By Verizon Wireless was supposedly sending the HTC Thunderbolt live at 12AM Eastern and a faithful line of virtual gatherers has been completely disappointed. Not only has Verizon STILL not put the Thunderbolt up for sale, but Amazon.com offered it for $179.99, users bought it like hotcakes, and now it is backordered.
Do you care? Are you angry? Are you disappointed? Whatever you’ve got to say the masses are gathering in our HTC Thunderbolt Forum so head over there and enjoy the company of fellow waiterers.
[Thanks willdogs]
WHOOAAAAAHHHHH! Back that up! Amazon was selling the TBolt for $179.99?!?! SON OF A BITCH! I have Amazon Prime, and have ordered VZW accessories, it would’ve been nice of them to give me a heads up! As of right now (01:08 EST) it is telling me….
HTC ThunderBolt 4G Android Phone (Verizon Wireless)
(0 customer reviews)
Backordered. Usually ships in 8 to 9 days
FREE Two-Day Shipping
Includes AmazonWireless Instant Discount
Restrictions apply. Details
Damn. I dropped the ball. I completely forgot to check Amazon. Oh well.
I just dont understand the appeal of this phone. No way it is worth $179.
I hope this doesn’t turn into a DInc debacle, although I doubt it since the problem there involved the screens (or lack thereof) which were manufactured by Samsung, and it goes without saying that Samsung is getting first dibs on their own screens. If the TBolt does, for some reason, end up with massive backorders, they really screwed themselves. Of course, they can always push the release dates back for the Bionic,DX2,D3,Targa(sp?), and anything else I may have missed – hopefully some other HTC offerings since moto locks the bootloaders.
@ Sarah B.- at $180, that is a good deal. On VZWs site, they are currently selling Droid Xs on a 2-year contract for $150. For 30 bucks more, you get a phone while not dual core, does utilize 45nm technology, which can run more efficiently than, say, 65nm. With 45nm technology, chipsets generally run cooler, faster, and use less energy. Smaller architecture can also allow for more stable overclocking. Another reason is that a lot of us who use Verizon want to get locked into a 2-year contract while they are still charging the same for LTE as they do for 3G. Personally, I’ve never held a working model, so for all I know, it may be a piece of shit, but on paper, it certainly looks good. I’m going to give it a shot, if it sucks, I’ll just return it.
Just my 2¢
3am EST / 12am PST is when it’ll be on VZW for sale.
Dont care
Someone please explain the hype for this. PLEASE! It’s basically an evo
@Keller
.
It’s an HTC, so unlike most of the good phones on Verizon that are by Motorola, it likely won’t have a locked boot loader and will allow for custom roms.
Keller, I pretty much explained it above. Between the smaller architecture, memory boost, the LTE radio, and, most importantly, if you’re a VZW customer, you can get locked into a 2-year unlimtied data plan. As for throttling, there are workarounds for it. If it turns out that is a POS, it can be returned, or sold for something else that comes along while keeping your contract since you bought the new device outright. Unless this thing is a total disaster, it WILL have a following, just like some other phones. It is also the first phone since the DInc from VZW that doesn’t have a locked bootloader. I just hope all is well with it – I’m still worried about all of the delays. Time will tell, as it always does.
HTC pays more attention to detail and quality than others. People like it for those little things like Sense widgets (that everyone tries to copy) and the kickstand
Keller, it has been explained over and over. Stop being a troll.
Verizon 4g vs. Sprint 4g.. between the much superior network and a lot of little changes, this phone is not “basically an evo” sorry
@ Daniel, I agree 100%. I absolutely loved my D1 even though it had a graph-paper keyboard and could’ve used more memory, it was the most kickass phone in its short reign – vanilla Android, virtually unbrickable (did anyone actually ever truly brick one? you’d actually have to try, almost), built like a tank, awesome screen (at the time), pretty quick updates; 2.0->2.0.1->2.1->2.2, etc. Unbelievable dev/root community support; due in large part to it’s popularity, ease of rooting and recovering. Then, Moto comes out with the Droid 2 – it could’ve been 5x what it is. They increased the memory, they…used a different chipset (oddly, my old OG Droid ran all day long on jdlfg’s 1366MHz kernel with SetCpu, and didn’t kill the battery. You can still run a custom ROM on the D2/X, but only built around the kernel – meaning no gingerbread, ice cream, etc. Until Moto and VZW upgrade it – if and when they do.
You can still add roms on a locked bootloader
I canceled my Wirefly order and jumped on the Amazon deal as soon as I found out. Too late suckas!!! J/K. I think Wirefly is still taking preorders though, so all is not lost.
I’m an idiot. And I bricked a D1. Still an awesome phone. Will be at store at 8 to get my TBolt. Wifeys gettin the Incredible.
I still have the original Moto Droid and my interest in the TB is growing more and more each day, but I’m not due for my NE2 upgrade for like another six months, so I’m not sure it makes sense to jump the gun. I don’t remember for sure, but I feel like my NE2 was cut in half — down from $100 to $50 — when I upgraded to the Droid, and if that’s the case, I don’t really see any reason to wait for my current contract to run out. Plus, if the rumors are true and we only have a small window to get an LTE plan with uncapped data and wifi sharing, I may regret not upgrading to the TB now.
I know there are a handful of people here who swear this phone is being overhyped, but the only negative things I’ve seen so far is that it looks like an “upgraded Evo” and that it has Sense UI instead of vanilla Android. My understanding is that because the bootloader is unlocked, it could simply be rooted and a custom firmware could be used. And aren’t most phones — if not all — an upgraded version of another? That argument makes no sense to me. I know it’s not dual core, but I’ve heard there really aren’t any apps that could take advantage of that anyway, so that also seems like a weak argument.
I don’t claim to be an expert, though, so please tell me if I’m missing something or if I’ve gotten anything wrong. I’d love to know if there’s a better phone on the horizon that I should be holding out for.
I still have the original Moto Droid and my interest in the TB is growing more and more each day, but I’m not due for my NE2 upgrade for like another six months, so I’m not sure it makes sense to jump the gun. I don’t remember for sure, but I feel like my NE2 was cut in half — down from $100 to $50 — when I upgraded to the Droid, and if that’s the case, I don’t really see any reason to wait for my current contract to run out. Plus, if the rumors are true and we only have a small window to get an LTE plan with uncapped data and wifi sharing, I may regret not upgrading to the TB now.
I know there are a handful of people here who swear this phone is being overhyped, but the only negative things I’ve seen so far is that it looks like an “upgraded Evo” and that it has Sense UI instead of vanilla Android. My understanding is that because the bootloader is unlocked, it could simply be rooted and a custom firmware could be used. And aren’t most phones — if not all — an upgraded version of another? That argument makes no sense to me. I know it’s not dual core, but I’ve heard there really aren’t any apps that could take advantage of that anyway, so that also seems like a weak argument.
I don’t claim to be an expert, though, so please tell me if I’m missing something or if I’ve gotten anything wrong.
I was so hyped for this phone months ago but could not wait any longer so I bought the iPhone 4. so glad I did. the Tbolt will be extinct in a matter of months when the dual core phones come out. don’t waste your money on this phone. Not to say the iPhone isn’t extinct but the smooth OS, awesome pinch and zoom, smooth flick scrolling and beautiful retina display make up for it. I definitely would have bought the Tbolt if it came out back earlier in the year but boy am I glad I didn’t!
@Dj… Enjoy your Thunderbolt it should be a great device Htc has done a lot of people well over a long period of time. Htc has done there best for android and at the end of the day regardless of our carriers we love android and are faithful to the platform first…. Good luck…..
No phone will look good on verizon
I just ordered mine from verizon for$ 199. Free next day shipping
I got mine ordered did it at like 10 pm last night says i should get it by monday sweeetttt. so glad didnt preorder at BB.
i know this is a stupid question to some but what does backorder mean?
what yall dont understand is that the evo is actually sexier than a droid if u ask me, shit ill take a suped up evo over a suped u droid any day, HTC UI is way sexier and cooler than a Motoblur, jus sayn, yall can keep sayn its jus an evo but who wants motoblur or touchwiz, BANG!!!!
Another great new feature no Verizon phone has had that the tbolt is going to have for the first time is simultaneous voice and data, yes other carriers have always had that. I read somewhere that was another reason it took so long for this to get released, as well as Iphone coming to big red.
@andulas – Backorder means that Amazon don’t have any stock at the moment but have ordered some more from their supplier. In theory that means that tehy have a confirmed delivery date, but take that with a pinch of salt.
This phone could have had the droid branding. Just like the droid incredible.
thanks king
@ Nlsme – I was somewhat surprised by that. So far, all of VZWs high-end Androids had the Droid branding, I was surprised to see that their first LTE phone didn’t have it as well. Well, it is what it is.
i still love my myt4g
getting the g2x though whooooah
@New Iphone User… We hate iphone4 and Apple so take that used iphone and SHOLVE IT where the sun don’t shine you losser