# Galaxy Nexus vs thunderbolt



## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

I know this is kind of a silly thread, but I've been considering swapping my tbolt for a gnex. And the reason for this thread is to ask what everyone's opinion on the gnex is versus the thunderbolt. I know that the gnex has more ram, better gpu, better cpu, etc. My biggest concerns are battery life and the lack of the capacitive buttons. I can normally squeeze out a good 20 or so hours out of this phone from my rom and kernel. If anyone can help me out, especially previous tbolt owners, it would be highly appreciated!

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## Art Vandelay (Jan 4, 2012)

Battery sucks on the Gnex. You will not see similar battery life as you did with the thunderbolt. You can get 20 hours provided you don't use your phone.

Why not get a GS3?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## Wool02 (Jul 16, 2011)

Go with the GNex. Former Bolt owner here and the GNex battery life is on par with the Bolt. I consistently get about 20 hours with 2 hours screen on time. Plus the dev support for the GNex is like the old Bolt scene on speed.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Art Vandelay said:


> Battery sucks on the Gnex. You will not see similar battery life as you did with the thunderbolt. You can get 20 hours provided you don't use your phone.
> 
> Why not get a GS3?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


That's another possibility. Don't you have to have ubuntu to root the GS3? Did have a dual boot win7 and ubuntu.... But, something went wrong, mbr got changed, terrified me, etc lol.

Is touchwiz a memory hog like sense is/was? Always had a problem with alot of lag when I was using sense, but then again, the GS3 has 2gb of ram so..

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Wool02 said:


> Go with the GNex. Former Bolt owner here and the GNex battery life is on par with the Bolt. I consistently get about 20 hours with 2 hours screen on time. Plus the dev support for the GNex is like the old Bolt scene on speed.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Is the lack of capacitive buttons crappy or awesome?

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## Wool02 (Jul 16, 2011)

zandander said:


> Is the lack of capacitive buttons crappy or awesome?
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


I love it. Lots of customization with buttons, order, icons, colors, size you name it. I dread going back to buttons since Samsung seems to have gone away from it recently.

About the battery life, you will want to get the 2100mAH battery from Verizon. And I'm pretty sure this is the same battery size that's in the S3.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Wool02 said:


> I love it. Lots of customization with buttons, order, icons, colors, size you name it. I dread going back to buttons since Samsung seems to have gone away from it recently.
> 
> About the battery life, you will want to get the 2100mAH battery from Verizon. And I'm pretty sure this is the same battery size that's in the S3.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


You've been a really big help  you've answered all of my questions about the differences so far, so, I may end up trying to save up some money to get a gnex. Our plan literally ends in 10 days and hopefully we're going to reup with Verizon. 
Keep the replies coming tho, I would really like to know first hand, real world reviews on this phone.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## vcapezio (Dec 23, 2011)

I'd say get a GS3 over the Nexus. I had a Thunderbolt, and while this is an upgrade in terms of speed and aesthetics (the phone itself), it's really not THAT much of an upgrade. Minimal at best. The battery life is still abysmal. Stock Google is great, but there's absolutely no way I'd use an upgrade to get the Nexus over the S3. The battery life on the S3 is supposed to be a lot better, and it's going to be just as smooth (probably smoother, honestly) than the Nexus. I'm personally not a fan of TouchWiz, but it doesn't slow down the UI any.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

vcapezio said:


> I'd say get a GS3 over the Nexus. I had a Thunderbolt, and while this is an upgrade in terms of speed and aesthetics (the phone itself), it's really not THAT much of an upgrade. Minimal at best. The battery life is still abysmal. Stock Google is great, but there's absolutely no way I'd use an upgrade to get the Nexus over the S3. The battery life on the S3 is supposed to be a lot better, and it's going to be just as smooth (probably smoother, honestly) than the Nexus. I'm personally not a fan of TouchWiz, but it doesn't slow down the UI any.


Are you rooted?

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## nativi (Jul 23, 2011)

Former bolt user here and I can say I could not be happier with this phone. The amount of options and features in some Roms are crazy. And running the latest version of android is a huge thing.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

Art Vandelay said:


> Former bolt user here and I can say I could not be happier with this phone. The amount of options and features in some Roms are crazy. And running the latest version of android is a huge thing.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


^ This! I also came from the TBolt (which I gave to my wife and she HATED so she has a Rezound now which she also dislikes so so long HTC after this) and LOVE the GNex. There's basically nothing you can't do with this phone. Being able to update to the latest version of Android is also a huge plus for me with this device.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

I must say, you guys are awesome! And unfortunately the tbolt battery is a joke... 1400maH..wtf?!

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

zandander said:


> I must say, you guys are awesome! And unfortunately the tbolt battery is a joke... 1400maH..wtf?!
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


I hated having to use the laughable giant brick 2750mAh battery just to be able to use the phone on 3G ONLY! So glad I never have to see that device ever again!

I use the stock GNex battery and it lasts me all day just fine of my typical usage. It's not great by any means but it sure beats my personal experience with the TBolt. YMMV though.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Mustang302LX said:


> I hated having to use the laughable giant brick 2750mAh battery just to be able to use the phone on 3G ONLY! So glad I never have to see that device ever again!
> 
> I use the stock GNex battery and it lasts me all day just fine of my typical usage. It's not great by any means but it sure beats my personal experience with the TBolt. YMMV though.


Is there any choppiness or lag to the UI? Like when you're switching homescreens, opening apps, multi-tasking etc?


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

zandander said:


> Is there any choppiness or lag to the UI? Like when you're switching homescreens, opening apps, multi-tasking etc?


I haven't run stock in forever but I don't remember any lag at all especially in Jelly Bean. CM10 is what I've been on for a while now (The Euroskank version built by fitsnugly) and no lag there for me either.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Mustang302LX said:


> I haven't run stock in forever but I don't remember any lag at all especially in Jelly Bean. CM10 is what I've been on for a while now (The Euroskank version built by fitsnugly) and no lag there for me either.


I see. That's one thing that I can't seem to escape lag no matter what ROM I'm on.. CM7, Thundershed, Liquid, Liquid ICS, BAMF Forever, and the list goes on! It's not lag all the time just a spike every now and then. And I'll take a look into the version of CM10 and read about if in a little bit.


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

zandander said:


> I see. That's one thing that I can't seem to escape lag no matter what ROM I'm on.. CM7, Thundershed, Liquid, Liquid ICS, BAMF Forever, and the list goes on! It's not lag all the time just a spike every now and then. And I'll take a look into the version of CM10 and read about if in a little bit.


Here's the link for easier finding.  http://rootzwiki.com/topic/29834-cm10jellybro-toro-nightly-kangs/


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## 24andrewd (Nov 12, 2011)

Former bolt owner here also. I thought I'd hate the move but now on the bamf ROM. Love my gnex would not trade it for any other of these generation of phones. Plus the tbolt only had one core this is a dual core phone.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Schoat333 (Jun 14, 2011)

My wife has my old t-bolt, and she hates it. Moving her to a Gnex with her upgrade next month. Unless I decide to make the move to the GS3. I really doubt that though. I love my Gnex.


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## godmom (Sep 24, 2011)

Former bolt user here I love my bolt hate to switch I was even using rezound battery which gave me great battery life But I got a gnex at a very good price and couldn't pass it up and I love it so much it so easy to root and I am running Eclipse ROM and love the battery life on it the big plus is my gnex don't get hot. And since I got my gnex I don't miss my tbolt it just sit in a drawer

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## feedhead (Jun 10, 2011)

Echoing what several other former Bolt owners have said already. 
I love the GN. Battery life is better or equal. I ran stock TB battery and with GN I have the OEM extended.
I have always run some flavor of CyanogenMod and is just much smoother ... bonus Jelly Bean Butter.

My old Bolt has been relegated to a bedside alarm clock.


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> Uhhh what? No offense meant but did you own a TBolt? That thing was a huge joke as far as battery life went. I get much more use out of my GNex than I ever did with my TBolt.


He must not have owned one









Anyone that actually had a TB would never ever say battery life was equal or better using it over the Nexus. It was maybe 70% as good from my year of having it and using CM7.


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## iNate71 (Dec 28, 2011)

Just get a GS3, root it, then put a Jelly Bean ROM on there. Simple as that. The Nexus is a great phone, don't get me wrong--but the GS3 has 2GB of RAM! That's madness.


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## d3hum4niz3d (Jul 22, 2012)

Gnex over s3 in any way.and someone said s3 has 2gb ram? Wtf?? Haha n00b xD

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

iNate71 said:


> Just get a GS3, root it, then put a Jelly Bean ROM on there. Simple as that. The Nexus is a great phone, don't get me wrong--but the GS3 has 2GB of RAM! That's madness.


What this guy said. I have both the GNex and SGS3 and I haven't found a reason to switch back to the GNex since I got my SGS3. Beans rom with either Apex or Nova Launcher is fantastic. Looks like and functions mostly like AOSP but with all the extra TouchWiz tweaks which I welcome.


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

nhat said:


> What this guy said. I have both the GNex and SGS3 and I haven't found a reason to switch back to the GNex since I got my SGS3. Beans rom with either Apex or Nova Launcher is fantastic. Looks like and functions mostly like AOSP but with all the extra TouchWiz tweaks which I welcome.


Pardon me I just threw up in my mouth a little while thinking about anything AppleWiz erm TouchWiz.


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## deltaechoe (Jul 20, 2011)

Well, battery life is always going to be terribad until new low power screen technology with very high pixel density is invented (it will happen eventually) and when the newer low power LTE modems come out and when verizon stops doing their idiotic LTE authentication (for Toro users)

This is why the battery life sucks


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

What kind of battery life are yall getting for both the S3 and gnex?

And the main reason I'm looking at the Nexus over the S3 is price... You can only save up enough money when you cut grass lol. Gotta pay for gas in the truck, diesel for the mower, ice, gatorade, etc. Lol

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## Shiftyshadee (Jun 7, 2011)

zandander said:


> What kind of battery life are yall getting for both the S3 and gnex?
> 
> And the main reason I'm looking at the Nexus over the S3 is price... You can only save up enough money when you cut grass lol. Gotta pay for gas in the truck, diesel for the mower, ice, gatorade, etc. Lol
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


A bunch of people are going to tell you "OMG teh battery lifez iz sux0rz". That's a joke, as battery life is relative to the individual user and quite frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.

My battery lasts me all day with the way I use my device, that's all I need, and I wouldn't trade my Nexus for anything else out right now.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

Shiftyshadee said:


> A bunch of people are going to tell you "OMG teh battery lifez iz sux0rz". That's a joke, as battery life is relative to the individual user and quite frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.
> 
> My battery lasts me all day with the way I use my device, that's all I need, and I wouldn't trade my Nexus for anything else out right now.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


The SGS3 with LTE on and the OEM battery nearly doubles the GNex with LTE off and the 2100mah extended battery with the same amount of usage.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Shiftyshadee said:


> The SGS3 with LTE on and the OEM battery nearly doubles the GNex with LTE off and the 2100mah extended battery with the same amount of usage.


That's good! I only need my battery to last between 8 and 18 hours and from what I'm hearing the Nexus does just that. And I'm not in an LTE area and only get to be in one a few times a month.

I guess I still need to go read up on the S3 to get a feel for the differences from the Nexus. Keep the replies coming though!

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## vcapezio (Dec 23, 2011)

Shiftyshadee said:


> A bunch of people are going to tell you "OMG teh battery lifez iz sux0rz". That's a joke, as battery life is relative to the individual user and quite frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.
> 
> My battery lasts me all day with the way I use my device, that's all I need, and I wouldn't trade my Nexus for anything else out right now.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


No, it's not a joke. The battery life on the Nexus sucks regardless of how you look at it. Love the phone, but that's a simple truth. Don't read the forum if you're 'sick of hearing about it.' If it works for you, that's fine, but most people actually USE their smartphone.


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## monky_1 (Aug 26, 2011)

I got my thunderbolt on launch day and now my sisters uses it. She asked if she could use cyanogenmod and while I was setting every thing back up. The screen is horrible compared to the TB. With the stock battery I would pull reasonable battery life it was good for a one day use. The Gnex is smooth compared to thunderbolt even if you under clock its still pretty smooth. I absolutely love my Gnex and I loved my TB also but I would never go back to the TB. I recommend you buy a screen protector and battery extender


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

vcapezio said:


> No, it's not a joke. The battery life on the Nexus sucks regardless of how you look at it. Love the phone, but that's a simple truth. Don't read the forum if you're 'sick of hearing about it.' If it works for you, that's fine, but most people actually USE their smartphone.


Simply untrue. I can take a Razr Maxx and make it have bad battery I can guarantee that. It all depends on how it's used. Apple always claimed insane battery life and I had a 4 and I never got good battery like they claimed or others claimed because I used the hell out of it like I do now with my Android devices. People act like they need a phone to last for a week long camping trip. No one is away from a possible charger for more than a day I bet so no need to get more than a full day out of the device. My GNex lasts me all day so to ME I get good enough battery life.


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## Shiftyshadee (Jun 7, 2011)

vcapezio said:


> No, it's not a joke. The battery life on the Nexus sucks regardless of how you look at it. Love the phone, but that's a simple truth. Don't read the forum if you're 'sick of hearing about it.' If it works for you, that's fine, but most people actually USE their smartphone.


The battery not lasting and you not knowing how to make your battery last are two very different things.

I have my device set up to last me all day the way I use it. Don't attack me because you don't or can't.

Battery life is relative to the individual user. End of story.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

Shiftyshadee said:


> Battery life is relative to the individual user. End of story.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


And if I gave you a SGS3 to set up the exact same way you have your GNex, it'd last at least twice as long on a single charge. No matter how I've used both phones, the SGS3 lasts longer than the GNex with custom settings, extended battery, and no LTE.

Anybody can make the GNex last a whole day on a single charge, but you have to change settings, set up profiles, set timers and triggers, etc etc...in other words, jumping through hoops just to make it through the day. The beauty of the SGS3 is I just use it out of the box and it lasts at least a day with how I use it. I could never say the same with the GNex. If I put the same amount of work into making a GNex last a whole day on a single charge, I'd be looking at Razr Maxx-like battery life.


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## Shiftyshadee (Jun 7, 2011)

nhat said:


> And if I gave you a SGS3 to set up the exact same way you have your GNex, it'd last at least twice as long on a single charge. No matter how I've used both phones, the SGS3 lasts longer than the GNex with custom settings, extended battery, and no LTE.
> 
> Anybody can make the GNex last a whole day on a single charge, but you have to change settings, set up profiles, set timers and triggers, etc etc...in other words, jumping through hoops just to make it through the day. The beauty of the SGS3 is I just use it out of the box and it lasts at least a day with how I use it. I could never say the same with the GNex. If I put the same amount of work into making a GNex last a whole day on a single charge, I'd be looking at Razr Maxx-like battery life.


I'm running MIUI with it's stock kernel. Lasts me all day. What else you got?

Again, battery life is relative to the individual user. I don't see why that is so hard for some to comprehend.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## vcapezio (Dec 23, 2011)

No, it's not totally relative to the user. Sorry.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

Thunderbolt battery life overall is worse than Gnex. It's a smaller battery and Sense is a resource hog. My Gnex gets decent life, but I'm also never far away from a charger. So it's not a big deal.


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

Shiftyshadee said:


> I'm running MIUI with it's stock kernel. Lasts me all day. What else you got?
> 
> Again, battery life is relative to the individual user. I don't see why that is so hard for some to comprehend.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


1. MIUI? Gross.
2. Of course it is relative. My GNex might not last as long as yours but my SGS3 lasts longer than my GNex with the same usage. There's no way getting around that fact.
3. What have you done or have to do on a daily basis in order to get your GNex to last a whole day on a single charge?


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

I think we need a.....


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## vcapezio (Dec 23, 2011)

Battery life is relative to the user, but only to an extent. If your phone sits in your pocket most of the day on wifi, of course your battery is going to last you throughout the day.

Take a stock Galaxy Nexus, leave it on 4G, and try to go a normal day. If you text, facebook, twitter, and browse the net a bit... I guarantee your phone will not last you throughout the day if you start around 8-9am.

Having the logic stating, "it's relative to the user and my phone lasts a whole day so the battery life is great," is not very helpful in the tech world. I just really don't understand how you can be a consumer and a general tech enthusiast (I assume since you're here) and say that this battery life is great. If every review of a phone said "it's relative to the user" when referencing battery life, all phones would be awesome.

The Galaxy Nexus is a great phone. One of the drawbacks is the battery life. If you're a light user who has a strong wifi connection all day, then great. However, if you're a moderate to high user, the phone rarely lasts more than 2.5 hours of screen on time regardless of tweaking. I'm pretty sure that's a general consensus.

In my mind, I see absolutely no reason to get the Nexus over the S3. Yeah, it's pure Google, but if you're already on this forum, chances are you are going to root and ROM whichever phone you eventually choose. The S3 is currently the best selling phone in the country, and for a good reason. It's got better hardware of the Nexus, and for that reason alone, I wouldn't waste a 2 year upgrade on a phone that is already somewhat obsolete.

/end rant


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

Holy crap the OP has all but said he can't afford the SGS3 so who gives a crap about it? The OP was GNex vs. TBolt and everyone now is riding all over the SGS3. If he wanted the SGS3 this thread would more than likely be in the SGS3 forum. Just sayin'.


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## Shiftyshadee (Jun 7, 2011)

Gross? Hardly looks any different than any other AOSP ROM





























and I never said single charge. I said it lasts me all day the way I use it. Sometimes 4G, sometimes WiFi, sometimes it charges in my car while I listen to music while I'm driving.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> Holy crap the OP has all but said he can't afford the SGS3 so who gives a crap about it? The OP was GNex vs. TBolt and everyone now is riding all over the SGS3. If he wanted the SGS3 this thread would more than likely be in the SGS3 forum. Just sayin'.


Having seen what Motorola introduced, I'd suggest he wait for the Razr M HD before he makes a decision. Better radios, better battery life, unlockable bootloader, Super AMOLED screen, and somewhat Google-backed.

All for $99.

Bah, 960x540 resolution though.


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## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

nhat said:


> Having seen what Motorola introduced, I'd suggest he wait for the Razr M HD before he makes a decision. Better radios, better battery life, unlockable bootloader, Super AMOLED screen, and somewhat Google-backed.


 Yea the Motorola unveil was actually pretty interesting.


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## Spartan051xKurtA (Jul 31, 2011)

Wait! The boot loader is unlockable?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## lrs421 (Jul 9, 2011)

cstrife999 said:


> Yea the Motorola unveil was actually pretty interesting.


Yeah, I've secretly developed a crush on the Maxx HD. I'm telling anyone though









I'm sure that's against the Nexus code 
Im sure the aosp police are on their way to confiscate my device as we speak.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## lrs421 (Jul 9, 2011)

Spartan051xKurtA said:


> Wait! The boot loader is unlockable?


They're creating a developer edition as well. I doubt the Verizon/consumer model will be unlockable.

Sorry to derail, back to Thunderbolt talk.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

Spartan051xKurtA said:


> Wait! The boot loader is unlockable?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


If it's unlockable at all, it'll probably be gimped unlocked like what HTC does.


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

nhat said:


> Having seen what Motorola introduced, I'd suggest he wait for the Razr M HD before he makes a decision. Better radios, better battery life, unlockable bootloader, Super AMOLED screen, and somewhat Google-backed.
> 
> All for $99.
> 
> Bah, 960x540 resolution though.


False. For $99 you get a locked bootloader. For $549 you get the developer edition with zero warranty. No thanks.

Motorola showcased today what the original Razr should have been and their presentation was an absolute bore.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Mustang302LX said:


> False. For $99 you get a locked bootloader. For $549 you get the developer edition with zero warranty. No thanks.
> 
> Motorola showcased today what the original Razr should have been and their presentation was an absolute bore.


That sounds kinda crappy..

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## lrs421 (Jul 9, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> False. For $99 you get a locked bootloader. For $549 you get the developer edition with zero warranty. No thanks.
> 
> Motorola showcased today what the original Razr should have been and their presentation was an absolute bore.


Yeah, it was pretty boring. $99 is for the Razr M. The Razr HD and Maxx HD will likely be more expensive. The dev versions will likely be around $650, ouch.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

lrs421 said:


> Yeah, it was pretty boring. $99 is for the Razr M. The Razr HD and Maxx HD will likely be more expensive. The dev versions will likely be around $650, ouch.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Yeah and I refuse to pay full price for a phone so I can enjoy it how I want! Screw Motorola and even Samsung for going that route. Simply tell VzW if they want shit locked find another OEM to use and they will take their stuff to other carriers. That will change VzWs tune real quick.


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> False. For $99 you get a locked bootloader. For $549 you get the developer edition with zero warranty. No thanks.
> 
> Motorola showcased today what the original Razr should have been and their presentation was an absolute bore.


But the bootloader will be able to be unlocked, which of course voids your warranty. But none of us in here have warranties on our GNexs or SGS3s anyways.


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

nhat said:


> But the bootloader will be able to be unlocked, which of course voids your warranty. But none of us in here have warranties on our GNexs or SGS3s anyways.


Yes that's "true" but I don't have to register my voided warranty on an OEM website when unlocking my bootloader so if hardware breaks having nothing to do with root/unlock I can relock and not worry about it.


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## vcapezio (Dec 23, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> Yeah and I refuse to pay full price for a phone so I can enjoy it how I want! Screw Motorola and even Samsung for going that route. Simply tell VzW if they want shit locked find another OEM to use and they will take their stuff to other carriers. That will change VzWs tune real quick.


If it was this easy, I'm sure Samsung would've done it by now.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Another question about the Nexus. How is the reception on it? When I'm working out in the boonies I almost never get solid signal on my bolt, and only a few bars in my own home. I've read that it really differs, sometimes the Nexus gets great reception and sometimes no.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## WhataSpaz (Feb 20, 2012)

lrs421 said:


> Yeah, it was pretty boring. $99 is for the Razr M. The Razr HD and Maxx HD will likely be more expensive. The dev versions will likely be around $650, ouch.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Razr M for my Dad when it comes out...he's due for an upgrade


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## ThunderStick (Jul 3, 2011)

OK back on track,
Former TB user, had it for about a year and half. Loved the phone until I got the nexus. Damn this thing is the cat's ass if you ask me. I had a GSM version and now a VZW version. Both were nice. The GSM did have better battery life (how ever the service sucked ass). Now still on VZ with unlimited data, this thing can't be beat right now. Developer action is damn near guaranteed to last a while with a nexus device (the freakin N1 is still getting new roms). I thought developement would never stop for the TB with all the action that was going on in the beginning, but it did indeed die. 
-The phone was heavy compared to the gnex (you will notice the difference when you use the gnex for a month then go back to your TB)
-Gnex fits the hand nicely (if skeptical about such a tall device)
-Gnex fits in you pocket (the TB did too, but this was a concern for me with the larger screen on the Gnex. Since it is thinner that seems to make a big difference) Hardly noticable in the pocket)
-The Gnex really should have more accessories available for it but oh well.
-NFC is not a huge thing unless you would like to use Google Wallet for purchases. More of a novelty right now IMHO
-Battery life on the TB compared to the Gnex (I easily get a full day from my gnex) again screen on time and data connection strength will play a major part here (the big ass screen requires some big ass battery juice)
-TB car dock compared to the Gnex car dock, The TB never seemed to detect car mode very well in the OEM dock. 
-TB just got ICS with a leak, VZW GNex get's JB with Dev. Support, Both being Verizon Updates are slow as shit
-TB got faster download speeds for me however, the GNex does have a more consistent data connection though. My TB constantly dropped data connections if downloading large files (over 300MB) hasnt happened on the Gnex
-GPS on the Bolt is unmatched how ever. That thing had a lock on GPS like no other personal device I have used (I have been using GPS devices for over 15 years and the bolt was quick to lock and accurate). The Gnex is a bit inconsistent and accuracy is not as good.
-Soft buttons on the GNex are Nice, the regular buttons on the TB were equally as cool. But if wanting to customize, soft buttons are the way to go. No soft buttons in clock work mod recovery to cause some trouble though when paging through long directories or simply wanting to just go back a page. TWRP recovery fixed this issue with soft buttons.
-TB had a charging port on the side thought to be awkward until you mount your Gnex in landscape mode in a generic car dock with you cord hanging off the side now it would be hanging straight down. With it coming from the bottom of the phone as on the GNex it places stress on the small wafer thin micro USB connection. Concerns me anyway.
-The GNex has the pogo pins, but VZW (or samsung) decided to not support any accessories that could take advantage of them.
-The TB is built like a brick, I dropped mine tons of times and never once did the screen crack. The Gnex how ever if dropped the corners take the impact because of the shape of the screen and the screen corners will crack (you need a case with the gnex) Lots of you-tube footage on this.
-However the TB screen was more susceptible to scratches the GNEX seems to be more "Scratch Resistant" you tube footage on this as well
And of course the most important feature of both devices....
ThunderStick ROMS available for both. VZW Gnex will now be more supported though.









To wrap it up, I couldn't be happier with my choice to get a Gnex, I got mine on ebay for $250 like new in the box with all accessories. Purchased an extended battery a few weeks ago and would never even think of going back. Dont waste an upgrade how ever, just not worth it. Wait for a deal and jump on it. 
As far as getting a Galaxy SIII, if you decide on this I would wait for it to gain some age as well. Devices drop value like hookers drop to there knees. (or something like that) Keep an eye on the classified sections and ebay, as soon as a new device pops up people will be dropping the GS3 for the new thing and the prices will fall just as fast. When the GNEX came out classified ads had it for over $700, now you can easily pick one up for about $300.00 or $250 if lucky.

This message reflects the opinion of me and only me, Any data or quotes made to seem factual may or may not be, you can decide this for yourself. if you bothered to read this far and can see this small print feel free to hit the thanks button or what ever it's called on these forums.


----------



## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

If only I could press the like button 1000000 times it would only explain a fraction of how informative and helpful your post was thunder!

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


----------



## jwort93 (Oct 10, 2011)

zandander said:


> If only I could press the like button 1000000 times it would only explain a fraction of how informative and helpful your post was thunder!
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


I'm in the same boat as you. I currently have a Thunderbolt, but I just ordered a Like-New galaxy nexus on amazon for around $270 shipped. It should come sometime early next week. I can't wait!


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

zandander said:


> Another question about the Nexus. How is the reception on it?


Subpar when compared to the SGS3, Motorolas, and HTCs.


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## ThunderStick (Jul 3, 2011)

zandander said:


> If only I could press the like button 1000000 times it would only explain a fraction of how informative and helpful your post was thunder!
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Glad I could help, it took me more than a month of researching to decide what would replace my bolt.
At first I thought the one X would be worthy. But realized I needed to get away from sense devices if I wanted better performance. 
Looked in to the razr but motorola stuff scares me (dont know enough about it I guess). 
Then next I looked in to the GS3, too new and too expensive to even consider. I will not resign a contract with VZW but love the service and my unlimited data so I did not want to switch carriers.
So i ponied up for a GSM Gnex and hooked it up to straight talk with an ATT sim. ATT has some incredibly poor service here in milwaukee I found out. No voice connection even in the heart of the big city of Milwaukee, piss poor. But it helped me decide on the device. So I started to learn the GNex, got used to the soft keys and screen size and fell in love. One thing I stilll dont like about it though is the no SD Card. Although windows 7 and Linux have no problem detecting it through USB I still would rather have an exchangeable card. When installing a stock image through the boot loader it will wipe your SD-Card partition on the GNex which sucks. Reason for the card. But oh well, I guess I cant get everything I want... 
Another concern people seem to have is that it only has a 5mp camera. Don't let this worry you at all, 5MP is good enough to take an image suitable for any 8x10 frame. Anything higher is simply marketing ploys. The little camera on these phones realy rely on specific conditions to get good pictures. I used to be able to take some very nice pictures on a 2mp camera. Lens size is everything in cameras, don't expect great pictures from any phone unless you have great lighting. But with great lighting this phone is definitely capable of taking excellent images.
All in all the phone is great and now my finger tips are building callouses from my attempt to convince the world how great it is by typing these long winded posts.
Damn, just realized I need to get out more....


----------



## jimmydene84 (Jul 11, 2011)

I'm actually the opposite side of thundersticks opinions. My own personal.experiences...

I picked up a gnex 2 days ago, I'm currently typing this from my bolt again. Returned the gnex a little bit ago, here's why:

I did like the weight, size, and feel of the gnex. The screen compaired to my bolt was terrible didn't like it at all. Battery life was the same as my bolt currently get a full day both on stock batteries. Yes there is a ton of development goin with the gnex but to me aosp is aosp is aosp...all of the ROMs were pretty.damn close to the same, some r themed and tweaked diff than others but 1 person does.something cool then 2 days later its in damn near everyother Rom out there. So for me they were all to similar. I was use to the bolt in its hayday...we had totally.different roms, even ones that.were made for totally other phones. They all looked, felt, and performed differently. I really.don't know what my next phone will be, but the gnex wasn't it.

My personal experience and opinion...


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

ThunderStick said:


> Glad I could help, it took me more than a month of researching to decide what would replace my bolt.
> At first I thought the one X would be worthy. But realized I needed to get away from sense devices if I wanted better performance.
> Looked in to the razr but motorola stuff scares me (dont know enough about it I guess).
> Then next I looked in to the GS3, too new and too expensive to even consider. I will not resign a contract with VZW but love the service and my unlimited data so I did not want to switch carriers.
> ...


LMAO! I think its funny that everyone judges a camera on its MP.. But AFAIK all it does is determine how big you can blow up the picture. The literal biggest thing I would ever look at a cell phone pic on is my PC, but normally just the phone itself. If I want to take a REALLY good picture, they make actual cameras for that lol. And also the lack of an SD card kind of frightened me, but other than that I'm really liking all of the specs of the phone. I was thinking about doing straight talk, but the closest AT&T tower is around 120 miles away so that's a no-no. Where I am we have VZW and Alltel... I'm never going back to alltel so that's a definite hell no. I'm gonna take a look on Amazon and eBay real quick and take a look at the options I have!

Keep everything comin guys!!


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## sublimaze (Nov 17, 2011)

Former Tbolt owner here. ThunderStick makes some really good, honest points about the GNex, and I agree with all of them except for a couple. I personally have not noticed any significant difference in download speeds between the GNex and Tbolt. And GPS in rock solid on my GNex, and I have never had problems with it. It always locks within seconds, just like my old Tbolt.

I also agree that burning an upgrade on the GNex is probably not worth it, especially if you are reasonably happy with your Tbolt and you can wait a few months until the next Nexus. Verizon may not even get another Nexus, so that is something else to consider. But if you want to stay with Verizon and your contract ends soon, and you can make do with the Tbolt for a little longer, you will be better off in the long run if you wait. Even if you decide against the next Nexus (if its available), the price of the SGS3 will have dropped considerably, and you can save a lot of cash buying a used one without extending your Verizon contract.

Edit: However, if you can get a killer deal on a used GNex, then by all means jump on it. And also get a spare battery & charger. Then you won't be concerned with the all of the battery pissing contests


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## ThunderStick (Jul 3, 2011)

jimmydene84 said:


> I'm actually the opposite side of thundersticks opinions. My own personal.experiences...
> 
> I picked up a gnex 2 days ago, I'm currently typing this from my bolt again. Returned the gnex a little bit ago, here's why:
> 
> ...


I must say I agree with a lot of your points. The bolt can get some good battery life and the Gnex is not as spectacular when compared to others. But in all honestly I doubt Google releases another phone this year (they just released two new devices) and if they do I really doubt Verizon will get the opportunity to sport it on there network. 
As far as development goes, I have brought this same point up. ROM's are going to be remakes of AOKP and CM until the end of days. This you can pretty much count on. Some features will be left out or some combined with features of both AOKP and CM. But anything too original will be truly unique. The bolt got tons of different ROMs only because HTC pounds out new devices with similar hardware and different versions of Sense all the time. So you get to have sense 2 all the way through 3.6 and feel like you got a whole new phone each time you flashed a new ROM. Features would be implemented using code from those other devices and new features and sense versions were refreshing to see. With AOSP ROM's on the Gnex, it is much harder to implement features found on other devices simply because OEM devices have major framework changes to accompany there custom UI and they do not provide the source to go along with it. When I seen there was a sense rom being developed for the GNex it got me kind of excited to see active development in other areas besides just AOSP pulls but soon found it to be out of my reach of knowledge and I am assuming most others got overwhelmed with this as well.


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

> The screen compaired to my bolt was terrible didn't like it at all.


Just a suggestion to read up on the differences between OLED based screens and LCD screens if you ever consider another one with an OLED screen. There have been numerous people returning "defective" screens (some might be, but many are not) on the basis of not understanding how each type of display works.

Things like:

"Ghosting" (where images persist if you have the brightness set too high). Many other "anomalies" are only present when the brightness is too high.

"Distorted" videos where you see "false pixelation" (compression glephs) in darker areas is normal because it shows true blacks instead of washed out grays like LCD does.

Colors looking "off" which is mainly due to variance in the OLEDs in the device and makes it hard for any two devices to show exactly the same image color wise on both. Mainly this is due to the OLEDs "settling" after initial calibration by the OEM. Recalibrating can help, but that's kind of hard to do without the proper software to use as a test benchmark to what the colors should be on a phone and I would question any apps that claim help you calibrate to what they should be as it's not exactly simple to do. You can always attempt to manually adjust with various methods out there and find something that looks better if you wish to though.

Thunderbolt's screen was nothing to really praise though. It was always washed out and hard to see in the sun. Pain in the butt when you are outside trying to run in the middle of the day.


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

jimmydene84 said:


> I'm actually the opposite side of thundersticks opinions. My own personal.experiences...
> 
> I picked up a gnex 2 days ago, I'm currently typing this from my bolt again. Returned the gnex a little bit ago, here's why:
> 
> ...


You must have awful eyes (no disrespect meant) if you can honestly say the TBolt has a better screen than the GNex. They aren't even in the same ballpark. Wow!


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## Money Mike (Jun 14, 2011)

I've owned a bolt, RAZR, and now a nexus. Battery life has been pretty much the same on all of them. I still have all three and sitting them next to each other the gnex has the best screen for sure. I even like the gnex screen better than my droid charge screen. The charge was brighter but the gnex seems sharper. Reception wise my bolt got the best reception followed by the RAZR and then the gnex. Gnex reception still isn't bad though considering. I used to hit as low as -64db with my bolt. RAZR was usually in the -80's and gnex is between -80's and -90's. Moral to the story is I don't think the perfect phone has been created yet. At least I haven't owned it and I've owned quite a few phones. Oh and Gnex>Tbolt

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## sublimaze (Nov 17, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> You must have awful eyes (no disrespect meant) if you can honestly say the TBolt has a better screen than the GNex. They aren't even in the same ballpark. Wow!


I'd venture to guess jimmy simply prefers LCDs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not everyone is enamored with AMOLED. To each his own


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

sublimaze said:


> I'd venture to guess jimmy simply prefers LCDs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not everyone is enamored with AMOLED. To each his own


I'm not hating on LCD I'm strictly hating on the awful LCD that is in the TBolt.


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

ThunderStick said:


> ROM's are going to be remakes of CM until the end of days.


FTFY


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

sublimaze said:


> I'd venture to guess jimmy simply prefers LCDs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not everyone is enamored with AMOLED. To each his own


Not too many will like me saying it, but the iphone has a nice LCD screen and what Android phones should strive for themselves (hopefully avoiding lawsuits, heh). The thunderbolt...not so much. Resolution was far too low for the size (so a low PPI) and they did basically nothing to reduce sun glare. LCD screens are fine, if they're done right. The Thunderbolt's was one of the worse though.


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

yarly said:


> Not too many will like me saying it, but the iphone has a nice LCD screen and what Android phones should strive for themselves (hopefully avoiding lawsuits, heh). The thunderbolt...not so much. Resolution was far too low for the size (so a low PPI) and they did basically nothing to reduce sun glare. LCD screens are fine, if they're done right. The Thunderbolt's was one of the worse though.


Well said for sure. The HTC One X also has a really nice LCD screen (so I've heard).


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## jimmydene84 (Jul 11, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> You must have awful eyes (no disrespect meant) if you can honestly say the TBolt has a better screen than the GNex. They aren't even in the same ballpark. Wow!


None taken, the screen resolution was fine. But watching the same hd you tube video side by side on the same brightness setting 50% and indoors, the colors were more bright and vivid and easier to see on my bolt. Granted outside the gnex wins...but most of my time is indoors working...that's what I.based that statement on.


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## WormDoes (Jun 27, 2011)

Having had a TBolt and currently using a Nexus I'd get the Nexus in a heartbeat! This phone is amazing and I will be using it for the life of its contract (which is something I've NEVER done)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## twizzler703 (Nov 16, 2011)

Still have my thunderbolt, and haven't looked back since getting the Nexus. the amount of dev work for the Gnex trumps all.

I do think i got better battery with my thunderbolt though


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

So the general consensus is to get a Nexus or no? Lol
Gonna work double time for a few weeks to get enough money for it lol

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## jr313 (Jun 10, 2011)

Cmon there's no comparison really. Nexus any day over a tb. Had both and never looked back after I got the nexus. Yeah the camera on the tb was better but that's the only thing it had on the nexus

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## morpheousrx (Aug 21, 2011)

Had a tbolt, a rezound, still have my gnex and now a gs3. The gnew and galaxy s3 are very similar ui sppediness wise. The camera and s reen are leaps and bounds better than the gnex. Hell the camera on the bolt is better than the gnex. Rezounds camera was hands down best cam. If you are in a 4g area...go galaxy s3 and never look back. Gnex cant ru 4g all day and expect good battery life. Good luck with watever you choose!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

zandander said:


> You've been a really big help  you've answered all of my questions about the differences so far, so, I may end up trying to save up some money to get a gnex. Our plan literally ends in 10 days and hopefully we're going to reup with Verizon.
> Keep the replies coming tho, I would really like to know first hand, real world reviews on this phone.
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Right now I think the gnex on vzw is free. I too worry about getting another phone that doesn't have the navbar. (Software buttons)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Jaydizzle333 (Jul 26, 2011)

The tbolt's radio signal was superb but the lack of ics (an official one) to this date was the reason I switched a few months ago. Battery life was better for me on the the gnex as well.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Our Verizon plan ends on the 14th of this month and I've got it figured out on how many hours I'll need to work in order to buy one. That is if we are still on Verizon then.. Only other options are straight talk and alltel. Neither of which get decent service around here lol. 
Cross your fingers and hope that everything pans out good!

Edit: After looking at the screen specs of the tbolt vs the gnex I'm very excited lol. 217 ppi for tbolt and 316 ppi for Nexus. That's a pretty serious increase!

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

Maybe that was a weekend deal or something. But its 99.99 with 2 year right now.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## stastnysnipes26 (Jul 13, 2011)

Former Thunderbolt owner here. I would say the Thunderbolt and Galaxy Nexus are actually quite similar phones. I dropped my Thunderbolt the day the G Nex launched for the simple reason that it was a nexus device. That one reason alone should be enough to sway any android enthusiast to buy a Galaxy Nexus. On top of that, as you mentioned, better RAM, CPU, GPU yet downgrade in camera unless you consider zero shutter lag on the Galaxy Nexus. Battery Life and signal strength are almost identical to what my Thunderbolt was.

my .02

Also, can some of you people start proof reading your posts? When you have several spelling and grammatical mistakes it makes your posts hard and frustrating to read.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

psycho_maniac said:


> Right now I think the gnex on vzw is free. I too worry about getting another phone that doesn't have the navbar. (Software buttons)
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Softkeys can be added to any phone running ICS or JB pretty easily.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

stastnysnipes26 said:


> Also, can some of you people start proof reading your posts? When you have several spelling and grammatical mistakes it makes your posts hard and frustrating to read.


I'm good at math, not english









Edit: My spelling is usually good, but grammar not so good


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## stastnysnipes26 (Jul 13, 2011)

morpheousrx said:


> I'm good at math, not english
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## ThunderStick (Jul 3, 2011)

brkshr said:


> I'm good at math, not english
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I be not great at any of dem.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

brkshr said:


> Softkeys can be added to any phone running ICS or JB pretty easily.


Yeah you're right but who wants 2 pairs of buttons on there phone?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

psycho_maniac said:


> Yeah you're right but who wants 2 pairs of buttons on there phone?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Home button changed to open camera & take pictures. Capacitive button lights turned off, so you don't even know they are there.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Good news! I have about a 90% chance of staying on Verizon! Found a good looking Nexus on ebay, can I post a link of it without getting in trouble?

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## Cloud Nine (May 19, 2012)

zandander said:


> Good news! I have about a 90% chance of staying on Verizon! Found a good looking Nexus on ebay, can I post a link of it without getting in trouble?
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


I don't see why not lol


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

brkshr said:


> Home button changed to open camera & take pictures. Capacitive button lights turned off, so you don't even know they are there.


Didn't know you could do that? Can you just turn them off completely? So they don't function.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## romboy (May 29, 2012)

jr313 said:


> Cmon there's no comparison really. Nexus any day over a tb. Had both and never looked back after I got the nexus. Yeah the camera on the tb was better but that's the only thing it had on the nexus
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


lol right i had a tb for over a year and the gnex smokes it


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## romboy (May 29, 2012)

go gnex you wont be sorry trust me.


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## romboy (May 29, 2012)

run this rom it is sick sick sick http://rootzwiki.com/topic/33443-rom411aosp-new-affinityseries-v10-jelly-bean-beta-1/


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

psycho_maniac said:


> Didn't know you could do that? Can you just turn them off completely? So they don't function.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Honestly, I don't know how to disable the actual capacitive 'light' without the option being in the ROM. I know CM ROMs (some kangs too) have the ability to turn off the lights.

I do know how to disable the keys so they don't work when touched,, or you can change them to do a couple other things. There is also a mod you can flash to do these things. If you can't turn off the lights tho, that can be annoying.

I plan on trying to figure out how to get the lights off. It just hasn't been high on my list since it already comes in CM10.

Edit: made post a little clearer


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Should I just get the gnex with my upgrade or on a new contract? If I want to upgrade later on to the S3 I can buying a used one (they'll prolly be alot cheaper in a year or so). Imo, $99 for a new one is better than 250 plus for an ok condition used one.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

This is kind of sad... I'm already downloading everything I need to unlock/root the phone lol. I don't really plan on running it stock for more than about 8 hours.


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## Money Mike (Jun 14, 2011)

zandander said:


> This is kind of sad... I'm already downloading everything I need to unlock/root the phone lol. I don't really plan on running it stock for more than about 8 hours.


When I bought mine I walked in my front door, fired up the laptop, and unlocked the sob.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Money Mike said:


> When I bought mine I walked in my front door, fired up the laptop, and unlocked the sob.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


That's exactly what I did with my tbolt lol. Within the first 2 minutes of having it powered on it was plugged in to the laptop. How long did it take you to unlock/root it?


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## Money Mike (Jun 14, 2011)

zandander said:


> That's exactly what I did with my tbolt lol. Within the first 2 minutes of having it powered on it was plugged in to the laptop. How long did it take you to unlock/root it?


Not sure. It wasn't long, maybe 20 or 30 minutes. The hard part was picking out my first ROM lol.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## 24andrewd (Nov 12, 2011)

Bamf with Trident kernel works great

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

What ROM and Kernels are you guys running? So far I've read alot of praise about Franco's Kernels, and some good things about AOKP..


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## Money Mike (Jun 14, 2011)

I'm on cm10 with leankernel right now. Very stable setup for me.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Money Mike said:


> I'm on cm10 with leankernel right now. Very stable setup for me.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Decent battery life?

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## WhataSpaz (Feb 20, 2012)

zandander said:


> Decent battery life?
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Lean = the best on battery

Go for the latest experimental


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

WhataSpaz said:


> Lean = the best on battery
> 
> Go for the latest experimental


Like? Can you shoot me a link of a good one in your opinion? After that I can see what to look for.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

brkshr said:


> Honestly, I don't know how to disable the actual capacitive 'light' without the option being in the ROM. I know CM ROMs (some kangs too) have the ability to turn off the lights.
> 
> I do know how to disable the keys so they don't work when touched,, or you can change them to do a couple other things. There is also a mod you can flash to do these things. If you can't turn off the lights tho, that can be annoying.
> 
> ...


I do not know much about development, but I am assuming that you would have to edit that in the kernel.


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## impulse101 (May 11, 2012)

I used to get about 5 hours on the tbolt. I now get around 15-22 on gnex with franco kernal and AOKP always with 4g and wifi on. Tbolt is utter shit in every way compared to gnex which is the best phone. I would take it over the gs3 with its garbage touchwiz and ridiculous hardware buttons. Once you get a nexus device you will never get a different phone again, trust me

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## impulse101 (May 11, 2012)

sublimaze said:


> I'd venture to guess jimmy simply prefers LCDs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not everyone is enamored with AMOLED. To each his own


No sorry he is blind. Comparing the two screens is fing retarded. Low resolution shit versus HD

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

impulse101 said:


> I used to get about 5 hours on the tbolt. I now get around 15-22 on gnex with franco kernal and AOKP always with 4g and wifi on. Tbolt is utter shit in every way compared to gnex which is the best phone. I would take it over the gs3 with its garbage touchwiz and ridiculous hardware buttons. Once you get a nexus device you will never get a different phone again, trust me
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


I call BS on you getting 15-22hrs on the VZW GNex. Well, that might be true if you hardly use the phone.

It's funny that people on this forum continually trash TouchWiz as if they'll leave the stock rom on the S3. And it has a single hardware button which can be programmed to perform several different functions.

I own 2 Nexus devices yet I much prefer the S3 I'm currently using over the GNex which is collecting dust.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

psycho_maniac said:


> I do not know much about development, but I am assuming that you would have to edit that in the kernel.


No sir. These changes would be in the ROM. Disabling the actual use of the keys is very simple & I'll tell you how if you need it (lazy







). Disabling the actual light for the capacitives is in the ROM as well. I just haven't researched that enough to know exactly how CM does it.


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## tiny4579 (Oct 21, 2011)

OP, Gnex should be a free upgrade at Best Buy right now. It was a few weeks ago. Ok, I read it just now and it's also $99.99 according to the website. Buying used may be better as long as the phone is in good condition as you can easily keep unlimited if you have it.

I never had a Tbolt so I can't compare the Gnex to the Tbolt but I can with the Inc and I like the Gnex a lot more than the Inc and the Inc was a good phone for it's time.


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

impulse101 said:


> I used to get about 5 hours on the tbolt. I now get around 15-22 on gnex with franco kernal and AOKP always with 4g and wifi on. Tbolt is utter shit in every way compared to gnex which is the best phone. I would take it over the gs3 with its garbage touchwiz and ridiculous hardware buttons. Once you get a nexus device you will never get a different phone again, trust me
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Thank you!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Why does anyone EVER want to get an iPhone?! My sister wants one and I have no idea why.. I guess because its expensive and thats what all the "cool" people have lol


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## psycho_maniac (Jun 9, 2011)

Cuz they are sheep

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

zandander said:


> I guess because its expensive and thats what all the "cool" people have lol


Plenty of expensive Android phones out there.


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## Money Mike (Jun 14, 2011)

zandander said:


> Why does anyone EVER want to get an iPhone?! My sister wants one and I have no idea why.. I guess because its expensive and thats what all the "cool" people have lol


It's a status thing. I hear people say "oh I have an iPhone" all the time. As if they are showing off or something. Android users don't have to do that because we already know our phone is superior. Unless we are showing an iPhone user a sweet feature our phone has that theirs does not lol.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

zandander said:


> Why does anyone EVER want to get an iPhone?! My sister wants one and I have no idea why.. I guess because its expensive and thats what all the "cool" people have lol


 Realistically because it's a smartphone that is easy. If you think about it it's the easiest operating system to understand and get what a general user would want out of it. It was created as a transitional device for a person to move from a "dumbphone" to a smartphone. That was the point and it works. It's a smartphone for people who are not technically inclined. I see the market and understand why it is so popular.


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## Mattes (Sep 2, 2011)

My father had an easier time on his AOKP'd Fascy then his new iPhone ;p "Easiest OS to understand" is a matter of opinion. (I know it's a slight knock on iOS users but in all seriousness the menus on iOS are "clunky" in my opinion)

i.e. setting an alarm , turning on wifi, notification settings

And don't even mention theming that alone made me throw my iPhone off my line lmao, Some of the worst file system organization ever. Just to swap Icons you have to edit the folder for every app. But I guess it wasn't meant to be easy was it as I don't know what I want my phone to look like









And on topic I don't miss my TB at all but it was a solid phone and served me very well.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Did anyone use this method to unlock/root etc?


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## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

zandander said:


> Did anyone use this method to unlock/root etc?


 No real need. Simple use adb and OEM unlock. Boom done in seconds.


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## mfinlay04 (Jun 8, 2011)

zandander said:


> You've been a really big help  you've answered all of my questions about the differences so far, so, I may end up trying to save up some money to get a gnex. Our plan literally ends in 10 days and hopefully we're going to reup with Verizon.
> Keep the replies coming tho, I would really like to know first hand, real world reviews on this phone.
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


If you have unlimited data just get a nexus off craigslist or swappa... probably just a little more expensive but no loosing unlimited data!!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## dmonzel (Sep 1, 2011)

Just popped in to say I sold my Bolt to get my GNex on release day and I couldn't have been happier. I've actually been seeing better battery life with the GNex than I was getting on the Thunderbolt.


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## impulse101 (May 11, 2012)

nhat said:


> I call BS on you getting 15-22hrs on the VZW GNex. Well, that might be true if you hardly use the phone.
> 
> It's funny that people on this forum continually trash TouchWiz as if they'll leave the stock rom on the S3. And it has a single hardware button which can be programmed to perform several different functions.
> 
> I own 2 Nexus devices yet I much prefer the S3 I'm currently using over the GNex which is collecting dust.


I'll take a screen shot of my better battery stats once I get to around 15 hours. Running a custom kernal like Franco with aokp is killer battery life. I can easily get 15 hours with 2.5 screen time. Right now I am at 80 percent with 8 hours and 30 min screen time

Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk 2


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## impulse101 (May 11, 2012)

There you go, still have 17 percent







Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

impulse101 said:


> I'll take a screen shot of my better battery stats once I get to around 15 hours. Running a custom kernal like Franco with aokp is killer battery life. I can easily get 15 hours with 2.5 screen time. Right now I am at 80 percent with 8 hours and 30 min screen time


I get around 2.5 hours screen time and 15+ hours before charging with being on wifi about 60-70% of the time with a stock battery. I think most people just try too hard and use some sort of fancy configuration (mainly the kernel), thinking it'll really help and it doesn't really. (wasn't a direct reply to your post, just giving an example that I think battery life is either equal or diminishing returns rather than greater with extra configuration/tweaking). I tend to look at kernels outside of stock for their features rather than what they can do for one's battery life.

- Mostly stock jellybean I built
- Stock kernel


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Does anyone have any negative things to say about this phone other than the battery life (just like virtually all LTE phones) and the camera for some? Batt life isn't really a concern, I'm almost always near a charger and don't really care about the camera. 
What I'm really asking is if there are any hardware issues, bad reception, phone as fragile as an egg, etc lol

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

zandander said:


> Does anyone have any negative things to say about this phone other than the battery life (just like virtually all LTE phones) and the camera for some? Batt life isn't really a concern, I'm almost always near a charger and don't really care about the camera.
> What I'm really asking is if there are any hardware issues, bad reception, phone as fragile as an egg, etc lol
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Signal strength is sub-par (easily the worst of all the Android phones I've owned), some people experience signal drops either intermittently or constantly, there are little to no accessories (but this isn't the only phone lacking them), screen/display quality is inconsistent, and fanboys.

Other than that, it's awesome. I enjoyed the phone for the past 9 months but I doubt I'll ever go back to this specific Nexus because it's a sub-par in too many areas. I'll probably be putting it up for sale here soon because I'm completely happy with the S3 and I'll be looking at the Razr HD, Razr Maxx HD, and the Note 2. I'll wait on news and reviews of the next Nexus phone before I make a decision on it. I was buying the Galaxy Nexus no matter what and it's been an underwhelming experience overall. I just expected more from Google's flagship phone. The Nexus 7 on the other hand lived up to the hype even with its quality control issues.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

nhat said:


> Signal strength is sub-par (easily the worst of all the Android phones I've owned), some people experience signal drops either intermittently or constantly, there are little to no accessories (but this isn't the only phone lacking them), screen/display quality is inconsistent, and fanboys.
> 
> Other than that, it's awesome. I enjoyed the phone for the past 9 months but I doubt I'll ever go back to this specific Nexus because it's a sub-par in too many areas. I'll probably be putting it up for sale here soon because I'm completely happy with the S3 and I'll be looking at the Razr HD, Razr Maxx HD, and the Note 2. I'll wait on news and reviews of the next Nexus phone before I make a decision on it. I was buying the Galaxy Nexus no matter what and it's been an underwhelming experience overall. I just expected more from Google's flagship phone. The Nexus 7 on the other hand lived up to the hype even with its quality control issues.


Is the bad signal hardware or software issues? I just don't want to get this phone and be unhappy with it. Nothing like burning 100+ bucks on something shitty lol

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

zandander said:


> Is the bad signal hardware or software issues? I just don't want to get this phone and be unhappy with it. Nothing like burning 100+ bucks on something shitty lol
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Hardware. Some people will say new radios help, but they don't. The S3 gets better reception as did the Thunderbolt and nearly every Motorola I've ever owned.

However this only matters if you're in an area with weak signal strength. 3G/LTE was solid for me in strong reception areas as was the handoff between the 2 networks.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Well normally at my home I get between 1 and 3 bars, and almost everywhere else I get pretty good service, never less than 2 bars.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

zandander said:


> Well normally at my home I get between 1 and 3 bars, and almost everywhere else I get pretty good service, never less than 2 bars.
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Bars mean jack, take note of dBms and yarly's sticky.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

I'll look into that. I'll post back what my dbm is after I skim his post on it.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

Are you referring to http://rootzwiki.com/index.php?/topic/25921-This-is-why-your-Verizon-Nexus-signal-"sucks"?

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

LTE signal at least is probably 3-6db weaker (varies) compared to say the S3 or Moto LTE devices. It's mostly an issue if you live in a weaker signal area. LTE sucks in my area, but it was horrible on my Thunderbolt as well. LTE is fine if you live in a decent LTE area though. You do have like 14 days to switch devices I think with Verizon if you find it to be too bad where you are.

CDMA signals (3G) generally seem the same though as other devices from readings people have done for me and comparison to my old Thunderbolt on 3G.


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

yarly said:


> LTE signal at least is probably 3-6db weaker (varies) compared to say the S3 or Moto LTE devices. It's mostly an issue if you live in a weaker signal area. LTE sucks in my area, but it was horrible on my Thunderbolt as well. LTE is fine if you live in a decent LTE area though. You do have like 14 days to switch devices I think with Verizon if you find it to be too bad where you are.
> 
> CDMA signals (3G) generally seem the same though as other devices from readings people have done for me and comparison to my old Thunderbolt on 3G.


I see. Well this doesn't really apply to me too much seeing as to how I don't live in an LTE area at all lol. I only get to be in an LTE are once every month or so and my signal is always strong as iron there. As of now my 3g/1x (I'm on liquid and jesters ics rom atm) is floating between -88dbm and -101dbm. That's all from in my room which is the crappies signal area in the whole house and most likely the town.

Sent from the hand of Zeus!


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## impulse101 (May 11, 2012)

nhat said:


> Signal strength is sub-par (easily the worst of all the Android phones I've owned), some people experience signal drops either intermittently or constantly, there are little to no accessories (but this isn't the only phone lacking them), screen/display quality is inconsistent, and fanboys.
> 
> Other than that, it's awesome. I enjoyed the phone for the past 9 months but I doubt I'll ever go back to this specific Nexus because it's a sub-par in too many areas. I'll probably be putting it up for sale here soon because I'm completely happy with the S3 and I'll be looking at the Razr HD, Razr Maxx HD, and the Note 2. I'll wait on news and reviews of the next Nexus phone before I make a decision on it. I was buying the Galaxy Nexus no matter what and it's been an underwhelming experience overall. I just expected more from Google's flagship phone. The Nexus 7 on the other hand lived up to the hype even with its quality control issues.


Ever since the new jb radios came out a week or so ago Most of these signal problems are gone. I got the S3 but returned it because the real world performance was very laggy compared to gnex and the lower screen dpi and colors not as good (modify Gama and colors on gnex) and the very small amount of mods/dev support versus nexus and don't get me started on 2009 capacitate and hardware buttons.

Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk 2


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## impulse101 (May 11, 2012)

nhat said:


> Bars mean jack, take note of dBms and yarly's sticky.


Bars are representation of dBms. If you have AOKP or cm you can change your bar signal to dbm text

Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk 2


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

impulse101 said:


> Bars are representation of dBms. If you have AOKP or cm you can change your bar signal to dbm text
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk 2


Bars are still a relative measure of whatever one sets them to be was what he was getting at and it's possible some ROM developer decides to go "adjust" them + any OEM could do the same on a non Nexus device. They're also not just based on your RSSI (3G) or your RSRP (LTE) signal. They're also tied to your SNR (signal to noise ratio). Android picks whichever looks better (RSSI/RSRP or SNR) and uses that to set how many bars you have.

Gingerbread phones on Verizon also tended to use the 1x RSSI (voice) signal (which is independent of the 3G RSSI signal) for both your bars and the signal show under settings. As OCD as some of the OEMs are about undoing much of the ICS user interface, it would not shock me for some to randomly continue that trend with all the other "gingerbreadification" they do to their Android 4.0+ phones.


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## ThunderStick (Jul 3, 2011)

zandander said:


> I know this is kind of a silly thread, but I've been considering swapping my tbolt for a gnex. And the reason for this thread is to ask what everyone's opinion on the gnex is versus the thunderbolt. I know that the gnex has more ram, better gpu, better cpu, etc. My biggest concerns are battery life and the lack of the capacitive buttons. I can normally squeeze out a good 20 or so hours out of this phone from my rom and kernel. If anyone can help me out, especially previous tbolt owners, it would be highly appreciated!
> 
> Sent from the hand of Zeus!


Just buy the damn phone this thread is getting redundant....









Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zandander (Jun 7, 2012)

I would go out and buy it now, BUT I don't have enough money yet lol. If any of the mods feel the need to close/lock this thread go ahead, I've already gotten all the info I need. Thanks to all that answered, you've all been a big help!

Thanks, 
Zander


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