Gadgetory

it's a bird it's a plane it's a thunderbolt what's going on everybody I'm Noah from TechnoBuffalo comm and I'll tell you what the intro I filmed the first time I did this video was better than that but I've since had a cup of coffee I'm a little wired and I don't know that just came out but this is a fake unboxing because I already filmed the unboxing and then when I went to edit it my memory card totally failed so I'm shooting it over again it'll be a little fakie style I've already set the phone up but that's okay you don't care you just want to see the phone it's the HTC Verizon Thunderbolt the first 4g LTE smartphone for Verizon they've got a couple of data modems out already but this is the first smartphone this one's been anticipated since it launched at CES it's been delayed a few times but it's out now or it will be out tomorrow actually I'm digging the blacked out box here very cool it's kind of embossed they're black on black Verizon down here at the bottom HTC on the side you have embossed their HTC Thunderbolt very cool this one will be available tomorrow I'm filming this I'm filming this today I'm filming this on March 16 that'll be available March 17 to $49.99 on contract to your contract two hundred fifty bucks makes it quite expensive as far as cell phones go but you get a lot here so let's open the box and see what we've got going on thanks to the folks at Verizon Wireless for lending us this one for review we will send it back when we're done with it not keeping this it's a loaner and you can see you know I've already done I took the phone off I tried to put it back on it's just a hot mess right now but that's alright well now we'll try to recreate the unboxing experience so we're going to remove this before use and we're going to hit power and the phone's going to come on the power button is a little bit not a lot of action on the power button so it's kind of hard for me actually to tell when I've actually turned you know hit the button and turned it on or not there we go so while this is firing up in the Box in the I liked I like the deal with the box or the black on the outside the bright red on the inside very cool you get your master your device master the thunderbolt manual you get your 4G SIM card LTE uses a SIM card CDMA does not you know more acronyms and standards and stuff the end consumer probably isn't really going to know the difference or care or whatever you your phone setup you're good to go but basically it's a CDMA and an e video but then also with the LTE you've got your sim card here goes under well also in the Box you get your AC charger it's USB based and it works with the USB to micro USB cable you also get now we'll get back to the phone and I guess in a way you get the benefit of me having played with it for a little while already it's a solid device 4.3 inch display WVGA so it's a big screen it feels really good in the hand but it is kind of heavy a little bit thick you know kind of reminiscent of the the Evo I wish I had an evil here on hand it to compare it so I decided at the big screen you've got the kickstand it's made by HTC you know very very similar in some ways but but it's solid its plastic on the back with the the metal the brush metal accent kickstand there it's a little bit of a soft grip plastic feels pretty good nice curve to it but again you know it is big device and it isn't particularly lightweight but you know I think you notice it's there but but I don't think it's a deal-breaker if you're looking for this phone but basically you've got on the front 4.3 inch WVGA display of course it's touch sensitive multi-touch capacitive touch you got your for Android buttons on the bottom capacitive touch buttons you've got up top and LED indicator light your earpiece and then a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video chat self-portraits you know whatever you want to do with it on the right here you've got a rocker switch for your volume on the bottom you've got a microphone on the left side your microUSB port up top you've got a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack you've got the battery cover a little release thing you've got sound of release it's just you know where you watch something in there to take it off you've got a microphone another microphone up top and then you've got that power switch which you know is fairly recessed and then also I'm just not a lot of action on it not a lot of give there so a little bit I don't think it's big deal once you get used to it just first couple times I pressed it I wasn't sure if I'd pressed it on the back you've got a kickstand with Google I'm always got a peg leg with Google on it kind of like the Evo there and then the 4G branding of course up top eight megapixel camera with dual LED flash autofocus and 720p HD video capture oh I hit a button and got visual voicemail setup which it did not mean to do anyway we'll go back to the to the phone here and so you've got the 4G you've got Wi-Fi as well the phone will require obviously a voice and data plan so Verizon's data plan or voice plans start at 40 bucks I believe I'm going to get the terror sheet out here to make sure nationwide talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access and an unlimited 4G LTE data plan is $29.99 monthly access so 250 up front after we're on contract and then you're starting at 70 bucks a month for limited voice and unlimited data and then if you want to go with the mobile hotspot app here it is mobile hotspot you can connect up to 8 devices via Wi-Fi over the network here the 4G network or 3G depending where you are and that will be free until May 15th you know first ones free and then after that 20 bucks a month for 2 gigs of data so you get unlimited data on the phone for that $30 mandatory smart phone plan and then for an additional $20 a month you can get up to 2 gigs a mobile hotspot data so there you go more services more complicated billing statements I guess anyway inside the phone it's a 1 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor it's single core not dual core bits the newest version you get 8 gigs of internal storage 32 gig microSD card pre-installed so for 250 you're getting roughly 40 gigs of available storage little less than after formatted which is a little bit more than you get on a 209 $9 iphone 4 if you want to make that comparison also like we said fourth 4.3 inch display the two cameras you've got the Wi-Fi built-in and then it comes with some 4G you've got the newest version of HTC Sense so you know the thumbnail view with all your different screens the HTC apps friend stream and peep and that stuff and then in your settings you've got the stuff we've seen on some of the newer HTC devices and you saw some of this stuff at CES and again at Mobile World Congress the scene and sound set personalization menus where you can just kind of set everything all at once you know a scene will have your wallpaper and your apps and you know everything kind of all set up there your app shortcuts that kind of stuff sound set will set all of your sounds all at once or you can go in and customize things you know one by one if you so choose there are also some 4G specific apps on here there's bit bop there's let's golf too there's rock band there is where was the other one here tune wiki so do a little demo of two and wiki to play some videos with Sinclair X and we will search for let's search for the Foos have a new song that just came out I don't know if the songs up with the video debuted I don't know if it's going to be available to hear but we'll see we get back this is on 4G right now I am not set up on Wi-Fi 4G I have a Verizon pantech data modem that I've been checking out and a 4G has been really really impressive out here in Northern California also used it down in San Diego a few weeks ago very impressive all right I don't see that new video but let's go we'll go Everlong let's see what tune wiki is all about here you've got your sink lyrics there on the bottom crank it or we could we could do the kickstand Jam here if we're going to I'll see it's like fake kickstand anyway it's a while before these lyrics come on I know this song takes over I'll scan ahead ask of you you've got a promise not to stop and I say when she's saying all right so there you go that's that - Mikey works more interestingly though talking about the LTE network not rolled out everywhere but like I said it's been very impressive when I've used it with the data modem around these parts on the west coast so I already installed the speed test app so let's go to speed test and I also happen to see this is the benefit of me having already done the video and the memory card failed it was like a run-through you're getting a much smoother video experience here which is unusual for me if you know my videos you know smooth is not my middle name so here's my MacBook and I've got the Verizon 4G modem the pantech modem and I'm sure that could turn the computer on and will tilt the camera up a little bit we'll do a little impromptu speed test here now I've got the LTE hooked up Airport is off so there's no Wi-Fi it's just running the LTE and we're going to go let's find a server let's find San Francisco go so this is on the Verizon 4G LTE network with the data modem we're getting a ping of 50 we're getting download speeds approaching 9 Meg's this is a little slower than it was the last time I used it last time I was getting 12 to 15 pretty consistently it also kind of depends on which server you're using to test and there are a lot of things about speedtest.net that I need to I need to talk somebody really knows the deal to find the best way to to really assess the speed here but anyway for the purposes just comparing the modem to the Thunderbolt so on the san francisco server 50 millisecond paying eight point eight six down 9.3 nine up which is um you know which is nice upload speed so let's go to find the san francisc server San Francisco done speed test begin so ping was 101 down it looks like we're getting a lot less interesting down was about five up with eighty you know I don't know man uh interesting stuff so the download speeds were about half the upload speeds were twice as fast on the Thunderbolt let's and eighteen up is crazy let's change the server let's do one more let's go and you know it's interesting because I don't know where the towers are I already know how this stuff is routed you know etc etc so let's go why not let's go up let's go Modesto and do the test here the Modesto server one more just for fun eighty two ping now we're getting about six thousand kilobits or about 6 megabits down little ass notes down to five s'okay 48 it peaked at around six and twenty five up which is insane that's really in late terms for uploading that's really really fast fast to the point where it makes me wonder if there's an error in the testing Mustang there is I'm just saying that is really fast of course that was probably a mobile you know that probably wasn't accurate because that was a mobile a mobile test with a smaller upload packet but whatever it doesn't matter this is not meant to be any sort of scientific test just for fun so here's Modesto and go again we're looking at what were my results here 48 4.8 down 25.8 up 82 ping so ping is 51 and 10.4 down so again about choices fast on the download speed and then the upload speed the Thunderbolt five times so what does that all mean I have no idea but I'm going to investigate it means 4g is faster than 3G and it means that the thunderbolt is capable of some stuff for sure but I don't know 25 up seems kind of fishy anyway there you go a first look the HTC thunderbolt for Verizon it's the first LTE 4G phone on the Verizon Wireless Network again it's available March 17th which is tomorrow at the time I'm recording this anyway March 17 2011 for two $49.99 on a two-year contract requires a voice plan and the 4G LTE unlimited data plan and then it's got the optional mobile hotspot feature for 20 bucks a month for up to 2 gigs of mobile hotspot use although they're giving it away for free until May 15th if you have this phone much much more on the Thunderbolt on Verizon's 4G network on all the other new phones coming out did I say this is Android 2.2 I don't think I said that the beginning I said it in the first time I filmed this video but yeah it's Android 2.2 with the latest version of HTC Sense so you know know that for what it's worth 1 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor 8 megapixel camera with HD video 1.3 megapixel camera on the front and a kickstand till next time my name is Noah thanks for watching much much more on all this stuff over at TechnoBuffalo calm