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Verizon Wireless Tweet Says Thunderbolt Coming “Sooner than We Expected”

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Further strengthening a Best Buy leak that showed the HTC Thunderbolt launching February 14th, a recent Verizon tweet aimed at Verizon users not as hyped up about the iPhone release hinted that the launch of the 4G LTE device “may be sooner than we expected.” Doing a bit of deductive reasoning, if the iPhone 4 releases on the 10th and Verizon wants to keep customers interested in 4G LTE enticed, a release on the 14th of February makes perfect sense. Teasing it in association with iPhone launch date only serves to suggest the two devices will launch rather close together.

Sure, Verizon won’t want to distract from the iPhone hubbub just yet, but the Thunderbolt seems poised to strike down at 4G speeds very soon.

[via Twitter | Thanks, Jeff!]

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42 Comments

  1. They need to get it into the stores quickly because the Tegra-2 phones are on their way and once they arrive, it will be difficult to sell the thunderbolt to an informed customer.

  2. I want this phone but still waiting for them to release the pricing for the LTE plans. That’s gonna be a make it or break it for me.

  3. I’m skipping dual core and heading straight to quad core. I just don’t see why one needs dual core on a phone. My droid 2 does everything I want without hesitation. Also, are developers going to utilize dual core knowing that 99% of android users are single core?

  4. Anyone know if the Evo extended battery will work with this phone?

  5. I’m itching to get in to a Verizon store and bang around on one of these. My original Droid1 is really frustrating me. So slow, takes forever to load the home page half the time when I unlock it. Tried everything and I just give up – it’s just a slow phone.

    My only dilemma is whether to get the Thunderbolt, or hang on for 3-4 months for the Bionic. Or whether to punt and go to AT&T for an Atrix. Whatever I get needs to last a couple of years and I want to minimize the buyer’s remorse.

  6. Actually test show that the THUNDBOLT is a more capable and faster phone than the Droid Bionic. Just because a phone has a tegra 2 does not make it faster there all clocked at 1ghz. The thunderbolt has more ram and has a new version of the snapdragon. Testing much faster than the Bionic

  7. @donnydon

    That is true based on current tests with GB not yet maximized with dual-core tech yet. Once the OS is upfitted and APPS are written to use the functionality – Snapdragon will still be nice & fast – but not nearly as fast as T2s.

  8. Depending on if it really is $250, which is just way too much. I recommend getting 1 year contract on this. With the quad core chips ready by xmas when you can upgrade (10 months on a 1 year) you can really lock into a good phone for 2 years.

  9. I want a Thunderbolt, but I like these features of the HTC Desire HD:

    HTC Desire HD – A Closer Look
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHO9A9Zf5g8

    Senses when it’s tucked away in a bag: it rings louder. If you’re in a meeting, the volume drops when picked up. When it’s flipped over, it goes silent:
    @3:39

    The caller ID displays Facebook status updates, etc.:
    @4:19

    Integrated compass when using maps (to point you in the right direction/turning/knows orientation):
    @5:00

    Will the Thunderbolt have these features?

    I am assuming the Thunderbolt will incorporate HTCSense.com features:
    -make it ring at top volume/change volume/switch from vibrate from your computer to locate your phone if you’ve misplaced it nearby.
    -If you’ve left it at home, you can send/receive texts, forward your calls to another number.
    -If you’ve lost it, you can lock it from your computer, and send a message for it to display in case someone (nice) finds it.

    …right?

  10. Donnydon, the Bionic is a turd just like the rest of Moto products. I say go for the Thunderbolt. I can’t to root and run Gingerbread ROM on that thing. Iphone 4 on Verizon, seriously, who gives a shit???

  11. I’m taking the hit and getting this phone now. In a year I’ll reassess the landscape to see if the iPhone 5 or next big droid is worth it. I’m still using a BB and hating my life everyday. Thunderbolt my LIFE!

  12. I know HTC is going to come out w/ something better considering that its Verizon’s first 4g phone, I whether wait & see.

  13. @anon It would be easier to sell the phone to an informed customer who is aware of how large the dev community for the DHD is, how good this processor is (despite single core) and how locked down the Bionic is. Furthermore, it has 40GB of storage out of the box, a beautiful 4.3″ super LCD and 768MB of RAM (which is more than the Bionic). It is the uninformed customers who will see this phone as “outdated.”

  14. @ RandyB

    I installed CyanogenMod last week, and my Droid 1 is snappy and stable now after many frustrating months. You might want to install Cyanogen and then wait patiently for the best device to surface.

  15. @Ace Curry: Do you work for HTC?
    .
    @Vaughn: Considering that same plan of action. How did you root and are you overclocking?

  16. Im a firm beleiver that a OS is only as good as the applications it runs. And well Android is completely lacking. I mean come on they announced madden months ago……no where to be seen! Worms was just announced and well Worms 2 has been out for a year on the iPhone.

    We all look for something better but honestly there is no better phone on Verizon than the iphone. Hardware specs are great but without the apps to take advantage theres no point….just my view!

  17. For those discussing the Bionic vs the Thunderbolt. I own and carry the Incredible and the X. Have had both since the day they launched which means I have had the Incredible longer and though I love both phones the Incredible has not had one hiccup since day one and I can’t say the same about my X and the Incredible is faster. I carry them both all day every day. Only grip I have about the Incredible is the battery and I have a medium version of an extened battery. I am interested in the Thunderbolt. I like the larger screen.

  18. Ooooh donny don. You picked the wrong techblog…

  19. @donnydon depends on what you want to do with it. If you like restrictions then yea got Iphone but if you want open source and customiztion Android. I personally, and I own an Ipad, don’t like the fact of Apple’s restrictions. I pay for the phone should be able to get what I want and by the way speaking of Apple’s app store yes they have a lot of nice ones but a lot of expensive ones.

  20. Remember when dual core desktop CPUs first came out? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

    The Pentium D and Core Duo series were basically ignored because OSs and applications didn’t make use of multi-core technology, so they were basically more expensive, slower versions of a single core processor.

    By the time the software side of things caught up, Intel and AMD had already released to consumer’s the Core 2 Duo and Phenom series. These second-/third-gen dual and quad core technologies were able to make a difference only because the software finally existed to make use of their parallel processing.

    Based off this past experience, by the time mobile OSs and applications can make use of multi-core technology, the Tegra 2 will be a standard on phones, meaning everyone will instead be waiting for a Tegra 3 or a second-gen Tegra 2/2-3D in their mobile devices. The cycle repeats and the hold-outs end up not ever upgrading their devices.

    Thus, if you get a one year contract on the HTC Thunderbolt, you will be good to go for a year while people scramble to make their software multi-core compatible. By the time they achieve their task, your contract will expire and you can freely upgrade to a second-gen Tegra 2 phone. You get the best of both worlds this way, spending a few hundred bucks on an extra piece of hardware to avoid dealing with the stresses of buyer’s remorse and/or infinite anticipation/hope.

    Generally speaking, though, no one should be getting locked into two-year contracts at this moment in time. The technology is changing so rapidly in the mobile space that within 6 months your device will be noticeably behind and within 15 it will be straight up obsolete. Having to wait 20-24 months for an upgrade is like having to switch from your EVO/iPhone to a BB Storm for a week.

  21. @DonnyDon: Furthermore, The most popular games on iPhone are coming to Android because of Android’s market share.
    .
    But no matter how long you wait, your iPhone will still be locked down and unable to be customized.
    .
    So a year from now, you’ll have an iPhone that allows you to do only what Comrade Jobs wants tells you is OK to do, but you’ll be running “worms2” and a shitty version of “madden.” Meanwhile my Droid will be pimped to meet my exact specifications…running “worms2” and a shitty version of “madden.”

  22. I heard from a fried of mine whoe’s the manager at a local verizon store that the thunderbolt is coming out the 18th, or around there. My droid 1 died this past weekend (it’s not water proof? :0) and i’m stuck using an old windows smart phone. I want the bionic but i dont’ think i can hold out until june to get one! I’ll be checking the thunderbolt out when it comes out in a couple weeks. Also my friend is currently in training learning about the Xoom which he said is coming out Very soon! :) My only question about the xoom was the upgrade from 3g to 4g.

  23. Hey Shifter, can you ask your friend if you’d have to switch from an unlimited 3G data plan to a limited 4G data plan when purchasing the Thunderbolt? Thanks!

  24. For Me its between the thunderbolt and Inspire 4G. Unless Google says anything different today android for phones will not be optimized for dual core until the next update which is a version of honeycomb. Yes a few developers will make singular apps to take advantage but considering the fact that the Bionic or Atrix may not see the update with both verizon and att moving on to the next big thing

  25. lol Cpt Mike Beard you are my Phandroid hero for the day. aaaaaamazing. and honestly as much as people seem to love the T2 im going to stick with the snapdragon for the exact reason that Mapex mentioned. that and the next generation of the snapdragon will be dual core. the reason why Nvidia has the game right now is because they were the first to come out. being first doesn’t always mean being best. but i’m an HTC girl over a MOTO girl any day. (although i don’t hate moto lol)

  26. if its coming out on the 14th whats taking them so long to announce it..thats like 12 days from now and i would also like to see the LTE data plans…hopefully it will still be $30

  27. Hopefully $30 unlimited for 4g, a guy can dream right?

  28. Before richard the EVO lover comes in here and starts slamming this phone I’d just like to clarify that this phone is far better than the EVO. Newer proccessor, more ram, new gpu, more ram, aluminum constructed, more ram, better cameras, more ram, new sense, more ram. Any questions. And Verizon’s lte will smoke wimax, just sayin.

  29. @Dan, yes, the Thunderbolt has the new HTC sense and along with those features comes the same ones found on the Desire HD sold in Europe, the software is what utilizes the sensors to make the phone ringer louder when its inside of a bag, the Nav is also there as shown in the leaked RUU.
    The new sense is the best version so far with even skin support to make the phone that much more customizable along with HTCsense.com support for cloud services such as phone tracking, remote wipe, call forwarding, remote access to downloads such as wallpapers, skins, widgets, apps (HTC phones exclusively) and much much more coming in the future, which HTC teased a while back that they plan on launching a music and video service with there cloud services on htcsense.com.

    I plan on getting this phone but since i have two lines i’ll be able to still get the Incredible 2 later this year when it launches, i always go with a 1 year so i can upgrade every year since it seems that is pattern of new devices to succeed the one owned/purchased.

    My guess is since AT&T announced the Inspire 4G is coming on the 13th they have to beat them to the punch or keep the users hyped up for the device so they dont switch.

    however, its been rumored way back in October that the iphone/Thunderbolt was to be the Valentines day “couple” launching on Verizon, and so far that rumor is becoming more true by the day.

  30. also forgot to mention, if history teaches us anything, when the Incredible was announced on a Friday at there press event, the phone was available for Pre-Order that Sunday night after midnight, i remember that day, i frantically kept hitting the F5 key to try to get the Verizon site to load my order lol, it was that busy on the website that night, i didn’t have that problem when i ordered the Droid X for my friend though… so hopefully they made more bandwidth available or maybe the Incredible was just selling more on launch day than the X did. I wouldn’t be surprised.

    I can’t wait till both the ThunderBolt and Incredible 2 launch, already got my ThunderBolt case waiting for it to launch now :P

  31. @Mapex
    Dual cores.. You kind of make it sound like all applications.. or future applications need to be written for dual core. I don’t think that is the case at all. The OS has to be optimized to utilize both cores, I believe that is handled by the kernel. Linux based, simple.. recompile the kernel to handle the new hardware.. Now if and when we start getting into 32 bit verses 64 bit programs, that’s going to be a whole other can of worms.

  32. Im getting this thing the moment it is available. Ive been waiting for 5 months trying to get rid of this 2 year old iphone 3G. AT&T contract has expired. Ready to go to Verizon for the first time in 15 years. That’s right, 15 years I’ve been with PacBell then Cingular and then AT&T, putting up with one terrible merger after another.

  33. @Cpt Mike Beard: Don’t work for HTC (wish I did), just hate Moto (they are exactly the same as Apple. Great hardware but locked down. All crooks).

  34. @Cpt Mike Beard “there coming! There coming” ummm when? The fascinate is out since september!!! It was to be the Android gaming phone!!! Umm what games and what apps? By the time there released the new iphone 5 will be out and that will be the new standard.

    And android open? Ummm since when? First off not including NEXUS 1 and Nexus 2…..They ll have to be hacked!!!! ROOTED and Some have bootloaders locked!!!

    A jailbroken iphone can do so much more than any android phone!! And dont forget Iphone 4 uses the samsung hummingbird processor so its fast. Dont get me wrong I wish i had the thunderbolt with Iphone apps…but if I had to chose one I chose APPS over hardware!!! Plus the benifit of not being out of date for a year is a huge plus!!!

  35. Um… the iphone4 has been out of date for, what, a year, ALREADY? apple is always out of date. it can’t churn up quick enough.

    (and really? your best example was Worms 2? Honestly?? BWAHAHAHAH!!!)

  36. @Dan Ok Netflix!!!!! WHere is it??? OHHH its coming!!! lol

    The reason i mentioned WORMS is because every droid site put it up as news!!! woopidiedo

    Ummm EVERY game being released on ANDROID has been out on iphone for over 1 year!!!

    Also the games are not meant for all resolutions so on some phones the games look horrible.

  37. And dont mention games are for kids…. if yiu wanted just a phone we would still be on the razr. we all want a complete multimedia experience!! Iphone is the closest!

  38. @RandyB- I also have a Droid1 and was frustrated by all the things you listed. I set off on a different course, as my update date approached i researched root and overclocking for my Droid. After rooting, loading a custom rom and overclocking my original droid is out performing my buddies Evo4g. Switching from screen to screen, app to app is snappy and responsive. Battery life is amazing and the phone is fully customized and the look and feel is one of a kind. I would suggest looking into it, you’ll save yourself a bunch of money upgrading when you already have a fully capable phone in your hands, you just need to unlock it’s potential.

  39. I’ve had a droid x now since the day it came out and I was in love with it. Its rooted and I’ve unlocked full potentialof this phone. Its fast, lasts long, and looks very sleek. I just pre ordered the iphone because I just want to try out the new iOS. Does anyone think the droid x is absolutely, in every category, better than the droid x?

  40. Will the thunderbolt work globally. I plan to visit the UK this year and would not like to be stuck without a phone right after I upgrade.

  41. Just can’t wait till something comes along better than Richard’s EVO, so he can stop spreading his hate in here. Can I get a AMEN!!!???

  42. That’s gonna be a make it or break it for me.

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