OK, I know this question gets old, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I'm currently on a 4G LTE and became upgrade eligible on 8/1. The One seems like the no-brainer choice right now, but I'm reading a lot about upcoming phones like Nexus 5, Moto X, upcoming Sony phone, LG G2, etc. What would you guys do in my shoes?
My wife becomes upgrade eligible on 2/1, so I'm considering swapping my upgrade with her for now so that she can move from her iPhone 4s to the 5 (or 5s in Sept) and finally have 4G while I wait a few months for something else. That said, in the cell phone upgrade game, there's ALWAYS going to be something amazing on the horizon -- that's what makes these decision brutal. I've had every Evo since the OG, and right now I'm basically happy with my 4G LTE: rooted, S-Off, get 4G in my area, use tethering extensively, like the look/feel, and I love the kickstand. That said, some cons are that I'm not crazy about the battery life, I get launcher crashes fairly regularly on stock Sense and most Sense roms, and I don't feel that the radio is the strongest -- particularly at switching from 3G to 4G.
Thoughts?
One Max with bigger screen and faster processor, g2 with all x3 sprint lte band. The red One looks alright too. moto x is just soso with slower processor and lower resolution screen.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
abeln2672 said:
OK, I know this question gets old, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I'm currently on a 4G LTE and became upgrade eligible on 8/1. The One seems like the no-brainer choice right now, but I'm reading a lot about upcoming phones like Nexus 5, Moto X, upcoming Sony phone, LG G2, etc. What would you guys do in my shoes?
My wife becomes upgrade eligible on 2/1, so I'm considering swapping my upgrade with her for now so that she can move from her iPhone 4s to the 5 (or 5s in Sept) and finally have 4G while I wait a few months for something else. That said, in the cell phone upgrade game, there's ALWAYS going to be something amazing on the horizon -- that's what makes these decision brutal. I've had every Evo since the OG, and right now I'm basically happy with my 4G LTE: rooted, S-Off, get 4G in my area, use tethering extensively, like the look/feel, and I love the kickstand. That said, some cons are that I'm not crazy about the battery life, I get launcher crashes fairly regularly on stock Sense and most Sense roms, and I don't feel that the radio is the strongest -- particularly at switching from 3G to 4G.
Thoughts?
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Click to collapse
I'm in a similar boat but it's my wife that has the upgrade as of 8/1 and I just upgraded to the One at launch. She doesn't care much about her phone so long as it gets Facebook, has a good camera and can last her the day on one charge. We're waiting until the holiday season to see what devices are announced and what discounts are available. I'd suggest the same if you can wait. I wouldn't be able to and would have a One on 8/1, . I'm impatient. But if you're happy enough with your current device, wait for the 5s for her and get that or the discounted 5 and use your upgrade next year. You'll likely be in a similar situation though because new devices will only be a couple months away and will likely be announced in March.
There are pros and cons to buying any phone; radios, features, updates, etc. That being said, I would wait it out a little bit. Keep in mind that the One has been out for 4 months already. So if you're on a 2 year upgrade plan like most people are, the One will be nearly 2 & 1/2 years old by the time you'll be eligible again.
The next generation of phones is so much better. Have you seen the G2? It's crazy! 3000 mAh battery!
The One totally pales in comparison.
Plus, the One is riddled with defects and there's a very very high chance that you will get a defective device. Most of the people here (including me) have defects and just live with it because chances are we'll get a worse device back. Hopefully for the next generation, HTC will tighten their QC.
I would wait for a really high end Moto to arrive.
I don't recommend either Sprint or HTC, because I've had horrible experiences with both. Did you know that the one has no thermal safety system? That's caused several bricks and as far as we know, is still causing them.
Also, ask around for how good sprint is in your area. Some people got nice data with Wi-max but terrible LTE. HSPA+ is actually way faster than Sprint's LTE, and it's more developed. Of course, you would have to switch carriers to get HSPA. Sprint's 3G is usually unusable.
I really appreciate the feedback, everyone -- it's been really helpful. I've pretty much decided to hold off and see what's available in Sept/Oct, which is around the time the new iPhone would come out anyway. I'm pretty intrigued by the G2, but I think I'll regret missing out on the One's front-facing speakers, 32gb storage, and high quality body design. I've also had Sense for many generations, so I think I'll miss that, but I've got other Android devices as well and won't have a problem adjusting.
Feel free to chime in if you have an opinion on this...like someone else said earlier in the thread, it's easy to get impatient when it comes to phone upgrades -- I need a lot of convincing to hold off, lol!
My wife became eligible and I upgraded her to the One for similar reasons. Thing is I got a great deal at Target, believe it or not. They had the One for 100 upgrade, a $25discount when giving in your old phone, plus what the phone was worth. She had a blackberry and after everything the new phone was about $40. She's happy makes me happy.
Point is keep your eyes open for deals cause even though new phones are coming, some deals are hard to pass up.
My wife did the same with her BB Curve. Even after 3 years it had a $100 trade-in value and in the end, we ended up getting a gift card back from Best Buy with $22 on it! She got used to the HTC EVO Design after a week or so and won't look back to BB
photos?
if you primarily use the camera for social network stuff i'd say upgrade. it is a pretty good phone!
Related
So it looks like 1/11/11 @ 11:11 the Verizon iPhone will come.
Who is jumping ship?
I am about 90% sure I will be, what do I need to do to wipe my phone of root and all of my data?
Thanks,
56K
Not me. F THE IPHONES
Sent from my froshedyo using XDA App
Thanks for the post!
dont know if/when its coming to verizon is true and dont care. With root access, the rate of android development and the amount of devices to choose from I have no desire to leave android. Much more likely to leave verizon than android lol. I mean really I dont understand why anyone who wants an iphone doesn't just use AT&T and have one.
stanlalee said:
I mean really I dont understand why anyone who wants an iphone doesn't just use AT&T and have one.
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Click to collapse
I don't get a signal from at&t at home, so that's why I stayed with Verizon Wireless and changed from (crappy) WM to Android.
I'm glad that VZW is getting the iPhone - more competition is always good for everybody, and they are damned good smartphones. I'm a bit tempted, but I've grown fond of Android, I've used Gmail and Google Calendar for a long time, I vastly prefer Android's notifications to iOS's, and I have a Touch 4G anyway, so I can get anything I need from iOS with that.
My new every 2 comes in August, and by then there will be a new iPhone, and likely new Android phones as well. So long as my Eris lasts that long, I'm thinking that waiting until after the iPhone 5G comes out is the smartest thing for me (whether I choose that or Android) in the long run.
Good post, thanks!
I know I personally am tempted to use the iPhone only because it's still so absolutely supported. When a company says "we've gone mobile" they usually mean they have an iPhone app... and if I'm lucky I'll get an android app a month or more later.
This can be seen with netflix. I love the idea of netflix on a phone, but android doesn't have it. Why? Simply because netflix hasn't gotten around to it.
When you're on the iPhone you have the satisfaction of knowing that you're a "priority customer" for companies.
The fact is I still won't go with the iPhone because I enjoy the Android OS far too much. I personally think it is flawed to the core in some areas, but then again so is iOS so I'm not complaining.
I'll be jumping ship to the iPhone. Don't get me wrong... I love my Eris and it's been good to me, especially with the good community here at XDA.
I've always wanted an iPhone and it'll go good with my iPad! Can't wait for it on VZW!
I plan on ditching my Eris here soon hopefully, but it will not be for an iPhone. I have bought into the Android ecosystem with apps for my phone, and my tablet. I'm however very interested in the Droid Bionic that was announced at CES.
Hungry Man said:
I know I personally am tempted to use the iPhone only because it's still so absolutely supported. When a company says "we've gone mobile" they usually mean they have an iPhone app... and if I'm lucky I'll get an android app a month or more later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My #1 reason for jumping ship...
I am tired of my sister, brother, brother-in-law coming to me and saying hey check out this cool new app/game.....do you have it on Android yet?
Me: No.... and they don't mention any development for Android on their site.
i think that the android community as a whole is going to suffer greatly from the arrival of iphone. the vast majority of android users dont root their phones, and have not been able to utilize android in the same way that we have. the ones that purchased their android when it first came to verizon and didnt root, are stuck with an unsupported phone. iphone is really appealing to the average user. i see many people ditching google to go with apple.
i dont plan on changing any time soon to the iphone simply because it will not be 4G, doesnt have the customization aspects that android does with root and whatnot, and in june they will have the iphone 5 coming out. its a little suspect that verizon is coming out with the iphone 4, 6 months before the new iphone is slated to come out. i see a lot of hardware/software issues arising due to the fact verizon is trying to push this out as fast as they can to cash in on the people that buy it mid contract. it also helps that they are changing their upgrade policies right before this phone comes out to try to entice people to upgrade now
/rant
This may be a bit off topic, but I'm really dissapointed in the direction verizon is going as far as the upgrade/NE2 goes. Honestly I'm going to be changing carriers next year when my contract is up. I just hope other carriers don't follow big reds direction.
Also, I'm not looking forward to 4g. They are going to charge out the butt for it and cap data usage. Doesn't sound fun to me... of course I'm sure most if not all carriers are going to do the same
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
orkillakilla said:
This may be a bit off topic, but I'm really dissapointed in the direction verizon is going as far as the upgrade/NE2 goes. Honestly I'm going to be changing carriers next year when my contract is up. I just hope other carriers don't follow big reds direction.
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Click to collapse
Forget Sprint and T-Mobile - they are smaller, so will always be more aggressive. Does AT&T do anything like this? I remember last year when the iPhone 4 came out they made a big deal about the fact that anybody whose contract was due in 2010 was eligible for an early upgrade to the 4, but that was only the iPhone 4 and was, at best, 6 months early. Verizon sets theirs at 2 months early for one year contracts and 4 months early for two year contracts for everybody with this (rumored) policy change.
Honestly, I don't know what AT&T does, but I thought that Verizon was always better about this?
Also, I'm not looking forward to 4g. They are going to charge out the butt for it and cap data usage. Doesn't sound fun to me... of course I'm sure most if not all carriers are going to do the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Evidence? At this point it's just a guess. If we base our guess on the data plans for modems, you may be surprised. In the past, 3G modems were capped at 5 GB and priced $60 per month (while smartphone data plans were unlimited and priced at $30 a month). 4G data plans for modems are $50 a month for 5 GB and $80 a month for 10 GB. I'm not sure that I would call that "charging out the butt".
We do know what Sprint does for 4G smartphones - they do not cap and surcharge $10 more per month, right? It seems reasonable that VZW will do something similar, or at least not out of that neighborhood.
I for one will be getting one as soon as they're available. Why? Well, I have three lines and the third is up for upgrade at any time. My primary line is up for upgrade in October this year so if I don't like the iPhone I can always go back to Android.
Another reason is that it's a damn sexy phone, no matter what people may say about it.
Eventually they'll have Android running on the iPhone 4, (it's already sort of working on the 3GS) so I could always have the looks and the OS that I've grown to like. I won't switch to AT&T simply for the reason that I get a 20% business discount on Verizon and I've been with Verizon since before the iPhone was introduced. I've waited this long for it, I've been wanting one since it came out, so I'll at least have to buy one to see how it compares to my Eris. (And Android in general) I have an iPod Touch so I'm familiar with iOS, so I'm not too worried about that.
Besides, everything else in the house is Apple, might as well have the dang phone too!
Didnt read through all posts, but iPhone 4 comes to Verizon 02/11/11 @ 12:00am. IPhone 5 is rumored to arrive at Verizon in July, with a new body and possibly LTE. But as stated, it is rumored. I'm adding s line to have both android and apple OS.
Sent from my FroyoEris using XDA App
Im an Android fanboy, nope.
I (thought) I'd be ready to jump to iphone first chance but now that I can I'm having second thoughts. My rooted eris is so great. I might just stick with HTC/Droid and go for the incredible HD. I'm itching for something but at the same time I'm very happy with what I have.
Sent from my Floyo using XDA App
i wouldnt buy iphoney lol ,,,,, first flaw ,,, whos bright idea was it not to have a door for the battery? lol im not gunna send my phone out and wait a few dayz to get it back because the battery died lol two hate the look of it ,,,,and i love the freedom of android
Since i have recently ditched all my Apple stuff, know way. I'm thinking Droid Bionic, unless HTC breaks out a dual-core with 1 gb of ram... I'm counting the days until my July upgrade date!
I'm not jumping because I personally think that Android in a few years will kill the iPhone, iPhone's been around a while and you know how things go... electronics last 5-6 years (estimate), then die out completely to a competitor. So, iPhone has had it's time, and Android is going to overtake Apple. Second of all, it's GOOGLE GODDAMNIT!
P.S. There's 26 Letters in the Alphabet, we're only on 6.
I think the tone for the Thunderbolt launch was set with HTC's ridiculously pretentious slogan "this isn't your dream phone, it's the one after that." The expectations were set high. And them came the official announcement, with no release date and lackluster specs. But then again, the dual-core phones that were announced probably wouldn't be out for awhile, so excitement for the TB remained high.
Next, the Verizon iPhone is announced and then released shortly after. Pricing information puts the Thunderbolt at $250, making it one of the most expensive phones out there. This was surprising considering the specs, despite the 32GB SD card included. Release date rumors run rampant, with rumored dates coming and going. Best Buy starts taking money for pre-orders without a date or data plan pricing announced.
Some videos of the TB get posted on YouTube, including benchmarks. Disappointingly, the Thunderbolt can't even match up to the 9 month old Galaxy S in the gaming benchmarks.
Then, the final nail in the coffin for me: the release of the Atrix. Now, I personally have no interest in buying a Motorola phone, but it beats the pants off of the Thunderbolt in all of the benchmarks, is dual-core, has more RAM (1GB vs 768MB in the TB), has a significantly higher resolution screen (despite being smaller), and is about 20% thinner/10% lighter while having a 40% higher battery capacity. It also has Gorilla Glass, which the TB may well have but we wouldn't know. And, to add insult to injury it is $50 cheaper than the unreleased Thunderbolt.
After typing all of that out, HTC's slogan seems even more ridiculous to me (which I didn't think was possible). Now, this all may seem overly harsh, but this is a phone that you're going to be stuck with for 2 years with no options for early upgrade (thanks Verizon!). As time goes on without a release date, new phones are being announced and released and the Thunderbolt is losing its luster. I can't imagine them screwing this launch up any more than they have.
Anyways, I just wanted to vent my (and my wife's) frustrations and see what everyone thought...
magnafides said:
I think the tone for the Thunderbolt launch was set with HTC's ridiculously pretentious slogan "this isn't your dream phone, it's the one after that." The expectations were set high. And them came the official announcement, with no release date and lackluster specs. But then again, the dual-core phones that were announced probably wouldn't be out for awhile, so excitement for the TB remained high.
Next, the Verizon iPhone is announced and then released shortly after. Pricing information puts the Thunderbolt at $250, making it one of the most expensive phones out there. This was surprising considering the specs, despite the 32GB SD card included. Release date rumors run rampant, with rumored dates coming and going. Best Buy starts taking money for pre-orders without a date or data plan pricing announced.
Some videos of the TB get posted on YouTube, including benchmarks. Disappointingly, the Thunderbolt can't even match up to the 9 month old Galaxy S in the gaming benchmarks.
Then, the final nail in the coffin for me: the release of the Atrix. Now, I personally have no interest in buying a Motorola phone, but it beats the pants off of the Thunderbolt in all of the benchmarks, is dual-core, has more RAM (1GB vs 768MB in the TB), has a significantly higher resolution screen (despite being smaller), and is about 20% thinner/10% lighter while having a 40% higher battery capacity. It also has Gorilla Glass, which the TB may well have but we wouldn't know. And, to add insult to injury it is $50 cheaper than the unreleased Thunderbolt.
After typing all of that out, HTC's slogan seems even more ridiculous to me (which I didn't think was possible). Now, this all may seem overly harsh, but this is a phone that you're going to be stuck with for 2 years with no options for early upgrade (thanks Verizon!). As time goes on without a release date, new phones are being announced and released and the Thunderbolt is losing its luster. I can't imagine them screwing this launch up any more than they have.
Anyways, I just wanted to vent my (and my wife's) frustrations and see what everyone thought...
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Click to collapse
I'm upgrading from an old school flip phone so I'm happy no matter what
Chopes said:
I'm upgrading from an old school flip phone so I'm happy no matter what
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Click to collapse
Haha I'm just upgrading my DINC but I'm happy still too
I don't care about having the cutting edge I just want a decent phone and the TB is a decent phone
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
I agree. No matter what you buy , there will be a better phone out the next week. Just get a good one and you will be happy with it. I have had my Inc almost a year and I have been very happy with it. It will be the same with the Tbolt.
Sent by my Droid Incredible
The OP is also forgetting that the Atrix is on another network.
So while it may be cheaper up front, you would end up paying far more per month for less data. Also, the Atrix is not LTE but HSPA+ so as ATT starts moving over to LTE, the ATRIX wont take advantage of it.
I agree but thunderbolt is still a good phone. Oh by the way Atrix is lte capable just reaserch it. I might be going with the atrix even though I hate Motorola. I might return.my inspire 4g since the bumped up the attic release date.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
This Best Buy commercial explains it all... I love it. The BB program kinda sucks, but the commercial hits technology to the tee.
nkd said:
I agree but thunderbolt is still a good phone. Oh by the way Atrix is lte capable just reaserch it. I might be going with the atrix even though I hate Motorola. I might return.my inspire 4g since the bumped up the attic release date.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I thought that was debunked since the FCC papers do not show a LTE radio in there. The rumor is of a possibly refreshed Atrix down the line with an LTE chip, but I thought the current one is categorically not LTE able.
andydumi said:
I thought that was debunked since the FCC papers do not show a LTE radio in there. The rumor is of a possibly refreshed Atrix down the line with an LTE chip, but I thought the current one is categorically not LTE able.
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Click to collapse
No I swear I read from a very credible website and even could have been one of the videos where they said. Atrix 4G will be only phone that will be able to do LTE down the line when ATT upgrades their network. It was a few months back, I am sure if you google it a little, you might be able to dig it up.
superchilpil said:
I don't care about having the cutting edge I just want a decent phone and the TB is a decent phone
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately the price point on the TB is not appropriate for a "decent phone".
andydumi said:
The OP is also forgetting that the Atrix is on another network.
So while it may be cheaper up front, you would end up paying far more per month for less data. Also, the Atrix is not LTE but HSPA+ so as ATT starts moving over to LTE, the ATRIX wont take advantage of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I'm not forgetting that at all. If I could live with 2GB/mo AT&T would be substantially cheaper than Verizon for me, but I won't go to AT&T as a matter of principal. But I don't think the argument holds up either way, because $200 has always been the ceiling for new phones on both networks (aside from the ridiculous Droid R2-D2).
My post is really about the phones anyway--my main gripe is that HTC/Verizon are pitching (and charging for) the TB as if it's some cutting-edge device, when it's nothing more than an incremental improvement over what was already out there and has significantly inferior hardware to a phone that will be shipping before it.
And as for LTE, lots of places will be waiting 2+ years for it to come to their area.
To the OP, what was u expecting some quad core phone that can run crysis on max. Sang so what if its not the fastest dam phone stay with ur Samsung. You act like this is some type of game system lol. I don't see the price as an issue. Really is a duel core going to improve my Twitter , Facebook, angry birds experience no lol. If the bionic,GS2
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
magnafides said:
Unfortunately the price point on the TB is not appropriate for a "decent phone".
No I'm not forgetting that at all. If I could live with 2GB/mo AT&T would be substantially cheaper than Verizon for me, but I won't go to AT&T as a matter of principal. But I don't think the argument holds up either way, because $200 has always been the ceiling for new phones on both networks (aside from the ridiculous Droid R2-D2).
My post is really about the phones anyway--my main gripe is that HTC/Verizon are pitching (and charging for) the TB as if it's some cutting-edge device, when it's nothing more than an incremental improvement over what was already out there and has significantly inferior hardware to a phone that will be shipping before it.
And as for LTE, lots of places will be waiting 2+ years for it to come to their area.
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Click to collapse
Simple as this, dont like it.. dont buy it.
if you have to gripe to world so be it, but most people wont see eye to eye with you
i agree the price tag may be high but thats all i agree with
I will never stray from HTC again after i tried other android phones. they are **** crap compared to HTC
end of discussion/
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/cellphones/motorola-atrix-4g.aspx?page=2
While the Atrix 4G's speed was also reflected on our benchmark tests, it didn't blow other smartphones out of the water. The handset achieved an An3DBench score of 6,305, more than 1,000 points above the current average, but just 25 points faster that the Inspire 4G. Also, both the Nexus S (6,853) and Droid Pro (7,352) handily beat the Atrix 4G on this test.
Though the Atrix 4G notched a fast Linpack score of 32.7, beating the Evo Shift 4G (29.7) and T-Mobile G2 (28.7), the Inspire 4G logged a higher 37.58. The Atrix 4G's most impressive score was on the Benchmark CPU test, where it notched a record 2,369, almost 1,500 points above average, and almost 200 points higher than the myTouch 4G (2,190)./
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the tegra 2 chip is yet to be optimize fully in 2.2 so until the update to 2.3 and beyond to utilize the two cores, it will have comparable data to the sencond generation snapdragon in the thunderbolt/inspire/mytouch 4g/desirez.
superchilpil said:
Simple as this, dont like it.. dont buy it.
if you have to gripe to world so be it, but most people wont see eye to eye with you
i agree the price tag may be high but thats all i agree with
I will never stray from HTC again after i tried other android phones. they are **** crap compared to HTC
end of discussion/
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Click to collapse
I probably won't buy it; but as you said it's certainly within my right to post my thoughts and I was just curious how other people felt about the whole thing. I prefer HTC's skin (if I couldn't have vanilla) and build quality over the other manufacturers, however my MyTouch 3G is an absolute piece of junk and has been since the day I got it.
And no, I'm not expecting a quad core phone in 2011, that's a false dichotomy. There are shades of gray, and I don't think expecting the TB to beat a 9 month-old phone in gaming is too much to ask. Considering I'd be stuck with the phone for 2 years, I don't want to worry about whether I'm going to be able to use new apps/play new games a year and a half from now.
There will be a phone like the Atrix on Verizon released in Nov. From a very reliable source.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Being me, money is an issue. $250 is obscene, but by pre-ordering with bestbuy, I received a $50 giftcard too. So it is actually $200. But I will be paying the tax of $250 and not $200. So $200 is the cost of current upper tier, so eh.
Actually guys the skype thing isnt a big suprise since the icon installed on the phone says "SKYPE DEMO" !!!
Even when youve seen videos online it was always a DEMO VIDEO of skype in action.
i am on att with the iphone 4 and was thinking about the atrix but when i seen the bionic and decided to wait i wish there was a release date for the bionic
I still dont see how its not cutting edge. Its one of the top phones that will be on the market. It has already been benched against 2 other "future release" phones (bionic & the samsung) and it beat them both in testing and the bionic is a dual core.
Yes its true there will be bigger and badder bad boys out there eventually but that is true for all electronics pretty much. Even when these newer phones come out this phone will still run neck and neck with them in terms of features and such. I can understand speed and memory for PC and laptops but this is a phone, how powerful do you need it. Yes I like the specs and all but I still dont think all the power it has will be fully tapped into by me.
Well said , my feelings exactly ! It is a phone , not a laptop or ipod.
It had a quadrant score of 1950, how fast does it need to be.
Sent by my Droid Incredible
Given same costs, which would you prefer?
I originally wanted to go to the Sensation, and I waited for it. But, lukewarm initial reviews, $5 more a month for a limited 2GB data cap (vs unlimited and LTE on VZW), and a more active development community with the Thunderbolt convinced me to change my order to VZW.
However, considering the terrible battery life of the Thunderbolt, the fact that I don't get LTE in my office or at home (1x and 3G are my normal connections), and the Tbolt being slightly inferior in the hardware department, I am thinking that i should switch back to the Sensation idea. I get 20% discount with Verizon, versus 12% on Tmobile.
I want to trust that upcoming Gingerbread ROMs for Thunderbolt will result in a better product on a faster network. I'm just somewhat underwhelmed with the Tbolt after a week.
Thoughts?
personally, i would look at it like this
1. what carrier has stronger signal strength where you are
2. LTE vs Hardware. your either going to get amazing download and upload speeds when LTE finally rolls out in your area and imo its amazing + its unlimited if you are grandfathered in; or you can get slightly improved specs which honestly, wont really matter in day to day usage. The only differences you'll really see are when you play high end games or something like that.
3. Which phone has a more developed community. As far as i know, the thunderbolt has a huge community just like the original incredible. Even now, after so many years the incredible is still getting roms. I saw a sense 3.0 rom on an incredible!
sooo up to you lol. your going to be using the phone not me :]
You know I was at the same exact crossroads. I just came off of my 2 year contract with T-Mobile and I was pondering buying the Sensation or switching to Verizon (which has much better coverage in my area). I like the Sensation just a tad better due to its dual core processor and how much shimmer it is. This goes without saying, the Sensation is one sexy phone. It all came down to the carrier for me. In my house I would average 1-2 bars. So I went with VZW and the Thunderbolt. Honestly I love the Thunderbolt. It's great. For you, I would say go with the carrier that has better service in your area which I believe is safe to say Verizon.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using XDA Premium App
if you don't get Ltd where you are most I would go with the sensation
Yeah, it is completely a coin toss. Look at the development community here vs. Sensation, the Tbolt is much more active.
Considering the hell that an AT&T buyout would bring to Atmosphere, I'd be far happier stuck on VZW for two years.
If I can just work around this battery misery, I think the Tbolt will be fine.
Sent from my TBolt using XDA App
BoulderGeek said:
Yeah, it is completely a coin toss. Look at the development community here vs. Sensation, the Tbolt is much more active.
Considering the hell that an AT&T buyout would bring to Atmosphere, I'd be far happier stuck on VZW for two years.
If I can just work around this battery misery, I think the Tbolt will be fine.
Sent from my TBolt using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Im getting about 8-10 hrs. on mine right now
setup in sig
Sensation looks pretty sweet. If Verizon had it in their line up it would be a top choice.
Agreed with everybody else. Depends on the carrier. If no LTE get the sensation.
T-Mobile will throttle down your data after you hit the 2GB ceiling, get Verizon before the 7th of July and you're locked in with unltd data with no cap or throttle, be it 3G or LTE. Even if you don't have LTE yet, you will eventually. The majority of features on a smartphone use network data, so all the memory and processing power technology has to offer means absolutely **** when your data stinks.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
If you don't get LTE in your area, download LTE On/Off or a similar program and switch to CDMA Auto. This will greatly improve your battery life.
I would take a not-so-hot device on Verizon's 4G any day over a "hot device" on a non Verizon carrier any day!!
Plus, the TB is definitely hot
Let me offer my feelings, because I have just completed the exact same journey you are embarking on, meaning I had a Sensation on Tmo, and just witched to VZW for the Thunderbolt. Here are my impressions:
HTC Sensation 4G:
I used to be on my company's corporate plan with blackberrys but recently accepted a new job, which allowed me to get whatever phone/carrier I wanted. I had used Tmobile years ago and did the whole HTC HD2 custom ROM thing and had a really good time with it. The sensation always claimed to be on 4g mode and I got relatively good speeds. I could always stream music/videos without any delay, and Speedtest would report about 3mbps on average, with a peak of 8 on a couple of occasions. Coverage was excellent & no dropped calls.
The phone itself is a work of art. It's very light, had outstanding battery life under heavy usage, and Sense 3.0 is beautiful. The tweaked functionality of the camera app among other things was nice. My favorite feature of course being free built in hotspot/tethering. However something was missing.
I really missed the screensize of the HD2. While both are 4.3" diagonal, the S4G has a higher aspect ratio, so the phone is actually skinnier. I didnt like this. I really liked how readable text was on my HD2, and the proximity of icons/buttons when texting were. All in all, the HD2 was simply the perfect size for me.
Then I went to a VZW store and made then unbox a thunderbolt for me so I could try it out without those security wires attached to it. I immediately fell in love and knew within seconds that this was the phone for me. I ran out the buyers remorse period on tmobile just to make sure, and finally made the switch on Monday! I cant tell you how pleased I am. The phone just feels right in my hands.
Every time I used the S4G I was constantly judging it for its screensize. This was a huge bummer, because I could never enjoy the phone. Every time I picked it up all I could think about was how much more smushed and how much scrolling I needed to do to get the same screen real estate visible on the Thunderbolt.
Thoughts on the Thunderbolt:
People arent lying, the battery life is borderline abysmal, but this is actually fine with me since I work behind a desk. I am actually charging it via USB as we speak. I'll probably also plug it into my car charger so it's boosted by the time I get home. I seem to get about 4-6 hours of heavy usage out of it (I was recording myself giving seminars this morning, then surfing all through lunch using the kickstand). I dont mind the battery life since I can easily keep it juiced, but I would NEVER recommend this phone for anyone on the go.
The only thing I actually dont like is how bulky the phone is. Even my HD2 was slimmer/lighter. Maybe its the LTE modem, or maybe it's the kickstand, but the phone feels fat in my hand. In fact, I've basically traded one nuisance for another, nagging on the S4G due to size, and nagging on the TB due to weight. Time will tell if I begin to regret my decision, but I think the other benefits will make up for it.
On TMO, within my first week on the S4G I had already used 1gb. Granted I was playing around with it a bit more than usual, but still. I think we're all gonna hit 2GB a lot sooner than we realize, and the carriers on banking on this (hence the reason they made them). Having 100% unlimited grandfathered 4G with the TB was probably my second biggest selling point. I dont like using a phone and constantly checking the MyAccount app, or 3g watchdog to determine how close I am to running over. It kinda sours the whole experience. With the TB I can just kick back relax and know I'll never be bothered with it.
And speaking of bulk/kickstand issues, I just want to say how AWESOME this kickstand is. I am constantly using it (even though it's only been 3 days lol). I love being able to stand it up and flick through web pages with 1 finger while I eat a sandwich or pasta or something at work. I'm really shocked they arent doing this will all their phones now.
Oh yeah, one other thing, performance. Believe it or not, but the TB actually feels snappier to me running Froyo than the S4G. Dual core or not, the S4G's framerate when switching homescreens always had a little choppiness to it. This really blows and feels like you're using a bogged down phone. The TB always has wonderfully smooth transitions. Obviously this is due to lack of 3d fx, but I'd rather have a smooth simply interface than a clunky advanced one. The only feature of Sense 3.0 I actually used was the lockscreen widget. It's pretty hand to be able to open emails/sms messages from here, but it really only saves you from 1 extra step when you use a standard lockscreen. All the other upgrades apps were pretty useless. Yeah the new weather widget is awesome and I would just stare and stare at it for minutes at a time. That was on my first day. On the 2nd day I never even noticed it. I even used the weather as my wallpaper, and still I didnt notice it.
P.S. I was really nervous about this whole ATT thing too. ATT has given some blanket statement that existing 4g users on Tmo's network will be "given an opportunity to upgrade" or something along those lines. Basically you WILL have to get a new phone eventually. LTE is NOT what Tmo is using, and ATT wants that spectrum baaaaad. Believe me, once it's theirs they are going to use it, and completely redeploy it for real 4G as they can. If you're LUCKY, they MIGHT do it in a series of phaseouts, letting users of phones like the S4G exhaust their contracts before each little piece of spectrum is gobbled up and transformed into LTE space. And thats assuming they're going to play nice, and since when has ATT ever played nice? ATT is always the first carrier to impose some asinine rules or restrictions on their services. They are the last company I would trust to be fair and not just force me to renew my contract in 13 months or be dumped to 2g speeds forever.
Hope that helps!
Verizon + Unlimited 4G LTE on the Thunderbolt can't be beat.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write that up, RunNGun!
You've hit upon many of my concerns and observations. I was actually thinking that the Sensation's aspect ratio difference and smaller size would be a positive for me. the Thunderbolt with a silicone bumper case feels as massive as the old Apple Newton I had in 1994.
But, I'm a relatively substantial guy at six feet and 215lbs, so it's not overwhelmingly large. I think that the 4" AMOLED of the Samsung Galaxy S line is the sweet spot for me. but, when I had one on AT&T, I returned it within three weeks. And I am glad that I did.
I'm getting about the same battery that you are. I also have USB at work and chargers all over the house, cars and motorcycles so I'm quite covered for applying power. I might get 8 hours on the stock battery, with wifi off and green power on.
I'm holding off the root and flash until I am out of return period and whatever upgrade that may come has been seen. I did port over my TMobile number that I've had since 1998, so I am pretty much sold on the Tbolt. i did a Speedtest in the car at a stoplight the other day and got 30mbit! And, I've already burned through 5+ Gigs of data just letting the bloatware do its thing and playing some Pandora.
I had a very good experience with Tmobile on my old Nokia 5800. But that sucked so badly for data services, that i only had text and voice on it. However, i could always make a call, where my GF on iPhone 4 has about a 50/50 chance of getting service or an inbound call.
I've also had good experiences with VZW in the past, but CDMA is such dead tech, it is hard to buy into it in 2011. I'd prefer a true world phone for my travels.
Cheers again for a great synopsis.
So you got the TB then? I have to agree with you about CDMA, but with a carrier as big and powerful as VZW I guess it doesnt really matter, they've certainly proven that it is a reliable platform and they can do great things with it. I wish I could use my phone overseas too, but at least I'll always have my wife's HD2 which is GSM for those occasions.
BTW I forgot to mention that my battery life is stifled from use of bluetooth a lot. I basically leave bluetooth on 24/7, GPS too, even though I'm not really using GPS that much. I dont actually shut off the radio. WiFi is always off. The first day I actually got 12 hours out of it before charging, because I was just too busy to play with it. Hard to say what my ultimate average will really be.
I know one of these shows up every once and a while, but now that the selection of phones has grown quite a bit over the past two days, and the holiday season is coming soon, I was curious; What phone do you plan on upgrading to?
[Edit]
Oh ya, I plan on getting the Galaxy Nexus in late November :3 I have always wanted a Nexus on Verizon. That with a grandfathered unlimited plan? YAY!
I will get whatever quad core phone is out when I can renew (in January ) as long as it's 4g, I'll be happy
Sent from my Eris using xda premium
Oops, I didn't think to include a "Better future phone" as a poll option, sorry all :3
I had a Bionic for a little while, but exchanged it for a Droid 3 the other day. The Bionic kept dropping data randomly, in spots where I knew there was a great 3G signal. I really don't need 4G bandwidth on a phone anyway, was looking for a solid radio for a change that wouldn't stutter or drop calls (so, Moto was a plus), the world phone is a plus. I know that all of the 4G phones have had data issues, and I wanted something I could count on while Verizon works out the 4G bugs. The D3 is still dual core, and has the same qHD on a smaller display. Bonus: it's a world phone. I may be traveling to Europe during this contract.
Also, the Bionic was really too big for what I wanted, so, to me, the Nexus looks like Maxwell Smart's shoe phone. I think I'd go Razr over the Nexus if I wanted a 4G phone, but that's me.
If I had to upgrade today, it would be the HTC Thunderbolt. It's not perfect, but when I played with one in the Verizon store it seemed slick and faster than the Incredible 2.
I like HTC since Motorola has been hostile to people who want to root their phones, and Samsung has lagged on updating to newer versions of Android.
Now that HTC has decided to pay blackmail to Microsoft over patent suits (like Samsung and several others), they're no longer pure. Motorola is the only company that hasn't bent over for Microsoft and I hope they stand up and sue to prove Microsoft is bluffing.
So who knows what things will look like in January when I upgrade. I might be buying a Motorola.
My wife has Virgin and she's sick and tired of her Samsung Intercept (what a shocker.) We want her to stick with a non contract provider, and it seems like most of the other carriers have sub par android offerings. The EVO V seems intriguing but I have 2 big concerns. 1. The phone is a year old. I know it had Good specs at the time and having ICS helps now but I want this phone to last more than a year. 2. I've read in some places that battery life is atrocious. Now my wife isn't a power user, but I also don't feel like hearing her complain constantly about the battery life. I'm leaning more toward this phone than the Milestone because I like the bumped specs and having a legit ICS is a big selling point. As far as a no contract Android goes, is this a good get or should I wait / keep shopping around or do others have some suggestions I may have overlooked?
dvandam said:
My wife has Virgin and she's sick and tired of her Samsung Intercept (what a shocker.) We want her to stick with a non contract provider, and it seems like most of the other carriers have sub par android offerings. The EVO V seems intriguing but I have 2 big concerns. 1. The phone is a year old. I know it had Good specs at the time and having ICS helps now but I want this phone to last more than a year. 2. I've read in some places that battery life is atrocious. Now my wife isn't a power user, but I also don't feel like hearing her complain constantly about the battery life. I'm leaning more toward this phone than the Milestone because I like the bumped specs and having a legit ICS is a big selling point. As far as a no contract Android goes, is this a good get or should I wait / keep shopping around or do others have some suggestions I may have overlooked?
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The battery life is about middle ground as far as Android high end phones. You can get a full day out of it if you need/want to. The phone, IMHO, still has plenty of life left in it. It fits great in your hands. And watching 3D videos on YouTube is awesome. I know people will say it is/was a gimmick, but I completely disagree. It is just an extra feature on a phone that sets it apart from the other ones. I think once the iPhone comes out with 3D, everyone will rush to get one and other phone makers will make it a standard feature on all phones. It was just ahead of its time on the Evo 3D. With hardly any other phones to share 3D images with, it makes it hard to show off how awesome 3D images and videos are without being next to someone and showing them on your phone.
I can understand people wanting to have the next generation of bigger and better phones, but just because a newer model is out doesn't make the Evo 3D magically stop working or cease to have a dual core processor with 1GB of RAM...which still runs every app and game, still makes phone calls, and send texts with ease.
This may or may not affect you, but could...the Evo 3D uses WiMAX and will that network will still be support for a few years in places where it is operational. Such as my little city. I have WiMAX and I use it as if my life depends on it. Sure, I could get the newest phone with LTE, but until Sprint gets it in my city, I'm stuck with 3G. And once you go 4G you can't go back.
I vote get the Evo 3D. And enjoy! I know I have enjoyed mine and will continue to...I am eligible for an upgrade, but I'm not sure I can do it yet because I love this phone and 4G data.
-Ken
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
It's a great phone at $100 off craigslist if you are already on sprint or can flash it somehow for another carrier. To pay $300 for it would be an incredible waste of money. Sprints wimax is worthless if you are moving and only ok if you are not. If your house is right next to a wimax tower you might be ok. I thought it has been said it has a few problems out of the box with sprints\virgins version of ics so be ready to flash\root it right away to make it work better. A lot of work for a $300 phone. The 3d part is really just a gimmick, kind of a add-on for the kiddies. These are the realities of this phone.http://voices.yahoo.com/3d-devices-smartphones-causing-headaches-eye-8858717.html
I love my Evo 3D now with ICS, but I wouldn't buy a new one now. Phones get old fast, your best bet is to buy the latest and greatest and it may last 2 years.
Buy it new for like $100 flash it to virgin. Its $300 cuz your not signing a contract. I'm running meanrom ics and I get days of medium use with absolutely no lag or issues.
Everybody gets the latest and greatest because that's how manufactures control the market. I don't think any other phone for this price is even comparable.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
notasimpleway said:
The battery life is about middle ground as far as Android high end phones.
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Those must be the magical unicorn Android phones...
I'm averaging 50% remaining charge after ~36 hours with everything enabled except 4G. You can get 2 days out of the EVO V easily with Harmonia 3 (a cleaned up stock ROM):
http://www.vmroms.com/index.php?topic=157.0
I can't report on stock battery performance because frankly I rooted and installed Harmonia 3 about an hour after I got the phone.
Of the smartphones I've owned (Palm Pre, EVO 4G, Optimus V, Optimus Slider) and used, the EVO V is by far the best all around. This phone with a no-contract Virgin plan is just about perfect (for me).
I suspect those reporting atrocious battery life are leaving 4G on.
sailio said:
Buy it new for like $100 flash it to virgin. Its $300 cuz your not signing a contract. I'm running meanrom ics and I get days of medium use with absolutely no lag or issues.
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There is a LOT of issues with flashing it to Virgin, he'd be better off flashing to Boost but regardless of which carrier it would involve cloning the MEID/ESN of a donor phone and I wouldn't suggest it unless you know a lot about phones and have a backup in case it takes you a while. It is worth it though even at $300, the specs are just as comparable to today's phones and over the time she would have the phone a couple of years it would have paid for itself several times in comparison to getting it on contract at a subsidized price. I would DEFINITELY suggest it, the phone's specs as I said are comparable to phones coming out today (even higher specs than some new phones) and whether or not it remains supported it'll still remain a good phone for a time to come.
Esn has nothing to do with flashing it to another carrier... Just firmware and pri. I work for radioshack so I deal with this on a daily basis
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Not to hate on HTC... but I would wait for new galaxy to drop in price. I think that is going to be the best phone out this year and honestly you will be good for atleast 2 years.
Battery is amazing if you are using a MEAN rom. Otherwise, so/so. Also... I would say the biggest concern is the crappy hardware. You are taking a chance at having a blown earpiece or failing digitizer. These are common issues and I suffer from BOTH.
sailio said:
Esn has nothing to do with flashing it to another carrier... Just firmware and pri. I work for radioshack so I deal with this on a daily basis
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
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lol it does when the carrier doesn't allow flashing Work at radio shack? I've actually flashed phones so I know Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile blocks MEIDs/ESNs that are not in their database. It's not like flashing to Cricket or Metro PCS because of this fact. You could flash to Boost or Virgin without changing it but you won't be able to put it on your account Go to Virgin or Boost and just try and activate an account with an ESN/MEID not in their database, it won't work and customer service won't do it either lol (nor will they add it)
The only and I mean *only* way to get a non virgin or boost phone working on a virgin or boost account is by flashing and changing the ESN/MEID.
Also, I HAAAAATE when people say "I work for Radio Shack" or "I work for Best Buy Mobile" or "I work for geek squad" and use it to say (hey I'm an expert) not to diss on any of these (in fact I'm sure a lot of them are very good), but the vast majority of people I know at these jobs know very little and only know what's part of their official training etc. Again not all of them but pleeeaaassseee don't be so sure in something you obviously don't have experience in and giving a user HORRIBLE advise in which they will likely regret it if they try and follow it In fact you probably shouldn't give advice on a subject unless you've tried it (which you obviously haven't lol)