Steve Wozniak: HTC Thunderbolt, worst gadget I've ever owned, and ICS Leak out

[Bateluer]

http://gizmodo.com/5936336/whats-the-worst-gadget-you-actually-paid-for?comment=52023492

HTC Thunderbolt. Or early Iridium phone. I bought that phone to have access anywhere but had it nowhere I ever was (indoors). After a prank (sent voice message to one Iridium number from another after seeing the formula in country code 88, and sent a voice message in the reverse direction too) it was the only gadget ever that I actually sent back.

He doesn't give much justification for that statement, but, as a former T-bolt owner, I can probably say it had something to do with the lousy battery life, random reboots, data disconnects, and the nonexistent support from Verizon/HTC.




Edit

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/08/2...ld-leaks-ready-for-rom-flashers-to-entertain/

Thanks to Team BAMF, you can taste the sweet update ahead of Verizon’s approval. The build number is 7.00.605.2, which bumps the device up to Sense 3.6 and an experience most Thunderbolt owners will be pleasantly surprised with. The separate “Quick Settings” tab that HTC includes is top notch. The Settings menu has also been completely revamped to match ICS styling.

The ROM itself is stock (deodexed), but does include root. HTC’s “spyware” has also been removed. You can grab the file from the source link below.

BAMF's site has imploded though. Currently waiting for mirrors/torrents.

 

[BoberFett]

The one thing HTC seems to excel at is random reboots. The EVO I had for work would get into random reboot cycles that I could only stop by pulling the battery.

 

[lothar]

This isn't much of a surprise.
The HTC Thunderbolt is the worst 4G phone that ever existed on Verizon.

 

[RockinZ28]

Meh, maybe he should have rooted it and installed a custom ROM. Thunderbolt was pretty good for a gen 1 LTE phone once customized. Better than its competition in the Charge and Revolution, of which it was the first to arrive out of the 3. Never had any problems with my TB. Sure it sucks ass compared to today's smartphones, but I would have rather had a mediocre LTE phone than the best 3G phone.

 

[Red Storm]

This isn't much of a surprise.
The HTC Thunderbolt is the worst 4G phone that ever existed on Verizon.

I think the Droid Charge has it beat.

 

[Axon]

Good lord. I was strongly considering buying the thunderbolt at one point.

 

[cl-scott]

Not to take this off-topic or anything, but what exactly has Steve Wozniak done in the last... Oh, say decade, that is worth any note? Yes he co-founded Apple, and designed a floppy drive controller, which is all well and good... But that was all like 30+ years ago, so why is it we care what he has to say today? He may be right, but why should we care what he has to say over any other random present/former T-Bolt owner?

 

[RockinZ28]

Not to take this off-topic or anything, but what exactly has Steve Wozniak done in the last... Oh, say decade, that is worth any note? Yes he co-founded Apple, and designed a floppy drive controller, which is all well and good... But that was all like 30+ years ago, so why is it we care what he has to say today? He may be right, but why should we care what he has to say over any other random present/former T-Bolt owner?

Well from the pics of what he carries around in his backpack, it seems like he has probably used every gadget known to man. So at least when he says it's the worst he has used, it's coming from someone that has used and still is using tons of devices.

Most people that say, "yea my XXX was the worst YYY ever" have used like 2-3 similar items.

 

[Sheep]

Well from the pics of what he carries around in his backpack, it seems like he has probably used every gadget known to man. So at least when he says it's the worst he has used, it's coming from someone that has used and still is using tons of devices.

Most people that say, "yea my XXX was the worst YYY ever" have used like 2-3 similar items.

I've read about Wozniak's love of gadgets. The guy seems to own and use a ton of different ones so his voice does carry more weight than the average person who hasn't used nearly as many or worse yet, rips on a product without owning it.

 

[Mopetar]

Not to take this off-topic or anything, but what exactly has Steve Wozniak done in the last... Oh, say decade, that is worth any note? Yes he co-founded Apple, and designed a floppy drive controller, which is all well and good... But that was all like 30+ years ago, so why is it we care what he has to say today? He may be right, but why should we care what he has to say over any other random present/former T-Bolt owner?

He's fairly well known as a gadget freak. There was a post on this forum not all that long ago about it. He's probably used a lot of different phones, not to mention gadgets in general. I'd say that makes him a better source than most.

 

[ultimatebob]

Odd... I liked the HTC Thunderbolt. My wife has one, and it was great until she broke the screen on it. Oops.

She has a Galaxy Nexus now.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

take his word like the camera folk do with Ken Rockwell. He may be very opinionated and have strong feelings towards certain products, but I don't know if he's as fair as some review sites. You could say Engadget or The Verge is biased, but I think on the whole they're less biased than a reviewer like me you or Woz.

 

[RockinZ28]

I've read about Wozniak's love of gadgets. The guy seems to own and use a ton of different ones so his voice does carry more weight than the average person who hasn't used nearly as many or worse yet, rips on a product without owning it.

At the same time though, since he does use/have so many gadgets, I wonder how motivated he is to improve them beyond stock.

I have no faith in VZW, my TB was rooted/ROM'd within minutes of owning. S3 was rooted with mods within minutes as well.

 

[s44]

The HTC Thunderbolt is the worst 4G phone that ever existed on Verizon.

Wasn't the Revolution supposedly worse?

Not that anyone bought it. People did buy this bomb though...

 

[Geekbabe]

Meh, maybe he should have rooted it and installed a custom ROM. Thunderbolt was pretty good for a gen 1 LTE phone once customized. Better than its competition in the Charge and Revolution, of which it was the first to arrive out of the 3. Never had any problems with my TB. Sure it sucks ass compared to today's smartphones, but I would have rather had a mediocre LTE phone than the best 3G phone.

QFT, I actually enjoyed my Thunderbolt once I customized it.

 

[Bateluer]

QFT, I actually enjoyed my Thunderbolt once I customized it.

I would agree, but CM and AOSP roms only made the Tbolt tolerable. Not enjoyable. I wonder how many people bought the Tbolt solely to lock in unlimited data? They were getting ready to move to metered data at the time.

 

[RockinZ28]

I would agree, but CM and AOSP roms only made the Tbolt tolerable. Not enjoyable. I wonder how many people bought the Tbolt solely to lock in unlimited data? They were getting ready to move to metered data at the time.

Haha, yea I definitely used an upgrade before it was known you could still go from 3g to 4g and keep unlimited at a later time though.

No regrets though, I could not imagine being on that little baby 3.7" Incredible with Verizon's shitastic 3g service for another year. TB was an improvement in every way imo. Plus even if the phone sucked, having free wifi tether with unlimited LTE is nice, just be near a power source lol.

 

[RockinZ28]

Oh snap, just saw TeamBAMF released an ICS leak for the TB today. Servers are slammed though, will have to throw it on the now wife's TB and see how it runs. Thing is painful to use compared to my S3.

 

[s44]

No regrets though, I could not imagine being on that little baby 3.7" Incredible with Verizon's shitastic 3g service for another year.

Wasn't it just, like, six months of LTE before the Nexus?

 

[Bateluer]

Wasn't it just, like, six months of LTE before the Nexus?

T-Bolt, April 2012. Verizon GNex, December 2012.

 

[lothar]

I think the Droid Charge has it beat.

Not so IMO.

Edit:
I forgot the LG Revolution was worse than the HTC Thunderbolt.
It was Binged by Microsoft and lacked 3rd party ROM support.

All other Verizon 4G LTE phones > Droid Charge > HTC Thunderbolt > LG Revolution.

 

[Eug]

I would have rather had a mediocre LTE phone than the best 3G phone.

I definitely wouldn't.

 

[lothar]

Meh, maybe he should have rooted it and installed a custom ROM. Thunderbolt was pretty good for a gen 1 LTE phone once customized. Better than its competition in the Charge and Revolution, of which it was the first to arrive out of the 3. Never had any problems with my TB. Sure it sucks ass compared to today's smartphones, but I would have rather had a mediocre LTE phone than the best 3G phone.

Not sure if serious...

 

[RockinZ28]

Not sure if serious...

I definitely wouldn't.

Why not? Verizons 3G just blows. Coverage was worse than LTE is around Los Angeles, it's only decent for light web browsing if you're without LTE. Pandora skips songs cause it can't stream fast enough. MLB.tv, Netflix, youtube etc. can hardly play, and if they do it's like 320x240 or something. Downoading an app bigger than 10mb is a chore, especially if it loses the connec for just a second and has to start over. Large games/files impossible.Pings are slow so everything is less responsive, webpages with a lot of pics take days to load etc etc.

LTE is like a home connection. In fact the only thing available that's faster in my area is Verizon FIOS. So I tend to use that now since it's 85/35 and pings are nothing, but everywhere else I go the wifi is pathetic. Work is a laughable 1.5/1.5 for the whole building. Hotels are shit. With LTE I have no need to ever wifi on the go. Tether it to my tablet or laptop freely. I'm rarely in my office, so mobile data is extremely important to me.

I pay and have vzw for unlimited data on LTE, the phone is just a bonus. I have no text plan and have used 10 minutes in 15 days. Talking is what my company dumbphone is for.

 

[Eug]

Well, for one thing, I'm not on Verizon. I don't even live in the US.