The HTC ThunderBolt offers incredibly fast 4G data speeds. Introduced at CES 2011, the HTC ThunderBolt is Verizon’s first 4G LTE, and it’s finally available for $249.99 with a two-year contract. The Android 2.2 smartphone might not offer the latest and greatest, but with the carrier promising average download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps to 5Mbps, it’s no surprise why many are clamoring to get their hands on this device. The lightning-fast smartphone delivers on many fronts, but it also comes at a cost. Lots of black here, actually, which means you can’t see the name of the phone but you can feel it. It’s embossed! Nice touch, the kind of thing that’ll make you want to put the packaging away in a closet or drawer somewhere rather than throwing it away. The black theme is broken in rather spectacular fashion when you crack open the box which is split down the middle to reveal gobs of bright Verizon red and your shiny, new purchase square in the middle. Underneath, you’ll find some literature, a slim, glossy black USB wall charger, and a micro-USB cable, sorry no trashy earbuds here.
Running on Android 2.2, the Thunderbolt gives off an air of vanity and pride. Boot the handset to see the same thunderbolt in the commercials, along with roaring thunder booming from the stand-hidden speaker. Verizon isn’t kidding around with the Thunderbolt, and if HTC’s handset is any indication, this heavyweight is meant to show aggression. That it certainly does, with its large screen, 8MP still and 720p video capture and a 1.3MP front-facing camera, 8GB of built-in memory, 768MB of RAM and even an FM radio tuner. Add onto all of those top-of-the-line features 4G connectivity, on Verizon’s claim of the fastest nationwide 4G network, and guess who the 800 pound gorilla in the room is.
With lightning fast download and upload speeds, assuming a good and stable connection is available, the Thunderbolt is a very quick phone. Running the latest hardware and software available for Android devices and a ton of RAM, it’ll zip through anything you need it to do. The big dealbreaker is battery life, which suffers tremendously because the phone under heavy use cannot last a full day. If you enjoy the hefty, solid feel of a smartphone and can survive the onslaught of power-draining speed, HTC’s Thunderbolt is a solid handset that will serve its users well. Just make sure to put down extra for a car charger and spare battery.
The 4G speeds do not disappoint, blowing right past the competition and taking the browsing and streaming experience on a smartphone to the next level. It also serves as a fine hot spot/modem. Couple that with HTC’s premium design and a solid feature set and the ThunderBolt looks like a pretty attractive option. However, all of this comes at the expense of battery life, and with more LTE smartphones coming to Verizon in the coming months, including the dual-core Motorola Droid Bionic, it complicates the buying decision. If you have the luxury or the patience to wait, it might be worth sticking around to see how the Droid Bionic and others perform, but for early adopters who crave the speed now, the HTC ThunderBolt can certainly deliver. Just be sure to pick up a spare or extended battery.
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