Another thing to consider if you're deciding between the Thunderbolt now, or the Bionic later, is that by the time the Bionic rolls out (supposedly around June), Verizon will have very likely moved on to tiered data plans - so if you're a big data user, it might be advantageous to jump now.
As for Sense versus MotoBlur, the general consensus is that Sense is a much better UI over Android, and that Blur actually is sluggish and less intuitive. Having used phones with each, I agree with this. Sense is just a good UI - it works, looks nice and isn't boggy. Blur fails in all these areas, to my mind.
In the battery life question, that's not really going to be known until each phone is out - but my sense is that the Bionic will win out, if for no other reason than it has a stock 1930mAH battery versus the T-Bolt's 1400mAH.
I like the specs of the Bionic (actual DDR2 ram, Tegra, qHD res) over the Thunderbolt, but the coming tiered plans, in conjunction with HTC versus Moto for updates and Moto's habit of locking down the bootloader, has me leaning toward the T-Bolt right now. Or, waiting for the mystery Samsung 4G phone which is rumored to be coming in less than a month - not certain right now. (The Sammy will have a Super AMOLED screen 
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I've had the Bolt for almost 2 full days now and can say I'm impressed. I also have the Fascinate which is a great phone but Samsung's US software support has been a major fail. The SLCD screen on the Thunderbolt falls short when placed side-by-side with the Super AMOLED of the Fascinate and it's a little on the bricky side but other than that, it blows the Fascinate out of the water. My Fascinate is running a debloated leaked 2.2 rom and this is probably the first out of the box phone that out performs it. SenseUI is just super smooth and I love the built-in FM radio. It also supports Simultaneous Voice and Data over while on not only LTE but also 3G which may not necessarily be supported by other upcoming LTE phones. Not to mention it's already successfully made it to the dentist. A CM7 Gingerbread based rom is already in the works. Lets see the Bionic do that in only 2 days. 
And right now, dual-core is a bit overkill for the average consumer as the OS isn't fully capable of utilizing it (yet). The one question that does come up is how many more updates that will come from google before a dual-core processor is needed to fully utilize them.
Even before release, battery life has been the 800lb gorilla causing people to consider holding out. I'm not in an LTE area so I can't comment there but battery life has been much better than I expected. ymmv though as one person's battery life isn't necessarily going to be comparable to the next. Screen brightness, climate, signal strength, app sync and many others can all take a toll on battery life. I do think that HTC could've put a little more effort into the battery though. The 1600mAh OEM battery could have easily been used to replace the 1400mAh battery that comes from the factory. It seems that they increased the size of the kickstand compared to Evo at the expense of a larger battery in terms of physical size and mAh ratings.
The "unlimited" data is another factor that has played into many people's decisions. The press release stated "With the ThunderBolt by HTC, customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access and an unlimited 4G LTE data plan start is $29.99 monthly access" but there doesn't seem to be any differentiation online or in the TOS of the actual plan required for the Thunderbolt and the normal smartphone data plan. This does make you wonder if the data plan for the Thunderbolt will grandfather and carry over to the next time you upgrade if they change the wording for the tiered plans.
tl:dr It's a great phone and don't think anyone who is considering purchasing it will be disappointed or have buyer's remorse a few months down the road.
i guess i'm now going to wait as well. with the LTE issues (even in areas that are supposed to have great LTE coverage) and the fact that the front facing cam is useless, it seems that the tbolt will simply be my incredible, with a bigger screen, and no optical mouse 
