HTC ThunderBolt User Reviews

Literally the worst phone I ever had. I bout it after I broke my galaxy s4 mini and didn't have enough money. It has to load to get to the home screan???? i have to click on the text message option about 5 or 6 times before it will take me into the text messages because it will just go out of it and wont load them. Snapchat is so slow and the camera is so bad its not even worth taking pictures. Only app that is worth going on is facebook. Ive dropped it so many times though and it only has a few cracks (I drop things alot). The normal battery it comes with isn't even worth it because fully charged it only lasts about 5 hours on standby, using it it last about 2 hours. With out the extended battery its really not even worth to have to normal battery. Anyway if you want to get a new phone just because its cheap don't do it!!! Obiviously that didn't work out for me. Now i just had to spend $300 to buy a galaxy s4 again because i can't even deal with this phone anymore. I'm smashing it with a sledge hammer when i get my new phone.

This phone would have been great for the average user but the lack of support on the part of HTC and Verizon Wireless has plagued this phone. My experience with this phone was decent because I was rooted and unlocked, which allows me to use custom ROMs, etc.

When I first got this phone I was extremely excited with it being my first smart phone. However, not too long afterward I began experiencing major issues such as very poor battery and lack of Internet connection even with full bars. After the update to ics the phone became painstakingly slow and borderline unusable. I did a factory reset, no help. I bought a brand new battery, still have terrible battery life. I can't wait to switch to a Samsung product first chance I get because the thunderbolt is one of my worst decisions ever.

I loved this phone when I first got it two years ago, but now it is just outdated and isn't up to par with all of the phones out there on the market today. Some apps close unexpectedly, the 4G LTE is throttled and slow, and even though I'm getting 4 bars of 3G CDMA or 4G LTE coverage, I sometimes still can't access the internet. The camera's autofocus doesn't always work correctly. However, due to Verizon's new data policy (I've got unlimited data and they won't let me keep it if I upgrade), I'll most likely be holding onto this phone for awhile.

This phone is the worst phone I have ever owned. I've had it for about 16 months. It shuts off without warning, doesn't receive text messages half the time, doesn't send the texts sometimes even though it said it sent, and has an incredibly short battery life. On top of that it frequently sends text messages to random people! This phone has countless bugs that make communication (i.e. text messaging and phone calls) very difficult at times. It is a very temperamental phone and it isn't reliable at all. If you're in a bind or a time-crunch, do not expect this phone to work for you. Do not buy it, it is a waste of your money.

after several months of intense research, I decided to purchase the Thunderbolt on my upgrade date, which happened to be the day after black friday. "why didn't you get the bionic? or wait for the Razr?" I heard this banter nonstop, and frankly, it's nauseating. I have a tight budget...apparently I'm poor. Or......maybe I'm just a smart shopper. The tbolt can still hang with the "new" phones, without a problem whatsoever. lt may not be the biggest, fastest, most colorful, or have the best battery life (yeah, I went there!) but all in all, you guys can have your Nexuses, and Razr's. I love this phone, outside of the hungry battery life issue, and that is manageable if you take the time to tweak your settings. Now that it's upgraded to Gingerbread, it's really a high quality device.

A Solid Sturdy Device that delivers the LTE experience we VZW customers crave. Battery Life could be better but that's the case with every LTE phone out there right now and that wont be an option unless you get an extended battery or wait for the 2nd Gen LTE radios to come out which wont be till next year. It still gets me through an entire day and with the upcoming Gingerbread update, battery management will continue to get better.

I wanted to wait a good 5-6 months to post a review just so I could really get a grasp on how the phone operates for me.
It has definitely been worth every cent I paid for it! It performs just about anything I throw at it and I'm continuing to find new ways to use it to its' full potential.

Once again HTC has delivered a great device to the mobile phone market.

Have been waiting for this phone to release for what seems like forever and I have to admit, the wait was well worth it! This is one great phone. Clear calls, super fast browsing, beautiful display & overall easy to use. I must admit it probably wouldn't have hurt if I'd cracked open the manual, but reading manuals is for wimps! lol I did flip through the manual after the fact, but by then I'd already figured the thing out.

I can't imagine wanting more in a phone. I got the wife a Droid Pro at the same time since she wanted a keyboard and she's really happy with that phone as well. I like the availability of all the aps that are available for the phone and the fact that there are a ton of free aps out there for it too. The cameras in the phone do a pretty decent job, especially for a cell phone camera.

Anyone looking for a really great phone with lots and lots of capabilities won't be disappointed with this one.

I might add that I downloaded and installed the Swype Beta keyboard and it really rocks on the Thunderbolt. The one negative I might have is it seems to go through the battery pretty rapidly, but that may be mostly to my app downloads and playing with the features. I hear Verizon is coming with a battery that will double use time, which I'm sure to get. Still love the phone after 2 days of pretty solid usage!

and If you will buy this smartphone I suggest at: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004M5HB6U/phonearena.com-20

sometimes annoying. some things are better than others. breaks easily. takes some getting used to some things. camera effects are very fun to play. internet, apps, and fast internet are very helpful. pictures and videos are very categorized. apps are very entertaining. enjoyable phone.

Very nice phone, good OS, though no updates from Verizon. The 4G network in Phoenix is amazing, I love it. Videos play almost instantly and never buffer. The build is great, sturdy, and almost as nice as apple. Though I did not like the placement of the charger, it keeps you from using the kickstand. Speaking of chargers, you need 3 of them (home, car, office). If you leave 4G on you only get 3-4 hours of battery life. You can download an app that you can turn your 4G on/off that will help save battery life. HTC has some great features and widgets that I love and would recommend the device to anyone who can learn to use it with its battery limitation and lives in a 4G market. I am upset with Verizon's decision to limit data, they are providing us with more streaming option, more data intensive applications, better bandwidth/service, and then limiting how much we can use....

I bought this phone primarily for the HOTSPOT ability and along with it the 4G for when I travel.

When it comes to network, tethering, and using the HOTSPOT this phone isn't much more than a paperweight. It's unstable on all Networks 3G or 4G but much worse on any 4G network that I've tried.

The phone will not hold a stable network connection for more than 20 minutes especially when using the HotSpot feature, and will constantly cycle from 3G to 1X to nothing over and over. Sitting on the couch with my wife my phone will drop to no network but have four full bars for phone, and my wife's phone (Incredible) will still have full bars and 3G network.

When I travel (whick is often) I travel mostly to areas with 4G networks, and the problems just amplify. It never holds a 4G connection for long, than starts to cylce through 4G, 3G 1x and then no service.

Beyond frustrating and wish I could just toss it and get a new phone. Verizon has fiddled around long enough so now my phone is out of warranty.. I've done factory refreshes,, replaced the SIM, and have replaced the Phone AND the SIM and still have the same issue.

Verizon SHOULD allow me to swap for a different model who's 4G and HotSpot actually work, but how much is the bet that they are going to do that?

This phone could be truly great, but it's not. Still, I really love this phone. It's not nearly as physically tough as my Eris was, which is unfortunate for a heavy slippery phone. Buttons are crap, battery is a joke, and no Skype on one of the fastest phones available with 4G and a front facing Skype intended camera. Great video though, and a very fast processor along with very fast 4G bandwidth.

I was excited. I counted the weeks till i could upgrade into it. Nothing but a huge disapointment. I called HTC about it and they told me the Incredible 2 was a good phone i should switch to. After mentioning how i wanted 4g and how the charge could work for me i was told that may be my best bet. HTC told me to buy from Motorola. How insane is that? I mean how terrible does a phone have to be for the manufacter to tell me to go to someone else?

I'm very pleased with my thunder bolt I have not experienced any reboot of force closing problems not sure what everyone is going on about.. the stock battery is pretty bad like most phones these days. I world would recommend the extended battery this is by far the best phone Verizon has to offer.. HTC makes great devices and is #1 when it comes to supporting and updating devices.. and HTC sense will leave you speechless with how fluid it is don't get caught up in that bs duel core hype.. this is where its at.

Replaced my original Droid for the Thunderbolt and was very disappointed. Phone shuts on and off several times a day. It lags like crazy and force closes most apps. The battery dies fast, but that is to be expected with any 4G phone. The internet is very fast, but I am not a heavy internet user through my phone. I am returning this phone due to the lag and the multiple shut offs a day.

Bought This phone on June 1 2011. I read articles online about how the battery life was bad but i go to verizon store and they tell me that they had an update that fixed the battery problem. So i of couse i bought the phone and paid 40 $ in accessories. I go to school the next day with a two hour class and one i got out i took it out of my pocket and literally had half the battery drained out. You also have to pretty much turn every setting down as possibly low as you can, turn this 4g phone down to the 3g network, and charge every so many hours just so you have a phone that wont die every 4 hours. Other than that its great * rolls eyes* If you dont mind 4-6 hours of doing nothing and letting your phone die, get this phone. Or if you want to spend another 50 bucks on a bigger battery that should have came with the phone in the first place. But really other than horrid battery life everything about the phone is great.

I love my phone but it is a bit heavy and the battery life lasts half a day at the most, I would still highly recommend it to all my friends. I have had it for around a month now and it runs smoothly, I love how it comes with almost 35GB of storage while other phones, Iphone, costs extra for that memory, LOVE MY PHONE!

Let me just start out by saying that I have a lot of experience with many smartphones. I root, jailbreak, unlock friends and family's phones. I'm a straight up techie.
With that being said, so far Thunderbolt is the best device I have come across.
Fascinate was my first android device. I switched to it from a 3Gs when i switched to verizon. It was a love-hate relationship that went to mostly hate later in the ownership of sammy device. When IP4 came out for verizon, i picked it up instead. I fell in love with android, but i hated android phones that VZW had until now. DroidX was OK, but I hated blur. Touchwiz was better, but sammy was so laggy i couldn't stand it anymore.
I started missing android very soon after picking up IP4, (iOS is great don't get me wrong, but android is a lot more customizable and much more open for people like me to mess with) so as soon as TB came out I picked it up.
Apart from messaging app acting up whenever I have lots of messages saved (Deleting messages or using a different messaging app/client fixes that) and slow GPS (It works great and is super smooth, but waiting for it to get signal at initial startup is slightly ridiculous at times) this is a perfect phone. I have never owned a phone that just worked so well. It's easy to use and everything is right at your fingertips. It's super smooth, lightning fast, SENSE is an eye candy.
Best phone on verizon. By far.

Everything on this phone is perfect, except for battery life. I purchased the extended battery and bingo. Perfect. No one can tell me of another phone on the market that gives you faster access to the Internet. The new Droid Charge has a better screen, but in every other case, this phone is the best.

Great phone. Super fast and super vivid display. Of couse the battery life sucks eggs but what can you expect from a mini computer. You are running on a 4g network and have a 4.3 inch display. the phone can sometime tend to be laggy but thats sort of expected.

I love phone this for a few reasons. First, it is so customizable and easy to use. Second, Upgrading from iphone 4, there are so many more free app. Third, its blazing fast! The build quality is great! NO PROBLEM WITH NORMAL BATTERY. The battery life is about 12-14 hours with heavy use for me because i did a whole bunch of changes. Thank you YouTube for the help with extending my battery life. I STRONGLY recommend this phone. There is no competition for this phone except Incredible 2.

Overall this phone has followed through with all that was promised. Haven't had too many problems with it, though sometimes it begins to lag if i play games to long or receive too many text. I bought the phone 2 weeks after it launched and have been very impressed. 2 Thumbs Up!

The worse thing on this phone is the battery life. I use my phone as a PDA; it replaces books, GPS, and so much more, but doesn't last more than three hours my average use. It has rebooted itself a few times and I have had to force close a few apps daily, but that is minor. I have lost the four G network often enough in my city. I have lost service all together a few times, but not often enough to be... Well, it was very inconvient and could have been during an emergency or when it was important I need to make a call. I can connect the phone to my tape deck, but no one can hear me in call.

I have very large hands, so, I enjoy the size and weight of the phone. I also like the larger screen. I do enjoy that I can do video conferencing, but I don't use that much. I really like the camera and the sound quality is pretty nice. I can use the speaker phone in the car.

If htc was to improve upon their phones I would suggest a bit larger, able to sync with Outlook, and definitely a battery that last much much longer. I will not look to change phones any time soon, but I will purchase a longer lasting battery when they're available.

It has a great build and feels really sturdy. I've dropped it once since I got it about a month ago. not a scratch. the screen is amazing and the speaker is really loud, i love the flip for speaker feature for when i'm driving, i just leave the phone in my lap and i can hear everything perfectly. the camera and the flash is pretty good. i use evernote to take pics of anything and everything. the internet and 4G is superfast and i love using it to tether internet, its faster than my home dsl. thank verizon for having unlimited data plan on this thing. i cant wait to root it one day.

the one thing i haven't liked is that the UI sometimes lags and i went and asked the verizon guys and they told me it was because of the widgets. i only have like 5-6 widgets, and thats just the data and gps and stuff, i took out the messaging widget and the google search one as well. but it still lags sometimes even when i get more than one text at a time. the messaging app will freeze for a few seconds. i havent heard anyone else have the problem, maybe i have to do hard reset and i'll come back and let you guys know if it helped. but besides that. the only other issue would be the battery. im waiting on a innocell sill battery to come out. hopefully then i'll be able to leave the data on all the time..

This phone was nothing of what I thought it would be. I was a longtime user of HTC products. I was in love with the HTC Sense UI and I figured this would be a awesome phone. I even made the switch from a US Cellular HTC Desire to Verizon just for this phone. Well I found myself switching away very quickly. It is plagued with problems. I found them on all HTC devices. First off in an area that doesn't have 4g there was no increased speed in the browser. We are scheduled to get 4g very soon. I couldn' wait. The screen was awesome. HTC needs phones with bigger screen due to the fact that their keyboard is very cramped. I found myself hitting every button but the spacebar when I was trying to space a text. With the larger screen it wasnt such a big deal. The battery life was absolutely unacceptable. I use this phone for work. Working long shifts I never knew when it would die or I would have to try and plug it in. HTC really needs to figure out how to make there batteries last longer. Even with a app killer, juice defender, and brightness/ 4g settings set so they phone was less then desirable to use, the battery died quickly. The Green LED problem was also annoying. I tried using the Samsung Fascinate but had to switch back due to the lack of LED notification light. Why would you have it only blink for 5 min? I dont want to have to check my phone constantly to see if I missed something. I constantly could not connect to calls. 45 sec to connect a call?