It's Official: HTC ThunderBolt with Verizon 4G Will Launch on Thursday

The long wait for the HTC ThunderBolt is almost over -- Verizon is going to release this cutting-edge Android OS device on Thursday.

The ThunderBolt was unveiled back in January, setting off a great deal of anticipation, as this will be Verizon's first 4G smartphone, plus it will have a large display and an 8-megapixel camera.

Verizon has just announced that this product is going to launch on Thursday, March 17 in this carrier's stores and its website.

The official price is going to be $250 with a two-year service contract. 

The online phone store Wirefly has just begun taking pre-orders for the ThunderBolt, and is charging $200 with a two-year contract for this model. It is promising to begin shipping it on March 17.

UPDATE: Customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package. Voice plans begin at $39.99 a month, and an unlimited 4G LTE data plan is $29.99 a month.

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 is going to have 8 GB of internal storage capacity, plus it will have a microSD card slot with a bundled 32 GB card for a total of 40 GB.

The ThunderBolt 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.

A 4G Modem, Too
This smartphone will be able to act as a wireless modem for up to eight other computers with Wi-Fi. Verizon has not yet completely decided what to charge for this service, but its tentative plan is to offer 2 GB of data transfers for $20 a month.

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