I love it July 8, 2011

Reviewer:  Starmount  (NC USA) -

Previous iphone3 owner. Looking for an upgrade.

Love my HTC thunderbolt.

Pro: Fast processor and response. Crystal clean screen. Friendly Sense user interface.
4.3" screen size is just right size for browning internet and reading news. BEAUTIFUL and QUALITY BUILD, "No plasticy feeling". No quality issue at all. Options for me to choose between 4G and 3G. Automatic word wrap when zoom in. Nice kickstand feature for watching media.

Con: Average call quality (compared with Apple iphon4). Average battery life for 4G use.

Updates After 2 Weeks use..........................
No regrets for buying this phone. I love it again.

Its okay - could be better July 7, 2011

Reviewer:  Mr. Matt  (Austin, Texas) -

The phone crashes alot, the processor is not able to keep up with the basic functions of the phone, Texting causes the phone to crash... Ive had two of them so far, both have the same problem.

Screen is nice, camera is nice, takes good photos. HTC should have placed a better processor in this phone. Screen size is perfect, fits in my hand well. It just crashs about 9 times a day. I like it - but its awful and I would not buy another one :-(

the kick-stand is a cool feature

quite good! July 7, 2011

Reviewer:  Jan B. 

We currently have in use in our family the Samsung Galaxy S phone as well as this Thunderbolt now and when my husband and I upgraded from the Blackberry storm 2 to the Thunderbolt a month ago it was a great upgrade for us. The Android format has been great and although it may be a little heavy the phone is a substantial upgrade over what I was used to in the past..........

Irritating. July 4, 2011

Reviewer:  rebecca 

Sure, it is a fast phone, BUT.... since the last update, my phone constantly reboots itself. I don't mean a couple times per day, I am talking about every 10 minutes!!!! I took it back to Verizon and asked them to fix the issue. They told me to back everything up, remove the sim chip and reset the phone to the originaly factory settings. So I did this. Now it is even worse!
And because it is continuously rebooting itself, my battery gets all of 3 hours then I have to recharge my phone.
I am beginning to think I have chosen the wrong phone.

Good, But Could Be Better June 13, 2011

Reviewer:  C. Ballard  (San Bernardino) -

I have had this phone since April. I was so excited when I got this phone, I mean just look at those great specs: 1 GHZ processor, 8 GB of memory, 768 MB of RAM, 4.3 inch screen, 32 GB micro SD card!! I was thinking to myself this should be a killer phone...so fast! Here are the things I like about the phone:

1. Huge screen
2. It can be fast at some things you do
3. Form factor, I like the way the body of the phone looks, and I like the kickstand even though it covers the speaker
4. I liked the HTC Sense operating system

All these things were a plus for me at first. I didn't mention the 4G as it is not in my area and probably won't be for awhile. However, I have seen some issues with the phone that are really starting to bug me.

1. Rebooting: This thing reboots more than my Blackberry ever did. As a matter of fact my BB rarely rebooted and I rarely had to reboot it myself. My Thunderbolt has rebooted itself twice today! And it randomly does it every week at least twice.

2. Connection problems: I sometime experience times when the phone will not connect to my gmail account. Its not as frequent as the rebooting but it happens here and there. Usually when that happens I have to reboot the phone...

3. Native Messaging App: the HTC app for messaging seems to freeze alot. I would have preferred to use that app for texting but I was forced to use Handcent.

4. Long volume buttons: I guess this is a preference, but the buttons are easily pressed and when my phone is either in silent mode or low its annoying to barely press that long button and turn everything back on again.

5. Battery Life: Everyone should know by now that the batter life on this phone is pretty bad. For example, I fully charged my phone before going to work today. I made one 3 minute call, checked my twitter and email, and sent some texts and I was down to 73% by 10 a.m. Fortunately for me I can charge at the office or in my car. HTC put a 1400 mAh battery in this phone, why? It was initially delayed, according to reports, because of battery issues. Did they not do any further testing, or did they just want to get the phone out as quickly as possible? My guess is the latter.

6. Addition of Apps: HTC and Verizon have loaded so much bloatware on the phone it's not even funny! The majority of these programs run in the background eating up your battery and using memory. The only way to get rid of these apps is to root your phone! This is unacceptable. I am guessing they do this for monetary reasons but at least give the consumer the ability to delete what they don't use! In my case that would be all the apps they have installed. After all of the bloatware you have about 2.4 GB of memory (this is approximate it may be more or less, but not 3GB)out of the 8 GB advertised.

Too make matters worse, it seems like the phone has gotten worse the more I use it. So with a 14 day trial period I wasnt able to make a determination on whether I would keep the phone. Had I had a 30-day trial period, it would have gone back. I am not telling anyone to not buy the phone as my issues may not bother you or maybe (if you are lucky) you may not have these issues at all. I am just saying buyer beware...

Great Phone, just be smart with battery life June 9, 2011

Reviewer:  Bryant 

I bought this phone when it came out and have been loving it ever since. If you are in a 4g area and use alot of apps and have your email inbox/facebook...etc updated every hour then yeah you will have some problems with battery life. But just be smart, the phone is leaps and bounds better software wise versus its competitors. If you never want to recharge your phone then don't buy this one bc you will have to recharge it everynight but your phone won't be able to do near the things the Thunderbolt can.

OVERALL: Great phone just be smart about using the battery, you don't need all 3 of your email accounts updated every hour and you don't need your screen brightness all the way up if you work indoors all day. Turning off facebook and a couple of other apps that update all the time will help.

In Comparison with iPhone 4 - and Minimal Flaws June 7, 2011

Reviewer:  DarlingJiLLFace 

I bought my Thunderbolt about a month after it came out. I was in love when I first saw it in the store when I went to see it before I had the money. I, like most people I'm sure, was comparing the Thunderbolt with the iPhone 4. In comparison - the Thunderbolt has the 4G LTE internet, which, frankly, blows even my cable internet out of the water; whereas the iPhone is still on 3G. Not that 3G is bad, but 4G is completely insane. Also, screen size. The Thunderbolt has an ENORMOUS screen and it is absolutely perfect for watching things on YouTube or movies you have loaded. Another big thing between the two for me was the App Store. On the iPhone all of the apps have to be approved by Apple, which means if it's any good, they're going to charge you for it. On the Android Market, there are endless lists of free apps - including Angry Birds. The Thunderbolt weighs more than most phones, but hey, it doesn't pull my pants down when it's in my pocket and that's all that matters to me!

Now - like I said I got my Thunderbolt quick... I had it for 2 weeks and it kept making me force close Messages... I don't need to tell you how incredibly inconvenient that is... But, I went back to Verizon, they tried everything, and it was still force closing, so they gave me a new one. I had to re-download everything and it took approximately 45 seconds to download all of my apps - and I have over 50. Force closing messages is happening on my newer one as well - but I have found that it's because I have SO MANY MESSAGES in there! Once I delete everything, it's back to normal. BIG flaw, but it can be avoided by keeping your message inventory under 2000 (I text A LOT). That, folks, is really the only flaw I have noticed other than the very obvious battery life issue. It doesn't last long when in 4G, but frankly, I don't need it to be 4G constantly, so I just turn it to 3G when I'm not using it (that way I still get my email notifications and my Facebook notifications) by downloading "Phone Info by SC@Taiwan." You open the app, click on "Phone Information" and scroll down a bit until you see a drop-down that should read, "CDMA +LTE/EvDo auto." That means you have it set to 4G when it's available, but it switches to 3G when you're not in a 4G zone - automatically. Now, in order to set it on 3G only - even when 4G is available, you simply set it to, "CDMA auto (PRL)." That saves your battery a tremendous amount.

On other reviews of this phone I noticed people having problems sending Multimedia Messages - I have not had this problem. Also, there IS a notification light behind the ear speaker that lights up when you get notifications. Since this is a first generation phone, it's going to have some flaws, but the perks are far more outweighing. I've noticed people complaining about apps coming pre-loaded to the phone... Yeah, they do come pre-loaded, BUT most of them are pretty useful (like Amazon Kindle), and it has so much memory - you'll never run out of space for your apps.

The positives - The 4G is outstanding, like I said, it runs apps so smoothly it's ridiculous. It has enough speed and efficiency to be able to have a "Live Background" running at all times without making the phone lag - I did not have this option on my Motorola Droid I, it just slowed the phone down immensely. I get Facebook notifications immediately, most of the time as soon as it shows up on my computer - you can be logged in to both at the same time and your phone still receives the notifications. I thought that was nice. On my Moto, I never got my FB notifications. I get emails instantly, they send instantly, it's perfect.

Another big perk - the keyboard is HUGE - and even if you DO make typos, 99% of the time, it knows EXACTLY what you meant and automatically corrects it. It also automatically inserts apostrophes when needed, and capitalizes names, states, cities, generally anything that needs capitalized. I love that because I don't use abbreviations when I text - so I do not know how well it works with abbreviations, but I would assume it is just as efficient. I've never had to text on a touch screen before and the flawlessness and accuracy of this keyboard is so amazing that I don't miss my keyboard at all.

The camera - it takes a few seconds to focus, but when it does, you get amazing pictures. I went to the zoo about a week after I got my phone and my pictures were completely zoomed in and are crystal clear. I saw other reviews complaining about the camera - I for one love it. It also detects faces and focuses on them (I know this because it makes a small box around each face when it is focused). And it takes no time flat to download your pictures to Facebook.

Overall - this is a FABULOUS phone, I couldn't ask for a more efficient and cool phone. People still like their iPhones, and that's cool... but once they see the 4G - they are SO jealous. (Trust me.) GREAT PHONE - buy one. They're kinda pricey - but like I've said before - totally 100% worth it.

It's a good phone for me. June 5, 2011

Reviewer:  The Computer Genius "The Computer Genius"  (Tamarac Flor i duh) -

Hi- I got the thunderbolt about a week and half ago. I really like the phone. I keep on trying to find fault with it but once I do and compare it to others I'm glad I got the thunderbolt.

As far as the rebooting issue is concerned I updated my phone when I first got it and I didn't have a reboot issue. But I did have somthing else a voice reconition problem and a GPS problem. I called HTC and I was told to pull the battery and also uninstall the voice search update I did and I'm not having a problem anymore. The one thing I found out was by uninstalling the update I can't give it commands like I should have been able to with the update. I downloaded another app and now I have voice command. no biggie. My GPS works fine now.

I am having another problem I live right on the border of 4G and 3G. I'm also on the third floor. My phone does switch from 4G to 3 G and vice versa "only at home" and while it is switching I am getting disconnected. The fix for that was to download an app that would allow me to enter the hidden menu (or dial the code myself) and set the phone on 3G only or 4G only with CDMA. that works fine for me at home so I can play online connect 4 LOL. While I'm out I am going into 3G/4G territory and my calls (while I'm on the phone stay intact. I called HTC and I called Verizon they both said that when you are swtiching from 3G to 4G territory it will disconnect. I also went into the store and asked the manager if I got another manufacture will I experience this problem he said yes. it's not the phones it's the way the netowrk is now. hopefully in in 6-8 months the network will be better. In the mean time i have a workaround and i'm not bothered by it.

The phone does not lag, it's fast, the games play great on it the screen is very responsive. The call quality is very good. The bar might prject a weak singal but I have not dropped or had a problem with any call. I've used this phone in my elevator, in the back of walmart, in the bathroom of walmart, in my house. One place I did drop a call was in the bathroom in the Hiltion Hotel on A1A in Fort Lauderdale Florida but on that strip no singnal is strong for any carrier and I was in a steel building. I'd like to say though it worked in the loby.

I have tested this phone out more so against the LG Revolution almost like everyday. But I have tested it against the Droid Charge. Let me put it this way-Against the Charge this phone kicked A--. All I did on the charge was download a game called metor lite (which is like breakout) and the charge couldn't handle it. the ball was going real slow and studding. So that ended that.

As far as the LG revolution. At times the revolution was faster then the thunderbolt. but at times I'd have to push the application icon a few times for it to launch. that kind of turned me off because what would have happened after I loaded a bunch of apps on? I also noticed that the icons were loaded into catagory and it was taking me a long time for me to find things. I also noticed the color was washed out. a little. One thing I liked about the revolution better than the bolt was when I was on the lowest resoultion on the camcorder the picture was better "at that resolution" In other words to use your camcorder to send a text and a very low pixel rate on the thunderbolt was one of the worst I've ever seen. I use to have a droid X and that was ok also. I tested my bolt against another one in the store with using a cam at the lowest resolution and the same thing happened. As far as other pictures or higher resolution is concerned the camera is fine.
The Lg has Netflix and I was really upset at the fact the thunderbolt can't get that. Let's hope for in the future netflix will be on the bolt. From what I read on the web there might be an issue with the verson of the processor the bolt because of the DRM protection. Then some other sites say the processor is ok. Go figure. Just remember it's a phone not a movie theather thats what I have to put in my head. What I also thought about is when I'm working when will I have time to watch netflix.

Overall I really like the phone. Yes there a few bug's in the network and maybe on the phone. If you happen to get a phone that doesn't reboot keep it. I like it.

After 5 weeks with my Thunderbolt June 4, 2011

Reviewer:  Frank 

This is my first smartphone and I like it very much. It sometimes randomly reboots itself which can be troublesome but livable. I've read that upgrades to the phone will likely help this.

The phone feature of the phone actually works pretty well. People can hear me and I can hear them so that is an improvement over some models.

The Tbolt is fast, the screen is incredible! It's so clear and large enough to see, has a good "touch" feel to it once you get used to a touch screen. (this was my first touch screen too) After trying to help my mom with her "touch" phone from another vendor, I now understand why she never calls or replies to my text msgs, its almost unusable.

The battery life borders between not-good and bad, Especially if you use it very much at all. As other reviewers have mentioned, it seems to struggle switching between 4g/3g/wifi networks and this can be frustrating as well. I've found it helps to turn off wifi when I get in my vehicle if I'm going to drive any considerable distance. After speaking with other users of various smartphones, the battery life issue seems to be pretty consistent across the spectrum so, with that in mind, I would recommend this phone to friends/family.

Verizon, please take notice June 3, 2011

Reviewer:  george-david andrews 

I like the phone but the battery life sucks. And the preloaded apps that you cannot delete or turn off sucks too. I agree with most of these reviews.

Overall a great phone. May 31, 2011

Reviewer:  meltingcube 

I had an iPhone 3G for a couple years before I decided I needed an upgrade, and the Thunderbolt is a great replacement.

-- Pros --
> Large Screen
The screen is much larger than my old iPhone 3G and I love it. The quality is also much nicer

> Good weight
Some may complain that the phone is too heavy however I like it. It makes it feel that it is of high quality.

> Fast Network
I've yet to hook this phone up to my WIFI simply because of how fast the WIFI is with Verizon's 4G network. I've also been in a few areas that only had 3G however the speed was still fairly good.

> Fast Phone.
This phone is blazing fast. I've only had a couple instances where an application had to force close and I'd image it was due to a bug in the application rather than an issue with the phone itself.

> Customization
Anyone coming from an iPhone knows how Apple likes to lock down the phone so that you only use it the way they want you to. With Android you can customize almost every aspect of the phone, and most even without having to root the phone.

-- Cons --
> Battery Life
Lets face it, the stock battery in this thing just plain sucks. I only got about 3-4 hours of use a day with the stock battery. Some say to degrade features to get a better battery life but come on, why limit the power of this fast phone? I ended up getting the extended battery and now the charge lasts a day and an half. The bulkiness the battery adds is great in my opinion since the phone is too thin anyway.

Another thing to note is some have complained that there are no cases that support the extended battery. Well recently Seidio started shipping a case for the extended battery and it looks like it will work well.

Just like everyone else says, the battery life when on 4G LTE is intolerable May 25, 2011

Reviewer:  Ben "Normally I prefer to read, but being able to listen to a book during my 90+ minute daily commute has been a real lifesaver. I feel like that time is no longer wasted, and if the book is good enough I look forward to continuing it on my drive home."  (Middletown, CT, United States) -

While it's got juice, this phone is really nice to use. I find it to be quick and responsive, and I like HTC's sense UI much better than Motorola's Motoblur. It comes with 8GB internal space and a 32GB micro SD card, so there's a ton of storage space. But as pretty much everyone else has mentioned, the battery life is crippling.

I work in New Haven, CT, and we received 4G LTE about a week ago as of the writing of this review. My phone went from having just enough juice to get through a business day, to not even close. The battery life on the Thunderbolt was literally cut in half when they upgraded the network in my area. Is 4G fast? Yes it is, I went from getting roughly 1.4 Mbps down and .5 Mbps up (speedtest.net app) to 11 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up, a bit under 10x was I was getting before. But in my opinion, it's not worth it if I can only be away from a power outlet for 3-4 hours at a time.

Pros: Good processor. Switching between tasks and web browsing is quick. Scrolling on web pages is also quite fast (some choppiness when there is much for flash content, but smooth otherwise). Great network speeds on LTE, solid on 3g as well. Nice sized screen.

Cons: Battery life on 3G is bearable, on 4G it's pretty bad. Even with light use you'll only get 1/2 day of use out of this phone on 4G. Screen resolution is low compared to other new phones coming out right now. Comes with bloatware that cannot be uninstalled. Sorry but I'm not going to use the Blockbuster app on this phone, or a Rock Band demo, can I please uninstall them?

Conclusion: If I got 8 hours of battery life out of this phone, just enough to get through a business day, I would have given it 4 stars and would probably be quite happy with this phone for the next 2 years until my next upgrade. I am a week beyond when I can return this phone to Verizon, and if I wasn't, I would probably exchange it for something else.

Good Phone May 20, 2011

Reviewer:  KCammie  (MA) -

*The battery life really isn't that bad. It's typical of smartphones these days to necessitate a nightly charge. Just be mindful of the background apps running that you may not be aware of and you'll be fine.

*The bloatware on this phone is rather annoying however, I wish there was a legal way to get rid of all the crap apps.

*4G is amazingly fast. Love it! Everything downloads in seconds.

*The screen is big and bright and I'm loving HTC sense. It's the best skin out of them all. Motorblur sucks.

Fast, tech-y, with a few issues May 19, 2011

Reviewer:  C. M. Delion 

First thing first, I am a Verizon customer who upgraded from a Droid (original) phone to the Thunderbolt. And second I had been debating between the TB and the Incredible 2, ultimately I choose the TB.

Pros:
- Really fast download on 4G (really fast!)
- Wide screen that doesn't hinder handhold grip
- Quick screen touch response and great graphics
- Fast loading apps

Cons:
- Not that much faster upload speed on 4G compared to 3G
- Battery life, although it isn't as bad as some people say for someone who uses the phone for regular FB/twitter check ups (having been a Droid user)
- Only TWO LED notification colors (green and amber). This *really* bummed me out as I originally had 4-5 colors on my Droid for texting/email/voicemail
- When phone is placed on stand, you can't charge it
- HTC Sense is sometimes a bother. Example: if you like to use a pattern lock screen you'll first have to unlock the phone with a swipe, then input your pattern.
- Sound during phone conversation is really not that great, but music is fine
- Really unnecessary bloat of apps you can't uninstall (not something you can do anything about on any verizon phone)
- Phone gets pretty hot if charging + using, but that is an HTC thing
- Reception: its jumpy. One second I have 4G the next I have 1 bar. This gets a little frustrating.

I ended up choosing the TB because 4G is the next technology and the Incredible 2 isn't that much more different from the TB apart from 4G. The Incredible 2 *is* smaller/lighter, but I never pocket my phones (purses) so it wasn't something I was looking at when picking phones. Also, I might have a lot of 'cons' but only the LED color thing and reception actually bothers me.

Hope that helps. :)

Thunderbolt vs iphone 4 May 11, 2011

Reviewer:  jbpeddler 

I just recently purchased the HTC Thunderbolt, and I would like to give my opinion of the phone vs the iphone 4 since that was my other possible choice. The HTC is a more powerful phone with more versatility- that being said, while I was in the Verizon store the following week, I had a young girl ask me about which phone to buy, the iphone or the HTC- and after giving my opinion, and the benefits of the Thunderbolt, she still chose the iphone. This example demonstrates exactly what others have said in online reviews, for some poeple, the iphone 4 is just a better choice- its smaller, sleeker, in some ways easier to use (Apple has programmed the world on their OS, and everyone is comfortable with it- even people who don't like technology). But for my needs the HTC is more powerful, and the internet speeds are incredible. I have used the phone as a hot-spot with my laptop, and gotten over 18mb download speeds while in a 4G area with a good signal. You can't come close to that on an iphone or any other device- nowhere near. I used my Thunderbolt last week to demonstrate a website on my laptop to a customer, and the speed is so fast, it was like being on cable! This feature alone makes it very worthwhile to a business user or road warrior who uses there phone as a tool for work. When you walk into a Verizon store, and see what the employee's are carrying, most of them are using some sort of Android phone- these are poeple who work with the phones all day- everyday, and see all the problems customers have with them. The one major downside to the Thunderbolt is its battery life, it is horrible. But I bought a 2nd battery, and a dual charger, so while I'm disappointed with this on the HTC, I will deal to get the extra speed and power. If you want one device (phone & web access) for your laptop or ipad, whatever, you cannot beat the Thunderbolt- nothing at this current time even comes close- I don't care what city your in. I had Sprint, and in San Diego, there is no 4G, so its useless. On heavy usage days, I only get 3-4 hours of battery life on the Thunderbolt, so you either have to plug it in, or have a 2nd battery, which is kind of a pain to swap I must admit. The back cover on the Thunderbolt is kind of a pain to take off. That being said, if you can deal with the battery issues (yes, use an app killer, lower the brightness, turn off 4g when out of range- I get it, but come on, are we going to use the great features of the phone, or just turn them off to save the battery- whats the point?)the Thunderbolt is the best cell phone I have ever used- and I have had them all- Blackberry's, iphone's, Palm's, etc...the Thunderbolt just ROCKS! Also, you have to consider the network when you buy a new phone, yes some networks are better than others in certain areas, but overall, I have had the best success with the Verizon network all over the USA when I travel. The coverage is always good, and very often superior in every major city I have been in to other carriers. The 4G LTE network is still new for Verizon, but if you've got it in your area, it will be the fastest and best service you have ever used- I would put money on it. I had a Sprint 4g hotspot device for a short while, and when I had 4g coverage it was decent, but not anywhere near as fast as Verizon 4g Lte...NO- I don't work for Verizon, and for several years I was with another carrier because Verizon pissed me off, but this 4g network they have rolled out is hands down the best system I have ever used, and I use my cell phone all day, everyday. CONCLUSION: if you can take a little extra time to get familiar with Android OS, and deal with the differences vs the iphone OS, you will appreciate the benefits a phone like this has to offer- especially if you are a power user.

rocks April 28, 2011

Reviewer:  eminen 

Best phone on the market - i have used Sprint and ATT, VZ beats them all and T-Bolt is a screaming fast phone...love it, love Verizon.

Fast phone on a fast network April 23, 2011

Reviewer:  Makoto Schoppert "makoto"  (Orlando, FL USA) -

A few years ago, I had an iPhone which was a great phone. When the Evo 4G came out, I switched to Sprint and fell in love with the phone and the Android OS, however, my experience with Sprint's 4G (WiMax) wasn't the best. The signal coverage felt very spotty, and it had to be turned on and off (you could leave it on, but then your battery would be dead in a few minutes).

A few weeks ago, I decided to order this phone and give it a try, especially after reading all the great things about Verizon's LTE network. First thing I noticed is how similar it is to the Evo, same form factor, same size, same feel, but better in just about every way. For example, the Thunderbolt has the newer generation Snapdragon processor, more memory, more RAM, and a sturdier kickstand. However, one thing the Evo has that the Thunderbolt doesn't is an HDMI port... which I only used a couple times. Instead, you can stream your media via DLNA on the Thunderbolt.

First thing I did when I got it was to root the phone. This allowed me to remove the unnecessary apps that cost extra monthly fees, such as City ID, VZ Navigator, Blockbuster, BitBop, Rhapsody and a few others. Seeing all those up-sells really didn't make me feel good about switching to Verizon, really made me feel like they wanted to get more money out of me. Sprint was generous to include some valuable apps for free, such as a TV app and Telenav GPS Navigation, along with a NASCAR and football app, along with having free Visual Voice mail. It feels like Verizon's doesn't have a very good value for what you get to be honest, Sprint was a lot better there.

However, Sprint's WiMax simply wasn't the right choice, and they won't be switching to LTE until they decommission iDen and re-purpose the frequency band for their LTE network in 2013. Verizon's LTE is the fastest I've seen out there and looks like it will continue to be for a while.

The first couple of days that I used it, I experienced a common issue where the data connection would stop working and the only fix is to restart it. This apparently is because of an issue transitioning from 4G to 3G. Although the last week I've been using it, I haven't experienced this issue for some reason.

Being an HTC phone, it of course runs HTC's Sense interface which in my opinion is a nice, clean and functional interface. Some people don't like it, and some people love it. I personally like it. The Thunderbolt also scores pretty well in several benchmarks, but is definitely not the fastest device. It does have plenty of power to run just about anything you can throw at it however. I've had no problems running intensive games and applications.

As far as data speeds go, it is REALLY fast. On average, I've been getting 20+ Mbps downstream and 5~6 Mbps upstream. That's incredibly fast! If you want to be able to access multimedia quickly, this is the phone to do it on. Sprint's WiMax got me 6 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream, a fraction of Verizon's LTE. This phone is essentially using both CDMA and GSM, CDMA for voice and GSM for LTE data, which gives you the capability to talk on the phone and use the data connection simultaneously, which you can't currently do on CDMA networks. This is also why the Thunderbolt uses a SIM card.

One thing I have been annoyed about is that this phone is power hungry. That means you won't get a full day's use of it if you are actively using it. Also, make sure you get a capable car charger if you plan on using this as a navigation device. I was just using this phone with Google Maps GPS navigation while plugged into a car charger and actually found the battery percentage going down slowly. Also, if I run Pandora on the phone and use the option to leave the screen on while plugged in, I find that it takes forever to charge the phone back up.

Another thing that I thought was a little unusual was the position of the USB port. It is on the left side of the phone. This makes it inconvenient if you want to use the kickstand to prop the phone in horizontal mode while plugging it in.

I'm a tech geek, I love having the latest and greatest gadgets, and want the fastest model. This phone isn't the fastest hardware wise, but definitely satisfies with it's data speeds. I haven't found anything that this phone hasn't been able to handle yet either.

Great phone April 23, 2011

Reviewer:  mjack138 

I have had this phone for a month now and it is by far the best i have ever had. 4G is super fast, tons of apps and the battery is actually not as bad as most of the reviews I have read, or maybe I'm just lucky. I can make it a full day on a fully charged battery which is as much as can be expected from any smartphone with all of these capabilities.

I would definitely recommend this product, if you're considering this phone go for it.

Great phone, poor experence with AmazonWireless April 15, 2011

Reviewer:  C. Capell "cfour33"  (Cleveland, OH) -

First the phone. It's big and fast. Surfing on a Wi-Fi connection is just as quick as my PC. Switch to 4G and it's even faster. The big screen makes it easy to read text. It's basically a mini tablet. I have no problems with the phone and would give it 5 stars.
My problem is that AmazonWireless didn't get my account completely configured with Verizon. This caused problems getting the phone working that took over 4 hours on the phone over 4 days to resolve. Since there is no place to Rate AmazonWireless as a company, I have to rate them at the phone level. One Star for AmazonWireless.
And last, with this phone, NEVER dial *228. AmazonWireless told me to do this, and this will fry the SIM. Several different people at Verizon told me this action will fry the SIM, as well as one person at AmazonWireless. If someone tells you to dial this on the HTC Thunderbolt, don't do it.

Great phone. Terrible OEM battery life April 13, 2011

Reviewer:  CB "Pal" 

First phone - Had headphone jack issues with crackling and cutting out music. Took it back to Verizon and got a replacement, new one works fine.

Now onto the phone that works. 4G is very fast, phone works and looks great. OEM Battery life sucks and frankly I'm surprised this ever made it out of the labs at HTC.

Otherwise no issues.