HTC ThunderBolt Available for as Little as $130

Amazon.com has been offering some serious deals on smartphones lately. This online retailer now has the HTC ThunderBolt for about half its regular price, even though this model only debuted earlier this spring. 

The ThunderBolt is the first handset with support for Verizon's 4G LTE network. More than its very speedy wireless connection to the Internet, it also has a large screen, Google's Android OS, and an 8-megapixel camera.

The official price for the HTC ThunderBolt is $250 with a two-year service contract, but those who shop at Amazon.com can get it for much less. Those who are switching to Verizon to get this model need only pay $130. The price for those who are already Verizon subscribers, but qualify for an upgrade subsidy, is $175.

Overview of the HTC ThunderBolt
What sets this smartphone apart from the pack is its support for LTE, which gives it data transfer speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps for downloads and 2 to 5 Mbps upload speeds under real world conditions. This is significantly faster than Verizon's 3G network.

The ThunderBolt has a bar shape with a 4.3-inch WVGA (840 x 480) screen and a kickstand on the back, making it an unusually good option for watching mobile video. It also sports an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a front-facing one.

This HTC model runs Google's Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC's Sense overlay. It is built around a 1 GHz processor, and includes 8 GB of internal storage plus a 32 GB microSD card.