The Glade 4.0

First the release date for the HTC Thunderbolt was February 14th, then it was moved back to the 21st or maybe the 24th. Ok...no big deal. Then its the 28th, no its March the 4th, or make that March 10th. Definitely March 10th. Or 17th. Definitely sometime before the end of the 2nd quarter.

They've been showing commercials for it forever. I don't even care anymore. Maybe I'll just switch to T-Mobile or Sprint.

What's so great about this phone?

_________________
The Dude abides.

It is the first phone to come out on Verizon's 4G LTE network.

Just pretend it's a Zelda video game or duke nukem

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

It's a next-gen phone Screeling. The first of its kind in the U.S. I plan on checking it out on Friday with my mom (for her).

How are you going to check it out? Its not available. Who knows when it will be. I'm not believing any more release dates until I actually see it on the shelf.

Not really, only next-gen as in it's 4G not 3G, it's for all intents and purposes an HTC EVO 4G with just a few relatively minor changes, LTE instead of Wi-Max for 4G, 768mb of ram vs 512mb, no HDMI out, a slightly lower capacity battery and more on-board storage, the main specs, screen size/res, android O/S version, CPU, camera, etc are identical and the EVO is getting close to being a year old now.

Don't switch to T-Mo...I'm still waiting for a dual core anything.

3G -> 4G is next gen. G stands for generation.

4G is marketing by the phone companies as standing for fourth generation, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

None of the 4G phones or networks available actually meet the "4G" (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) standards

So? American 4G is still far better than American 3G.

In a world with capped bandwidth usage on mobile devices, 4G means nothing to me over 3G if it just means I'll hit my cap sooner. It means even LESS when I look at my phone usage statistics and I realize that 90% of my data usage is via wifi network.

That's a good point. There's not a great need for 4G yet. 3G works just fine for browsing the net and watching youtube videos.

The use of the term 4G is meaningless except as a marketing term. The actual 4G standard, which falls under the "IMT-Advanced" umbrella is still in draft, and changes constantly.

Wireless companies use "4G" as a marketing term to give consumers the idea that their new phone is somehow 'better' than their old 3G phone (where 3G is actually an accurate representation of the IMT-2000 design spec). They do it because they can, not because they should.

The actual 4G (IMT-Advanced) specification *starts* at 100Mbs per second, which is a couple of years and several handsets down the road for consumers.

Most of the current technologies are more accurately described as 'advanced 3G'. Some have referred to things like HSPA+ as "3.5G" or "3.9G" in an effort to not trample on the '4G' name, but these are really no more techinically accurate than '4G' is as far as the ITU-R is concerned. They are all part of the IMT-2000 3G standard .

Here is a primer on the subject from the organization that defines the standards
PDF -> http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/Docum ... lly_3G.pdf

There's also not a great need for dual cores yet. I don't get what the fuss is about them in handsets. Okay, some power efficiency gains, whee. My phone, which runs push email, bluetooth, and wifi, lasts from sunrise to 2am with no problems 95% of my days, so battery life improvements don't carry a lot of weight with me.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

My handset is also my WiFi AP (when I'm not at home) for several other WiFi only gadgets I own... so the more bandwidth I can get the better. =)

I agree completely. I think with phones it's a matter of *other* devices to catch up with them. For example syncing my phone wirelessly with a computer monitor, tv, game controller, mouse, keyboard, etc.

I'm still not sure of a strong use case for high-speed mobile access that can't be solved with a home router. I'll try to think of something.

Thunderbolt is 179 with free shipping from Amazon, if you're still interested. (Showed up in my daily deals).

http://dealnews.com/HTC-Thunder-Bolt-Android-Smartphone-for-Verizon-for-180-free-shipping/445067.html

Yeah I actually picked it up today. I saw the Amazon deal, but I had a $50 rebate at Verizon so it put the phone at $200. It's worth $20 to get the phone today.

Oh, and it is awesome.

So I'm sitting here surfing the web, and a coworker of mine that has a WiFi only iPad2 is connecting to my mobile hotspot and watching the ncaa tournament. The mobile hotspot is only free until may, but it is really cool.

I did the speed test and was getting 7Mbps down and 20Mbps up.

The difference between this phone and my Blackberry Storm is about as big as the difference between my old Razor and my Storm. It is that big of a jump. Now the down side. The battery life is not great at all.

Still, that rocks man. Very nice!

That reminds me, next time I'm in Dayton, I need to run a test on my HSPDA+ bandwidth.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

This phone doesn't have dual cores, correct?

Does Verizon plan on having a phone with dual cores around, say, October?

_________________
Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Yeah, the Droid Bionic comes out sometime in june or so. It is a dual core. I didn't want to wait for it and I'm not sure if dual cores will make that much of a difference yet.

By the way I just got 14.13 Mbps download 32.22 Mbps upload. That is insane.

Waiting for a dual-core Android phone right now is pointless. No apps have been programmed to to take advantage of it yet and by the time they are, quad-core phones will likely be the new hotness.

Thunderbolt is probably the way to go. But to answer your question, Numbuk, the Bionic will be dual-core.

_________________
The Dude abides.