[Q] return atrix for thunderbolt? - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I picked up the atrix to replace my failing original droid almost a month ago. The AT&T service has been, meh okay, the phone has had a few bugs but otherwise works well and has serious potential to be really awesome. luckily i can still go back to verizon within my return policy on the atrix.
what's your opinion, should I jump back to verizon for the thunderbolt?
reasons to:
Verizon network, true 4G
HTC phone therefor cyanogenmod will get ported to it
atrix locked / signed bootloader not allowing cyanogenmod (okay, one reason there)
reasons not to
t-bold has weaker cpu
potentially horrible battery life
larger size phone (love the 4" qHD screen on the atrix) - atrix is higher resolution
thoughts?

How much more time do you have to decide? I would wait to see what the battery life is like if you can; common sense says there's a strong possibility it will be awful (especially with 4g).
Sent from my HTC Magic/Dream using XDA App

i picked up the atrix on launch day, i think that was the 21st or so, since feb only had 28 days, i should have till the 23rd.
good idea... battery life aside, thoughts?

i had debated for a while before the atrix came out on whether or not to get the tbolt or the atrix. i was actually on at&t at the time but decided to switch to verizon (got a droid x off of craigslist so i still have an upgrade available) and wait for the tbolt. i decided against the atrix primarily when i read about at&t disabling HSPUA on "4g" devices like the atrix and the inspire. i thought it was ludacrious that first of all at&t's 4G which is actually hspa+ (or 3.5G) wasn't reporting that much faster speeds than 3G and furthermore was actually limited by the company from reaching top speeds. it's sad that they are finally making efforts after being slammed by the better business bureau on this charade.
so if you are looking for a faster network like you had said it would be a good move to switch to verizon, at&t could improve their "4G" but it still wouldn't be as good as verizon's lte, IMO.
other factors than network, i'd stick with the atrix if you purchased those docks since it is the only phone that works with them (however, i am assuming that docks aren't a factor since you are keeping the option to return the phone).
i do think that the screen would be better on the atrix but that doesn't mean that the tbolt has some crappy screen, it'll still be very vibrant and pleasing. the screen wasn't a huge factor for me as much as specs and usability. specs are stronger with the dual-core atrix, but i've read a bunch that dual-core for the most part isn't necessary on smartphones yet and there are very few games/apps that actually utilize both cores. i believe that the dual-core power on the atrix is only there to support the docks designed for it, and without the docks it's not that big a deal.
i am currently on a droid x with verizon and have it rooted and customized how i like, and since roms like cyanogen are a plus for you it seems that you would appreciate the tbolt's rootability and customization more than the atrix's locked down bootloader.
tbolt has a better camera (8MP vs. atrix's 5MP) so +1 for that. they both have front-facing cameras.
tbolt has kickstand, some may see it as a gimmick but there are times i've watched things on my droid x and thought "man, a kickstand would be super-useful right now"
another point for verizon's network is that 4g/lte is starting with unlimited data plans, while i'm pretty sure at&t kept the tiered caps from 3g.
atrix has that fingerprint scanner which is only as useful as you want it to be. so meh.
as a previous poster mentioned the tbolt battery is an unknown factor since it is the first phone on LTE, and atrix comes with that monster battery which i think is somewhat limited by having to run dual-cores.
size was a factor for me too as i wasn't sure that i wanted a huge device in my pocket all the time but having had the droid x for a few weeks and its 4.3 inch screen, it's not so bad and i got used to it pretty easily (although i did have a blackberry bold 9000 before which was slightly bulky so maybe i'm not the best judge on size).
tbolt comes with 32GB sd card which is nice.
so there you have it, reasons why both phones can be good/bad but i think the tbolt wins strong points for being unlimited on verizon LTE, which is supposed to have awesome speeds.

Related

IS Thunderbolt an upgrade from the EVO, or not really ?

Itching for a new phone soon, and not happy with Sprint lately, their billing can be whacky, I get a different priced bill every month, even though I am on unlimited, and I have to call Sprint every month to straighten it out.
Plus I am worried that with the recent phone they just showcased yesterday, it is a total turd, and afraid what direction Sprint is even heading ? Will there be an EVO2, no real strong rumors on that yet, just worried the future of Sprint.
Would love to see "Myn's" ROM from the EVO or something close to it come out for the Thunderbolt too. And what about battery life on the Thunderbolt, will be it just as bad as the EVO, due to having both 3G + 4G Radios ? And lastly will LTE be good in Chicago area, better speeds than 4G on Sprint ?
Thanks.
It kind of is as LTE is suppose to be a bit faster than WiMax, plus the lower spectrum is uses, means it can work indoor, and between buildings better.
The processor is also faster due to being 2nd gen. If its like the g2 it will overclockable to up to 2ghz
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
Thanks for replies, I will wait a bit.
#1 see if Sprint gives a good indication of an EVO-2 this Summer, should know in March with the big phone show, if it leaks out there. Would hate to ditch the EVO, for the Thunderbolt, then few months later an even better phones comes out in the EVO 2.
#2, By the end of March, the Thunderbolt will be rooted and hopefully have a nice ROM available.
EVO 2 is far from a rumor, though the summer release may not happen. The Dual Core processor + WiMax chipset is giving them help right now. Now to answer your question, the Thunderbolt is definitely an upgrade from the EVO in every way, but it's a battery hog as well. I wouldn't recommend using LTE, if you don't really have to, unless it's for a quick download.
popular nobody said:
EVO 2 is far from a rumor, though the summer release may not happen. The Dual Core processor + WiMax chipset is giving them help right now. Now to answer your question, the Thunderbolt is definitely an upgrade from the EVO in every way, but it's a battery hog as well. I wouldn't recommend using LTE, if you don't really have to, unless it's for a quick download.
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I'm not sure how it's going to work yet, but I didn't think we had a choice whether it would be in 3g mode or 4g?
Yeah, same way with the EVO. You'll notice a little lag, when you're switching from lte to wifi, and vice versa.
Yeah I don't think LTE will function like WiMAX at all. Aside from the marketing label "4G" they have pretty much nothing in common.
LTE and wimax aren't even remotely similar. LTE stacks up impressively.
LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, so it will continue to get better with age.
LTE also sports a robust core, and has typically no loss of packets and 20ms latency when switching towers. The network utilizes advanced versions of Node B devices, which are just more capable modules than there predecessors (there are two per tower for LTE standard, and have greater bandwidth handling, as well as continuing support for legacy devices and 3g). LTE doesn't need line of sight, and tolerates MIMO antenna technology on clients.
Unlike Wimax, LTE is true 4G.
Sent from my bricked Droid X.
Casshern said:
LTE and wimax aren't even remotely similar. LTE stacks up impressively.
LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, so it will continue to get better with age.
LTE also sports a robust core, and has typically no loss of packets and 20ms latency when switching towers. The network utilizes advanced versions of Node B devices, which are just more capable modules than there predecessors (there are two per tower for LTE standard, and have greater bandwidth handling, as well as continuing support for legacy devices and 3g). LTE doesn't need line of sight, and tolerates MIMO antenna technology on clients.
Unlike Wimax, LTE is true 4G.
Sent from my bricked Droid X.
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So you're saying it is better then WiMax?
Thank you for the explanation...
Much better than WImax
Sent by my Droid Incredible
ska.t73 said:
So you're saying it is better then WiMax?
Thank you for the explanation...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its WAY better apparently
and also The TB is capable of SVDO which means it wont switch to 1X every time you text and Talking and data at the same time as well
superchilpil said:
its WAY better apparently
and also The TB is capable of SVDO which means it wont switch to 1X every time you text and Talking and data at the same time as well
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Click to collapse
Yea can't wait to try out the talking and data at the same time, not that I have ever really found a need for it, but hey if you got it...
I have heard that the voice quality will suffer some when using data at the same time which is why VZW isn't promoting it. Don't know how much the quality will degrade or if I will even be able to tell, I'm not much of an audio hound so I don't usually hear drops in quality that much.
Besides them both having a 4.3" screen and kickstand they are completely different devices. It is honestly annoying to constantly hear people compare them due to the aesthetic design similarities.
The ThunderBolt has a unibody aluminum design and great build quality. As others have stated, the ThunderBolt also uses the newest generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs. This 1GHz CPU is not the same as the older generation used in the EVO, it is an entirely different beast. The latest Snapdragons are more efficient and the clock speed being the same means nothing.
The TB also has more RAM than the EVO, Verizon 4G LTE (not WiMAX), and Dolby Audio onboard behind the kickstand. Finally, the TB includes a 32GB microSD card preinstalled.
Any other comparisons simply boil down to looks and similar design style. The devices themselves are not the same.
Let's not forget DLNA. I think it's a great feature that will future-proof the Tbolt for awhile.
ahh...so glad I didn't know about this phone sooner, as I'd have been dying while waiting...I just started checkin the phone forums a week or so ago for the first time since last fall due to finding out about a surprise upgrade on our account due the end of january..this week or 2 wait sucks, I cant imagine finding out about this months ago...
There's a video comparison of the TB and Evo on Wirefly.com. The TB is roughly 2x faster than the Evo.
eudaemonic said:
Let's not forget DLNA. I think it's a great feature that will future-proof the Tbolt for awhile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DLNA is on the DroidX also.
bmcclure937 said:
The ThunderBolt has a unibody aluminum design
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Click to collapse
I have heard this stated here and on other forums. I heard it in one of the video reviews (maybe the unboxing one). However, I have seen no substantiation of this. There are 3 reasons why I doubt is it actually unibody. 1 From the limited views inside the device it does not appear to be. 2. It clearly has a thin plastic back cover. 3. It would be a fairly radical design and manufacturing departure for HTC. It certainly would be a cool Apple-ish feature. I'm keen for some further evidence of this. Let us know if you have anything.
It's not an evo, why can't people get that throw their heads. Just because it has a 4.3in screen, froyo, and and made by htc people think it's an Evo. If using want to compare it to something compare it to the Desire HD maybe. Evo was not even the first 4.3in htc phone that was the hd2. The Evo a great piece of hardware and still is but the htc thunderbolt is something fresh in my opinion. The tb only shares 3 things with the evo screen size, os, and manufacture. I personally loved the evo it, for its size, speed, and functionality. I have my htc thunderbolt pre ordered.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

[Q] Question about Wimax/Lte

I got the Motorola Photon last week because it was only $99 dollars which is an amazing price for this amazing phone. I was going to get the LG Marquee because it was a 3G only device I believe and last time I got a droid from sprint they had the $10 dollar surcharge for premium data only for 4G capable device, regardless of the fact that there is no 4G in my area. Needless to say I read recently that Sprint is going to be shutting down or re-purposing their Wimax towers and moving to LTE, I think this is a great idea, but my question is, will my Photon be able to use LTE when it is available or will I have to get a new phone when they switch to LTE? Compared to Verizon, the data connection is a joke. Its very slow, luckily when Im at school they have wireless N wifi, and at home I have wifi. I would like to eventually not have to use wifi and be able to do stuff as simple as searching the market without having to wait 5-10 seconds for a page to come up. I used that 3G supercharger, and it is better then it was, but randomly drops the connection and goes to roaming now, that doesn't really matter though. Another comment I have on the Photon, is the phenomenal battery life. I didn't update my phone with the leaked software that was suppose to fix some battery issues, but I don't have any. I easily go 14 hours a day using it as an mp3 player, etc, and usually have around 60% battery power left then it takes like less then an hour to fully charge. Call quality and reception is about a million times better then my Samsung transform. Motorola has made me a believer in good phones. I'll never purchase another Samsung cell phone again, that's for sure. The only thing that could make this phone better would be LTE.
Welcome to the club. There's several threads on LTE, so check those out but there's no conclusive answer that I've seen. Battery life and reception are great with this phone so if you ever do have a problem, look for a rogue app.
Lol The club. I like that. Anywho I was looking around in the mophos build.prop file and it actually said some stuff about LTE, thats pretty cool. Maybe this phone is already prepared to switch to LTE in a future system update.
I think(read: I'm uncertain if)the Photon has the necessary 800mhz radio in it for sprints future rollouts(rev. a, rev. b, 1xAdvanced or whatever is gonna use it).
I'm actually trying to determine this as well, for certain, since this phone has amazing radios in it as far as the reception is concerned. I dont care too much about the LTE radio but I'd like to be able to use the revised 3G band. I've been thinking of getting the Photon and moving away from my Nexus S 4G only because of what I've heard about its ability to pull down a signal.
HSPA+ is the minimum foundation for LTE so if sprint layered their network the Photon would work fine because that is the Gsm Transceiver it has.
Thats what I was thinking! Sprint just needs to HTFU and cut out wimax and give us the better LTE network. Lol I bet all the new samsung phones will be **** out of luck though! That will be hilarious when the new GSII's are useless! Samsung blows

unbiased opinions please: mytouch 4g or galaxy s 4g?

Having a tough time deciding which of these 2 phones I should get. I will be modding and all of that. Does either have better rom support or is better for modding?
Would the extra 256MB of RAM in the mytouch 4G even be noticeable, or ever come in play? And is the galaxy display NOTICEABLY better than the 4G? the extra 0.2" to me is not a huge deal at all. Honestly, for one hand operation I think the galaxy may be too big actually. Having camera flash is nice... does one take better quality pictures though?
So torn between the two. Virtually exact same price to buy on craigslist right now. I would be using it on the WIND network in canada so I'm not even sure if I'd be able to use the HSDA+ or not. Mind you 21 or 14.4 Mbps doesn't even matter....
The main thing probably would actually be if either of these devices have better rom support or are better for modding. Can anyone help me out??
I wouldn't buy both of them as a motorolan but from my experiences with both brands, i would get the mythouch 4g. It is overally better cause of xtra ram and better build quality.
Oh, I should also mention that since I'll be using the phone on WIND I can only use T-Mobile phones. So I don't know if I really even have a good Motorola Android option.
Lean towards to HTC models which include 1700mhz 3g bands. If atrix had 1700mhz i would suggest that but like you said, motorola and t-mobile broke up after the Cliq2.

Sprint/OG EVO 4G to ATT/ATT Note

Hello all!
I've been reading through this forum and wanted to ask you all a few questions.
First, let me start by saying I have been to a local ATT store and played with the Note. I found it to be a perfect fit in my hand. The screen size and resolution is flat out amazing. I also looked at the specs and found them to be on par with most devices these days. However, I have read that the processor in the ATT version is a Snapdragon with an okay GPU chip...any thoughts? The internal storage is 16GB and up to 32GB external (although in this forum, I have seen it as high as 64GB)...good to go as well. No default notification indicator...boo, but not a deal breaker and an app can fix that. I also have read that the camera is okay, but can be tweaked to make it better.
Next, I am not new to tweaking my devices...actually, I love too! I read, read, read everything and usually don't have any problems. I am definitely a power/advanced user and do much more then text and check email. I use devices to fullest extent as possible.
I am not asking you all to tell me to buy this device or switch networks, but instead I'm asking you all for real world answers. So here are my questions.
1. Looking through the forums, I saw about 3 solid custom ROMs and several stock rooted ROMs. My question is, do you all have a solid base for development? I also saw that there is no AOSP CM7 ROM for this device either...is that correct? With ICS expected on this device soon, will there be development (the international version has ICS already I believe)? I'm rocking the OG HTC EVO 4G and development is rock solid...even with the device about to turn 2yrs old (6/4/12)...so development is a huge deal for me.
2. Okay, Sprint doesn't have the best network and 4G/WiMax is a total joke. When I was at the local ATT store, I ran several speed tests on the display Note (using ATT's LTE) and was floored by the down/up speeds! My question is how is battery life with it connected to LTE all the time AND using the crap out of it. I ask this, because with my EVO, I very rarely use 4G/WiMax. We can turn it on/off at will thru settings or a widget. Also, I always connect to my WiFi at home. It looks like on the Note via a custom ROM, turning LTE on/off is controlled through the build.prop...is this correct? I keep chargers around, but just curious.
3. I don't use this feature that often, but it's always good to have...tethering. With my EVO, most if not all custom ROMs have the ability to tether (USB or wireless) baked in. So what are the options with the Note? I have never paid for this feature and don't intend to either.
4. I haven't peeked into the theme section yet, but I'm sure there are themes for this device...right?
Edit- Late addition question...kernels. I use OC/UV/SBC kernels on my EVO...so what is the current state of kernels with this device?
Before I end this dissertation, I want to say this forum seems to be more mature...always a good thing. Also, I have several device choices to consider, but I am strongly considering getting away from CDMA carriers and join the rest of the world on GSM...not TMo, been there done that. I'm on the fence with getting this device or waiting for the HTC One X version or the GNex coming to ATT and Sprint (if I decide to stay). I'm just doing some research to make a very good decision.
Oh and thanks for posting the price from Fryers...$199 is much better than $299 !
Thanks in advance to all that answer and Android rocks!!
I owned the Evo 4G before moving to the Evo 3D and after that the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon.
If the size of the screen is not that attractive enough for you to sway you from the One X or the Galaxy Nexus then I would advise you wait for the Galaxy S3. The S3 (rumors of course) is shaping out to be superior to any of those devices.
As for your actual first question, yes the ATT and the International version of the Note have two different processors. At the time, Samsung's Exynos cpu in the Int Note did not have a LTE chip compatible with our LTE spectrum here in the states. So they switched to the Snapdragon chip for ATT. Yes the snapdragon performs less than the Int counterpart but chances are you will see no difference in real world use.
1. Development for this phone is still in its early stages. Coming from the EVO I can tell you development like that is the exception, not the rule. There are tons of the phones and only the most popular phones get the same attention. The phone came out a little over a month ago.
Also this phone will never be at the same level of popularity as some of the other ATT phones (S2 for example). CM9 is being worked on now for the Note. Maybe we might have a taste of it a month or so.
2. ATT has a better network compared to Sprint. HSPA+ is more than enough to beat Sprint's 3G and WiMax to the floor. One of the advantages is the fact you can talk on the phone while surfing the web or look up directions ect. Battery life is actually superior in respect to CDMA LTE devices. Since all radios are on the same chip you save battery life. You can turn off LTE when not in a LTE area but there are no noticeable impacts on battery life.
3. If you would like to use tethering all you have to do is freeze and apk (tethering manager I believe) and that's it. You can tether as you please.
4. There are a couple of themes for the different roms that exist. Also themes are proportional to the number of roms. Keep in mind themes are different for Samsung phones. There are no themes in apk form. All themes must be flashed.
Huge thanks for taking the time to respond. I played with the Note again today and I was able to one hand text and navigate around with ease. I'm sure I will end up switching to ATT for a GSM device. I was at Best Buy and they would not honor Fry's price...I plan to check with a local ATT store next.
I plan on buying a new device after 5/3 (my contract with Sprint ends), so I plan on watching for the S3 as well. If anyone else wants to chime in, please feel free. Again, thanks for your well written response!
How do you turn off LTE?

[Q]Droid Razr Maxx vs Evo 4G LTE

Hello everyone! I am considering to switch from Sprint to Verizon because of the crappy 3G speeds. However, a few things are holding me back: 1) Verizon is expensive. 2) No unlimited data on Verizon.
What do you guys think, should I stay with Sprint?
How is the Evo 4G LTE treating you guys?
How is the signal on the Evo 4G LTE? Is it better than the 3D?
Does anyone know the any other major differences between the Maxx and Evo 4G LTE beside the processor and screen?
Is it louder than the Maxx?
Is SLCD2 better than SAMOLED?
How do the colors look compared to SAMOLED?
Does the GPS locks fast?
How is the battery?
Thanks in advance!
migpol08 said:
Hello everyone! I am considering to switch from Sprint to Verizon because of the crappy 3G speeds. However, a few things are holding me back: 1) Verizon is expensive. 2) No unlimited data on Verizon.
What do you guys think, should I stay with Sprint?
How is the Evo 4G LTE treating you guys?
How is the signal on the Evo 4G LTE? Is it better than the 3D?
Does anyone know the any other major differences between the Maxx and Evo 4G LTE beside the processor and screen?
Is it louder than the Maxx?
Is SLCD2 better than SAMOLED?
How do the colors look compared to SAMOLED?
Does the GPS locks fast?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so many questions
just go to verizon and find out for yourself ^_^
You have a few things to consider. As far as the network speed, there is no comparison. I have a personal Sprint account with three Wimax 4G phones and my employer just gave me a Verizon phone because they too were on Sprint but unsatisfied with the network. I'm trial testing a Bionic. The speed comparison is well...no comparison. Verizon's LTE is crazy fast. Nearly as fast as my home 25/25 FIOS wifi connection. Made me pause thinking about upgrading to a new contract on Sprint seeing that they will not have LTE in my area for a while; my area is not on their upgrade map yet which extends to the end of the year. However, their (Verizon) phone selection sucks. Not too impressed with the Razr and beyond that all they have from HTC is the Resound which is a full cycle behind the One X series, the Nexus which will be behind the Galaxy 3 when released. And of course no unlimited data on Verizon and it costs more. So no clear cut answer for you but what ever fits your particular needs, economy and phone tech. For me well I don't know yet but I hate their (Verizon's) phone selection.
aburgthing said:
You have a few things to consider. As far as the network speed, there is no comparison. I have a personal Sprint account with three Wimax 4G phones and my employer just gave me a Verizon phone because they too were on Sprint but unsatisfied with the network. I'm trial testing a Bionic. The speed comparison is well...no comparison. Verizon's LTE is crazy fast. Nearly as fast as my home 25/25 FIOS wifi connection. Made me pause thinking about upgrading to a new contract on Sprint seeing that they will not have LTE in my area for a while; my area is not on their upgrade map yet which extends to the end of the year. However, their (Verizon) phone selection sucks. Not too impressed with the Razr and beyond that all they have from HTC is the Resound which is a full cycle behind the One X series, the Nexus which will be behind the Galaxy 3 when released. And of course no unlimited data on Verizon and it costs more. So no clear cut answer for you but what ever fits your particular needs, economy and phone tech. For me well I don't know yet but I hate their (Verizon's) phone selection.
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Click to collapse
Yep going through the same thing and that is the same answer I came out with..... Verizon phone selection is garbage right now. The RAZR maxx is their best phone and then the galaxy nexus. Also from what it seems, Sprints lte Network isn't as fast as Verizon.

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