Updated Again: HTC Thunderbolt, it now has 4G under CM7 test builds

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mb

Lifer
Jun 27, 2004
10,233
2
71
Simultaneous voice & data is possible with CDMA. The Thunderbolt can do voice calls and use 3G data (where 4G is unavailable) at the same time.

This isn't something that has suddenly become available to CDMA, it's simply that Verizon didn't think the experience was good enough to have it offered on it's phones, so manufactures didn't include a chipset that could do it.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,004
5,892
126
Simultaneous voice & data is possible with CDMA. The Thunderbolt can do voice calls and use 3G data (where 4G is unavailable) at the same time.

This isn't something that has suddenly become available to CDMA, it's simply that Verizon didn't think the experience was good enough to have it offered on it's phones, so manufactures didn't include a chipset that could do it.

ah ok gotcha.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
Here you go Bateluer, since you're obsessed with this phone, Engadget review:

First-generation devices are often, if not usually, a little rickety -- proofs of concept that are more about the manufacturer (or carrier) being able to say that they're first to launch a particular feature than they are about delivering a solid, all-around winner. Fortunately, that's not the case with the Thunderbolt: HTC's managed to put together a handset here that we can honestly recommend with a straight face, owing in no small part to the fact that it borrows heavily from the company's existing parts bin. If you're looking for the sexiest 4.3-inch phone of the bunch, the Inspire still beats it -- you can't go wrong with the thinner, metal, unibody shell -- but the Thunderbolt is easily one of the best Android devices in Verizon's expansive lineup even before you take the LTE capability into account. And if you're lucky enough to live or work in an LTE market (or one that's going live this year), it's the best choice by a country mile.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the effects of signal strength on throughput are far more pronounced and predictable here than on any other device we've ever seen: with a single bar of LTE strength, we'd typically get 5 to 7Mbps down; with two, 10 to 12; and with three, 15 and up. In any event, you're in good shape compared to competing technologies.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/htc-thunderbolt-review/
 
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JS80

Lifer
Oct 24, 2005
26,271
7
81
Maybe I'm doing something wrong. The two lower download tests was in the data center. Wifi has been checked and it is off and the LTE icon is lit. If I'm missing something, let me know and I will redo the tests. Had to use my Xoom to take the pics so they are not the greatest.

IMG_20110317_131941.jpg

IMG_20110317_132015.jpg

OMFG!!! (i'm aware of the upload bug)

wtf?!?!?!

I am tempted to replace this with EVO and pay the ETF (which my company will pay for).

G-D PLEASE WHEN IS LTE iPhone coming out?!?!
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Here you go Bateluer, since you're obsessed with this phone, Engadget review:

Read it this morning. If my oil change this morning hadn't taken two hours, I would have stopped in at BB to play with one too. Have to put purchasing one on the back burner for a while though, other financial issues.
 

foghorn67

Lifer
Jan 3, 2006
11,883
63
91
Looks at the 4G on my EVO...sighs.
Seriously pissed that VZW doesn't work in my house. Oh well.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
grr, the 4g coverage from detroit doesnt go south enough...

if it did, i would have this phone, and cut off my normal internet subscription... boo
 

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,525
14
81
I played with it yesterday at a Verizon kiosk in the mall. Not too shabby! But $$$$
 

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
0
56
I played with it yesterday at a Verizon kiosk in the mall. Not too shabby! But $$$$

This is the first time I've had a Verizon phone, my company gets a 22% discount on hardware & plans, so it helped lessen the pain a bit. They gave me 50% off accessories too.
 

rcpratt

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
10,433
110
116
grr, the 4g coverage from detroit doesnt go south enough...

if it did, i would have this phone, and cut off my normal internet subscription... boo
Really? Where you at again? I only really go as far north as Rochester, west to Northville, and south to Monroe, but I haven't lost 4G once yet.
 

Unheard

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2003
3,773
9
81
I'm in pretty tight with on of the devs working on the bootloader. All I can say is good news will be coming soon ;)
 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
My mini Thunderbolt review:

Physical stuff:

The phone is the heaviest smartphone I've ever had. It's not so heavy that it's an issue but it is definitely noticeable coming from a Droid X. This is the first HTC phone I have had since the Nexus One where I would say the build quality felt amazing. It looks and feels very, very nice. The wider but not quite as tall screen is nicer to type on in portrait mode to me than the Droid X. The kickstand works as intended nicely, doesn't ever get in the way. The battery cover is an absolute PITA to get off, it's borderline ridiculous, I'm worried about breaking something every time I try to get it off. On the other hand, you could probably throw it down the grand canyon and everything would break but the battery cover would still be on the back. So that could be a plus.

Software: It comes with some non removable preinstalled apps that probably no one will ever use. The new Sense is really awesome. I've had a Sense Android phone before and it was a love hate thing. With the Thunderbolt's current implementation, I would say that more or less, it offers the best stock Android experience of any flavor including vanilla(Vanilla used to be my favorite). Animations are really smooth, the redone menus are very polished. The Sense keyboard has come such a long way, it really behaves and feels like an intelligent piece of software with how it checks for spelling, auto corrects, and offers suggestions. There's way too much for me to really go over in detail in a forum post so I'll just say in a nutshell that it's very feature packed and very polished.

Performance:

The super LCD screen is not as bright as the LCD in the Droid X, but the contrast seem to be a bit better. Screen is nothing to write home about. It's good, but it's nothing out of the ordinary.

The camera quality is noticeably better than the Droid X's. It seems to deal with shaky hands better, low light conditions better, and overall the images just seem to be more true to life. The video recording I have not tested very much but I have verified that it records 720P video at 27fps vs the Droid X's 24fps. I didn't notice anything noticeably good or bad with the video I took.

The phone is fast, very fast. I ran a few benchmarks(results below) and also did a few real world tests that I didn't record the results for.

Thunderbolt left, Droid X right:

Quadrant: 1677, 1381
Benchmark Pi(lower is better): 1036ms, 1441ms
Linpack: 35MFLOPS, 14MFLOPS
Neocore: 58.9fps, 42.6fps
Smartbench 2011(productivity/games): 968/1241, 828/1520

The Thunderbolt ran every single 3D game I threw at it at a significantly higher frame rate than the Droid X. I was very surprised and pleased to see this because synthetic benchmarks were suggesting that the Thunderbolt had a better CPU but inferior GPU to the Droid X.

I installed and uninstalled the same apps side by side at the same time with the X and Tbolt. The Thunderbolt was considerably faster every time.

The Droid X does boot significantly faster than the Thunderbolt if you do not have "fast boot" enabled for the Thunderbolt(A reason not to enable it is that it says it may cause issues with certain apps).

I only made a couple calls and everything was clear on both ends. For signal attenuation, the Thunderbolt has a 3-4dBm better signal than the X if they are at rest but a 1-3dBm worse signal than the X if they are both being held in the same way. In any case, the Thunderbolt has significantly better reception than the Droid Incredible, HTC has come a long way.

Battery life: The first thing I want to say is that the stock configuration on the HTC Thunderbolt destroys the battery life. This is why people say the battery life blows. This is a problem I have seen with basically every HTC Sense device(And to a lesser extent, every Android device in general). It comes set up with all these widgets, half a dozen things set to sync data constantly(stocks? news?! why), and a million different things that will make the phone use its vibrate motor. It is akin to selling a Laptop that comes stock with Prime 95 set to run at startup. People need to manually set up what they would like to have running, the phone shouldn't come with everything running by default.

With proper configruation, the Thunderbolt has average to slightly above average battery life. It doesn't approach something like the Droid X but it's definitely better than the Nexus One, Droid, Droid Incredible, and Evo. With my configuration, I am typically unplugged for 12 hours, during a typical work day I web browse for a little more than hour in total time spread out across the day, listen to music for several hours, listen to Pandora for 2-3 hours, check email periodically, and I would get home and have 50% with the stock battery. This is a far cry from people saying the phone will go from 100% to 50% in 4 hours while doing nothing. Clearly they are doing something wrong. This is a phone I would say you should plan to charge every night over night but with some tweaking it will have no problem lasting you a day(Which to me is completely reasonable for a smartphone). For everybody else, they are already selling a huge 1st party 2700mAh battery for $50 that makes the phone really fat and possibly unable to fit into any standard case.

There's a lot I have to say but it really all boils down to this: The phone is very fast and very pleasant to use. I was almost sure I was going to return it before I bought it because I was expecting it to be nothing more than an HTC Droid X with LTE support. I wanted to buy and use it to prove that. After using it for a few days I can say that that couldn't be further from the truth. It feels like a completely new generation of device when compared to the X. The best phone on Verizon? Absolutely. The best Android phone period? Maybe. If you handed someone an Atrix and a Thunderbolt without telling them specs, had them use each for a little while, then asked which one they thought was better, I think you would get a landslide vote in favor of the Thunderbolt.
 
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Borkil

Senior member
Sep 7, 2006
248
0
0
nice mini review dguy, i think you might have pushed me into picking one up..
heres a glance at the extended battery on it linky! lol its pretty hefty
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Really? Where you at again? I only really go as far north as Rochester, west to Northville, and south to Monroe, but I haven't lost 4G once yet.

I was hoping they went far enough south from Det to cover TOL... but they didnt :(