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HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich Update Release Date Remains Unknown

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While it would seem that Motorola might be making it up to peeved Motorola Droid Bionic owners with an early Ice Cream Sandwich release, little information about the HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich release date has leaked out leaving owners with lots of questions and zero answers.

The HTC ThunderBolt, like the Droid Bionic, was hyped to no end before it launched back in March 2011. In fact, once upon a time, the HTC ThunderBolt was thought to be a true challenger to the Apple iPhone.

That wasn’t the case however.

The ThunderBolt ICS release date update remains unclear.

The HTC ThunderBolt stumbled out of the gates and then continued to stumble months into its launch. Owners who purchased the first ever 4G LTE smartphone on Verizon dealt with a host of issues, the most concerning of which was the random reboot problem that took months to snuff out.

Read: Motorola to Appease Droid Bionic Owners with Early Ice Cream Sandwich Release?

After that, the phone became somewhat of a joke in tech circles but it was no joking matter for the HTC ThunderBolt owners who had bought the phone at launch with a new two-year contract.

They were and are still stuck with a device that never quite lived up to the hype. And many owners, we know of several, still feel let down by HTC and Verizon.

A long time ago, we argued that the HTC ThunderBolt should have been the first phone to receive Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, an update that should have arrived just before the Droid Bionic Ice Cream Sandwich update.

Unfortunately, the world of Android is not one full of rainbows and unicorns and thus, both ThunderBolt and Droid Bionic owners have been left wondering when the updates will roll out.

And while the Droid Bionic ICS update has leaked out many times, a sign that Motorola might be trying to make amends with Droid Bionic owners, we have still seen no sign of the update that we truly believe should have arrived first.

Read: HTC ThunderBolt Owners Deserve Some Android 4.0 Answers.

Since announcing that the HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich update would arrive in July or August. Thing is, we’re now in July and we haven’t heard so much as a peep from HTC, Verizon or seen any real credible leaks.

This doesn’t bode well for owners who were hoping that they’d see it in the first part of July and it probably doesn’t sit well with those skeptical about the update arriving at all.

There are still plenty of people who own this phone, owners who endured a ton of nonsense back in 2011. So, hopefully, HTC ThunderBolt owners get some Ice Cream Sandwich answers soon.

HTC ThunderBolt owners are all ears.

And we are too.

Any HTC ThunderBolt owners out there patiently or impatiently waiting for ICS to arrive?

84 Comments

84 Comments

  1. Jake

    07/05/2012 at 4:40 pm

    You forgot to mention the dismal battery life and piles of bloatware they shoved onto the phone. I’ve replaced the stock battery, but am still occasionally having to remind my phone that, no, I do not want to use VZ Navigator as my navigation technology over Google Maps. I’m most looking forward to ICS just so I can disable that crap. If it ever arrives.

    This will likely be the last HTC phone I own, and might be the last Verizon one as well once my contract is up.

    • DFarver

      08/19/2012 at 10:42 am

      This is my second, and last HTC phone. Bloatware, laughable battery life, and what’s with the bout time? I can make and eat breakfast in the time it takes to warm reset.

  2. James Schoch

    07/05/2012 at 4:43 pm

    I have the tbolt and have doubts it will ever be updated. Still need to reboot it daily as it looses connection randomly. I also have the galaxy Nexus which is much better.

  3. Dan

    07/05/2012 at 4:53 pm

    As a Thunderbolt owner from launch, this phone was my entry to Android from iOS, with the slough of problems and complete lack of updates I will be going back to iOS at the end of my contract (December). If Google wants to keep customers they really need to quit with this fragmentation issue.

  4. hector

    07/05/2012 at 5:20 pm

    I have also had the thunderbolt since launch. I dealt with all the bs. I told people it would get better once ICS came around. That still hasn’t happened so I’m on to the gs3. I asked the Verizon rep when the tbolt would get the update and he hinted at them scrapping the update since its so “old”. But he might not even know anything.

  5. Chuck Hough

    07/05/2012 at 5:27 pm

    My last htc product. No ics

  6. GoodForYou

    07/05/2012 at 5:31 pm

    What would you write about if not for Android smartphones and their respective lack of updates, Mr. Mills? Cheese and crackers, is there not something else that needs analysis outside of a 18 month-old phone and it’s non-definitive release date? How about that Galaxy Nexus ban, or perhaps the spate of iPad Mini rumors?

    HTC said July or August for the ICS update, and it is early July. Why be peeved? Peeved about the battery and bloatware, sure, but not this.

    • Dick

      07/10/2012 at 7:20 am

      Go away troll, at least he’s keeping the issue in the fore front and not letting it get tossed aside for everyone to forget about.

  7. Johnd

    07/05/2012 at 6:09 pm

    I liked the Thunderbolt, but it is starting to get old. I plan on getting the SGS3 next week to replace it, but i do hope the Thunderbolt gets ics as I plan on keeping it for a backup.

  8. turkshead182

    07/05/2012 at 7:05 pm

    The TB will be my last HTC phone, ever. It’s the Ryan Leaf of smartphones.

  9. Sc4808

    07/06/2012 at 6:10 am

    The Thunderbolt was a huge upgrade for me, I started with the Eris, but it did not take long to get tired of all the issues, some have been fixed with updates and one was fixed by adding a huge battery but I still suffer from connectivity issues both with the mobile network and Bluetooth. I hope ICS helps with the connectivity issues but I am not holding my breath at this point.

    The good news for me is that my upgraded date is November, that will give me a chance to see how the ICS upgrade helps and the new iPhone should be out by then, I am a android fan but depending on what apple does on this release, I may change over to the dark side.

  10. Kyler

    07/06/2012 at 6:31 am

    While I am looking forward to the slim possibility of getting ICS, I have to say that since I rooted and installed CyanogenMod 7 about 4 months ago, it has been all that it should be. I’ve had it for a year and the battery lasts a full day-ish. Its fast, stable even at 1.4ghz overclocked. The stock firmware was buggy of course. I’m torn about my next phone though because after installing custom ROMs both this and my Nexus One were awesome. I think HTC makes excellent hardware but lacks in the software development a bit. Fortunately they have such a devoted ba tch of modders out there.

    PS. I refuse to say which phone we are talking about because the author said it 3,763 times for SEO benefit. It should be clear by now.

  11. DP

    07/06/2012 at 6:48 am

    I have been a TB user since day one. Overall, I have been happy with the TB. I don’t seem to have all the issues that others have had. With that said, I do believe that Verizon has not treated TB owners very well with the update schedule and the new data plans. I will probably buy my next phone directly from Google…then maybe the updates will rollout sooner than later.

  12. JMF

    07/06/2012 at 8:03 am

    I’ve disliked this phone from the very beginningI when a Verizon employee told me this phone would compete with the iPhone. I was dumb to believe that, but I did and have suffered for two years! Needless to say I’m UPGRADING to the iPhone on Thursday! Thursday can’t come soon enough!

    Regretful, Thunderbolt believer

  13. McKenzie

    07/06/2012 at 8:42 am

    You echo my frustrations… I was so excited for the TB, but all it’s been is a chain of disappointments: the many times the release date was pushed back, the joke of a battery life, the sparse software updates, the bloatware, the connectivity issues… ThunderBolt owners are feeling jipped and forgotten. And nobody cares–Verizon, HTC, etc. They certainly aren’t going to do anything to make it up to us or make us a priority in anything, which is exemplified in our lack of ICS.

  14. Rick

    07/06/2012 at 12:22 pm

    I installed the Build Number: 2.11.605.19 710RD update Wednesday. IT CRASHED/TRASHED MY THUNDERBOLT Verizon couldn’t revive it any way and replaced it with a Razar Maxx

  15. D.J.

    07/06/2012 at 12:57 pm

    It’s ashame that Verizon screwed this phone over so badly. A few months after buying it, I was shocked to see that people who didn’t root their ThunderBolts were still running Froyo. I let mine run stock for about two weeks, just to see how it ran, then I rooted it and flashed a custom ROM on it and have had none of the issues that plagued stock ThunderBolts, such as random reboots, terrible battery life, etc.
    If Verizon doesn’t want to push out an ICS update, they should at least have the decency to drop the RIL so we can build our own ICS ROMs. We can’t make ICS ROMs with functional radios (except WiFi) without the RIL.
    Just leak an IRL, Verizon, if you’re too stupid or lazy to push an update out for the TBolt, we’ll make our own.

  16. Jmarki

    07/06/2012 at 1:23 pm

    Count me as another TBolt owner (since launch) that has his last HTC product. While the majority of the blame form this distinctly sub-par experience rightfully belongs to HTC (kickstand “designed” so it can’t function horizontally while phone is plugged in – in addition to all of the proof that phone was not ready for prime time at launch as mentioned in prior comments), this experience has proven to me once and for all that Verizon has no business providing the phone hardware. It is only a matter of time before the phone company device subsidies are over and consumers will be on their own to buy a device at the lowest non-subsidized price they can negotiate. Meantime, my next phone (when I am eligible this fall) will likely be an iPhone purchased from Apple since they actually stand behind their products and seem to give a rip about the customer experience with the device – unlike Verizon.

  17. Josh

    07/06/2012 at 1:35 pm

    LOL my wife tried upgrading her thunderbolt to the iPhone 4s. She hated that phone and took it back the next day. Can’t say I don’t blame her, ios can’t compete with android for people who enjoy personalizing their phones. My thunderbolt probably won’t be my last HTC phone but it will be my last phone with Verizon. I already spend 400 a month on phones and data plans and now they want to stick me for more with their new family share plan! All six of my phone are on unlimited data so why would I want to upgrade? Not a fan of Sprint but that’s where I am taking my business come January.

    • Dre'

      07/07/2012 at 3:20 pm

      +Josh,

      While I’m not an apologist for VZW’s new family share plan, there appears to be confusion on the “new rules.” If you are a legacy VZW customer, you won’t be forced into a new family share plan. You can choose to keep your current unlimited data plan when you upgrade However, VZW won’t subsidize the prize of your new device(s) – – thus, you’ll have to pay full retail price for the new device(s) you choose.

      Now, for the TBolt! Like most here, I too am an owner. And if ICS is as good for the TBolt as it was for my XOOM Tablet, I honestly believe the upgrade will essentially make the phone a new devise. I can’t envision purchasing an iDevice, as I simply dig Google’s Ecosystem to high-heavens. But, I don’t knock iStuff. That company is clearly a marketing genius! Their products and Ecosystem just doesn’t fit my personal use requirements.

  18. Leo

    07/06/2012 at 2:19 pm

    First and Last HTC product. What a cluster!!! How can they and Verizon let this type of madness go on. Well they won’t see me as a customer anytime in the future. Rubbish!

  19. Danny

    07/06/2012 at 3:06 pm

    I’ve owned the TB since about April of 2011 & aside from the poor battery life (ended up upgrading the battery) & Verizon bloatware, it’s worked pretty well for me. I did notice the LTE speeds come down from the “early” days hitting 21+ Mbs download speeds to around 12 or so, but still beats any non-LTE phone hands-down based on performance. Apple may not have a LTE radio ’til the iPhone 6, prob. couple years down the road. For me, LTE is a huge step up from dial-up-like speeds of any other currently-offered cellular technology. I do wish Verizon gave more love to those early adopters taking a chance on their new LTE network/handsets.

  20. mark

    07/06/2012 at 3:15 pm

    maybe forget ics and jump to jelly bean

  21. Kevin

    07/06/2012 at 3:15 pm

    After living with the HTC thunderbolt for over a year now I’ve decided that it’s completely ruined the android experience for me, I don’t see a point in paying for a data plan that is never connected, or paying for apps that crash right away and although the new smartphones are pretty and shiny I’d trade back to my old casio flip phone in a heartbeat if I had the chance, I often have fantasies of smashing my phone repeatedly into the faces of the Verizon reps that have refused to replace my phone with the issues I’ve had, It’s still under warranty and verizon refuses to give me another thunderbolt let alone a different phone to compensate for the lack of service that I pay $30 a month for. I will never own another android device because of my HTC phone and as soon as my contract is up in December I’m switching carriers to Sprint and getting myself an iPhone

  22. Peter R

    07/06/2012 at 3:26 pm

    Having purchased this phone when it was released, it has been a cumbersome bane. The only reason I am keeping it is to wade out the contract. HTC have shown to have no systems in place, poor updates and are one company I will not be buying phones from again.

    I will again buy an Android, and having owned many iphones, Android will never truly challenge iphone until updates come smoothly and quickly.

    Peter

  23. Michael

    07/06/2012 at 8:46 pm

    Im soooooooo done with HTC and almost sure I’m done with Android as well.
    If you’re getting an Android phone you should get only Google’s Nexsus phones to insure getting all updates on time and the attention from Google.
    I’m so disappointed from my TB since day one and the only reason I’m not upgrading is there’s no 4G IPhone yet.
    HTC you lost so many faithful fans because of th TB and they way you managed it.

  24. Dan

    07/07/2012 at 7:14 pm

    As someone who has worked for Qualcomm CDMA Testing Chipsets and the software that HTC uses on these phones I don’t blame HTC they have 4 other phones with the exact same hardware excluding cameras and excluding Verizons Software have and a few drivers the same Operating software that haven’t had the problems that we see with the thunderbolt, I also can state for a fact HTC and Qualcomm have ICS worked out for the Tbolt its just a matter or verizon to put their crap on it and for everyone to test it again find something broken HTC sees if its anything they did then back to qualcomm to figure out how Verizon broke it fix it send it back to VZW for approval they tweak it again and break something else round and round it goes until some one stops fixing something that was broken by the other companies

  25. Kirk Crupi

    07/08/2012 at 5:13 am

    I love my Thunderbolt it really has been a great phone! All it needs now is the Ice.Cream update!

  26. Norman Stites

    07/08/2012 at 11:36 am

    I have owned the TB since the first day of introduction. Since then Verizon has replaced it 8 times do to Many problems. All of them starting from the First update sent out. It got to the point a year ago that I took out another phone number to upgrade to the iPhone. My thinking was that Apple might be the better phone, or at least Operate when I needed it.
    But to my surprise, iPhone too had problems and is to Locked to only Apple. So I am waiting for my S3 on Tuesday to return to android. I as well, will not own a HTC again. I looked at the HTC One, but knowing the problems I had with the TB, left that thought go quickly. Poor on HTC and Verizon to allow this to happen to customers. Verizon did work with me, and I will remain with them, but disappointed with the overall support for the TB. My two cents worth.

    • Seeteedub

      07/10/2012 at 7:05 pm

      I ditched my Thunderbolt after going through four of them. Now I have the Rezound and I’m loving it. Just pester Verizon enough and they’ll relent and give you the fantastic Rezound. I’d love to have the HTC One X, but of course, VZW has chosen to back another line (Samsung/MOTO).

      Horrible idea.

      • JR

        07/13/2012 at 8:51 am

        You’d rather have an HTC phone, which would bring along all the same issues as the Thunderbolt (poor performance, crappy stock firmware, lagging updates, etc), over a Samsung Galaxy S III?

        You’ve got horrible ideas.

  27. Faith

    07/08/2012 at 12:26 pm

    I got my Thunderbolt at release and switched to Verizon for it. I love the kickstand. Oddly enough that’s the BEST feature on the phone. I will miss that feature. The rest of the phone has been lousy.

    It’s reasonably fast, but tends to hiccup frequently and have a lot of apps I’m not even using at the time crash. It is just…lackluster. The battery is definitely the worst part, I’ve had it die when I bumped the plug loose in the night and didn’t even touch it. It’s insane. I can’t wait for the S3 to release and REALLY hope they’ll let me upgrade early.

    • Rob

      07/13/2012 at 7:42 am

      Verizon is letting me upgrade early but the SG3 is under an “iconic” code so they can’t allow that to be the phone which is BS. I may wait until i am due in November.

    • 4G Reaper

      07/13/2012 at 11:19 am

      I downgraded my Rezound to a thunderbolt last week (mainly because i wanted the kickstand, and of course I needed to subsidize my n7 tablet in order to justify the expense)

      The latest update is pretty glitchy I’ve noticed, but at least i have s-off so it’s not a big deal. Having owned multiple HTC phones, I can say the dev community is what makes them truly shine.

  28. fabian guerrero

    07/08/2012 at 2:37 pm

    I still use and own my HTC thunderbolt I can’t wait till its updated ics its all I wait for better come in august.

  29. spoiler1041

    07/08/2012 at 6:24 pm

    Seriously FAITH?? Love the kick stand?

    That was my very first complaint. Who puts a kickstand on a phone in such a way that it can’t be plugged in while using the stand! ! ! !

    When a company turns its back on one of its flagship phones I turn my back on them…………… NEVER AGAIN HTC Can you say iphone 5.

    • lol

      07/09/2012 at 8:38 am

      I guess you’ve never heard of charging while the standing in portrait mode.

      • Buck

        07/09/2012 at 10:56 am

        Portrait mode does not lend itself well to watching video. Not being able to charge while watching video does significantly limit the kickstand’s effectiveness. That said, I don’t care about the kickstand, seldom use it anyway, and won’t look for another one.

        • Ryan

          07/11/2012 at 8:17 pm

          The kickstand is nice but it should be flipped around. A little thought before production would have been nice.

          Im still waiting for ICS. I have my phone check at least weekly for an update. It’s only my 2nd Thunderbolt so maybe I’ve been lucky.

          The good news is Verizon finally turned on 4g around here. I don’t get it at home but its only a mile away. It’s about time.

          • Adam

            07/16/2012 at 8:18 am

            “A little thought before production would have been nice.”

            They did think. They made it that way on purpose so that you’d have to buy a first party accessory to charge in landscape mode – a charging dock. Cheeky capitalists.

  30. Vaughan Johnson

    07/08/2012 at 7:31 pm

    Still have, use and enjoy my tbolt but there have been problems that I shouldn’t have to deal with. I still have the reboot problem. I’d upgrade to a different phone but I’ll be ditching Verizon for Sprint once my contract is up to keep unlimited data.

  31. Scott

    07/09/2012 at 9:18 am

    Honestly, I loved my Thunderbolt. Of course, I rooted and ROMed it as soon as I got it, so I didn’t have to deal with any of the problems most people had to. No random reboots, and my battery life was great. In fact, I liked it more than my RAZR until it finally got ICS. Here’s hoping the T-bolt gets ICS soon.

    • Scott

      07/11/2012 at 10:14 am

      I also rooted and currently run gingeritis 3d and couldn’t be happier, it’s easily 100x better. I’m curious if the official release of ics will run as smooth though..

  32. Buck

    07/09/2012 at 11:03 am

    I have the Thunderbolt, got it as soon as it was available in March, 2011. My second smartphone, it’s much better than its predecessor (an iPhone 3G, which I hated), but it still has been a series of frustrations. This year hasn’t really been that bad, but I still get occasional reboots. I’m not incredibly anal, like a lot of other TB users seem to be, and so I’m not jumping up and down screaming. After all, well over a year later, it’s still a fast phone, relatively stable, and I like it a LOT better than my old iPhone. With all that said, though, I won’t be buying another HTC. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect them to make amends for their mistake. To date, I have seen nothing from HTC that comes close to owning up to their poor product, and this stuff is supposed to be their bread and butter. Since this was my first Android experience, I’m not sure whether I’ll even stick with Android. When I’m close to being at the end of my contract, I’ll see what’s in the field, but I’m intrigued by Windows Mobile 8. Maybe it’s time to give that a try…

  33. Ryan

    07/09/2012 at 12:21 pm

    I still have my Thunderbolt and unlike most, I never really had too many issues with it. That being said, the use of the phone lately has been quite annoying as now my phone decides to lock up randomly now. I was hoping for ICS, but after seeing how HTC and verizon do business I decided to start shopping for a new phone. At this point I won’t even think of another HTC product as all I ever read about HTC is how their stock keeps falling. No doubt a response to their poorly made handsets and their shoddy development in the software space. That being said my Samsung Galaxy S3 arives tomorrow and I can only hope, that while it has its quirks, that it will smoke my Thunderbolt hands down.

  34. Micah Burke

    07/09/2012 at 1:01 pm

    Thunderbolt issues: 1) when headphone jack plugged-in, mic is disabled [makes phone useless in-car]. 2) radio intermittent, have to reboot to get 4g. 3) Upgrading from an Incredible, there is no lip around edge of phone leading to increased scratches. 4) Scratches… glass is soft scratch-loving junk. 5) ICS when!?

    • grahame

      07/09/2012 at 4:15 pm

      Don’t blame the phone for the 4g issues that would be verizon may be you live on the edge of a 4g zone so the transfer over cell boundaries is not working properly. I live in the Bay area and have no such sporadic 4g issues except for one corner of my appartment.

      • Fentontech

        07/11/2012 at 12:51 pm

        its not the service… the radio on this phone and other HTC phones have issue… its a known technical issue.

      • Brian

        07/11/2012 at 1:10 pm

        It’s not Verizon. I had a Samsung Droid Charge – consistent 4-5 bar service and always in 4G unless I left the Cleveland region all together. It was stolen – Asurion replaced with with a Bolt. I now switch in and out of 3G/4G and 50% of the time I have no data service at all. I maintain a 4-5 bar standard signal, however.

        This is not a problem with the Verizon network, it’s the HTC radios. I flashed new radios this afternoon, and for the first hour so far, it has stayed in 4G – no drops…

        We’ll see if it continues… If so, why doesn’t HTC just do a radio OTA update?

        I have owned precious HTC phones, and was seriously pissed off when I was told I would be receiving a Bolt to replace the Charge. The Samsung phones have issues, no doubt, but I have never dealt with a company with worse support than HTC.

      • keddren

        07/12/2012 at 10:08 am

        As others have said, it’s not Verizon. HTC released a OTA firmware update in May/June that fixed a load of issues with the TB. I’ve seen my 4G connectivity become much, much more stable and my battery life has improved dramatically. Now if only they’d push ICS/JB, I’d be a little happier about having to suffer through this bullshit for an year or more.

  35. Ron M.

    07/09/2012 at 1:19 pm

    Goodbye HTC, I’ll be getting the new iPhone when it comes out, I filed a BBB report on them (HTC & Verizon) before, and HTC don’t give a rats A$$, but Verizon made good on the complaint…

  36. grahame

    07/09/2012 at 4:11 pm

    Well I guess I must have had a specially built Thunderbolt just for me because I have loved mine since day one and yes I got an early one. No replacements, it is super fast even now and the memory capacity is incredible. My only gripe was that the digital rights management drivers did not work initially. That has now been resolved for some time so my VCAST Rhapsody subscription service is in full working order again. The battery life is a little rough but hey that’s Android all over anyway so I live with it.

  37. Lexron

    07/09/2012 at 11:28 pm

    I made the mistake of switching over to Verizon for this phone. It’s made out of cheap plastic and does not function correctly. But overall the worst part of the phone is the media volume.. It’s just not loud enough. I will never purchase an htc phone again.

  38. Dick

    07/10/2012 at 7:18 am

    First and last HTC product I will ever buy. Hung us all out to dry with promises, promises, promises. I rooted my TB over a year ago to get away from all the useless Verizon nonsense but, no excuse for what either have done to us TB owners, none.

    When the ridiculous IPhones and IOS overtake Android, you have nobody left to blame than yourselves and stupid stuff like what is going on now.

  39. George

    07/10/2012 at 7:37 am

    Mine must have been from the same batch as grahame. Lately it’s been flashing the white HTC screen and seems to be doing a quick restart, but it looks like the Phandroid app was causing that. Getting the Galaxy III S, but only because HTC didn’t have anything quite as nice at the moment.

  40. David

    07/10/2012 at 8:57 am

    Got mine as a free phone when it was about six months old, rooted it immediately. The hardware has been okay, although having to replace the battery with an extended model to get a decent charge was not. Hopefully the community will be able to get a decent ROM together soon after the ICS update drops and/or leaks; I don’t think I can make myself go back to stock at this point.

  41. James

    07/10/2012 at 8:57 am

    I bought a T-bolt close to release, rooted it and never looked back. I have had virtually no issues being rooted (I use it for business use too) and of course I picked up several new features as well. ICS is available rooted, but I am waiting for an official release to get the fullest functionality. That being said, HTC was pretty irresponsible, but if you are stuck with it, there are plenty of options owners can do to fix it.

    • Ricky

      07/10/2012 at 1:00 pm

      @James, ICS is available for rooted users only if you can go without options like, using the phone, data, any type of messaging (other than Wi-fi).
      This is the first and last Android I will buy, fragmentation is killing it and companies like HTC aren’t helping. Sure I could get a Nexus but from what I’m hearing those aren’t that great either now, Looks like iOS or Win8 for me,

      • Jon

        07/11/2012 at 12:51 am

        If you were making those choices I would personally go Win8. I really haven’t had the fragmentation problem some people complain of at all and I would really never choose to be tied down to a platform like Apple tries to make you. My girlfriend has a 4s and even compared to my crap thunderbolt it feels really old. I just think that the fact that IOS hasn’t really changed in 5 years is a horrible statement against apple… it just feels so outdated and inelegant.

      • Brian

        07/11/2012 at 1:15 pm

        Fragmentation isn’t an issue… It’s only an issue for people who are techno-geeks (which I am) and expect everything to run identically on each piece of hardware you pick up running Android.

        If you choose Win8 or iPhone because of fragmentation, you are just making excuses to switch platforms… Fragmentation doesn’t exist as much on iOS because of their closed architecture…which is 100x worse to deal with.

        • Lexron

          07/11/2012 at 1:32 pm

          Do you guys know if there is a way Verizon can replace
          My Thunderbolt with a different phone? I’m tired of this peace of shit.

          Please advise.

          Thanks !!

  42. Jon

    07/11/2012 at 12:44 am

    I have been semi-ok with the phone. I have had no major problems and mostly blame myself for getting a first-generation technology device (Verizon LTE). However, I will never get another HTC again. I got this phone because at the time Verizon and HTC had the best update history. Ha! Fool me once… Overall the phone hasn’t been that bad (especially when they finally got 2.3 in it), but I will probably make sure to go with a Google Nexus from here on in because I know it will be updated. I’m also not going to go with Verizon again if they insist on installing so much crapware.

  43. Nazlo

    07/11/2012 at 12:18 pm

    Agonized between the Tbolt and the iPhone when I had to replace my water-logged Droid (don’t ask). I like the TB, especially the screen size, accessing all my google apps, and using my phone as a GPS (much better than my Garmin) but I have had a recurring problem with the phone going dead after ending a phone call. Vzw store personnel were nice but clueless. I also HATE the bloat ware which I can neither delete, nor disable, even using task killer apps. (sorry – I’m too unsophisticated and too chicken to root my phone).
    Still waiting, waiting, waiting for ICS. Will probably elect the iPhone 5 when my contract is up (9 mos & counting down)

    • Brian

      07/11/2012 at 1:21 pm

      Don’t ever buy another iPhone… It doesn’t matter what “features” they add. They are now behind Android in their feature set, and will ALWAYS be playing catch up due to their very slow-to-develop and proprietorially closed architecture.

      Take a 4S, and take a T-Bolt (or any Android GBread phone with a 1GHZ of faster processor)…

      List the features you look for in a phone on a sheet of paper…

      This includes stuff like camera, camera features, messaging, keyboard, screen, battery life, customizability, ease of use, comfort factor, accessories, app availability, etc…

      I’d guarantee you that unless you like teeny phones, the only categories Apple wins in are battery life and arguably “ease of use”… But that’s just because they make things for the lowest common denominator.

      I tell everyone that…

      Forget the brands… look at the features… Android wins, hands down.

  44. Alex

    07/11/2012 at 4:01 pm

    Battery is sucks! No ics update. I hate it and I won’t buy another HTC phone ever!

  45. Heath

    07/11/2012 at 6:02 pm

    This phone has been awesome for me. This is my first 4g phone.I’ve been rooted since day one. I’m currently running Thundershed 1.6 and haven’t had a single problem! IcS will eventually be here. No since in complaining. But I’m honestly happy either way :D

  46. Maurice Shamell

    07/12/2012 at 1:02 pm

    I loved the phone when it works. Ever since I updated to GB (about 8 or 9 months ago…), the phone will not charge past ~80%. Last couple months I am doing good to see it go to 70%. Even when it does charge that high it drops rapidly! I was off the charger for 30 min and I was down to 57%. I mean really?! And that is with the “HTC brand” Extended Battery. I have done everything to try and make this work. And nothing in return from HTC, and its CLEARLY related to software problems yet here we are in freaking middle of July and still NOTHING. if ICS does not fix this issue, this will be my last HTC device. I switched to Verizon specifically for this device and completely regret it. I have my original Thunderbolt still. I bought it Day 1. Otherwise the phone has been good, but this battery issue is driving me up the wall.

  47. JCS

    07/18/2012 at 8:54 am

    I bought the TB the first day it went on sale.

    The ICS issue, the lack of other important timely official fixes, and the unremovable bloatware littering the phone has made me bitter toward the whole Android “experience”.

    Sure I could root my TB but I shouldn’t have to and don’t want to. I gave up working for technology a few years ago; now I demand that it work for me.
    Others may feel differently and more power to them.

    This is my first and last Android phone.

  48. David

    08/02/2012 at 6:43 am

    The thunderbolt is the worst phone ever! I’m on my 4th replacement phone. On a plane is my favorite moment, we land, everyone is starting up their phone, and mine just sits there and loads and loads and loads, then all of a sudden my battery is 20% less than it was when i turned it off. +1 to all the things said above. Still like android mostly, but HTC and verizon are disappointing

  49. HypeBeast

    08/02/2012 at 8:33 am

    I bought the TB on launch as well, and like many others have stated, it will be the last HTC product I ever buy. The battery sucks, the radio is iffy, the updates are nonexistent, the screen IS NOT gorilla glass, the finish is crap, the speaker is quiet… I could go on, but consider this; I still use my A855 Droid around the house, and many times I think “why did I upgrade in the first place” because the Droid runs as well as the TB..

  50. LexRon

    08/02/2012 at 9:57 pm

    I sold my Thunderbolt about two weeks ago and I’m not looking back. I originally left T-Mobile and went to verizon because of the Thunderbolt. I should have returned it before the 14 day period.. but I had hope that the bugs would eventually get fixed, but I was wrong. If I had to make a list of the things that are wrong with this phone.. I wouldn’t even know where to start. Curse the day HTC released this sorry ass phone. This will be my last HTC purchase.

    Ps: I Miss the HTC G1

  51. dickpierced

    08/03/2012 at 10:48 pm

    Any one of you guys that say they are “upgrading” to iphone is either blind with rage over their maltreatment by Verizon or just dammed dumb. If I were gonna shoot and edit a movie, I’d go with a Mac. If I wanted a personal device that was my phone, camera, GPS and e-mail device, I would go with an android device. I am a thunderbolt owner and am quite frustrated by the lack of ICS upgrade, but at least I know I can root my phone and not be in violation of my terms of service blah blahment.

  52. annie

    08/08/2012 at 1:54 pm

    I have the thunderbolt and I like my phone other then Yvette battery life sucks,and the signal sucks it keeps losing service… But I think I’m going to wait for ics and see how well that goes before I do anything drastic like throw it under a buss….but my question is this it’s the beginning of August Where is my ics up date I’m really getting impatient here

  53. Anthony

    08/08/2012 at 5:16 pm

    I have an inside source, the tbolt is being tested right now for ICS and the release will be coming soon. NO ETa but is a confirmed update.

  54. gman

    08/08/2012 at 5:23 pm

    I will never own another HTC phone again

  55. oscar t

    08/16/2012 at 7:05 am

    I bought this phone in Jan 2012, and it has been a really good phone, no problems at all. But I hear that ICS has better stuff, so I’m waiting too, because I’m stuck with this phone for at least another year. Today is Aug 16 2012 and no update..

  56. ryan

    09/08/2012 at 1:02 am

    Ok I’m seeing a difference now got the thunderbolt rebooted took my sim out and battery now the 4g is stable. But it is never certain. So do that cause I was having problems with my Facebook mainly which caused the problems I uninstalled and reinstalled I think somethings on the horizon. hopefully.

  57. ryan

    09/08/2012 at 1:08 am

    4g still stable. Im liking the feel for it. Bout fucking time. Don’t even really care about ics just as long as 4g is stable roaming or not. I got a refurbished thunderbolt.

  58. ryan

    09/08/2012 at 1:15 am

    Testing my phone on and off the charger. Now would be the perfect time for verizon to keep the stable connection and throw ics out.

  59. ryan

    09/08/2012 at 1:17 am

    Got the dual battery pack to.

  60. ryan

    09/08/2012 at 1:36 am

    This is how the phone is supposed to be keep the 4g at a stand still and work on everything around it.

  61. ryan

    09/08/2012 at 7:32 pm

    Taking the sim card and battery works for a little bit. But not permenant.

  62. rye

    09/12/2012 at 1:32 pm

    Phone fucking sucks as well as service fuck verizon.

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