HTC Thunderbolt

[Vermillion]

They don't want people to code an app that just copies the videos right to the phone. Once they make a generic Android app that would just play anything on NetFlix on any Android device, it would open the flood gates. Even though its just a 4 inch screen, people would still try be copying the movies if they could. I mean heck, why stream the movie if you can just download "NetFlix Downloader" and rip the movies right to the SD card to watch them later?!?

Its mostly the studios that drive this, they don't want to have their content available on devices with little to no DRM.

Except that you would still need a NetFlix account. Pirates wouldn't bother having one of those to begin with as they just download everything weeks before it's officially released anyways.

 

[Ocellaris]

Except that you would still need a NetFlix account. Pirates wouldn't bother having one of those to begin with as they just download everything weeks before it's officially released anyways.

Netflix accounts are extremely common, even among people that download media and applications. Plus you can use a single Netflix account on something like 9 devices before they start to care about it...

 

[Ashton]

Netflix accounts are extremely common, even among people that download media and applications. Plus you can use a single Netflix account on something like 9 devices before they start to care about it...

yeah, I actually split the fee with a friend and they kept all their movies and shows on one end of the que and I kept mine at the other (on a total of 6 devices), and nobody was the wiser

 

[soekev]

yeah, I actually split the fee with a friend and they kept all their movies and shows on one end of the que and I kept mine at the other (on a total of 6 devices), and nobody was the wiser

The other catch about Netflix streaming is your simultaneous streams is directly proportional to the number of physical DVDs you're allowed to have out at a time.

e.g., if your subscription allows for up to 3 DVDs out, then you are only allowed up to 3 simultaneous streams.

I experienced this one evening when the kids were streaming off the 360, and unbeknownst to me my parents were streaming on my account a couple states away, and when my wife tried to stream from her PC, no go, until I upgraded the account to a 3 DVD account.

 

[T4rd]

As long as the phone isn't actually $300 after rebate (if there is one) on contract, I think I might bite on this at launch. I refuse to pay more than $200 for a phone on that's subsidized, I don't care if this thing does cost $800 unsubsidized, they're still making more than enough back over time.

My Droid has been pissing me off lately and I'm about tired of tweaking the shit out of it to get it to work properly. I dunno if I can hold out for the Bionic, which I think I would prefer over this thing. Or maybe even the Xperia Play if it's out in the next few weeks.

 

[coder_t2]

My question is whether they will charge more for the data plan since it is 4G. Or will it still be $30. I guess we will find out in a few days.

 

[T4rd]

My question is whether they will charge more for the data plan since it is 4G. Or will it still be $30. I guess we will find out in a few days.

Yeah, that'll be another deciding factor. I forgot about that. If it's only like $10 more and still unlimited data, then I'll go for it. If not, I'll wait for the Xperia Play, I guess.

 

[Ashton]

Yeah, that'll be another deciding factor. I forgot about that. If it's only like $10 more and still unlimited data, then I'll go for it. If not, I'll wait for the Xperia Play, I guess.

Um... keep in mind unless you have an older contract that "unlimited data" is 4gb/month with only 300mb of roaming data (if your plan includes that option) before "excessive usage charges" kick in... (only reason I'm sticking with my contract, if I could get truely unlimited data elsewhere I'd dump it for a cheeper prepaid plan + Skype)

I dont know if the 4gb limit is applied to 4G data as well as 3G or not...

EDIT:

The other catch about Netflix streaming is your simultaneous streams is directly proportional to the number of physical DVDs you're allowed to have out at a time.
e.g., if your subscription allows for up to 3 DVDs out, then you are only allowed up to 3 simultaneous streams.

Didn' t know this. Never ran into it since it was then on the same connection and I didnt have the bandwidth to stream 2 shows at once.

Thanks for the info!

 

[T4rd]

Um... keep in mind unless you have an older contract that "unlimited data" is 4gb/month with only 300mb of roaming data (if your plan includes that option) before "excessive usage charges" kick in... (only reason I'm sticking with my contract, if I could get truely unlimited data elsewhere I'd dump it for a cheeper prepaid plan + Skype)

I dont know if the 4gb limit is applied to 4G data as well as 3G or not...

Link (proof)? I've went over 4 GBs (and even 5 GBs) a couple times without penalty. I've never heard of a 4 GB cap on any carrier for any type of plan and I stay on top of this stuff. Usually people spread FUD about a 5 GB cap on phone data plans because they confuse them with the USB modem plans that are capped at 5 GBs or some other carrier(s) plans. I've seen several users on other Android forums I frequent go over 10 GBs without penalty or throttling (as was recently discovered in the Verizon ToS if you're in the top 5% of bandwidth users in your area). I've been with them for 6 years, but they still offer a truly unlimited plan as of right now. It's pretty much been announced that Verizon is moving to tiered plans this summer though .

Right now, from what I've seen on all the carriers on smart phone plans:

Verizon - Truly unlimited w/ throttling of top 5% bandwidth users
Sprint - Truly unlimted w/ no penalties whatsoever
T Mobile - Truely unlimited w/ throttling after 5 GBs
AT&T - Capped at 2GBs and charged extra per GB over.

 

[Ashton]

Link (proof)? I've went over 4 GBs (and even 5 GBs) a couple times without penalty. I've never heard of a 4 GB cap on any carrier for any type of plan and I stay on top of this stuff. Usually people spread FUD about a 5 GB cap on phone data plans because they confuse them with the USB modem plans that are capped at 5 GBs or some other carrier(s) plans. (snip)
Right now, from what I've seen on all the carriers on smart phone plans:

Verizon - Truly unlimited w/ throttling of top 5% bandwidth users
Sprint - Truly unlimted w/ no penalties whatsoever
T Mobile - Truely unlimited w/ throttling after 5 GBs
AT&T - Capped at 2GBs and charged extra per GB over.

Very interesting.... I dont have a direct link, but I saw it over @ HowardForums. (and Sprint I've seen the USB vs Handset confusion on) Mostly what I've seen is the carriers are trying to prevent Tethering on handsets. (With Android's WiFi Tether, and WM/Palm having PDA Net, and BB using Sharkmodem, Its very easy for a user to tether 'illegally')

I'll have to look into this, it might be worth reactivating my Verizon prepaid account if data is still truely unlimited... (Yes there is a way to tether on inpulse, no I'm not going to post it)

Worth noting: T-mo is mostly 2-2.5g service (upto 500kbps iirc) so it's not worth the trouble for most people and Tmo is not as concerned.

Also: ATT does have a secret unlimited plan (I want to say $49.99/month) for iPad data. No idea if this can be used in a phone or not tho...

 

[T4rd]

Very interesting.... I dont have a direct link, but I saw it over @ HowardForums. (and Sprint I've seen the USB vs Handset confusion on) Mostly what I've seen is the carriers are trying to prevent Tethering on handsets. (With Android's WiFi Tether, and WM/Palm having PDA Net, and BB using Sharkmodem, Its very easy for a user to tether 'illegally')

I'll have to look into this, it might be worth reactivating my Verizon prepaid account if data is still truely unlimited... (Yes there is a way to tether on inpulse, no I'm not going to post it)

Worth noting: T-mo is mostly 2-2.5g service (upto 500kbps iirc) so it's not worth the trouble for most people and Tmo is not as concerned.

Also: ATT does have a secret unlimited plan (I want to say $49.99/month) for iPad data. No idea if this can be used in a phone or not tho...

Well I do know that if you buy the tethering plan for your smart phone (if it supports it) on Verizon, tethering data is capped (at 2 GBs I think.. might be 5 GBs though), but data through the phone itself is still unlimited. But you'd be retarded to actually pay for that, IMO. Those few times I've went over 5 GBs was with I was tethered with my Droid using USB/WiFi tether for root users and I got the same'ol bill in the mail those months.

 

[Ashton]

Well I do know that if you buy the tethering plan for your smart phone (if it supports it) on Verizon, tethering data is capped (at 2 GBs I think.. might be 5 GBs though), but data through the phone itself is still unlimited. But you'd be retarded to actually pay for that, IMO. Those few times I've went over 5 GBs was with I was tethered with my Droid using USB/WiFi tether for root users and I got the same'ol bill in the mail those months.

Same deal on Sprint. Tethering option (PAM) is capped at 4gb/month.

I'm looking for loopholes to get an android on Verizon INpulse without the monthly plan option but doesnt look like it's happening. Only option I can get for INpulse and tethering is a hacked dumbphone (still EVDO though)

 

[coder_t2]

Um... keep in mind unless you have an older contract that "unlimited data" is 4gb/month with only 300mb of roaming data (if your plan includes that option) before "excessive usage charges" kick in... (only reason I'm sticking with my contract, if I could get truely unlimited data elsewhere I'd dump it for a cheeper prepaid plan + Skype)

I dont know if the 4gb limit is applied to 4G data as well as 3G or not...

I've never heard this. It says unlimited on their website, so I imagine it is still unlimited. If they were charging people for going over a limit on a "unlimited plan", I'd imagine a class action lawsuit. I do know they throttle the top 5% though, they openly admitted this. There must have been some confusion when people purchased the tethering option for their phone, since that has it's own data limits. Not really sure why mobile internet seems like it is getting more expensive versus cheaper. This is contrary to what happens to most tech.

 

[Ocellaris]

dp.

 

[Ocellaris]

. Not really sure why mobile internet seems like it is getting more expensive versus cheaper. This is contrary to what happens to most tech.

Because people keep paying for it, the investors want more money, and service providers need to fund their massive roll outs of new tech (4G at this point in time).

 

[Ashton]

Because people keep paying for it, the investors want more money, and service providers need to fund their massive roll outs of new tech (4G at this point in time).

QFT. Supply and Demand at work.

Though I dont see how this will work in a free market since one provider just needs to offer an unlimited plan at any vaguely reasonable price and customers will flock to them if the other providers are all tiered... Unless all providers suspiciously decide to go tiered, but then competition will drop the price so low the only way to get lower and turn any form of profit would be to go unlimited again, restarting the cycle...

I see WiFi Hotspots becomming super-popular again in the future...

 

[coder_t2]

If they leave it the same price and keep coming out with faster stuff, that's fine. But I thought they were saying they were going to start tiering their data plans in the summer. As long as they keep the unlimited plan and don't raise the price, that is good since there would be more options. I couldn't find much detail on it, so not sure what there plans are.

 

[T4rd]

Garbage. Seems like they're launching at $300 on-contract. Ridiculous, I don't care if the phone costs a grand unsubsidized, that's too much. They should at least give you the option to just get a 16 GB SD card to knock the price down a bit. I mean I've never came close to filling the 16 GB card on my Droid. Why would you when Streaming music and videos are much more convenient (for me anyways)? Hopefully people vote with their wallet and this doesn't sale for shit, forcing them to bring it down quickly. It's certainly making me wait for the Xperia Play or Bionic. I could give a shit about 4G since it's not going to be in my area anytime soon anyways.

 

[DirtyB]

Um... keep in mind unless you have an older contract that "unlimited data" is 4gb/month with only 300mb of roaming data (if your plan includes that option) before "excessive usage charges" kick in... (only reason I'm sticking with my contract, if I could get truely unlimited data elsewhere I'd dump it for a cheeper prepaid plan + Skype)

I dont know if the 4gb limit is applied to 4G data as well as 3G or not...

Pretty sure you just made that up, lol

 

[Ashton]

Pretty sure you just made that up, lol

How about I quote the Verizon Terms of Service then?

Unlimited Data Plans and Features (such as NationalAccess, BroadbandAccess, Push to Talk, and certain VZEmail services) may ONLY be used with wireless devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, email, and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force, and field service automation). The Unlimited Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine–to–machine connections or peer–to–peer (P2P) file sharing; or (iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MBs, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GBs in a month.

For individual use only and not for resale. We reserve the right to protect our network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We reserve the right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, and to deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using an Unlimited Data Plan or Feature in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.

Emphasis added.

 

[Vermillion]

How about I quote the Verizon Terms of Service then?



Emphasis added.

There's the catch though, "presumed". They have to prove it first, which they can't. I have used up to 8GBs before without tethering. Streaming Pandora, HQ YouTube, and Flash video eats up a lot of data bandwidth.

In fact Verizon has NEVER mentioned a single thing to me about my bandwidth usage and I regularly use 5-6GB per month. Now if they start watching for P2P sharing then they could bust people for tethering. However, they will never win the fight if a person, like myself, is only using the capabilities of the phone that is there on a stock device.

 

[Ashton]

They've apparently realized that.

If you google "Verizon Excessive Usage" you will find a lot of places where people said they received letters and had their service (temporarily) terminated due to "Excessive Usage"

With modern phones like the droid line, your dealing with a low-end tablet PC more than a phone, so usage is guaranteed to increase drastically. Also, unless your using STEAM or something unavailable on android, it's almost impossible for them to scream "your packet-data proves your tethering!" since Youtube and even Bittorrent run on Android phones (and before people yell at me, remember BitTorrent has LOTS of legit uses, including many updates for verious programs, it's not purely for piracy)

My post was a responc to the guy who said "you just made that up!"

I'm not saying VZW or ANY company WILL terminate your service based on "excessive useage" Just that the clause exists and we should all be mindful of it because if they start looking for a reason to get rid of you (using lots of data, all your minutes, tons of night/weekend minutes, etc --- basically maximum possible useage) then this is one way they can terminate your service or charge you higher rates.

 

[DirtyB]

Thats probably for mobile hotshots or for international use, I've had two months in a row using 8 to 10gb and never heard anything.

My friend used 18gb's in a month (not sure how) but never saw any side effects from iit

 

[DirtyB]

Link
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/at...misconceptions-unlimited-data-30planterms.pdf

 

[Ashton]

Link
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/at...misconceptions-unlimited-data-30planterms.pdf

Has the exact same first paragraph in there (defining useage) but is missing the "excessive useage" paragraph... One of our TOS is out of date (I'm betting mine) Looks like they changed their stand on "excessive useage" (as I said above, with the newer phones it's less a "text-only-page-brower" ala dumbphone data, and more a low-powered Internet Tablet data --- not to mention somone might have threatened a lawsuit saying "Unlimited is not defined as 5gb, it's defined as NO LIMITATIONS!")

Very good to know thanks for the link ^_^

 

[coder_t2]

Are there any other andoird phones coming in the next few weeks for verizon beside this one?

 

[Vermillion]

Are there any other andoird phones coming in the next few weeks for verizon beside this one?

The Motorola Droid Bionic at some point.

That's my dilemma right now. I'm up for my upgrade (I thought I wasn't due until July) so I need to decide between TB, Bionic or wait for an HTC based dual-core.

 

[T4rd]

The Motorola Droid Bionic at some point.

That's my dilemma right now. I'm up for my upgrade (I thought I wasn't due until July) so I need to decide between TB, Bionic or wait for an HTC based dual-core.

I just went to Verizon to see if I could upgrade and they said I can upgrade right now. I forgot I could still do the Annual upgrade and I've had my Droid for 15 months now. I went in to see if they had the Thunderbolt in stock. They had a mock TB on display, but he said they haven't received any yet and the last he heard was March 21st . So I guess that March 10 date just got delayed again..? He also confirmed that this phone will be $300 on contract with no rebate.

Also, I'm guessing the Xperia Play will be out before the Bionic and that's definitely a contender for my next phone. I don't think the Bionic will be out until June at least and I definitely don't think I can wait another 3 months from now. So hopefully the Xperia Play is released in the next month or so.

 

[Vermillion]

I just went to Verizon to see if I could upgrade and they said I can upgrade right now. I forgot I could still do the Annual upgrade and I've had my Droid for 15 months now. I went in to see if they had the Thunderbolt in stock. They had a mock TB on display, but he said they haven't received any yet and the last he heard was March 21st . So I guess that March 10 date just got delayed again..? He also confirmed that this phone will be $300 on contract with no rebate.

Also, I'm guessing the Xperia Play will be out before the Bionic and that's definitely a contender for my next phone. I don't think the Bionic will be out until June at least and I definitely don't think I can wait another 3 months from now. So hopefully the Xperia Play is released in the next month or so.

Personally I think the TB is being held up to try to maximize iPhone 4 sales since iPhone 4 has been such a failure for Verizon so far.

I know I can wait longer for another phone. My Droid is fine especially with Gingerbread. It's just that it definitely feels aged and the TB is very tempting. Bionic is also tempting but the 512MB kills it for me.

 

[obs]

Personally I think the TB is being held up to try to maximize iPhone 4 sales since iPhone 4 has been such a failure for Verizon so far.

I know I can wait longer for another phone. My Droid is fine especially with Gingerbread. It's just that it definitely feels aged and the TB is very tempting. Bionic is also tempting but the 512MB kills it for me.

LOL. The iphone has had plenty of time. Verizon is likely doing everything they can to get the phone out.

 

[T4rd]

LOL. The iphone has had plenty of time. Verizon is likely doing everything they can to get the phone out.

Not that a Verizon rep would know shit about it in the first place, but he cited that exact reason for delaying the TBs launch. I can understand Verizon wanting to do this because the iPhone is such a cash and I'm sure Apple wouldn't be happy if they released them at the same time, but it still sucks ass. If the iPhone was really that great, Apple/Verizon should need to worry about the TB stealing sales from it, lol. It's for a totally different market, IMO, but I'm a full fledged techie and not the average consumer .

Personally I think the TB is being held up to try to maximize iPhone 4 sales since iPhone 4 has been such a failure for Verizon so far.

I know I can wait longer for another phone. My Droid is fine especially with Gingerbread. It's just that it definitely feels aged and the TB is very tempting. Bionic is also tempting but the 512MB kills it for me.

My Droid has been great with GB too up until today. I was about to smash it on the floor because several times today I received phone calls and it would automatically put the call on speakerphone while not responding (or even displaying buttons) to any input, then FORCE CLOSING THE PHONE APP! How does the friggin PHONE CALL FC? Lol.. That "app" should have the most priority and be the most stable part of Android. This was running Pete's GPA12 GB ROM. I guess I'll try that other ROM you recommended in the other GB Droid thread. Project Elite..? Have you ever seen this issue on your phone..?

 

[coder_t2]

The Motorola Droid Bionic at some point.

That's my dilemma right now. I'm up for my upgrade (I thought I wasn't due until July) so I need to decide between TB, Bionic or wait for an HTC based dual-core.

Yea, if I what I read is correct, the Bionic is going to be a dual-core plus 4G, which is what I really want. But I feel like if I wait 3 months, then I'll say, well... if I wait another three months this phone will come out!, and so on. The price of the thunderbolt is really disappointing. I mean $300 is a lot of dough to be dishing out for a subsidized phone that isn't really light years ahead of anything. Plus there will probably be faster phones in 3 months or so. I am debating if I should just get a 1 year contract too.

 

[00011]

Yea, if I what I read is correct, the Bionic is going to be a dual-core plus 4G, which is what I really want. But I feel like if I wait 3 months, then I'll say, well... if I wait another three months this phone will come out!, and so on. The price of the thunderbolt is really disappointing. I mean $300 is a lot of dough to be dishing out for a subsidized phone that isn't really light years ahead of anything. Plus there will probably be faster phones in 3 months or so. I am debating if I should just get a 1 year contract too.

Wait for the Bionic and than get a one year contract with that. It's my current plan anyway until a better phone comes out to wait for.

(Using a Droid X running Liberty 1.5 right now)

 

[DirtyB]

Personally I think the TB is being held up to try to maximize iPhone 4 sales since iPhone 4 has been such a failure for Verizon so far.

Hmm pretty sure it was Verizon's biggest launch ever, interesting that you'd say it was a failure. I thought I read a report on BGR that said they sold like a million iphones in the first week.

Yea, if I what I read is correct, the Bionic is going to be a dual-core plus 4G, which is what I really want. But I feel like if I wait 3 months, then I'll say, well... if I wait another three months this phone will come out!, and so on. The price of the thunderbolt is really disappointing. I mean $300 is a lot of dough to be dishing out for a subsidized phone that isn't really light years ahead of anything. Plus there will probably be faster phones in 3 months or so. I am debating if I should just get a 1 year contract too.

Who cares about dual-core, sounds like marketing hype to me. If nothing is written to take advantage of it then... meh the extra ram in the TB is more important IMO.

The TB actually is light years ahead of everything IMO, check out the comparisons against the EVO, just because it's a single core 1ghz doesn't mean it's not significantly improved, not to mention LTE dominates all other carriers 4g networks.

Get it on a 1 year contract, you can upgrade @ 10months if you do that and you only pay $50-70 more up front I think, it's definitely the way to go.

 

[Vermillion]

Hmm pretty sure it was Verizon's biggest launch ever, interesting that you'd say it was a failure. I thought I read a report on BGR that said they sold like a million iphones in the first week.

True, but a million iPhones is incredibly far below what they expected. The Verizon PR department can't do anything but try to swing stories that make the launch look good. Unfortunately for Verizon the only good news about the iPhone 4 launch was that it was the "biggest launch ever". Have you noticed how we haven't heard shit about it since then?

Who cares about dual-core, sounds like marketing hype to me. If nothing is written to take advantage of it then... meh the extra ram in the TB is more important IMO.

The TB actually is light years ahead of everything IMO, check out the comparisons against the EVO, just because it's a single core 1ghz doesn't mean it's not significantly improved, not to mention LTE dominates all other carriers 4g networks.

Get it on a 1 year contract, you can upgrade @ 10months if you do that and you only pay $50-70 more up front I think, it's definitely the way to go.

I'm with you on the RAM aspect. That's why I'm probably steering clear of the Bionic. 512MB just isn't enough.

For the dual-core it depends. Android 3.0 is coded for dual-core. Thus why Xoom is a Tegra 2 device. Android 2.3 does OK dual-core but the rumored Android 2.4 (still Gingerbread) will increase the dual-core capability for smart phones.

However, if we look at the PC and multi-core CPUs there are still tons of applications that don't make use of multi-core CPU's correctly or efficiently enough. I expect the same to be true with smart phones for the time being especially since the fleets of smartphones out there right now are single core and will remain that way for another 2-3 years.

Information like that is why I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to do with my current upgrade eligibility. Get a Thunderbolt which will serve me well for 2 years or wait for an HTC dual-core which could be 6 months out or more.

I'm leaning towards getting the TB. I'm thinking like that because the mobile phone market is like PC's since the newest phone is already obsolete as soon as it is released. Plus if I get the TB and go multi-core in 2 years I'll be on a 3rd or 4th generation multi-core phone.

 

[Ashton]

I'm leaning towards getting the TB. I'm thinking like that because the mobile phone market is like PC's since the newest phone is already obsolete as soon as it is released. Plus if I get the TB and go multi-core in 2 years I'll be on a 3rd or 4th generation multi-core phone.

If we look at the PC market, then it's going to take many years for multi-core to really make a difference. The only reason it makes much of one now is that the OS is coded so IT can make use of multiple cores, offsetting the hardware for other programs (read: OS leaves 1 core free for the Software that cant use buy 1 core) It's still an improvement because that core isn't having to share it's clock with the OS, but compared to true multi-core software it's just a minor improvement.

I say get the fastest single-core with the most RAM (and optionally the most internal storage) and leave the multi-core for your next upgrade in 2 years, by then the tech will have matured enough to make some form of a difference. (Same goes for anyone considering an android tablet, multi-core just isnt worth it yet)

 

[T4rd]

The only reason to get a dual-core phone right now is to extent its lifespan for when software can take advantage of it. Plain and simple. Having said this, it's not a huge deal-breaker for me at this moment to not have a dual-core phone.

The TB is still in the running for my next phone, but it's going to be hard to swallow $300 subsidized. Hopefully the Xperia Play will be out shortly so I can make a decision.

 

[Topweasel]

The only reason to get a dual-core phone right now is to extent its lifespan for when software can take advantage of it. Plain and simple. Having said this, it's not a huge deal-breaker for me at this moment to not have a dual-core phone.

The TB is still in the running for my next phone, but it's going to be hard to swallow $300 subsidized. Hopefully the Xperia Play will be out shortly so I can make a decision.

What I will say is as much as i like the Bionic's features and hope that Moto keeps development going for years after its release, I say this owning a Droid X. I wouldn't get a future proof phone that has a locked bootloader. Every single HW company has screwed the pooch on updates, and it would be stupid to get a phone that's hardware will be underused until a new OS when there is an opportunity for the Manufacturer to not update the software. That isn't an issue on most phones, but is on Moto's.

 

[Vermillion]

The only reason to get a dual-core phone right now is to extent its lifespan for when software can take advantage of it. Plain and simple. Having said this, it's not a huge deal-breaker for me at this moment to not have a dual-core phone.

The TB is still in the running for my next phone, but it's going to be hard to swallow $300 subsidized. Hopefully the Xperia Play will be out shortly so I can make a decision.

Yeah, that's the only reason to get a dual-core is the longevity thanks to developers like the CyanogenMod Team, Project Elite team, ChevyNo1, Team Liberty and all the rest.

However, with that in mind it would actually be a better idea to just get the TB and get whatever the fastest multi-core phone is in 2 years to have really amazing longevity at that point.

What I will say is as much as i like the Bionic's features and hope that Moto keeps development going for years after its release, I say this owning a Droid X. I wouldn't get a future proof phone that has a locked bootloader. Every single HW company has screwed the pooch on updates, and it would be stupid to get a phone that's hardware will be underused until a new OS when there is an opportunity for the Manufacturer to not update the software. That isn't an issue on most phones, but is on Moto's.

Thunderbolt has already been rooted. Standard S-OFF implementation. HTC doesn't screw their customers like Motorola has been doing. However, Motorola does appear to be changing their tune since the Xoom is locked by default but can be unlocked for "developers".

The Atrix is still bootloader locked and I assume Bionic will be as well since Motorola has never answered the question about Bionic but they quickly answered the question about the Xoom when asked.

I would also argue about HTC and Motorola screwing the pooch with updates. I think both of them have done fairly well rolling out new Android versions to their phones. The original Droid has seen a number of OTA updates. It started at 2.0, moved to 2.01, to 2.1, to 2.2 to 2.2.1, to 2.2.2 which is where it will officially stay. Droix X and Droid 2 have both received updates and will be moving to 2.3 in the "near" future as well.

I do think that HTC and Motorola could do a better job if they dropped Sense and Blur since that built-in bloat adds large amount of time to the roll out of new Android versions.

Samsung is the only manufacturer (that matters) who has seriously screwed over their customers when it comes to supporting their devices.

 

[T4rd]

Samsung is the only manufacturer (that matters) who has seriously screwed over their customers when it comes to supporting their devices.

And Sony! It's ridiculous the Xperia x10 stayed on 1.6 for so long and is only getting 2.1. This is the only thing that makes me hesitant to get the Xperia Play. HTC does seem to be the best manufacturer overall , IMO. Such hard choices we have . Hah