The HTC Thunderbolt for Verizon is now available from its retail stores, Best Buy, Amazon and others for $249.99 with a two-year contract. It’s the carrier’s first 4G LTE smartphone and it features Android 2.2 Froyo and a powerful 1GHz processor. And of course, you have access to all the apps available on the Android Market, Adobe Flash 10.2 and Verizon’s lightning-fast new LTE network. Just how fast is it?
Yesterday we mentioned that users were seeing download speeds of 6-16Mbps with the Thunderbolt on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Impressive! That’s really the big selling point for this smartphone. We’ve all seen slick HTC handsets before, and we’ve grown accustomed to Sense UI over Android as well. Basically, before we even picked up this phone, we kinda knew what to expect already. It’s just those ridiculously fast data speeds that surprised us, even though we expected it, too.
This changes a lot of things. LTE is undoubtedly the future of real 4G in the North America. AT&T is going to deploy the technology later this year, and rumors of Sprint switching from WiMax just won’t quit, either. You might be asking yourself, “What’s so great about 4G?” Well, in addition to evidently faster data speeds, it also offers less latency and bigger “pipes” for data throughput. That means you can expect a greater consistency in performance even when others are on the network.
LTE and WiMax are cousins in terms of their base technology, and while we’re always drooling over the speeds, it’s much more than that. With lower latency times – or the time it takes for the device to connect to the Internet before data starts flowing – things like live-online gaming offer better experiences. And with the added capacity these networks offer, it becomes a little easier to handle more users on the network when compared to 3G.
So, we’re curious: how many of you went out and bought or ordered the HTC Thunderbolt today? If it’s already in your hands, let us know what you think!