HTC ThunderBolt Will Cost Considerably More than Usual

These days, the typical price for a high-end smartphone when bought with a wireless service contract is $200. Verizon has apparently decided that its first smartphone with 4G, the HTC ThunderBolt, will be worth considerably more than that.

This cutting-edge Android OS model was announced back in January, but Verizon has yet to name the price. However, Best Buy has gone ahead and revealed it. According to this retailer's latest weekly sales flier, the ThunderBolt is going to cost $300 with a two-year service contract.

This price is unusually high, but not unheard of -- AT&T charges $300 for the 32 GB version of the Apple iPhone 4, for example.

Coming Soon?
Verizon has not announced a launch date for the ThunderBolt either, other than it to say it's expected to debut in March.

The Best Buy started taking pre-orders for the HTC model on Feb. 7. This created the expectation that the launch was just around the corner, but customers are still waiting weeks later.

Recently, an internal document leaked out of Best Buy apparently showing that the ThunderBolt will be released on Thursday, March 10.

HTC ThunderBolt Overview
As one of the first smartphones with the 4G standard LTE, the ThunderBolt will offer data transfer speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps for downloads and 2 to 5 Mbps upload speeds under real world conditions. For comparison, tests on this carrier's current 3G network gave download speeds of 0.6 to 1.6 Mbps and upload speeds of 0.5 to 0.8 Mbps. 

Aside from this, though, the device isn't going to be a huge jump above high-end smartphones that were released last year. It is still going to be fully-packed with features, though.

This starts with a 4.3-inch WVGA screen set in a bar shape with a kickstand on the back.

This model from HTC is going to run Google's Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC's Sense overlay on a 1 GHz processor. It won't have a significant amount of internal storage capacity, but will have a microSD card slot with a bundled 32 GB card.

Other features are going to include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a digital compass, GPS, a proximity sensor, and a G-sensor.

It will have an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a front-facing camera with support for video conferencing.