Verizon jumped the gun on the 4G war by releasing the HTC Thunderbolt, which is the first smartphone that will use the carrier's 4G LTE network. This is currently available in some metropolitan areas but Verizon promises that it would expand its coverage to more than 100 areas by the end of 2011. But even outside 4G coverage area, the Thunderbolt is a very capable smartphone.
At first glance, the HTC Thunderbolt looks and feels like any HTC smartphone. It is a little thicker than most smartphones but it could easily fit in your pants' pocket. The back is soft, which makes comfortable to hold. On one side is a volume control, micro USB port on the other side, and the power button at the top.
The Thunderbolt is a little bit heavier than other HTC phones and this is due to the 4G hardware inside the smartphone. The additional weight made it feel like a business tool than a toy. AT 5.78 ounces, it is only an ounce heavier than Verizon's iPhone 4.
At the front of the HTC Thunderbolt is a 4.3 inch WVGA display with a 800 by 480 pixels resolution. The colors of the display are vibrant and its touch functionality is responsive and accurate. The extra display area means more room for the onscreen keyboard and reading Kindle books is a better experience on this smartphone model because its screen can add a few extra words on every line.
The signature HTC earpiece speaker grille is found at the top of the Thunderbolt display. It is alongside a 1.3 megapixel camera that could be used for video calls. Skype video calling is not available at the launch but it could be part of an update in the future.
The Android buttons at the button of the screen are capacitive. Most people prefer the Home, Menu, Back, and Search to be physical buttons because capacitive buttons are more prone to accidental presses.
Though the norm for new smartphones feature dual core processors, the HTC Thunderbolt doesn't pack one. It does have a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 768MB of RAM, which makes apps and going through menus seamless. The bigger the RAM, the faster the processor can handle tasks.
It has a 32GB microSD card found below the battery. Plus it has an internal storage capacity of 8GB, which gives it a total of 40GB of storage. It has more storage than the top of the line iPhone 4. The downside is that you need to take off the battery first to get to the microSD card.
For additional $20 a month, Verizon subscribers can turn the HTC Thunderbolt into a personal mobile hotspot. It can share its 4G connection through Wi-Fi to eight other devices. The disadvantage of using this feature is that it drains the battery of the smartphone.
Speaking of the battery, the HTC Thunderbolt has a 1400mAh battery that is smaller than other smartphone batteries. Because of this, the battery life is poor with six to seven hours of talk time. Under heavy usage of running apps, video playback, and browsing, the Thunderbolt can only last up to five hours.
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