# which verizon 4g phone to get



## lvlorpheus (Jun 30, 2011)

I can upgrade now to a 4g phone before the tiered billing begins but I really don't want any of the 3 4g phones that Verizon has right now. I am hoping to get feed back as to which of the 3 to get and why or why not to get them. What I am looking for is the phone that will be as closest to the original Droid in developer love as possible. Developers with new Roms and themes is what makes android great to me. The rest is just a phone.

Thanx!


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## Brett6781 (Jun 8, 2011)

Droid charge is good if you like samsung, but IMO you got to go with the Thunderbolt just because of how awesome it is. Not to mention it has MUCH more development on it with CM7 nightlies already...


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## JsinLegacy (Jun 7, 2011)

If you're looking at the current 3 and want the one closes to the OG Droid with Dev support then the TBolt is the one... the Charge gets some love from Kejar and P3Droid (only ones I really know doing much with it) ... the TBolt seems to have a larger gathering right now..


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## CraigL (Jun 17, 2011)

The bolt does have a larger gathering, but the Charge holds its own in other areas. The screen is incredible! and I love the camera, battery life and HDMI out.


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## sparta31 (Jun 6, 2011)

Get the TBOLT for the great Dev support. The other reason why its better than the Droid Charge is Build Quality to me the quality of the TBOLT exceeds the shitty plastic on the charge. Many great devs on TBOLT like Slayher XoomDev team BAMF and many more its a really good dev community the progress made in this few months is amazing. You wont be disappointed


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## lvlorpheus (Jun 30, 2011)

I am down to the charge and the thunderbolt now. I like the extra ram and the kick stand on the TB, but I like the screen on the charge. Also from what I have read here if I am following it correctly CM7 will be coming to the charge. I will have some form of case on which ever phone I decide to get. If it were not for the screen on the charge it would be an easy choice. I don't care for touch wiz I am more of an aosp guy. I am about to head to the Verizon store and see which one feels better in my hand.

Does the extra ram make a noticeable difference?


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## sparta31 (Jun 6, 2011)

Same here man I am an asop guy too. Right now you wont be able to tell that big a difference in ram but once ICS rolls around you will be able to tell the difference between that ram. So for the long run the extra ram will help more. The Charge screen is great no doubt but the TB screen is also pretty good and it comes with gorilla glass.


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## lvlorpheus (Jun 30, 2011)

sparta31 said:


> Same here man I am an asop guy too. Right now you wont be able to tell that big a difference in ram but once ICS rolls around you will be able to tell the difference between that ram. So for the long run the extra ram will help more. The Charge screen is great no doubt but the TB screen is also pretty good and it comes with gorilla glass.


That was the piece of the puzzle I was missing. Thanx! I will do some more reading and see what seems to be the safest/best way to unlock the thunderbolt. I have to wait until the 6th or pay an extra $20 to use the upgrade on my data card.

No need to rush. I will use the time to make the most informed decision.


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## Droosh (Jun 15, 2011)

Just wondering... Why not save your upgrade for the Bionic or SGS2 since you are grandfathered?

Sent using CM4DX


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## lvlorpheus (Jun 30, 2011)

Droosh said:


> Just wondering... Why not save your upgrade for the Bionic or SGS2 since you are grandfathered?
> 
> Sent using CM4DX


I don't trust Verizon to not change the term of bring grandfathered into unlimited. Like they did with the one year upgrades. The Bionic and SGS2 are the 2 phones I am the most interested in.


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## sparty569 (Jun 7, 2011)

Droosh said:


> Just wondering... Why not save your upgrade for the Bionic or SGS2 since you are grandfathered?
> 
> Sent using CM4DX


If the Bionic comes with 1GB of ram, instead of 512, it will be hard to pass on. Just wish it came unlocked.


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## lvlorpheus (Jun 30, 2011)

And the last piece of the puzzle falls into place as to why I am not going to wait to upgrade.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/07/0...ll-have-separate-30-unlimited-tethering-plan/


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## Guest (Jul 2, 2011)

lvlorpheus said:


> And the last piece of the puzzle falls into place as to why I am not going to wait to upgrade.
> 
> http://www.droid-life.com/2011/07/0...ll-have-separate-30-unlimited-tethering-plan/


That shouldn't affect anything. Why would you pay to tether when you can do it for free?

The free Hotspot promo offer is great and all, but you can still do it for free once they remove that. There are plenty of tethering options outside of VZW that do not cost a penny.

Edited to add that I'm not condoning "illegal" tethering in any shape or form. :tongue3: It should be done at your own risk.


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## JsinLegacy (Jun 7, 2011)

swiftmazda said:


> That shouldn't affect anything. Why would you pay to tether when you can do it for free?
> 
> The free Hotspot promo offer is great and all, but you can still do it for free once they remove that. There are plenty of tethering options outside of VZW that do not cost a penny.
> 
> Edited to add that I'm not condoning "illegal" tethering in any shape or form. :tongue3: It should be done at your own risk.


the only problem with that is if Verizon suspects you of tethering you will be charged accordingly per MB like they do if you go over a data package now.. so technically you could tether using an alternative method and risk getting caught.. or you could go ahead and pay $30 a month extra and get unlimited tethering.. means you could cancel your home internet and just use 4G network without risk of incurring a $500 bill one month.

In reality it just depends on how much tethering you do and if you have 4G in your town...


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## danceswithbongs (Jun 28, 2011)

Even though many have made a good case that Verizon can tell about tethering, I just have absolutely no reason to believe the case made. 
Also I don't tether and what any one chooses to do is up to them and if they get penalized, they can't plead ignorance. 
Why do I say this about the tethering? When tiered was first mentioned, and after,we all heard this was the way they were going to address the tethering and other "abuses". 
But aren't all those people, "abusers", already grandfathered or resigned up for unlimited for the free tethering and upgrade? 
Some months I unknowingly use a ton of data, so much that when I see the total a zo my gosh comes outta my mouth. More than enough that if they were just going on suspicion of tethering, I would have already been contacted. 
As for Verizon reneging on the grandfathering, no way, everything has now finally been made very clear and public. To go back on that would be to sabotage themselves. And it would only impact those already with Verizon, so they would chase off existing customers. 
In business it is normally estimated that it costs at least twice as much to obtain a new customer as it does to retain one. This would be a horrible financial decision and no company that wanted to remain profitable would canabalize their existing customer base. Not to mention the secondary impact on new customers, not popular to sign up with a company that just voided a stated agreement with their long term customers. 
Obviously if it's the unlimited tethering you want, that's dealing with a specific variable that will be important to some and understandably impact the decision to buy now. 
But forcing yourself into a purchase because you think the company won't keep their word sounds odd. Why sign up with a company you have no faith in when it comes to holding up their end and standing by their word?
I don't believe that to be the case which is why I will continue to stick with Big Red for years 9 and 10.

If any of you are interested in how they do in fact screw all of us, this is the entire industry and becoming the norm with corporations, look into "mandatory arbitration". 
Usually now boiler plate stuff that is within most contracts we sign. 
In a nutshell we have signed away our right to take the company to court regardless the crime or complaint. Instead you are forced to arbitrate, and here comes the great part, the arbitrator(quasi judge) is chosen by the corporation and you have zero say. 
So first person to have a phone blow up on them will have one hell of a second shock when they come to. And then the public will flip out as the majority will have no idea that they signed the same thing. 
Contacts and lawyers, the gifts that keep on giving.

walkin the walk while tappin the talk
danceswithbongs


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## lvlorpheus (Jun 30, 2011)

Well I got the thunderbolt with the extends battery. I am excited about the phone and like the look and feel of it. The only down side that is really an upside is I will have to get to know adb. That is something I have wanted to do for a long time but have not had the time. My software # on my TB is 1.13.605.7 and from what little reading I have been able to do today adb looks like the best way to go. I work nights and I plan to read as much as I can until my next day off. When that time comes any help and guidance would be much appreciated. I can't wait to get root behind me and start checking out all the cool roms for this phone. I can't help but wonder what I will have to learn on my next phone. I have come from the original Droid to the Droid X and now the Thunderbolt and it seems that getting root has gotten progressively more challenging.

Thanx for all of the advice up to this point.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2011)

JsinLegacy said:


> the only problem with that is if Verizon suspects you of tethering you will be charged accordingly per MB like they do if you go over a data package now.. so technically you could tether using an alternative method and risk getting caught.. or you could go ahead and pay $30 a month extra and get unlimited tethering.. means you could cancel your home internet and just use 4G network without risk of incurring a $500 bill one month.
> 
> In reality it just depends on how much tethering you do and if you have 4G in your town...


The thing is, they can't charge you accordingly just for suspecting you of tethering. It has to be substantial proof, not circumstantial. If they don't have substantial proof of a user misusing their service, then they're liable and will most often find themselves in court.

Up until this point, VZW has an interesting way of tackling illegal tethering. Those that aren't too good at it and trigger something will simply be forwarded to a website offering tether service. Data will then be turned off on their phone, but switching back and forth from airplane mode or simply rebooting the phone will correct this. It's more of a passive aggressive way of getting people to sign up for tethering, and I agree completely with their approach. I also agree completely with terminating a customer's account based on illegal usage of their service. What I don't agree with, and haven't really heard any complaints of, is preemptively charging a user for tethering data without notifying that user.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2011)

lvlorpheus said:


> Well I got the thunderbolt with the extends battery. I am excited about the phone and like the look and feel of it. The only down side that is really an upside is I will have to get to know adb. That is something I have wanted to do for a long time but have not had the time. My software # on my TB is 1.13.605.7 and from what little reading I have been able to do today adb looks like the best way to go. I work nights and I plan to read as much as I can until my next day off. When that time comes any help and guidance would be much appreciated. I can't wait to get root behind me and start checking out all the cool roms for this phone. I can't help but wonder what I will have to learn on my next phone. I have come from the original Droid to the Droid X and now the Thunderbolt and it seems that getting root has gotten progressively more challenging.
> 
> Thanx for all of the advice up to this point.


Good luck with the Thunderbolt. I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I'm sure you'll get everything figured out with ADB and rooting in no time!


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