Best Buy confirmed that it will begin a pre-sale of the HTC Thunderbolt starting today. The Thunderbolt will launch in Mid-February as Best Buy exclusive. The retailer failed to announce an exact availability date but prevailing rumors point to a February 24th launch. The Thunderbolt will be one of the first LTE handsets to land on Verizon Wireless.
The wireless carrier fired up its LTE network in early December after months of testing. The 4G technology powering Verizon’s wireless broadband network promises to deliver speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps. Early reviews of Verizon’s LTE service was favorable, but the carrier only offered two 4G USB modems at launch and the wireless network has not been tested.
With the upcoming debut of the HTC Thunderbolt and the Motorola XOOM tablet, mainstream smartphone customers can finally experience 4G speeds and put some stress on the nascent mobile network. Other smartphones and 4G devices are expected to become available in the upcoming months and will include the LG Revolution, the Motorola DROID BIONIC, a 4G-enabled smartphone, Galaxy Tab and mobile hotspot from Samsung, and a several notebooks from HP and Compaq.