Re: Thunderbolt is simply put, a crappy phone
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

GoloveMD wrote:

I do not understand why it is so difficult to get a smart phone that just works.  This is my third.  Previously I had an iPhone 3G with AT&T that ultimately led me to leave AT&T and switch to Verizon.  Problems I have:

1.  Cannot use phone in traditional manner, have to use speaker phone or bluetooth.  If I hold the phone to my ear, the heat from my ear or side of my face will cause the "END" button or "MUTE" buttons to be pressed.  I have ended up hanging up on countless clients with this. Is the phone screen not turning off while on a call and the proximity sensor recognizing that you have the phone at your ear?

2.  Similar to the problem above, it is INCREDIBLY difficult to type because it appears the screen is heat sensitive.  I always run hot, and merely hovering my finger above the keyboard causes it to type characters.  What used to take me 5 seconds to type a simply text on another phone takes me a minute on this one, with having to go back and erase the incorrect characters.  If I turn off the autocorrect it simply is mispelled.  If I leave autocorrect on, it comes up with a word nowhere close to what I was trying to type.  I didn't think the heat of the fingers affected the phone or any other capacitive touch screen device.  The screen reacts to the tiny electrical charge we all have.

3.  Apps and/or folders will not open.  The folders especially have been a issue as of late.  I have been having to reboot my phone on average of 3 to 4 times a DAY just to get the friggin folders to open that contain my apps.  I know I can go through other menus to get to them, but why should I?  No sure what is going on here.  Perhaps an application conflict.

4.  Periodically, the phone decides it will not connect to either wifi or 3G/4G.  I again have to reboot the phone as it will display a no network error message anytime I try to use any service that requires a connection, including text messaging, email, loading a website. Is the phone set to LTE/CDMA or CDMA only?  Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Network > Network Mode

5.  A couple times a week the phone will just lock up and reboot itself.  It takes a LONG time to reboot, and of course if the sound was on, will play an obnoxious thunderstorm sound, which is always much appreciated when in a clients home.  What version of the operating system are you running?  Go to Settings > About Phone > Software information.  Also touch the More line under Software information for the Baseband number.

6.  Not sure if this is Verizon related or Thunderbolt, but the quality of the voice mails I receive through Visual Voicemail is horrible (that I have to pay for, which was a bit of a shock when I signed up being that it was free on my iPhone with AT&T).  I have to listen to messages 5 or 6 times just to understand what the person is saying sometimes.  The sound is scratchy and simply not clear.  If I call up the voicemail service, the sound is fine, so it is NOT the people leaving messages.  This is an Apple thing.  The Voicemail system is different than the regular voicemail system (basic or visual) from Verizon Wireless.  If you want it included (ie free) on Verizon, then you should purchase iphone from Verizon.

7.  This is not a knock on the phone, but Android I guess.  This phone attempts to push updates just about every day.  If I do not update, things will sometimes almost immediately stop working.  I will HAVE to update in order for things to work.  I understand that over time, old versions would be phased out, but it appears if I do not update right away, I will not be able to use certain apps/functions.  Is this system updates or application updates?  If it is application updates, then you can change the setting for notifications in the Android Market applications under it app settings.

There are more things I am not thinking of right now, but these above are enough for me to say that I am most definitely NOT happy and find this phone to be a total POS.  I had high hopes for it, but it has been nothing but a headache from day 15, the day after I was not allowed to return it and exhange for something else.  Go figure. 

So the question remains, is there any phone out there that will just work?  Will work as designed, and not create more headaches then its worth?  The fact that you get locked into a 2 year contract is so absurd.  I cannot imagine if I treated my customers like that how quickly I would be out of business.  I would gladly pay $100 over the price of a new phone to switch, but sadly I cannot.  I would have to pay full price which, with most phones, is obscenely priced.  So I guess I get to just deal with the ** with this phone for another year because the only solution Verizon MIGHT have for me is to swap my crappy POS Thunderbolt with another crappy POS Thunderbolt, and a used one at that.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

Re: Thunderbolt is simply put, a crappy phone
B33
Legend

Good response Letter

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Re: Thunderbolt is simply put, a crappy phone
GoloveMD
Newbie

Sorry, I have not had much of a chance to log back in to check this thread.  Thank you for responding.  I will reply to each of your comments below:

1. Is the phone screen not turning off while on a call and the proximity sensor recognizing that you have the phone at your ear? 

       The phone will at times turn off if placed to my ear, other times it will not.  I am not sure if this feature too is heat related like some of the instances when I try to type, and the screen has a hard time recognizing where I am trying to type because my body temp is higher then normal.  I have not figured out a pattern if there is one, as to when the screen does shut off and when it does not.

2. I didn't think the heat of the fingers affected the phone or any other capacitive touch screen device.  The screen reacts to the tiny electrical charge we all have. 

       I cannot confirm it is the heat other then to say that the phone definitely has more issues when I am running hot, such as after I spent a while working in a hot attic.  I will come down and pick up the phone and it is very hard to type anything.  A friend mentioned that his droid (I think it was a Droid X, not sure) was heat sensitive.

3. No sure what is going on here.  Perhaps an application conflict.

       I really have no idea either.  I try to shut down apps and see if the folders will open, but nothing helps other then rebooting the phone.

4. Is the phone set to LTE/CDMA or CDMA only?  Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Network > Network Mode

        The phone is almost also set to CDMA only because I cannot have the battery dying by noon everyday while I am working.  The LTE service drains the battery in 4 to 5 hours tops. 

5. What version of the operating system are you running?  Go to Settings > About Phone > Software information.  Also touch the More line under Software information for the Baseband number.

       The Adroid Version # is 2.3.4

       The Baseband Version # is 1.48.00.09.0w_3, 0.01.78.0916w3

6. This is an Apple thing.  The Voicemail system is different than the regular voicemail system (basic or visual) from Verizon Wireless.  If you want it included (ie free) on Verizon, then you should purchase iphone from Verizon.

       You are not seeing the point of this issue.  It is not that I have to pay for it versus it being free with Apple.  It is the horrible call quality of the service that I have.  Most voicemails I will have to listen to multiple times (usually 6 or 7 times) in a completely quiet environment in order to understand what the person is saying, due to the garbled sound quality of the messages.

7. Is this system updates or application updates?  If it is application updates, then you can change the setting for notifications in the Android Market applications under it app settings.

       The phone will push updates for both system and apps.  I was not aware I can disable the automatic updates of the apps.  I will change the setting and see how things work for a while

Again, thank you for your reply.  I honestly wish I was not having the issues I have and could say that I loved the phone.  It just hasn't worked out that way.  There are other annoying little things that continue to plague the phone everyday.  A few more examples would be;

When I end a phone call, and the person I am speaking with hangs up, my phone will not disconnect the call, so I go to press END.  As soon as I press END, the icon changes to CALL and redials the number.  This happens a lot actually, and I have to immediately hit END, hoping it doesn't get stuck in a loop.  Another is while texting, if I type too fast, the phone will repeat the word I am typing.  If anyone texts back while I am texting, the page will jump to the top of the text page, which in some cases is quite long as I do have clients that text me issues and carry on a conversation via text.  I have to scroll back down.  A minor thing, but annoying.  Also, a good 60 or 70% of the time I text, if I close out the text app or go back to the list of texts from everyone, if I go back into a specific text window, the last word I typed in the previous text will be in the "add text" box. I have to delete that word before typing a new text or it will show up in my text (of course).  Just a few more of the little annoyances that combined with all the other more serious issues makes it very frustrating to use this phone.

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Re: Thunderbolt is simply put, a crappy phone
budone
Legend

Which text app are you using??? 

To help to eliminate unwanted calling, get the app 'Call Confirm'. It simply adds a level of protection asking you are you sure you want to call so and so.

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Re: Thunderbolt is simply put, a crappy phone
GoloveMD
Newbie

budone wrote:

Which text app are you using??? 

To help to eliminate unwanted calling, get the app 'Call Confirm'. It simply adds a level of protection asking you are you sure you want to call so and so.

I am using the default text app on the phone that it came with.  I will look into the app you suggest about the calling issue.  Thank you.

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Re: Thunderbolt is simply put, a crappy phone
budone
Legend

Try Handcent for the text app.

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