The bad: Battery life takes a big hit when using 4G. There is no way to toggle between 3G and 4G.
The bottom line: The HTC ThunderBolt lights up with blazingly fast data speeds, but those who want 4G now should be aware that it takes a big toll on the smartphone's battery life.
Review:
HTC ThunderBolt (Verizon Wireless)
Introduced at CES 2011, the HTC ThunderBolt is Verizon's first 4G LTE, and it's finally available for $249.99 with a two-year contract. The Android 2.2 smartphone might not offer the latest and greatest (e.g., dual-core processor), but with the carrier promising average download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps to 5Mbps, it's no surprise why many are clamoring to get their hands on this device. This includes us, which is why we were so excited to take the HTC ThunderBolt out for a test-drive. ... Expand full review
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HTC ThunderBolt (Verizon Wireless)
Introduced at CES 2011, the HTC ThunderBolt is Verizon's first 4G LTE, and it's finally available for $249.99 with a two-year contract. The Android 2.2 smartphone might not offer the latest and greatest (e.g., dual-core processor), but with the carrier promising average download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps to 5Mbps, it's no surprise why many are clamoring to get their hands on this device. This includes us, which is why we were so excited to take the HTC ThunderBolt out for a test-drive. The lightning-fast smartphone delivers on many fronts, but it also comes at a cost.
Design
The HTC ThunderBolt is cut from the same cloth as the HTC Evo 4G and the HTC Desire HD, so if you've ever handled those devices, then you have a fairly good idea of what to expect from the ThunderBolt.
At 4.75 inches tall by 2.44 inches wide by 0.56 inch thick and 6.23 ounces, the ThunderBolt isn't for those who prefer dainty devices. The smartphone is large and actually slightly thicker and heavier than the Evo, but it's manageable and the tapered back and soft-touch finish make it comfortable to hold in the hand. As we've come to expect from HTC, the phone is solidly built and has a nice, premium feel to it.
The HTC ThunderBolt has a similar design to the Evo 4G.
On front, you've got the same 4.3-inch WVGA (800x480 pixels) touch screen as the Evo. There are higher-resolution displays out there, like those on the Motorola Atrix 4G or iPhone 4, but the ThunderBolt's screen still holds up, with clear and bright picture quality. Text was easy to read, and Web pages and video looked lovely on the large screen.
The touch screen is also responsive. Apps launched as we tapped them, and we were able to smoothly navigate through the home screens and menus. The display also features a proximity sensor and built-in accelerometer, which was quick to change screen orientation when we rotated the phone.
The front-facing camera sits right above the screen on the right; below the display are the home, menu, back, and search navigation buttons. Meanwhile, the 8-megapixel camera and flash are located on back, but we really wish there was a dedicated camera button on the phone. Instead, you'll have to use the touch screen to snap photos.
On the bright side, the ThunderBolt has a sturdy kickstand so you can prop the phone on a desk to watch videos, conduct speakerphone calls, and the like. There's a Micro-USB port on the left side, and a volume rocker occupies the right side. Finally, on top of the device, you'll find a power/lock button and 3.5mm headphone jack.
The ThunderBolt features a built-in kickstand that allows you to place the phone on a table and watch videos, slideshows, and more.
The HTC ThunderBolt comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a preinstalled 32GB microSD card, and reference material.
4G features and performance
Before we get to the phone's more-basic features, we thought we'd address the HTC ThunderBolt's whole raison d'etre, and that's 4G support. As mentioned earlier, the ThunderBolt is the first smartphone to work on Verizon's LTE 4G network, which promises average download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps to 5Mbps.
Given the impressive results we got using Verizon's LG VL600 LTE USB modem, you'd think we'd be a little more prepared for what we experienced on the ThunderBolt, but we were still blown away by what we saw. It's fast. Real fast.
Running Ookla's Speedtest.net app on the handset yielded some erratic and suspicious results (upload speeds were registering up to 39.79Mbps), so we also measured speeds using the phone as a mobile hot spot and as a tethered modem. With the ThunderBolt connected to our MacBook Pro as a mobile hot spot here in New York, we were able to get average download speeds of 7.41Mbps and upload speeds of 6.56Mbps.
By comparison, the HTC Evo 4G from Sprint averaged 3.42Mbps down and 0.93Mpbs up; the Samsung Galaxy S 4G on T-Mobile averaged 4.17Mbps down and 1.68Mbps up; and the HTC Inspire 4G on AT&T averaged 1.75Mbps down and 0.31Mbps up.
We got even better results when we had the ThunderBolt tethered to our Lenovo T61 ThinkPad. We averaged download speeds of 15.58Mbps and upload speeds of 3.44Mbps. (See example speed test below.)
A sample speed test result from using the HTC ThunderBolt as a tethered modem.
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All these numbers translate into great real-world usage. Over a mobile hot-spot connection, we were able to download a 5.1MB MP3 file in 20 seconds and upload a 16.4MB photo album in just 47 seconds. On the ThunderBolt itself, the mobile sites for CNN and ESPN loaded in 3.6 seconds and 4 seconds, respectively, and CNET's full site came up in 12 seconds--one of the fastest times we've seen from a smartphone. Apps downloaded and installed almost instantaneously, and YouTube videos loaded within a couple of seconds and played back without interruption. We were also able to easily stream media from such services as TuneWiki and Bitbop.
Currently, Verizon's 4G network covers 39 markets and more than 60 major airports, and the carrier says it plans to blanket the county with LTE service over the next year and continue to roll out coverage over the next three years, with the hopes of 285 million customers by the end 2013.
The ThunderBolt does a good job of seamlessly switching between 3G and 4G. That said, we do wish that there was a way to toggle between 3G and 4G like the Evo, because as we discuss later, using 4G comes at the cost of battery life.
Currently, Verizon's 4G LTE unlimited data plan costs $29.99 per month. The carrier is also making the mobile hot-spot feature free until May 15. Pricing for the 4G mobile hot-spot service has not been announced by Verizon, unlike previously reported.
Features
The rest of the HTC ThunderBolt's features are pretty much on par with today's higher-end smartphones. As a phone, it offers a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, and text and multimedia messaging. Stereo Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS are also all onboard. One unique thing about the ThunderBolt compared with Verizon's other smartphones is that it can do simultaneous voice and data over 4G and 3G, thanks to a special chipset in the handset.
The HTC ThunderBolt runs Android 2.2 with the latest version of HTC Sense, which brings such enhancements as new camera tools and a faster boot time (though you have to enable this through the Settings menu on the ThunderBolt). You can read more about the new HTC Sense in our review of the HTC Inspire 4G.
In addition to the standard Google services and support for Microsoft Exchange, POP3 and IMAP accounts, and social network integration, the ThunderBolt comes preloaded with a number of extra apps from HTC and Verizon, including HTC's Peep Twitter client, Footprints, the Bitbop video streaming service, Rock Band, Let's Golf, and TuneWiki, which lets you listen to Internet radio and view music videos with accompanying lyrics, among other things. Some, like TuneWiki, we found useful, but others we could do without and unfortunately, you can't uninstall them.
Also, though the device has a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video calls, there is no preinstalled video chat client, and even worse, there is no indication as to which services are compatible with the device. We downloaded Skype Mobile and Qik, only to find out that both apps aren't currently supported on the smartphone, even though the ThunderBolt's owner's manual has a section on how to use Skype. Tango and Fring appear to be the only clients that work with the ThunderBolt for now.
One piece of good news is that the ThunderBolt offers 8GB of internal memory along with a preinstalled 32GB memory card. Though you don't get the full 40GB of storage, you should still have plenty of room for storing apps, music, videos, and photos.
The ThunderBolt's camera produces sharp-looking photos.
Speaking of which, the ThunderBolt's 8-megapixel camera does a pretty good job of producing nice-looking images and 720p HD video. The camera offers various editing options, including white-balance controls, exposure settings, ISO, and built-in effects. Even in low-light situations, picture quality was clear and colors were fairly bright. Outdoor shots were vibrant and sharp, and the camcorder also captured clear and nice-looking HD video.
The HTC ThunderBolt offers the usual channels for sharing your photos and videos. The smartphone has DLNA support, so you can wirelessly stream media from your phone to a compatible device, but unlike the Evo 4G, there is no HDMI port.
Performance
We tested the dual-band HTC ThunderBolt in New York using Verizon Wireless service, and call quality was mostly good. On our end, we could understand our callers with no problem, but occasionally there was some hissing in the background and voices could be a bit garbled. Friends had positive things to say about the sound quality and had no major complaints.
HTC ThunderBolt call quality sampleListen now:
Speakerphone quality was OK. Everything was crystal clear on our end, and there was enough volume to continue conversation in a noisier environment. However, we got mixed feedback from our friends; one said it was tinny but he could still understand everything we were saying, whereas another caller said that it was extra echo-y. We successfully paired the ThunderBolt with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones and were able to make calls and listen to music through the headsets.
The ThunderBolt is powered by a next-gen 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 Snapdragon processor and has 768MB RAM. Though some might wait for the dual-core Motorola Droid Bionic, we found the general performance on the ThunderBolt to be just fine. There was minimal lag, and the smartphone never froze or crashed during our review period. We did, however, encounter some software bugs with HTC Sense and Bitbop.
The HTC ThunderBolt ships with a 1,400mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 6.3 hours and up to 13 days of standby time. For reasons unbeknown to us, the smartphone actually has a smaller battery than the one (1,500mAh) found on the Evo. In our battery drain tests, the ThunderBolt delivered 5 hours of continuous talk time over 4G. In day-to-day usage, the battery life left much to be desired. With moderate usage (some Web browsing, e-mail, phone calls), the ThunderBolt went from a full charge in the morning to about 15 percent in the mid- to late afternoon. However, with heavier 4G usage, we were scrambling for an outlet after 3 to 4 hours, which is pretty bad, to say the least. We'll continue to do more extensive testing over the next few days, but if you plan on purchasing the ThunderBolt, we recommend getting an extra battery.
According to FCC radiation tests, the ThunderBolt has a digital SAR rating of 1.2W/kg and a Hearing Aid Compatibility Rating of M4/T3.
Conclusion
The HTC ThunderBolt is Verizon's fastest and most powerful smartphone yet. The 4G speeds do not disappoint, blowing right past the competition and taking the browsing and streaming experience on a smartphone to the next level. It also serves as a fine hot spot/modem. Couple that with HTC's premium design and a solid feature set and the ThunderBolt looks like a pretty attractive option. However, all of this comes at the expense of battery life, and with more LTE smartphones coming to Verizon in the coming months, including the dual-core Motorola Droid Bionic, it complicates the buying decision. If you have the luxury or the patience to wait, it might be worth sticking around to see how the Droid Bionic and others perform, but for early adopters who crave the speed now, the HTC ThunderBolt can certainly deliver. Just be sure to pick up a spare or extended battery.
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5.0 stars "From the Dark Ages To Enlightenment!" on May 21, 2011 by Thomas-K-Peltier
Pros: + Large display
+ Very sensitive touch screen
+ De-duping of contacts, including integration with my Facebook contacts
+ Favorite contacts can be traced throughout the phone
+ The phone software itself is very fast
+ Map navigation is excellent
Cons: - Contacts couldn't be ported over at the Verizon store because there was a 'bug' in the software
- Uploading several photos to Facebook took 2 hours for some unknown reason
Summary: I'm in the "over-50" club and remember when telephones had rotary dials and party lines. As the earth cooled and cellphones made their debut, a "good" one was about the size of a shoebox and weighed in just under your standard locomotive. Around this same time, PCs were slowly ... Expand full review
Summary: I'm in the "over-50" club and remember when telephones had rotary dials and party lines. As the earth cooled and cellphones made their debut, a "good" one was about the size of a shoebox and weighed in just under your standard locomotive. Around this same time, PCs were slowly becoming a "must have" addition for any household that wasn't wallowing in abject poverty.
As technology sped past us, many of our employers began to demand that we dinosaurs either catch up and get tech-savvy or be replaced by young whippersnappers who could program the vcr and the microwave clock without having to take valium and check into a mental health facility for a rehabilitative period typically lasting several months. Several of us did our best to get up to speed, but the phone for many of us was still one of those things that we belligerently continued to use to make genuine phone calls, all the while complaining that as a result of the cellphone, we have no "downtime" for ourselves anymore because these damned things would now travel with us - everyfreakinwhere. Places that used to provide us respite from the grueling workload; the horse-n-buggy, the outhouse, the leisurely walk through the park, were now as much part of our office as our office was. We hated it, and most of us continue to hate it to this day.
Then phones became smarter, and we noticed that while we geezers were fumbling through phone books and day planners, or trying to Google directions and info on the "internets," our children and our bratty little junior employees were making us look like the doddering old fools we are with their damned smartphones. So this ol T-Rex took a look at a couple of smartphones, starting with the Blackberry and switching over to the Mogul, but frankly, they SUCKED worse than Britney Spears after a fifth of Jack Daniels. Buttons way too tiny to push with the average male fingertip, more instructions than a nuclear warhead schematic, and a learning curve so steep by the time we learned the phone's full capabilities, we'd be having our chins and butts wiped by the orderly at the local nursing home. Worse, at least for me, the claim of "internet access" was a cruel hoax, since I'd only recently gone from dial-up to cable modem and was getting very appreciative of the rapidity in which info would magically appear on my big, luminescent computer screen. With the Mogul and the Blackberry, it was as if I'd returned to those days of dial-up and to make matters intolerable, the screen was just too damned tiny for my rheumy old eyes to see very clearly.
I tossed those lousy phones onto the dungheap of obsolescence and chose the LG env. Simple, big slide-out QWERTY keyboard, worked well for my needs, didn't overwhelm me with too much technology, allowed me to suffer through texting and best of all, actually worked as a pretty decent phone. I was happy.
Then I started a new job as a "remote" employee and began traveling full-time for my work. Our company is heavily into technology as our primary way of communicating and as I lumbered from city to city toting my ancient env, I noticed that many of my colleagues were using the I-Phone and, peering over their shoulders, I became jealous pretty quickly, as well as disappointed with the lack of functionality my env had stuck me with.
But I'm not an Appleaniac, and so I passed on the I-phone. Then my env went through the wash about two months ago and coincidentally, my Verizon contract was up for renewal. So I wandered on down to my local Verizon dealer and the Thunderbolt had just been released. We have 4g capability in our area and it took me all of about five seconds to see that download speeds were comparable (if not faster at times) to my laptop, the learning curve was relatively small for anyone with open source knowledge and a skosh of computer literacy, and the apps on the phone, many of which are pretty much worthless to me because of so many better and often free apps available, made it easier for me to really grasp the full on capabilities of the phone itself. The price is a bit on the ugly side, but one of the benefits of dinosaurism is that I have a pretty good job and the cost was offset by the fact that my company pays my phone bill.
I left the store smiling have been traveling in blissful awareness ever since. I cannot tell you how much this phone has improved my travel experience in virtually every city I've meandered through (with the exception of the area around the White House in Washington DC, which only had 1g access? ***??? No wonder nothing gets done there!) and the ease of operability has made it relatively painless as well. It truly is as though I've left the dark ages of information deficit and entered the age of knowledge enlightenment. For those of you who can relate to what I've said here, I encourage you to check out any of the Droid phones before you run out to by an I-Phone, I think you'll be much happier, and you certainly won't regret your decision to step up into today's technology.
One final thought before I part; with the access to information we now have right in the palm of our hands, there is NO excuse for ignorance in our society any longer. Get a phone, become informed, be enlightened.
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