Tbolt vs Sensation - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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?

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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 :]

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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

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if you don't get Ltd where you are most I would go with the sensation

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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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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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im getting about 8-10 hrs. on mine right now
setup in sig

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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!

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Verizon + Unlimited 4G LTE on the Thunderbolt can't be beat.

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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.

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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.