Need to upgrade TODAY - feedback

[dmoney1980]

Long story short- Verizon customer here in Chicago, my "upgrade every 2" deal starts today, and VZ is dumping the unlimited data option tomorrow so I'm looking to get your feedback because I need to make a decision today.

My options
iPhone 4 - love the screen quality, not sure about the speed and voice clarity looking to get user opinion here (VZ users). I can get the 16gb for $149

4G phones - Droid Charge - like what I read but it is pricey, $219 for me.
HTC Thunderbolt - one of my coworkers has one, reminds me of the EVO 4g, looks bulky and he complains about the horrible battery life. Screen subpar to others.

Any that I missed? Key features to me are good battery life, not too bulky, good call clarity, and good network speed (dont need the fatest but I dont want subpar 3g performance). My wife has a Samsung Fascinate and it's a nice phone, but the battery life is not the greatest and the phone seems to freeze up.

I appreciate the feedback

 

[bonkers325]

just stick with the ip4 if you want all of the above without any tinkering on your part

otherwise, get an HTC thunderbolt or droid charge and root it, then install ROMs to your liking

 

[dmoney1980]

just stick with the ip4 if you want all of the above without any tinkering on your part

otherwise, get an HTC thunderbolt or droid charge and root it, then install ROMs to your liking

how easy is it to root? I dont have any experience with that

 

[boomhower]

how easy is it to root? I dont have any experience with that

It's not bad as long as you are willing to read before you do and are able to follow instructions to the letter.

If I was buying a Verizon smartphone today it would be a Charge or an iPhone depending on your OS preference and 4G availability in your area. Personally I bough a used OG Droid to activate and wait for dual core Android and the iPhone 5 before I commit to a contract. Nothing out right now tickles my fancy enough to commit to two years with it.

 

[Doboji]

If you need to have 4G your only choice is the Charge. Otherwise it's between the iPhone 4 and the Incredible 2 in my humble opinion.

 

[smartpatrol]

HTC Trophy is a great phone if you want WP7. Otherwise I'd go with the iPhone.

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

 

[Bateluer]

If you need to have 4G your only choice is the Charge. Otherwise it's between the iPhone 4 and the Incredible 2 in my humble opinion.

The Thunderbolt and Revolution also have 4G radios, with the Thunderbolt having the largest dev community right now. There's a few ROMs for the Charge, but I think most of the Samsung devs are holding out for the SGS2. And I haven't been following the Revolution's dev scene much. Reviews from Engadget and Android Police rated it as a capable and decent smartphone, but nothing spectacular. Which really applies to all Big Red's LTE phones. They weren't high end when the launched, and Verizon hasn't been supporting them like flagship products.

Conspiracy Theory>They are deliberating holding their multi-core devices, the true high end handsets, in reserve until after they launch their ant-consumer tiered data plans.

If you want to lock in unlimited 4G, then you need one of these three devices. If you get the iPhone 4, I don't think you'll get the unlimited 4G data. Plus you'll be stuck with a 18 month old phone on a 2 year contract.

Rooting varies, the Thunderbolt takes the most work of the three LTE phones because it requires an RUU downgrade. Its not difficult, its just more time consuming. The process is much more polished now then it was a few months ago. The RIL is nearly finished for the Thunderbolt as well, so the AOSP builds are getting more polished. I've been using the OMFGB nightlies for a week now as a daily driver, it still has some rough edges, but they'll get ironed out.

Edit - Guessing all the pointers to the Charge in this thread are due to the reports of it having better battery life than the other LTE phones. This is incorrect.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4465/samsung-droid-charge-review-droid-goes-lte/10

On LTE, its comparable to the Thunderbolt, +/- ~15-20 minutes.

 

[dmoney1980]

The Thunderbolt and Revolution also have 4G radios, with the Thunderbolt having the largest dev community right now. There's a few ROMs for the Charge, but I think most of the Samsung devs are holding out for the SGS2. And I haven't been following the Revolution's dev scene much. Reviews from Engadget and Android Police rated it as a capable and decent smartphone, but nothing spectacular. Which really applies to all Big Red's LTE phones. They weren't high end when the launched, and Verizon hasn't been supporting them like flagship products.

Conspiracy Theory>They are deliberating holding their multi-core devices, the true high end handsets, in reserve until after they launch their ant-consumer tiered data plans.

If you want to lock in unlimited 4G, then you need one of these three devices. If you get the iPhone 4, I don't think you'll get the unlimited 4G data. Plus you'll be stuck with a 18 month old phone on a 2 year contract.

Rooting varies, the Thunderbolt takes the most work of the three LTE phones because it requires an RUU downgrade. Its not difficult, its just more time consuming. The process is much more polished now then it was a few months ago. The RIL is nearly finished for the Thunderbolt as well, so the AOSP builds are getting more polished. I've been using the OMFGB nightlies for a week now as a daily driver, it still has some rough edges, but they'll get ironed out.

Edit - Guessing all the pointers to the Charge in this thread are due to the reports of it having better battery life than the other LTE phones. This is incorrect.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4465/samsung-droid-charge-review-droid-goes-lte/10

On LTE, its comparable to the Thunderbolt, +/- ~15-20 minutes.

thanks for the heads up, interesting point you mentioned about locking in 4G, I assumed data plans were data plans (3g=4g) but if thats not the case then maybe I will have to take a 4g phone. The one thing that the charge has that the t-bolt doesnt is a nice screen IMHO, guess I better make up my mind fast....

 

[Doboji]

The Thunderbolt and Revolution also have 4G radios, with the Thunderbolt having the largest dev community right now. There's a few ROMs for the Charge, but I think most of the Samsung devs are holding out for the SGS2. And I haven't been following the Revolution's dev scene much. Reviews from Engadget and Android Police rated it as a capable and decent smartphone, but nothing spectacular. Which really applies to all Big Red's LTE phones. They weren't high end when the launched, and Verizon hasn't been supporting them like flagship products.

Conspiracy Theory>They are deliberating holding their multi-core devices, the true high end handsets, in reserve until after they launch their ant-consumer tiered data plans.

If you want to lock in unlimited 4G, then you need one of these three devices. If you get the iPhone 4, I don't think you'll get the unlimited 4G data. Plus you'll be stuck with a 18 month old phone on a 2 year contract.

Rooting varies, the Thunderbolt takes the most work of the three LTE phones because it requires an RUU downgrade. Its not difficult, its just more time consuming. The process is much more polished now then it was a few months ago. The RIL is nearly finished for the Thunderbolt as well, so the AOSP builds are getting more polished. I've been using the OMFGB nightlies for a week now as a daily driver, it still has some rough edges, but they'll get ironed out.

Edit - Guessing all the pointers to the Charge in this thread are due to the reports of it having better battery life than the other LTE phones. This is incorrect.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4465/samsung-droid-charge-review-droid-goes-lte/10

On LTE, its comparable to the Thunderbolt, +/- ~15-20 minutes.

To me it's more about the SAMOLED+ screen on the Charge.

 

[cheezy321]

iPhone 4.

 

[Bateluer]

thanks for the heads up, interesting point you mentioned about locking in 4G, I assumed data plans were data plans (3g=4g) but if thats not the case then maybe I will have to take a 4g phone. The one thing that the charge has that the t-bolt doesnt is a nice screen IMHO, guess I better make up my mind fast....

The Charge has a very nice screen. I'm not trying to knock the Charge, its the most powerful of their LTE phones, Hummingbird/SGX540. But buying it solely because someone told you it gets better battery life when its only better by 15 minutes, under grueling test conditions, thats a mistake.

I think the TB's screen is tougher than the Charge though, reviewers on the Charge noted that the screen was getting micro-scratches from sliding in/out of pockets. All the LTE phones have 800x480 resolution though, so you're going get the same relative pixelation on their 4.3in screens. Verizon's only qHD screen right now is the Droid X2, which everyone should avoid like the plague until 1)Motorola fixes Blur and launches a GB update, or 2)the community breaks it open and fixes it for them.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/07/0...last-day-to-lock-into-verizon-unlimited-data/

Looking at the FAQ

Who will be affected by new data tiers?
New customers that are signing up for a smartphone plan starting July 7. Current customers that add on new lines starting July 7 will also be affected. They will be allowed to keep unlimited data on all lines that were locked into unlimited data prior to July 7, but the new lines will be subject to tiers.

Are there different plans for 3G and 4G customers?
No, Verizon is looking at 3G and 4G data plans as being one and the same Whether you buy a 3G or 4G smartphone starting July 7, you’ll see just one set of tiers – the one we have pictured above.

I have smartphone data now, but want to upgrade to the Bionic – can I keep my unlimited data?
According to multiple Verizon documents, as well as our sources, current unlimited smartphone customers can upgrade after tiers are implemented and still keep unlimited data (as long as they are currently on a smartphone plan). We aren’t sure how long or how many times that Verizon will allow users to upgrade without switching over to tiers, but “at this time” they are letting it slide.

I have 3G service now, but want 4G later – can I keep unlimited data?
Yes. According to two of our reports and Verizon’s support, as long as you are locked into unlimited smartphone data before July 7, you can upgrade to a 4G device later and not be moved to tiers. We have no idea how long they will let this happen, but all signs point to it being for a while.

 

[purbeast0]

totally depends on what you want and what you prefer.

i just know i kind of wish i just got the 16gb iPhone 4 instead of the 32gb one. it would have been $150 instead of $250 and it is definitely enough space. i don't think I've ever had more than like 7gb on my phone. i'm not one to keep movies on there or anything, i watch and delete.

i easily get more than a days charge out of my phone, and i have the screen pretty bright too. i'm at a computer all day though for work so i don't really use it for much during the day. i watch videos on it about 90 mins/day though on the way to/from work.

speeds i get are around like 150-200 kb/sec. i'm in the dc metro area, where 4g is available as well. it's more than enough for my needs.

oh also as a verizon user and this being my first smartphone, i have not once been limited by the no flash on iOS and the fact you can't talk/data at the same time. just keep those 2 things in mind if you go iphone4.

 

[dmoney1980]

I'm chatting with a VZ rep online now, they say a 3g phone / data plan locks me into future 4g plans. Then again they may be wrong...

 

[gorcorps]

how easy is it to root? I dont have any experience with that

In the Apple world, it's called jailbreaking. Just letting you know to help you google info in the future.

Anyway... currently it's as easy as going to a specific site from the phone itself and hitting a button. Takes less than 30 seconds and it's confirmed to be working great. That's what this thread is about:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2176530

Jailbroken the iphones are fantastic phones, with really the only drawback being the need for itunes. It's not terrible, but if you plan on using it for music and such too then it can cause headaches.

 

[legolasthearcher]

I'm chatting with a VZ rep online now, they say a 3g phone / data plan locks me into future 4g plans. Then again they may be wrong...

I have a VZ business account, and in speaking with my local reps they told me that the 3G data plan and the 4G data plan have different product codes and that if I wanted unlimited 4G the only way I could lock it in was with a 4G account (they said when 3G is upgraded to 4G it is a switch to a new product and therefore treated as being activated at the time of the upgrade to 4G not the time when the 3G was first setup).

I hope you are correct dmoney, but I fear my rep may be correct.

 

[dmoney1980]

I have a VZ business account, and in speaking with my local reps they told me that the 3G data plan and the 4G data plan have different product codes and that if I wanted unlimited 4G the only way I could lock it in was with a 4G account (they said when 3G is upgraded to 4G it is a switch to a new product and therefore treated as being activated at the time of the upgrade to 4G not the time when the 3G was first setup).

I hope you are correct dmoney, but I fear my rep may be correct.

I'm with you there. An online chat rep will say anything to help get the sale. Right now I'm leaning towards a 4g phone, either the t-bolt or the charge. The iPhone is a great phone, but i just cant see myself paying that premium when I can get 4g for close to that price.

 

[dmoney1980]

Bit the bullet, upgrade to the t-bolt. Thanks everyone for your input and guidance!

 

[Bateluer]

Bit the bullet, upgrade to the t-bolt. Thanks everyone for your input and guidance!

Be sure to follow the RootzWiki dev forum, if you intend to root. The OMFGB devs live there, and have the most refined AOSP build right now.

 

[bonkers325]

Be sure to follow the RootzWiki dev forum, if you intend to root. The OMFGB devs live there, and have the most refined AOSP build right now.

All of their ril updates are from slayher. Without that they are dead in the water.

Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk

 

[Bateluer]

All of their ril updates are from slayher. Without that they are dead in the water.

Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk

True, Slayher has been instrumental in getting the RIL worked. AOSP builds on the TB are beautiful though, the phone is blazing fast. I've only got a few minor gripes with OMFGB.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Bit the bullet, upgrade to the t-bolt. Thanks everyone for your input and guidance!

Welcome to the club enjoy your unlimited 4G Internet, I love mine...

 

[nickb64]

If u are a same club member u will get a better price there.

 

[dmoney1980]

I will look into rooting it, I'm psyched about the phone!

 

[Bateluer]

I will look into rooting it, I'm psyched about the phone!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=996616

There's the latest root guide. While I love rooting my phone, I'd wait a few weeks to root it, make sure there aren't any hardware defects that'll require a warranty replacement first. Just don't accept any OTA updates until a confirmed root solution is attained.