HTC ThunderBolt User Reviews

Dissapointed posted on 11 Apr 2011, 17:10

6

Horrid Device

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

The buttons are flimsy and feel cheap. The device is heavy. The battery doesn't last any more than 3 to 4 hours from 100% charge, and that is no exaggeration.

It's lightning fast speeds, incomparable cameras, and wonderful display (that uses 87% of battery even on 20% brightness) are the only reasons that I held onto it for the few days that I did.

I switched to an iPhone, and although I lost my 4g speeds, I still think it was an unrealistic device for HTC and Verizon to put onto the market. I can see now why they waited so long to release it. It's a device that must be tethered to a wall most of the day, and if you spend most of your day walking around the office or a college campus with no dependable energy source a foot away, this is not the phone for you.

Build quality 4/10 The device is extremely heavy. With a large screen, that's somewhat understandable, but it is ridiculously heavy. The side buttons for volume don't click very well, and neither does the top hold button.

Reception 7/10 It doesn't switch extremely well from 4g to 3g when 4g is unavailable. It struggles maintaining data through that time and often locks up web pages or just barely works at all.

Call quality 6/10 This device is like any other cell phone, where you can TELL they're talking on a cell phone.

Internet 9/10 Fast, but not constantly dependable through the switching from 4g to 3g areas.

Multimedia 7/10 Lots of apps and widgets to play around with, but they suck up major battery life.

Camera 10/10 8 MP rear facing camera and the facetime camera make this device better and more dependable than the iPhone 4 when it comes to taking pictures.

UI speed 10/10 They call this phone the thunderbolt for the sole reason that the phone is lightning FAST.

Everyday usage 2/10 While it's a nice device, the constant loss of battery life makes it hard to use when not near a socket to charge it in all day long.

Text input 6/10

Display 9/10

Battery 1/10 This device went from a 100% battery charge at 6:40 am, to nearly 15% by lunch time. It had no apps running, nothing streaming in or downloading, and the brightness of the screen was 20%. The device wasn't on wifi or gps, and it's safe to say this is the worst battery life i've ever seen on any device ever. I would give it a 0 if it were possible.

Pros

• Fast 4g
• Wonderful display
• Apps

Cons

• Heavy
• Horrible battery
• Plastic buttons hard to click
• Feedback while typing affects speed
• Display uses nearly 87% of battery allocation, despite being at 20% brightness

KeepItMovin posted on 29 Mar 2011, 09:19

8

Can You Hear Me

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

This was a wonderful phone, except for the call quality was unacceptable. VZW tech support poked around with a few issues I had with the first device and did not resolve anything. I spoke with a sales rep who was the first to suggest "you may have a defective phone". I swapped the device out and the UI freezing, connection failed errors ceased. I was also able to send texts in places I could not with the first TB. The call quality was slightly improved, but still only FAIR. Call quality was a long shot from other devices from "lesser" known carriers and I found this unacceptable for VZW and such a high end device.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 8/10 My signal would place me in in the southwest, when I was in the mid atlantic region. No one could explain this.

Call quality 5/10 The first TB I had the call quality was bad and coversations were strained. The 2nd TB I had was an improvement but still only FAIR. Not what I expected for all the cash that was coming out.

Internet 9/10 Speeds were crazy fast, but intermittent. Browsing experience was nice. Even 1X connection was decent, but the speeds did vary.

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 9/10 Sometimes this baby was SO fast it would stick a little before moving on. Or you would start throwing different requests at the phone thinking it;s speed will keep up and it hangs for a second.

Everyday usage 6/10 The call quality made the phone undesirable as a speaking device. For everything else it was great.

Text input 8/10 It should have had SWYPE preloaded, but it's fine.

Display 10/10

Battery 6/10 OK... what do we all expect from so much speed. If you are not in a 4G area you may get 8 or 10 hours with minimal use. Moderate 4G use and some talk will yield 4 hours. At least you;re getting SOME REAL speed, it that's what you need.

Pros

• Build
• Speed
• Display
• UI

Cons

• Call Quality
• Battery (of course)
• Weight (Hefty Hefty)

AstroStrat89 posted on 23 Mar 2011, 18:11

8

Not perfect, but good enough if you can get it cheaper then $250

AstroStrat89 has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

A few observations.
Seems like there are a few network glitches to be worked out. Seems like network switching is not as smooth. It also seems like some apps need to be tweaked. Chess.com takes two launches to find the network. Pulse has some well documented issues too. I understand it's a new device and willing to deal with it while hoping some updates will iron out issues. Coming from the Eris (which had some serious issues) I have faith in HTC to provide updates.

The mobile hot spot has worked pretty well for me so far. I'm very popular at work right now.

I did only pay $150 for the device, I would have a very hard time paying the $200-$250 for it. But I'm cheap and will normally wait for the deal before buying.

Build quality 8/10 Feels solid in the hand, but button and Volume rocker are a little cheap.

Reception 8/10 Central Ohio area and get good 4g and call reception in a wide area. Seems to be a few 4g glitches, but not ready to blame phone for it.

Call quality 8/10 I don't have the "buzz" issue others have reported. My calls have all been very clear to the point I can't turn it down enough sometimes.

Internet 9/10 Wow, just amazing Internet experienced. Apps, browsing, and videos have been smooth and snappy. The browser is very intuitive to use, nice upgrade from my Eris.

Multimedia 9/10 Music and videos both streaming and from SD just work. Wish that the video interface would default to my folder view, but minor complaint.

Camera 8/10 Camera and flash are very good, better then what I've read in other reviews. But I don't expect much from my phone. Good enough to take some very good photos and vids but still won't replace my dedicated camera.

UI speed 9/10 I am coming from an Eris so it's light speed to me. Notice some very slight lag when leaving some heavy apps running. But unless you hyper sensitive to it it's a joy to move about the interface and start apps.

Everyday usage 7/10 Here is where I'm seeing some weaknesses. It's a big phone. My Eris was small but so easy to use in one hand. I dislike the top power button, make it near impossible to turn on the phone one-handed. I like the kick-stand, but not being able to charge it at the same time in landscape is silly. Still getting used to the Vol rocker, I like it better on the left side. Took some getting used to, but still a pocket-able phone.

Text input 8/10 Very serviceable Virtual keyboard, very useful copy paste interface, the courser buttons are a decent replacement for the track ball. Would be nice for fewer clicks to get to emotes.

Display 7/10 My biggest issue with the display is that it's pretty washed out in bright light. I have a screen protector on it and I think it's coming off soon. In normal light it's great, big and clear. I don't seem to have the "yellow" display I've read about. But I wouldn't say I marvel every time I look at it.

Battery 6/10 For a big screen device on 4g I think it does ok. I have run down the battery and recharged over night and found that it seems to last longer. My guess is that between use and updates that battery life will get better. I am they type that can pretty much charge a few times a day. And when I can't I still had 30% by the time I was on the way home.

Pros

• Single core or not, pretty darn fast
• Blazing LTE network, full web pages load in a snap.

Cons

vzw fanman posted on 22 Mar 2011, 15:53

9

amazing phone

vzw fanman has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

Better than my droid x...except for a few things.

1) Build Quality- great build quality
2) Reception- better than my droid x. however it fluctuates more than my droid x and droid but it doesn't seem to affect abilities to call. one thing i noticed. the signal bars on my droid and droid x measure 3G, the signal bars on the thunderbolt measure 1X. so when using 4G or using 3G, not sure how well i'm connected.
3) Call quality- okay. my dx had amazing call quality!!!voices sounded like i was on a landline. thunderbolt, not so much. i hear a hiss/buzz noise when i'm on a call. both in florida and new york. also voices don't sound as crisp. it's managable but good thing i text more than i talk.
4) internet excellent. better browser than my stock dx.
5) multimedia- amazing, love sense UI
6) camera colors are amazing!! i don't care about how grainy/blurry it is when you zoom in 10X once you have it on the computer. i just care that the colors/contrast are life like.
7) Speed is amazing!!! going through menus and opening apps is much much faster than my 1.2 ghz droid x.
8) everyday use awesome
9) Text input- good.
10) display- awesome. not as bright as my droid x at max brightness, but images look more life like and natural.
11) Battery- not as bad as everyone else says. much worse than my dx and droid though. i bought an extended battery. i suggest everyone do it, it makes it thicker and heavier but it's worth it.
to conclude- love everything about the phone except call...  

Better than my droid x...except for a few things.

1) Build Quality- great build quality
2) Reception- better than my droid x. however it fluctuates more than my droid x and droid but it doesn't seem to affect abilities to call. one thing i noticed. the signal bars on my droid and droid x measure 3G, the signal bars on the thunderbolt measure 1X. so when using 4G or using 3G, not sure how well i'm connected.
3) Call quality- okay. my dx had amazing call quality!!!voices sounded like i was on a landline. thunderbolt, not so much. i hear a hiss/buzz noise when i'm on a call. both in florida and new york. also voices don't sound as crisp. it's managable but good thing i text more than i talk.
4) internet excellent. better browser than my stock dx.
5) multimedia- amazing, love sense UI
6) camera colors are amazing!! i don't care about how grainy/blurry it is when you zoom in 10X once you have it on the computer. i just care that the colors/contrast are life like.
7) Speed is amazing!!! going through menus and opening apps is much much faster than my 1.2 ghz droid x.
8) everyday use awesome
9) Text input- good.
10) display- awesome. not as bright as my droid x at max brightness, but images look more life like and natural.
11) Battery- not as bad as everyone else says. much worse than my dx and droid though. i bought an extended battery. i suggest everyone do it, it makes it thicker and heavier but it's worth it.
to conclude- love everything about the phone except call quality.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 9/10

Call quality 5/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 5/10

Pros

• 4G LTE- very fast
• HTC sense
• UI speed
• beautiful display
• responsiveness
• camera

Cons

• call quality less than mediocre
• battery

Dre posted on 20 Mar 2011, 14:30

6

A let down..

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

The phone is well put together when you look at the other phones that other carriers are selling including Verizon.
The reception is average at best. I keep hearing a buzzing news when I make or receive calls.
The internet is fast, but after having the Atrix 4g this phone is not on the same level as the Atrix when it comes to internet browsing.
Excellent camera and video.
Phone does lag a bit. A huge disappointment.
Huge screen to sent text out, but after a while I started getting a delay when I was sending out text messages.
Another big disappointment was the display. It reminded me of the Evo. I would think that since it's been about a year Htc would have made a better display.

Build quality 8/10 The phone is well put together when you look at the other phones that other carriers are selling including Verizon.

Reception 5/10 The reception is average at best. I keep hearing a buzzing news when I make or receive calls.

Call quality 5/10

Internet 9/10 The internet is fast, but after having the Atrix 4g this phone is not on the same level as the Atrix when it comes to internet browsing.

Multimedia 7/10

Camera 10/10 Excellent camera and video.

UI speed 4/10 Phone does lag a bit. A huge disappointment.

Everyday usage 6/10

Text input 7/10 Huge screen to sent text out, but after a while I started getting a delay when I was sending out text messages.

Display 4/10 Another big disappointment was the display. It reminded me of the Evo. I would think that since it's been about a year Htc would have made a better display.

Battery 3/10 Typical smartphone device.

Pros

• Put together very well
• A lot of memory
• Great camera and video
• Good internet speed

Cons

• Display average at best
• Phone lags
• Terrible battery life
• Poor reception for outgoing calls and incoming calls

dizzydean posted on 20 Mar 2011, 07:47

10

HTC Thunderbolt

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

I have had this phone for two days, and let me tell you this. BEST PHONE BY VERIZON SO FAR! If you are going to get this phone I would hurry up with it because it is worth the $270 I paid.The battery is a little low like all the other smart phones, The screen is great, the speeds are great. I have had the droid x until this beuty came out. I love this phone.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 6/10 Low Baterry

Pros

• Display
• 4G LTE
• Front Camera
• Well-Built

Cons

• Battery Life
• Skype is acting weird

matthasskillz posted on 18 Mar 2011, 18:05

10

HTC Thunderbolt

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

This phone is a beaut. The screen is nice and big (if you like that kind of thing) and has a great overall feel in your hand.

It's FAST! 4G is all it's cracked up to be (Charlotte, NC) where I am. It is noticeably faster than all other phones I have messed around with.

There are only a couple negatives to the phone.
1. Naturally, battery life. I was using the the phone on 4G and went from a 20% charge on the battery to my phone powering down in about 20-30 minutes. So take that as you will.
2. This one may seem petty...The location of the volume buttons on the right hand side. I hold my phone in my right hand. If I try to power on/off the sleep button while holding it in one hand I tend to hit the volume... which may cause beeping noises if you are trying to keep quiet in a certain setting (say a meeting).
3. The price. It's a lot of money... more than $270 from verizon after tax. I would say maybe wait a little while for the price to go down to $199. That said, be aware they may change the 4G data plans up on you and you may have to kiss the unlimited data option goodbye. But believe me, you will want it with such a fast phone! Then again the verizon associates keep assuring me there will be no changes to the data plans... but they have lied to me before. Oddly enough, the internet is a better place for info on verizon than verizon itself.
4. No skype. Poop. Maybe later?

Overall, I think the pros far outweigh the cons

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 8/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 4/10

Pros

• 4G speeds
• Big screen
• Great interface

Cons

• Naturally... battery life