HTC ThunderBolt User Reviews

NbIII3 posted on 13 May 2013, 21:17

3

2 years of decreasing satisfaction

NbIII3 has owned it for more than one year before publishing this review

When I first got this phone I was extremely excited with it being my first smart phone. However, not too long afterward I began experiencing major issues such as very poor battery and lack of Internet connection even with full bars. After the update to ics the phone became painstakingly slow and borderline unusable. I did a factory reset, no help. I bought a brand new battery, still have terrible battery life. I can't wait to switch to a Samsung product first chance I get because the thunderbolt is one of my worst decisions ever.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 7/10

Call quality 6/10

Internet 3/10

Multimedia 7/10

Camera 8/10

UI speed 2/10

Everyday usage 2/10

Text input 5/10

Display 8/10

Battery 2/10

vincent95 posted on 19 Jan 2013, 12:43

7

Not so great of a phone after 2 years of use

vincent95 has owned it for more than one year before publishing this review

I loved this phone when I first got it two years ago, but now it is just outdated and isn't up to par with all of the phones out there on the market today. Some apps close unexpectedly, the 4G LTE is throttled and slow, and even though I'm getting 4 bars of 3G CDMA or 4G LTE coverage, I sometimes still can't access the internet. The camera's autofocus doesn't always work correctly. However, due to Verizon's new data policy (I've got unlimited data and they won't let me keep it if I upgrade), I'll most likely be holding onto this phone for awhile.

Build quality 10/10 Phone has held up great

Reception 8/10 Data isn't always constant

Call quality 10/10 Excellent call quality

Internet 5/10 Sometimes slow, sometimes I can't access the Internet because of poor data coverage

Multimedia 10/10 Good multimedia

Camera 9/10 Sometimes the autofocus won't work right away

UI speed 5/10 Sometimes slow

Everyday usage 8/10 If you won't be frusterated with the slowness of it and its lagging OS, this is a good phone for everyday use

Text input 6/10 Virtual QWERTY keyboard sometimes collapses unexpectedly

Display 9/10 Display has held up well and looks great, though smudges easily

Battery 2/10 Poor battery life with constant use

Pros

• Good display
• Nice camera
• Good sound

Cons

• Slow 3G CDMA and 4G LTE
• Still running Gingerbread
• No ICS (yet!)

vincent95 alternatives:

Samsung Galaxy S III Verizon

HTC DROID DNA

Motorola DROID 4

LG Intuition

NickB posted on 25 May 2012, 17:27

6

Bad phone, not worth your money

NickB has owned it for more than one year before publishing this review

This phone is the worst phone I have ever owned. I've had it for about 16 months. It shuts off without warning, doesn't receive text messages half the time, doesn't send the texts sometimes even though it said it sent, and has an incredibly short battery life. On top of that it frequently sends text messages to random people! This phone has countless bugs that make communication (i.e. text messaging and phone calls) very difficult at times. It is a very temperamental phone and it isn't reliable at all. If you're in a bind or a time-crunch, do not expect this phone to work for you. Do not buy it, it is a waste of your money.

Build quality 7/10

Reception 8/10

Call quality 8/10

Internet 8/10

Multimedia 8/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 8/10

Everyday usage 1/10

Text input 2/10

Display 8/10

Battery 2/10

johnriii posted on 29 Dec 2011, 09:57

9

Really good phone, with one small hiccup

johnriii has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

after several months of intense research, I decided to purchase the Thunderbolt on my upgrade date, which happened to be the day after black friday. "why didn't you get the bionic? or wait for the Razr?" I heard this banter nonstop, and frankly, it's nauseating. I have a tight budget...apparently I'm poor. Or......maybe I'm just a smart shopper. The tbolt can still hang with the "new" phones, without a problem whatsoever. lt may not be the biggest, fastest, most colorful, or have the best battery life (yeah, I went there!) but all in all, you guys can have your Nexuses, and Razr's. I love this phone, outside of the hungry battery life issue, and that is manageable if you take the time to tweak your settings. Now that it's upgraded to Gingerbread, it's really a high quality device.

Build quality 9/10 feels great...not too heavy, not to much of a "toy" feeling. nice and solid

Reception 9/10

Call quality 8/10

Internet 10/10 4G makes the difference here. un-freaking-believable. loads websites faster than my DSL home connection.

Multimedia 8/10

Camera 10/10 I now love taking pictures because of this device! video is great as well.

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 9/10 I can text much faster on this bigger intuitive keyboard

Display 9/10

Battery 7/10 1400 mah is not enough for this monster device. should have been at least 1800, but this is still workable, if you are patient

Pros

• 4G LTE
• nice size
• Easy to use

Cons

• mediorce battery life, but still livable

johnriii alternatives:

Samsung Droid Charge

HTC Rezound

nb2six posted on 12 Sep 2011, 18:23

9

T-Bolt

nb2six has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

A Solid Sturdy Device that delivers the LTE experience we VZW customers crave. Battery Life could be better but that's the case with every LTE phone out there right now and that wont be an option unless you get an extended battery or wait for the 2nd Gen LTE radios to come out which wont be till next year. It still gets me through an entire day and with the upcoming Gingerbread update, battery management will continue to get better.

I wanted to wait a good 5-6 months to post a review just so I could really get a grasp on how the phone operates for me.
It has definitely been worth every cent I paid for it! It performs just about anything I throw at it and I'm continuing to find new ways to use it to its' full potential.

Once again HTC has delivered a great device to the mobile phone market.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 8/10

UI speed 8/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 9/10

Display 10/10

Battery 8/10

Pros

• Big Screen
• HTC Sense UI works for easy personalization
• LTE Data Speeds
• Great Call Quality

Cons

• Could have a bigger battery
• Can be some Lag when using more than 3 Apps at once

nb2six alternatives:

Motorola DROID BIONIC

M-Walsh posted on 04 Sep 2011, 23:43

9

Traded up from Blackberry Storm and glad I did!

M-Walsh has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

Have been waiting for this phone to release for what seems like forever and I have to admit, the wait was well worth it! This is one great phone. Clear calls, super fast browsing, beautiful display & overall easy to use. I must admit it probably wouldn't have hurt if I'd cracked open the manual, but reading manuals is for wimps! lol I did flip through the manual after the fact, but by then I'd already figured the thing out.

I can't imagine wanting more in a phone. I got the wife a Droid Pro at the same time since she wanted a keyboard and she's really happy with that phone as well. I like the availability of all the aps that are available for the phone and the fact that there are a ton of free aps out there for it too. The cameras in the phone do a pretty decent job, especially for a cell phone camera.

Anyone looking for a really great phone with lots and lots of capabilities won't be disappointed with this one.

I might add that I downloaded and installed the Swype Beta keyboard and it really rocks on the Thunderbolt. The one negative I might have is it seems to go through the battery pretty rapidly, but that may be mostly to my app downloads and playing with the features. I hear Verizon is coming with a battery that will double use time, which I'm sure to get. Still love the phone after 2 days of pretty solid usage!

and If you will buy this smartphone I suggest at: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004M5HB6U/phonearena.com-20

Build quality 10/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 8/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 8/10

Text input 9/10

Display 10/10

Battery 7/10

Pros

• Clear calls
• Super fast browsing
• Beautiful display
• Easy to use

Cons

• Battery pretty rapidly

hello posted on 07 Aug 2011, 12:59

8

sometimes good sometimes bad

hello has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

sometimes annoying. some things are better than others. breaks easily. takes some getting used to some things. camera effects are very fun to play. internet, apps, and fast internet are very helpful. pictures and videos are very categorized. apps are very entertaining. enjoyable phone.

Build quality 9/10

Reception 7/10

Call quality 7/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 8/10

Everyday usage 8/10

Text input 7/10

Display 9/10

Battery 4/10

Pros

• fast; good camera; big screen; internet good;

Cons

• battery; breaks easily; sometimes freezes and slows down

Voogan posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:26

9

Good Device, Nice Features, No Battery Life =)

Voogan has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

Very nice phone, good OS, though no updates from Verizon. The 4G network in Phoenix is amazing, I love it. Videos play almost instantly and never buffer. The build is great, sturdy, and almost as nice as apple. Though I did not like the placement of the charger, it keeps you from using the kickstand. Speaking of chargers, you need 3 of them (home, car, office). If you leave 4G on you only get 3-4 hours of battery life. You can download an app that you can turn your 4G on/off that will help save battery life. HTC has some great features and widgets that I love and would recommend the device to anyone who can learn to use it with its battery limitation and lives in a 4G market. I am upset with Verizon's decision to limit data, they are providing us with more streaming option, more data intensive applications, better bandwidth/service, and then limiting how much we can use....

Build quality 10/10

Reception 8/10

Call quality 8/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 7/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 7/10

Text input 8/10

Display 10/10

Battery 4/10

itsbob posted on 19 Jul 2011, 15:48

5

Thuderbolt CRASH..

itsbob has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

I bought this phone primarily for the HOTSPOT ability and along with it the 4G for when I travel.

When it comes to network, tethering, and using the HOTSPOT this phone isn't much more than a paperweight. It's unstable on all Networks 3G or 4G but much worse on any 4G network that I've tried.

The phone will not hold a stable network connection for more than 20 minutes especially when using the HotSpot feature, and will constantly cycle from 3G to 1X to nothing over and over. Sitting on the couch with my wife my phone will drop to no network but have four full bars for phone, and my wife's phone (Incredible) will still have full bars and 3G network.

When I travel (whick is often) I travel mostly to areas with 4G networks, and the problems just amplify. It never holds a 4G connection for long, than starts to cylce through 4G, 3G 1x and then no service.

Beyond frustrating and wish I could just toss it and get a new phone. Verizon has fiddled around long enough so now my phone is out of warranty.. I've done factory refreshes,, replaced the SIM, and have replaced the Phone AND the SIM and still have the same issue.

Verizon SHOULD allow me to swap for a different model who's 4G and HotSpot actually work, but how much is the bet that they are going to do that?

Build quality 4/10

Reception 2/10 Phone can't hold a stable network connection on either a 3G or a 4G network.

Call quality 8/10

Internet 1/10 Bought the phone for the HotSpot capability and the 4g connection, neither of which work as advertised, or as they should.. I'd give it a ZERO if I could.

Multimedia 6/10

Camera 6/10

UI speed 1/10

Everyday usage 4/10

Text input 7/10

Display 8/10

Battery 5/10

Pros

• It's a Droid, apps are nice.

Cons

• Network connection SUCKS!

corporal mac posted on 13 Jul 2011, 22:23

8

You Know

corporal mac has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

This phone could be truly great, but it's not. Still, I really love this phone. It's not nearly as physically tough as my Eris was, which is unfortunate for a heavy slippery phone. Buttons are crap, battery is a joke, and no Skype on one of the fastest phones available with 4G and a front facing Skype intended camera. Great video though, and a very fast processor along with very fast 4G bandwidth.

Build quality 6/10 The physical volume and power buttons are absolute crap, there is no positive physical detents or anything to let you know they have been pushed, also they are very hard to push. This phone does not take physical abuse well at all, my Eris was a tank. I've already lost the g-sensor, the speaker is crapping out and the power/charging/message LED's are no longer working. I admit I have been rougher on the phone than I should have been but with the very slippery and very heavy design it should be built to take a fall.

Reception 9/10 4G in almost all of Chicagoland and even the 3G areas are excellent.

Call quality 10/10 Great call quality.

Internet 10/10 4G internet is literally a noticable improvement over 3G, I was a skeptic, am now a believer.

Multimedia 9/10 Would have been a perfect 10 but the phone struggles with video that is higher resolution than the screen. Otherwise stellar.

Camera 8/10 Still pics are excellent, video can be choppy, very choppy if the battery is getting low. Mic for video is crap.

UI speed 10/10 This phone is a rocketship.

Everyday usage 10/10 I use the phone for my wake up alarm clock, never fails. Message retrieval and sending has been really good for me.

Text input 10/10 Absolutely love the onscreen touch keypad, although I'm more than a little tired of the thing assuming what I mean to spell and not realizing it changed what I typed until after I sent the message. Just as often it does correct a misspelling though.

Display 10/10 Great display! Bright beautiful and the resolution is as good as you will ever need a phone to be, although I would like to be able to play my higher res videos without causing the phone to stutter.

Battery 1/10 What can I say that hasn't already been said ad nauseum, this battery is TRASH. I know the phone uses a lot of power, and so did HTC when they designed it and totally underpowered it. It's like having a race car but only having a fuel tank big enough to run half the race.

Pros

• Beautiful Display
• 4G is truly fast
• Kickstand!
• Tons of memory! 40GB in the box!
• CPU is fast
• Really solid for watching standard def movies

Cons

• Battery is an insult
• Physical buttons are crap
• No SKYPE! WTF?
• FRAGILE, as in don't look at it wrong or something will break

Tabo posted on 02 Jul 2011, 16:17

5

Terrible.

Tabo has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

I was excited. I counted the weeks till i could upgrade into it. Nothing but a huge disapointment. I called HTC about it and they told me the Incredible 2 was a good phone i should switch to. After mentioning how i wanted 4g and how the charge could work for me i was told that may be my best bet. HTC told me to buy from Motorola. How insane is that? I mean how terrible does a phone have to be for the manufacter to tell me to go to someone else?

Build quality 7/10 It feels real in your hands. The kick stand is simply amazing. The back case seems to want to pop itself off alot though.

Reception 6/10

Call quality 5/10

Internet 6/10

Multimedia 6/10

Camera 7/10

UI speed 5/10

Everyday usage 1/10

Text input 10/10

Display 6/10

Battery 1/10

Pros

• Kickstand

Cons

• Battery
• Battery
• Battery

Tabo alternatives:

Samsung Droid Charge

Motorola DROID BIONIC

KParks23 posted on 22 Jun 2011, 16:43

10

htc thunderbolt

KParks23 has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

I'm very pleased with my thunder bolt I have not experienced any reboot of force closing problems not sure what everyone is going on about.. the stock battery is pretty bad like most phones these days. I world would recommend the extended battery this is by far the best phone Verizon has to offer.. HTC makes great devices and is #1 when it comes to supporting and updating devices.. and HTC sense will leave you speechless with how fluid it is don't get caught up in that bs duel core hype.. this is where its at.

Build quality 10/10 HTC always has a great build quality and this phone is very solid

Reception 9/10 The reception is pretty good I vary rarely lose my 4G signal.

Call quality 10/10 Call quality is also very good and the dolby speaker is awesome

Internet 10/10 4G is blazing fast faster than most home computers and browsing is very smooth and this phone has flash support.

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10 HTC sense is the very beat user interface you can get it is very smooth and fast... If u like MOTO blur ur in for a big surprise. Cuz blur is crap.

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10 Text impute is simple and easy to use

Display 10/10 The display is crisp and large .. very nice

Battery 7/10 The stock battery on all phones are not great they need new battery technology for the way these phones are advancing... I called customer support and explained my battery problems and they shipped me a free extended battery I was very happy and the extended battery looks huge at first but when you put it in it is nice and gives u sumn to hold on too and it looks really good.

Pros

• 4g,htc product, screen,speaker,flash support,mfr support,

Cons

• battery

Thunderbolt Owner posted on 07 Jun 2011, 21:45

7

Very Disappointed

Thunderbolt Owner has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

Replaced my original Droid for the Thunderbolt and was very disappointed. Phone shuts on and off several times a day. It lags like crazy and force closes most apps. The battery dies fast, but that is to be expected with any 4G phone. The internet is very fast, but I am not a heavy internet user through my phone. I am returning this phone due to the lag and the multiple shut offs a day.

Build quality 9/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 4/10

Everyday usage 4/10 Messages force close after every text I send, as well as many other apps.

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 8/10

Pros

• Fast internet speed

Cons

• Turns on and off
• Bad lag
• Battery

MrBanker posted on 05 Jun 2011, 22:25

5

Great Phone, Horrid Battery

MrBanker has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

Bought This phone on June 1 2011. I read articles online about how the battery life was bad but i go to verizon store and they tell me that they had an update that fixed the battery problem. So i of couse i bought the phone and paid 40 $ in accessories. I go to school the next day with a two hour class and one i got out i took it out of my pocket and literally had half the battery drained out. You also have to pretty much turn every setting down as possibly low as you can, turn this 4g phone down to the 3g network, and charge every so many hours just so you have a phone that wont die every 4 hours. Other than that its great * rolls eyes* If you dont mind 4-6 hours of doing nothing and letting your phone die, get this phone. Or if you want to spend another 50 bucks on a bigger battery that should have came with the phone in the first place. But really other than horrid battery life everything about the phone is great.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 8/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 8/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 2/10

Text input 9/10

Display 10/10

Battery 1/10

Pros

• Great Looking Phone
• Awesome Screen

Cons

• Battery
• Battery
• Battery

bandit posted on 23 May 2011, 22:04

9

Great but battery

bandit has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

I love my phone but it is a bit heavy and the battery life lasts half a day at the most, I would still highly recommend it to all my friends. I have had it for around a month now and it runs smoothly, I love how it comes with almost 35GB of storage while other phones, Iphone, costs extra for that memory, LOVE MY PHONE!

Build quality 10/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 8/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 9/10

Display 9/10

Battery 4/10

Pros

• Screen
• Camera
• Speed
• Browser
• Ect.

Cons

• Battery life, but dealing with 4G and large screen
• on the heavy side

bandit alternatives:

Samsung Droid Charge

Alex_af posted on 15 May 2011, 23:14

10

Thunderbolt lives up to its name.

Alex_af has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

Let me just start out by saying that I have a lot of experience with many smartphones. I root, jailbreak, unlock friends and family's phones. I'm a straight up techie.
With that being said, so far Thunderbolt is the best device I have come across.
Fascinate was my first android device. I switched to it from a 3Gs when i switched to verizon. It was a love-hate relationship that went to mostly hate later in the ownership of sammy device. When IP4 came out for verizon, i picked it up instead. I fell in love with android, but i hated android phones that VZW had until now. DroidX was OK, but I hated blur. Touchwiz was better, but sammy was so laggy i couldn't stand it anymore.
I started missing android very soon after picking up IP4, (iOS is great don't get me wrong, but android is a lot more customizable and much more open for people like me to mess with) so as soon as TB came out I picked it up.
Apart from messaging app acting up whenever I have lots of messages saved (Deleting messages or using a different messaging app/client fixes that) and slow GPS (It works great and is super smooth, but waiting for it to get signal at initial startup is slightly ridiculous at times) this is a perfect phone. I have never owned a phone that just worked so well. It's easy to use and everything is right at your fingertips. It's super smooth, lightning fast, SENSE is an eye candy.
Best phone on verizon. By far.

Build quality 10/10 It feels GREAT to just hold this thing. Coming from iPhone and previously fascinate, this thing feels much better in hand. It's not cold and slippery like iPhone, but it's solid and heavy, and soft touch plastics make it a joy to hold. Feels like a $600 device should

Reception 9/10 Drops signal sometimes, but never for more then a minute or so. Still mildly annoying.

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10 BLAZING fast. Love the stock browser too.

Multimedia 10/10 It's perfect for all your media needs

Camera 10/10 Great in all conditions. Love face detection and different skins and so on.

UI speed 10/10 Extremely smooth and fast. I actually prefer Sense flavored android over stock experience. It looks good, it's smooth, fast, and very functional. Touchwiz sucks compared to this. iOS might be a little smoother, but there is a lot less functionality.

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10 It's big, bright, very responsive and very scratch and impact resistant.

Battery 8/10 Not as bad as everyone makes it seem, but it's not great. Without changing a thing, I could pull 6 hours of CONSTANT use out of it. It would last me a 12 hour day. I text a lot. I use FB and some browsing. Some games on lunch hour. After messing with some settings, and rooting the phone, undervolting it a little and whatnot, I can now pull 24+ hours of moderate use. At constant use it's still not great, but I can't complain.

Pros

• Everything

Cons

• Battery life COULD be better

GlenD posted on 14 May 2011, 08:35

9

Best Phone on the Market Today

GlenD has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

Everything on this phone is perfect, except for battery life. I purchased the extended battery and bingo. Perfect. No one can tell me of another phone on the market that gives you faster access to the Internet. The new Droid Charge has a better screen, but in every other case, this phone is the best.

Build quality 9/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 9/10

Text input 9/10

Display 9/10

Battery 7/10

Pros

• Everything

Cons

• Battery

thunderboltuser posted on 04 May 2011, 17:00

9

AWESOME Phone

thunderboltuser has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

Great phone. Super fast and super vivid display. Of couse the battery life sucks eggs but what can you expect from a mini computer. You are running on a 4g network and have a 4.3 inch display. the phone can sometime tend to be laggy but thats sort of expected.

Build quality 9/10

Reception 9/10 i can get reception in places that other carriers cant.

Call quality 8/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 9/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 5/10

Pros

• FAST
• DISPLAY
• HEFTY
• RUGGED

Cons

• BATTERY
• LAG

Dean posted on 01 May 2011, 05:46

9

SWEEET(no problem with battery life at all)

Dean has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

I love phone this for a few reasons. First, it is so customizable and easy to use. Second, Upgrading from iphone 4, there are so many more free app. Third, its blazing fast! The build quality is great! NO PROBLEM WITH NORMAL BATTERY. The battery life is about 12-14 hours with heavy use for me because i did a whole bunch of changes. Thank you YouTube for the help with extending my battery life. I STRONGLY recommend this phone. There is no competition for this phone except Incredible 2.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 8/10 I only get 2 bars sometimes.

Call quality 10/10

Internet 9/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 9/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 7/10

Pros

• Build Quality
• Call Quality
• Camera

Cons

RedCatt posted on 26 Apr 2011, 20:36

9

Ok Phone

RedCatt has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

Overall this phone has followed through with all that was promised. Haven't had too many problems with it, though sometimes it begins to lag if i play games to long or receive too many text. I bought the phone 2 weeks after it launched and have been very impressed. 2 Thumbs Up!

Build quality 9/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 9/10

Text input 8/10

Display 9/10

Battery 5/10

Pros

• 4g Speeds
• Good Screen
• HTC Sense Interface is perfect
• Good Camera

Cons

• Screen could be brighter than it is
• Battery Life, but it is running 4g and a 4.3 in screen

Mr Smith posted on 20 Apr 2011, 17:59

8

Love/Hate Relationship

Mr Smith has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

The worse thing on this phone is the battery life. I use my phone as a PDA; it replaces books, GPS, and so much more, but doesn't last more than three hours my average use. It has rebooted itself a few times and I have had to force close a few apps daily, but that is minor. I have lost the four G network often enough in my city. I have lost service all together a few times, but not often enough to be... Well, it was very inconvient and could have been during an emergency or when it was important I need to make a call. I can connect the phone to my tape deck, but no one can hear me in call.

I have very large hands, so, I enjoy the size and weight of the phone. I also like the larger screen. I do enjoy that I can do video conferencing, but I don't use that much. I really like the camera and the sound quality is pretty nice. I can use the speaker phone in the car.

If htc was to improve upon their phones I would suggest a bit larger, able to sync with Outlook, and definitely a battery that last much much longer. I will not look to change phones any time soon, but I will purchase a longer lasting battery when they're available.

Build quality 9/10

Reception 8/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 4/10

Text input 7/10

Display 9/10

Battery 1/10

Pros

• Camera
• size/weight
• speaker phone
• building materials
• video conferencing

Cons

• battery life

someguy1500 posted on 19 Apr 2011, 01:45

9

HTC Thunderbolt

someguy1500 has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

It has a great build and feels really sturdy. I've dropped it once since I got it about a month ago. not a scratch. the screen is amazing and the speaker is really loud, i love the flip for speaker feature for when i'm driving, i just leave the phone in my lap and i can hear everything perfectly. the camera and the flash is pretty good. i use evernote to take pics of anything and everything. the internet and 4G is superfast and i love using it to tether internet, its faster than my home dsl. thank verizon for having unlimited data plan on this thing. i cant wait to root it one day.

the one thing i haven't liked is that the UI sometimes lags and i went and asked the verizon guys and they told me it was because of the widgets. i only have like 5-6 widgets, and thats just the data and gps and stuff, i took out the messaging widget and the google search one as well. but it still lags sometimes even when i get more than one text at a time. the messaging app will freeze for a few seconds. i havent heard anyone else have the problem, maybe i have to do hard reset and i'll come back and let you guys know if it helped. but besides that. the only other issue would be the battery. im waiting on a innocell sill battery to come out. hopefully then i'll be able to leave the data on all the time..

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 8/10

Everyday usage 8/10

Text input 9/10

Display 9/10

Battery 7/10

Pros

• camera
• 4G speed
• build quality
• speaker and flip for speaker feature

Cons

• sometimes laggy
• battery

emt1754 posted on 16 Apr 2011, 17:54

6

Not Everything It Cracked up tobe

emt1754 has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

This phone was nothing of what I thought it would be. I was a longtime user of HTC products. I was in love with the HTC Sense UI and I figured this would be a awesome phone. I even made the switch from a US Cellular HTC Desire to Verizon just for this phone. Well I found myself switching away very quickly. It is plagued with problems. I found them on all HTC devices. First off in an area that doesn't have 4g there was no increased speed in the browser. We are scheduled to get 4g very soon. I couldn' wait. The screen was awesome. HTC needs phones with bigger screen due to the fact that their keyboard is very cramped. I found myself hitting every button but the spacebar when I was trying to space a text. With the larger screen it wasnt such a big deal. The battery life was absolutely unacceptable. I use this phone for work. Working long shifts I never knew when it would die or I would have to try and plug it in. HTC really needs to figure out how to make there batteries last longer. Even with a app killer, juice defender, and brightness/ 4g settings set so they phone was less then desirable to use, the battery died quickly. The Green LED problem was also annoying. I tried using the Samsung Fascinate but had to switch back due to the lack of LED notification light. Why would you have it only blink for 5 min? I dont want to have to check my phone constantly to see if I missed something. I constantly could not connect to calls. 45 sec to connect a call?

Build quality 9/10

Reception 8/10

Call quality 6/10

Internet 7/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 8/10

Everyday usage 2/10

Text input 2/10

Display 9/10

Battery 1/10 4-6 hours on a full charge is horrible and unacceptable!

Pros

• screen size and clarity

Cons

OldPlayer posted on 15 Apr 2011, 22:16

6

The phone I was waiting for so much turned out to be a BIG let down.

OldPlayer has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

There is no 4G in this area yet I still needed 2 apps to kill running apps and turn the 4G off or I had to charge the phone TWICE a day with MINIMAL use no live wpapers, minimal animation. Not sure if 4G had anything to do with it but that doesn't change the facts: the battery is good for a few hours. A a little more use & have to charge it 3 TIMES. Unacceptable battery performance. Horrible speaker. In fact the phone is LOUDER on the lowest setting sometimes than on speaker. It gets stuck, it shows the phone at the lowest sound but it's on the highest. The call quality is substandard. Compared to my old Nokia XM (with the other provider) this is garbage.

Verizon is so proud of the coverage but in this area my old XM had full bar and the TB has 1-2, if I hold the TB in my palm all the signal is lost. The coverage map is a lie or this phone is horrible.
Several calls/day go straight to the voicemail without even ringing!
My 3G turns to 1x or nothing time to time. Especially in buildings.

I only had it a few days ago so I contacted WFly - the seller - and they are sending another one. I wonder how much better that will be... I should have waited for the Bionic.... I hate the icrap for the simple minded with their Fuhrer on the top and hated the greedy at&t more with their 4GB "unlimited" plan but not sure if this is any better... at least I could make a call and hear the other side CLEARLY on my xm at at&t.

Build quality 8/10

Reception 3/10

Call quality 1/10

Internet 8/10

Multimedia 8/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 9/10

Everyday usage 5/10

Text input 8/10

Display 9/10

Battery 1/10

Pros

• large display - easy to browse, see photos
• camera - decent stills
• kickstand - prob. worth $198 of $199
• 7 screen - quick & easy to navigate
• heavy - good paper weight

Cons

• large display - high batt. use, not for pockets
• battery - garbage, 2-3 charge/day
• speaker - useless, distorted noise, gets stuck
• call quality - horrible
• net connection - 3g turns to 1x or x
• signal - 1-2 bar, vzn says full for area
• batt. door - VERY hard to open
• camera - laggy video
• power button - new level of cheap & not responsive

Okyguy posted on 13 Apr 2011, 23:14

9

NOT PERFECT BUT STILL GREAT PHONE

Okyguy has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

I love the size and feel of this phone. Although most reviewers feel it's too heavy I think in comparison to the Droid Incredible, that I switched from, the weight and curved shape actually makes it more comfortable to hold for extended periods of time (particularly in landscape mode). It's true the battery life needs improvement and hopefully when V2.3 comes out it will help the power management far better. In the meantime, I found if you turn off the auto-sync function and just sync manually when needed, it saves the battery life tremendously.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 9/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 7/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 9/10

Text input 9/10

Display 9/10

Battery 7/10