Big, beautiful and nicely packaged, how else do you describe the HTC Thunderbolt? This was the first Android phone I have gotten my hands on, so I was excited to put it through its paces to see how Android compares to other phone operating systems. Hop on past for the full rundown…
Package
First off, the screen is a huge 4.3” touch screen that is absolutely beautiful. It is very clear and the touch function works very well. The phone itself fits well in your hand. It doesn’t slide around and is easy to grip. The only buttons are volume and the On/Off buttons with all of the rest being integrated into the touch screen. On the back side, there is a kick-stand with a speaker just below, so when you want to listen to Pandora, the speaker is wide open.
Function
Overall, the function of the smart phone itself was good. I did find some lag in the processor when playing Angry Birds (the screen would stutter a little bit). I also found that when downloading larger files from the Android Marketplace, it took a longer time than expected when using a WiFi connection (router is capable of 802.11 n with Comcast Broadband).
I was not thrilled with the clarity during phone calls. This is a complaint I have with most smart phones. You sacrifice some of the clarity on the voice side for the bells and whistles. I use my phone for calling first and the toys second. I had this same complaint with other smart phones, so I was hoping this phone was going to be the all-in-one killer phone it looked to be.
Features
The thing I really like about this phone is the ability to make it your own. Being able to move screens around, change the backgrounds, overall themes, sounds (there are a ton of ringtones and sounds pre-loaded on the phone) and just the way it looks is something that the Thunderbolt (and on a larger scale, Android) has over some more locked down competitors such as iOS or Windows Phone 7. The Android Marketplace works well and there are a good number of options with plenty of free apps to add to the functionality of phone.
Hardware-wise, the 8MP rear camera was awesome. Pictures in their default post-snapped state were vivid and crisp. On top of that, you are still able to zoom in and have a very clear photo. Video via the rear camera was just as nice. The 1.3 MP front camera was adequate. Not as good as the rear, but still ok. The one canned tool I liked was the flashlight that utilizes the rear camera flash as the light source. The handy little app allows you to select one of three settings depending upon your needs.
Conclusion
I was very surprised with this phone and I liked it – this coming from several horror stories of people having problems getting used to Android. The Initial setup and tweaking of user settings was easy.
Overall, Android doesn’t feel like the most intuitive mobile OS currently on the market, but is certainly easy enough most users will be able to pick up an Android device and navigate it rather easily. With a few more weeks of having the phone, I think I would have become accustomed to it more.
Justifying the added $50 cost over some of the competitors could be a hard sell to some. But if iOS and Windows aren’t doing it for you, I give the HTC Thunderbolt a thumbs up.
