chose the iPhone 4 as I realized that while at one point in my life I would've been interested in tinkering with my phone and trying out new ROMs and such, right now all I care about is something that's polished and works well. I don't watch movies on my phone, and battery life is important to me, so the small size and great battery life of the iPhone weighed heavily in my decision.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Unfortunately, another negative discovered with the ThunderBolt is a poor GPS solution, I frequently have to wait for 5 min to lock on, and then it's not nearly as accurate as my EVO.