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SpacedOut
Dec 1, 2004

It's got planets and stuff.

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

^^ No one outside of Verizon's head office knows.

I get you, and I'm in pretty much the same boat (but already a Verizon customer). Just waiting on something close to concrete to come out.


Personally, I don't see how they can do away with unlimited data when their online / OTA data counters are at least a day behind. I mean, I can see it -- they can do whatever the gently caress they want -- but that doesn't seem even close to "right".

3G data usage reporting times are currently being improved by all carriers at the request of the FCC. VzW is currently down to 18-24 hours, with an ultimate goal of <12 hours (IIRC). 4G data reporting is dramtically improved, as the usage is usually reflected within 15 minutes. (This is probably because the 4G network was built 100% from the ground-up by big red, while the 3G network is a hodge-podge of different mergers and acquisitions.)

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double sulk
Jul 2, 2010

Aurium posted:

New contract terms (in this case, going to tiered data) only affect you when you sign a new contract. As long as you keep your current phone, or upgrade though full retail prices, you'll keep your unlimited data.

It's fantastically unlikely that it will allow for early termination. Early termination is almost always relegated to when they are forced to change the current terms, such as changes in regulation. In fact they avoid changing current terms because that's when they are forced to allow you to early terminate. They don't want to give you a reason (or a way) out so they don't change it on you.

Going from family on verizon to family on att won't really be cheaper (and will tier your data to 2gigs), and unless you actually run out of minutes, why does it matter how many you use on who?

Well the short of it is that I probably use at least 50% of the family's current monthly minutes. I wasn't sure if Verizon had that special "top five" sort of thing still as someone mentioned, but if I were on her network, it'd cut what she pays by half and my own reception might be better. Considering my location I'm surprised it's always 1/2 bars. Maybe it's the phone, but it's a pain to get Verizon to do anything at all about it even if you're a good customer.

LE
Oct 19, 2002

Mighty Horse posted:

I would. The stock un-rooted firmware on the T-Bolt is a mess. The Charge at least doesn't have Sense UI FC on me 5 times a day just sitting on my desk charging, nor does it require me to reboot it constantly to keep it from running dog slow.


yes, I know you can root and fix things, blah, blah. I get it. But I can't expect my customers to do that. We are running a 60-70% return rate on the T-Bolt now, and new sales have dropped into the toilet. Meanwhile we can't keep Dinc2s on the shelf.

But...there is no excuse for touchwiz. Thank god for launcher pro. Anxiously awaiting the Revolution. You better not let me down like HTC did, LG.

in other news, been running a Home Phone Connect for 2 weeks now. Works as advertised. make sure to "decline voicemail" as there is little point as my phone has a really nice digital answerer in it. Only drawback is the lack of caller id w/ name like being bitched about above. I went from paying AT&T about 100 a month for awful 3mb/768k DSL + Landline to paying VZW $20 + Comcast $45(after 6 months of $29.99) for 12m/3m internet, I can live without the name.

Regarding the bit that I bolded: fuckin aye, that's a crazy high return rate.

I know that the rooting/rom community has embraced the hell out of the device (which is fine, I get that), but I find it odd that they're all so quick to dismiss the Droid Charge. I'm assuming that they just have a grudge against Samsung. This may not be entirely unfounded, but even Cyanogen said that he likes where Samsung is going. The Droid Charge's bootloader is also unlocked by default, ffs.

The only two technological advantages the Thunderbolt has, that I can think of right now, are 256MB of extra RAM, and the use of two radios, which allows one perk: Voice & Data at the same time, even if you're not in a 4G area (which the Droid Charge can't do.) This does come at the expense of battery life though. It's my understanding that the Thunderbolt uses Qualcomm chipsets, which are power hungry, whereas the Droid Charge uses a Samsung chipset, that by all accounts, appears to be way more power efficient.

Also the physical buttons are great. :keke:

WeaselWeaz
Apr 11, 2004

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Biscuits and Gravy.

Mighty Horse posted:

I would. The stock un-rooted firmware on the T-Bolt is a mess. The Charge at least doesn't have Sense UI FC on me 5 times a day just sitting on my desk charging, nor does it require me to reboot it constantly to keep it from running dog slow.

Based on XDA and my experience you're in the minority and probably have a bad phone, unless you're talking about the known issue with the OTA update breaking phones. When running stock I never had issues with speed or Sense UI force closing. The only issue I have run into that wasn't related to ROMs and kernels is battery life, and that may still be a network connection issue since it was noticeably worse after LTE went down.

LE posted:

Regarding the bit that I bolded: fuckin aye, that's a crazy high return rate.

I know that the rooting/rom community has embraced the hell out of the device (which is fine, I get that), but I find it odd that they're all so quick to dismiss the Droid Charge. I'm assuming that they just have a grudge against Samsung. This may not be entirely unfounded, but even Cyanogen said that he likes where Samsung is going. The Droid Charge's bootloader is also unlocked by default, ffs.

I think that's more related to the rebooting issue from the OTA update, and Verizon is replacing phones due to this. Annoying but they're accepting responsibility.

It's not just a grudge. I've never owned a Samsung but their credibility is pretty shot due to software problems and taking forever on updates. Many people aren't about to give Samsung a chance until they show a good track record. I think the Charge is ugly looking, plastic-y, and don't see physical buttons as being a selling point.

BexGu
Jan 9, 2004

This fucking day....

bull3964 posted:

Well, I wouldn't want to since LTE is around here, but at the same time I don't see any compelling LTE options from Verizon right now.

The Thunderbolt is mostly nice, but you can tell it was a last generation design held up by the inclusion of LTE. No higher resolution screen and the same processor we've been seeing for awhile.

The Charge is a Fascinate with an upgraded screen, LTE, and under the Droid brand name so it at least loses Bing. Other than that, it's a non-starter. It's also Samsung and not the "we're trying to change" Samsung either.

The LG Revolution isn't even a with Google device.


Okay, I agree with most of this review, what is the estimated wait time until the next group of LTE phones comes out? Targa around the middle of the summer? Later? No one can guess?

ExcessBLarg!
Sep 1, 2001

LE posted:

I know that the rooting/rom community has embraced the hell out of the device (which is fine, I get that), but I find it odd that they're all so quick to dismiss the Droid Charge. I'm assuming that they just have a grudge against Samsung.
They likely do have a grudge against Samsung, but that's not why they're avoiding the device. Folks have put a lot of effort into porting CyanogenMod to the Fascinate, much of which applies to the Charge (although LTE is something new). Unfortunately it's drat hard to support Samsung devices in community Android distributions, and one-off CDMA devices on a US carrier even more so. We know the Charge is essentially a 4.3" Fascinate with LTE, and the difficulties of porting to the Fascinate are well understood. That's why folks are dismissing the device.

Also, by "drat hard", I mean "harder than any other unlocked/cracked Android device on the market." So, of course developers looking at the Thunderbolt, Droid Charge, and Revolution, would much rather go with the other two devices just to avoid a massive porting headache.

LE posted:

but even Cyanogen said that he likes where Samsung is going.
Wherever Samsung is going with Galaxy S II they have not gone there with the Droid Charge.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


ExcessBLarg! posted:


Wherever Samsung is going with Galaxy S II they have not gone there with the Droid Charge.

Exactly. Everyone should just realize that none of Verizon's LTE devices are 'new' devices and don't reflect whatever new practices their respective companies have adopted in the meantime. They are devices from Q3-Q4 2010 with LTE radios in them.

BexGu posted:

Okay, I agree with most of this review, what is the estimated wait time until the next group of LTE phones comes out? Targa around the middle of the summer? Later? No one can guess?

We really can't say. Most optimistic guesses put the Bionic/Targa early to mid July, but it could end up being significantly later if Motorola can't iron out their LTE troubles with Verizon.

On that though, it's refreshing that Motorola took the stance they did with the Bionic. It was already a newer design phone than any other LTE phone Verizon was pushing out when they showed it off at CES. On top of that though, because they recognized that it was going to be delayed for LTE, they took the opportunity to keep it updated while they worked out the kinks. Honestly, when the thing comes out, it should be a beast.

I would watch X2 reviews closely. They are likely what the Bionic reviews would have been if it would have come out since specwise, the X2 is nearly the same.

bull3964 fucked around with this message at 15:39 on May 20, 2011

Codiusprime
Mar 17, 2006
What are they doing to keep the Bionic up to date? I haven't read anything about improvements, I'm really happy they are going that route though. Happy and surprised.

Mighty Horse
Jul 24, 2007

Speed, Class, Bankruptcy.

WeaselWeaz posted:

Based on XDA and my experience you're in the minority and probably have a bad phone, unless you're talking about the known issue with the OTA update breaking phones. When running stock I never had issues with speed or Sense UI force closing. The only issue I have run into that wasn't related to ROMs and kernels is battery life, and that may still be a network connection issue since it was noticeably worse after LTE went down.


I really really wish it was, I went through 2 phones and 5 of my Employees here who had them all have the same issues and multiple customers have. It's weird I don't see complaints about these issues online in large numbers. I have one employee who had no issues at all with it and though I was crazy complaining about mine until his decided to start doing it as well.

Maybe its a magic combo of apps? Specific email servers? Something that doesn't effect everyone?

But then, I have seen the T-Bolt FC on the UI on Initial boot-up, fresh out of the box.

The phone is just unstable IMHO, and I wouldn't recomend it to anyone, maybe Gingerbread will fix things, because i'd like to switch back.

Mighty Horse fucked around with this message at 16:22 on May 20, 2011

AppleCobbler
Feb 8, 2003
remember that time I was just chilling out and definitely not having a massive meltdown? right guys? guys??? :laugh:

Codiusprime posted:

What are they doing to keep the Bionic up to date? I haven't read anything about improvements, I'm really happy they are going that route though. Happy and surprised.

Motorola was quoted as saying it was going back in to get some cosmetic and software improvements to keep it at the top of its class. It came out later that LTE didn't play nice with Tegra chips and was causing massive overheating. So, I'm going to assume that they're working on making the device slimmer, and with better heat sinking. Or, maybe they're waiting for qualcomm to come around.

What I really wish is that they kept the same form factor, but made the battery even bigger (bigger than 1930, yes) to enable us to enjoy using the phone for more than a day of moderate/heavy use.

Bambi
Jan 26, 2009

Any time you see Delekhan post, make this face and tell him how much he owns.
So my screen on my OG Droid cracked about a week ago, but it's been working fine up until just now - the display simply just stopped working altogether. Asurion wants to charge me $99 to replace it for the exact same model, which IMO is completely ludicrous. I'm eligible for an upgrade, but I wanted to wait until Verizon released an LTE phone that I actually liked. Am I basically poo poo out of luck right now, unless I find a cheap used phone to use until I'm ready to upgrade?

Codiusprime
Mar 17, 2006

AppleCobbler posted:

What I really wish is that they kept the same form factor, but made the battery even bigger (bigger than 1930, yes) to enable us to enjoy using the phone for more than a day of moderate/heavy use.

This. I want to be able to use my phone and not worry about whether I'm going to have battery at the end of the day. I've pretty much stopped trying to get a full work day out of my phone at this point.

Professorbx
Jan 27, 2005
Wicki Wicki

Bambi posted:

So my screen on my OG Droid cracked about a week ago, but it's been working fine up until just now - the display simply just stopped working altogether. Asurion wants to charge me $99 to replace it for the exact same model, which IMO is completely ludicrous. I'm eligible for an upgrade, but I wanted to wait until Verizon released an LTE phone that I actually liked. Am I basically poo poo out of luck right now, unless I find a cheap used phone to use until I'm ready to upgrade?

That is kind of wacky. Every time I have dealt with them, I basically gave them the "If I am going to pay, I would at least like something that doesn't blow" argument and it has worked 100% of the time. It is how I went from an Ally to a Droid 2.

moon demon
Sep 11, 2001

of the moon, of the dream

Bambi posted:

So my screen on my OG Droid cracked about a week ago, but it's been working fine up until just now - the display simply just stopped working altogether. Asurion wants to charge me $99 to replace it for the exact same model, which IMO is completely ludicrous. I'm eligible for an upgrade, but I wanted to wait until Verizon released an LTE phone that I actually liked. Am I basically poo poo out of luck right now, unless I find a cheap used phone to use until I'm ready to upgrade?

Basically. You can either pay them the $99, buy a used droid for around the same price, or upgrade. I'm sure you could find some super cheap dumbphone for way cheaper but then you'd be without a smartphone all summer basically.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


Last I heard, Asurion didn't have any OG Droids to give out?

Bambi
Jan 26, 2009

Any time you see Delekhan post, make this face and tell him how much he owns.

bull3964 posted:

Last I heard, Asurion didn't have any OG Droids to give out?

I called yesterday to file a claim and made sure to ask whether my phone would be replaced with the exact same device, to which the agent replied yes. I asked whether there was any way to have it replaced with a Droid 2 instead since I'd be paying such a high premium, and she said no, not as long as they have original Droids in stock.

moon demon
Sep 11, 2001

of the moon, of the dream

Bambi posted:

I called yesterday to file a claim and made sure to ask whether my phone would be replaced with the exact same device, to which the agent replied yes. I asked whether there was any way to have it replaced with a Droid 2 instead since I'd be paying such a high premium, and she said no, not as long as they have original Droids in stock.

That doesn't really answer the question though, since it seems that the person was just giving you a line and had no idea whether they were in stock or not. Maybe call back and escalate it to someone who knows for sure? $100 for a droid 2 isn't a bad deal at all.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


Yeah, it was reported nearly a year ago that they didn't have any more Droid 1s to give out.

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/07/26/asurion-to-offer-droid-x/

Bambi
Jan 26, 2009

Any time you see Delekhan post, make this face and tell him how much he owns.
I'm gonna try to re-file the claim online, since apparently they show you what your available replacement options are when you do it that way. Thanks for the help folks.

Bambi fucked around with this message at 20:26 on May 20, 2011

Mighty Horse
Jul 24, 2007

Speed, Class, Bankruptcy.
Had the LG guy in today with a Revolution to play with.

Scored a 1920 on Quadrant, mighty impressive.

Penguissimo
Apr 7, 2007

bull3964 posted:

Yeah, it was reported nearly a year ago that they didn't have any more Droid 1s to give out.

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/07/26/asurion-to-offer-droid-x/

As I recall, that was a temporary inventory shortage that cleared up within a couple weeks. I remember considering filing a claim for my OG Droid (had a bum headphone jack and some other issues at the time), but by the time I got around to it, they had gotten more of the D1 back in stock, and I didn't want to start playing the refurb roulette game.

Codiusprime
Mar 17, 2006

Penguissimo posted:

As I recall, that was a temporary inventory shortage that cleared up within a couple weeks. I remember considering filing a claim for my OG Droid (had a bum headphone jack and some other issues at the time), but by the time I got around to it, they had gotten more of the D1 back in stock, and I didn't want to start playing the refurb roulette game.

Yea, I was going to take advantage of this too but at the time it seemed like it was pretty random whether you were one of the lucky ones to get a D2 or the unlucky ones to get a refurb OG Droid. My Droid had a couple of little issues but almost all of the reports I read online about refurb droids were complete and utter horror stories.

Bambi
Jan 26, 2009

Any time you see Delekhan post, make this face and tell him how much he owns.
Yep, just filed a claim online and they'd be replacing it with an OG Droid. Damnit :sigh:

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin
Yeah, it seems that after the first year of a warranty, keeping insurance is just a waste of money due to the deductible.

Mighty Horse
Jul 24, 2007

Speed, Class, Bankruptcy.

Penguissimo posted:

As I recall, that was a temporary inventory shortage that cleared up within a couple weeks. I remember considering filing a claim for my OG Droid (had a bum headphone jack and some other issues at the time), but by the time I got around to it, they had gotten more of the D1 back in stock, and I didn't want to start playing the refurb roulette game.

This happens all the time with Asurion. If they don't have any refurbs in stock, they will offer something else from new inventory. A popular phone like the D1 is going to be in stock for a long, long time.

It can work both ways though as asurion tries to screw you. I had a customer with a Palm Pre get sent a Pixi as its "comparable replacement" and once had a Droid replaced with an LG Fathom.

Both times Asurion was called and they got something that was actually comparable.

Professorbx
Jan 27, 2005
Wicki Wicki

Mighty Horse posted:

This happens all the time with Asurion. If they don't have any refurbs in stock, they will offer something else from new inventory. A popular phone like the D1 is going to be in stock for a long, long time.

It can work both ways though as asurion tries to screw you. I had a customer with a Palm Pre get sent a Pixi as its "comparable replacement" and once had a Droid replaced with an LG Fathom.

Both times Asurion was called and they got something that was actually comparable.

They tried to give me an Eris when I replaced my Ally, but I bitched and they gave me a Droid 2. When my Droid 2 busted and it was a deductible replacement, I asked if I could at least switch to something different, and they gave me the global. The staff there can do whatever they want, just ask for a manager.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


BIG news. It shows you the commitment Verizon has to LTE and how fast things are going to move.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/05/20/verizon-looks-to-end-3g-service-go-all-4g-lte-by-2013/

quote:

A few important things were said by Verizon’s CTO of Communications, the most important to us is that he is nudging at the end of 3G service altogether by the year 2013. Stating that all devices should have LTE capability by the end of 2012, and that in 2013 some devices might not even come with 3G radios depending on how the consumer market responds to the LTE deployment.

ExcessBLarg!
Sep 1, 2001

Droid Life posted:

A few important things were said by Verizon’s CTO of Communications, the most important to us is that he is nudging at the end of 3G service altogether by the year 2013.
Ugh, Droid Life. "... by 2013 some devices might come to market without 3G radios," isn't the same as "end of 3G service altogether".

The CDMA network is going to be around for a while, they're not going to get (Vo)LTE-capable handsets in the hands of everyone for quite some time, especially if it requires a data-plan/significant-increase in monthly cost.

I suppose they could get rid of EVDO (3G) data and just keep 1x service around, but I don't think that's what Droid Life is implying with "3G" in the article.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


ExcessBLarg! posted:


I suppose they could get rid of EVDO (3G) data and just keep 1x service around, but I don't think that's what Droid Life is implying with "3G" in the article.

That's exactly the way I read it. 1x will be around for awhile, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see 3G basically go away (in respect to handsets) from 2012-2013.

Anyways, it's in Verizon's best interest to get LTE handsets out to even the cheap rear end free phones over the next 2 years. As soon as their LTE coverage is good enough to make handoffs to 1x a non-issue, they are going to want to switch to VoLTE. The best way to do that is to already have the hardware in people's hands.

As far as price, Verizon has made statements in the past that they were interested in the concept of throttling LTE as a tiering mechanism. They could very easily switch a 3G dumbphone over to an LTE dumbphone and limit the bandwidth of the dumbphone to 3G speeds and keep the price the same.

bull3964 fucked around with this message at 22:31 on May 20, 2011

WithoutTheFezOn
Aug 28, 2005
Oh no

bull3964 posted:

That's exactly the way I read it. 1x will be around for awhile, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see 3G basically go away (in respect to handsets) from 2012-2013.
It would surprise me, as much as Verizon likes to (not unreasonably) flaunt its coverage map.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


WithoutTheFezOn posted:

It would surprise me, as much as Verizon likes to (not unreasonably) flaunt its coverage map.

By the end of 2013, the plan is to have all their 3G service area covered with LTE and even start to replace 1x areas with LTE. So, the coverage for high speed service would actually improve.

WithoutTheFezOn
Aug 28, 2005
Oh no
All I meant was this is more likely, in my opinion:

quote:

1x will be around for awhile, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see 3G basically go away (in respect to handsets) from 2012-2013 2013-2014.

AppleCobbler
Feb 8, 2003
remember that time I was just chilling out and definitely not having a massive meltdown? right guys? guys??? :laugh:
After waiting out a few days, I finally updated my Thunderbolt to 2.3.4. It's really snappy so far and haven't run into any real issues. The new Sense3.0 lockscreen is particularly nice, with quicklinks to camera, phone, messages, and mail. It may actually replace the Zeam/Handcent combo ive been using

moon demon
Sep 11, 2001

of the moon, of the dream
Which rom are you using?

WeaselWeaz
Apr 11, 2004

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Biscuits and Gravy.

AppleCobbler posted:

After waiting out a few days, I finally updated my Thunderbolt to 2.3.4. It's really snappy so far and haven't run into any real issues. The new Sense3.0 lockscreen is particularly nice, with quicklinks to camera, phone, messages, and mail. It may actually replace the Zeam/Handcent combo ive been using

What ROM, kernel, and does it have properly working camera, camcorder, GPS, and 4G?

AppleCobbler
Feb 8, 2003
remember that time I was just chilling out and definitely not having a massive meltdown? right guys? guys??? :laugh:
I have Gingeritis beta 6 (installing 7 as we speak), on Imsoyens kernel.

The camera works, but is a bit laggy. I used it a good deal today when out hiking. The GPS also works, as I had to use it to navigate to the mountain. 4g was fine, after I rebooted 4 times (which they said to do). Haven't done a speedtest of it, though. Camcorder hasn't been used but it is accessible with no force close.

moon demon
Sep 11, 2001

of the moon, of the dream
How is battery life? Noticably different? I'm using Tesla Coil at the moment and everything works well, I don't really see a reason to switch yet unless everything works just as well or better. I was going to wait until the betas were done and they had official releases. Is this a good plan or are these betas good enough for daily use?

AppleCobbler
Feb 8, 2003
remember that time I was just chilling out and definitely not having a massive meltdown? right guys? guys??? :laugh:

chupacabraTERROR posted:

How is battery life? Noticably different? I'm using Tesla Coil at the moment and everything works well, I don't really see a reason to switch yet unless everything works just as well or better. I was going to wait until the betas were done and they had official releases. Is this a good plan or are these betas good enough for daily use?

They are ready to be used as daily drivers with only a couple drawbacks. The only big ones I find is that the syncing with HTC Hub isn't working, which won't allow me to set a constant location for my weather widget, which then requires use of gps every time you update the weather. Haven't gotten a chance to use the battery but I'll trip report tomorrow.

AppleCobbler
Feb 8, 2003
remember that time I was just chilling out and definitely not having a massive meltdown? right guys? guys??? :laugh:
Double post: gingerbread gently caress yeah!

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OMG JC a Bomb!
Jul 13, 2004

We are the Invisible Spatula. We are the Grilluminati. We eat before and after dinner. We eat forever. And eventually... eventually we will lead them into the dining room.
I'm loving livid about this data plan bullshit. Why even have all of these loving apps when three youtube videos will put you at your monthly data limit? This is my only means of accessing the internet. I don't know how I'm going to apply for jobs now.

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