HTC ThunderBolt 4G Smartphone Might Debut from Verizon this Week

UPDATE: The much-anticipated HTC ThunderBolt has been released. More information can be found in this article:

HTC ThunderBolt, Verizon's First 4G Smartphone, Now Available

An HTC executive let slip that the long-awaited HTC ThunderBolt might finally hit store shelves later this week. This will be Verizon's first 4G smartphone, plus this Android OS device will have a large display and an 8-megapixel camera.

Verizon unveiled this model back in January, but has kept quiet about an exact launch date while some significant bugs were ironed out.

However, Imran Shahid, an HTC America Regional Sales manager has apparently let the cat out the bag with this Twitter post:

Are you ready to call down the ThunderBolt? The first 4GLTE Smartphone on the Verizon Wireless network is launching on March 17th! Yes!!

Shahid's tweet was later removed, but it was up long enough to make this Thursday the likeliest day this cutting edge -- and unusually expensive -- model is going to debut.

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. 

This model is going to offer a 4.3-inch WVGA (840 x 480) screen set in a bar shape with a kickstand on the back.

It 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.

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

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

According to Best Buy, the HTC ThunderBolt is going to cost $300 with a two-year Verizon service contract. That's $100 above what is typical for a high-end smartphone.

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