Verizon’s HTC ThunderBolt finally official; $249.99, March 17th

By on Mar 15, 2011 at 8:36 AM
Breaking March 15, 2011

The day has finally come, Verizon Wireless has made the HTC ThunderBolt handset officially official. We’ve seen leak after leak — and even an authorized third-party provider announcement — but now, straight from the horse’s mouth, the handset has been anointed with a March 17th release date and $249.99 price tag. LTE data plans, which have been the topic of much discussion, will retail for the same price as their 3G counterparts — $29.99 per month for unlimited use. Verizon is also providing mobile hotspot capabilities to all ThunderBolt owners for free until May 15th. Get those credit cards ready, Thursday is the day. Hit the jump for the full press release.

THE THUNDERBOLT™ BY HTC, THE FIRST 4G LTE SMARTPHONE FOR VERIZON WIRELESS ARRIVES MARCH 17

ThunderBolt™ by HTC Available Beginning March 17

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless and HTC today announced that the ThunderBolt™ by HTC, exclusively from Verizon Wireless, is available on March 17 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at http://www.verizonwireless.com for $249.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

Powered by Android™ 2.2, the ThunderBolt by HTC is the first smartphone to take advantage of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network. The ThunderBolt by HTC features the latest version of the HTC Sense™ experience, which offers enhancements including new personalization options, a consolidated e-mail inbox, and unique camera effects and filters. The ThunderBolt by HTC is equipped with support for Google Mobile Services, including Gmail™, YouTube™ and Android Market™ with thousands of free apps. Additionally, the ThunderBolt by HTC will feature 4G LTE optimized apps such as EA’s Rock Band, Gameloft’s Let’s Golf, Tunewiki and Bitbop.

Additional features:

  • 4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage area
  • 4.3” WVGA display
  • 8- megapixel rear facing camera and HD (720p) video recording
  • 1.3- megapixel front facing camera with video chatting capabilities
  • Newest generation of the 1GHz Snapdragon processor
  • Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices
  • 8 GB of onboard memory and a pre-installed 32 GB microSD card (Actual formatted capacity will be less)
  • Built-in kickstand for easy media viewing

With the ThunderBolt by HTC, customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access and an unlimited 4G LTE data plan is $29.99 monthly access.

Mobile Hotspot allows users to connect up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the nation’s fastest wireless network via an application available on the ThunderBolt by HTC. Mobile Hotspot will be included through May 15 for no additional charge. After May 15, customers may choose to activate Mobile Hotspot for $20 for 2 GB of data per month. Customers can track their data usage by downloading the My Verizon app available in Android Market or by logging on to their My Verizon accounts online at http://www.verizonwireless.com/myverizon.

For additional information on Verizon Wireless 4G LTE visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/4glte. For more information about the ThunderBolt by HTC please visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/thunderbolt. For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to http://www.verizonwireless.com.

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  • Mmontel1

    Until Verizon shows this phone as available to purchase on their website this is nothing more than another rumor. The entire marketing for the release of this phone has been a joke. This could just be one more laugh on us.

  • Blablabla

    Im excited that the 4g price is still the same as the 3g price. sweet!!!

  • Nortdort

    Yay for getting grandfathered in to unlimited 4G for next years phones!

  • Ratbiker

    I have a question: what will happen when the Thunderbolt goes from a 4G LTE GSM tower and hands off to a an older 3G CDMA tower – those technologies are completely different.

    As a power user – I use AT&T Connect on my iPhone along with a conference call. The Verizon 4G LTE service should be able to support simultaneous voice and data as well…..except when you drive to places where the 4G tower hands off to the 3G CDMA tower- does anyone know how the Verizon service will handle this? Will it drop the voice call or will it drop the data session? What is the methodology for this?

    With AT&T, the hand off is 4G GSM to 3G GSM with the capability already in place. And you will hand off from 15Mbs LTE Dowlink speed to at least 7.2Mbs today. With Verizon it will be ~15Mbs to….uh……3.1Mbs CDMA? Ugly.

    Please don’t say that people don’t use simultaneous voice and data – they do more and more. It sucks getting that hugely important email AFTER the hour long call you were just on using Verizon. Hang up and ba-bing, ba-bing, ba-bing — all the emails flood in on their slow network.

    • HonestEnd

      The Thunderbolt supports SVDO which allows simultanous voice and data over 3G as well as 4G. When the tower hands off to 3G you shouldn’t experience any issues at all.

  • Booboolala2000

    Was thinking of not getting it. But considering the Bionic will be locked down so bad. And by the time it hits, unlimited lte data my be history, I am now going to be there Thursday and pick one up. Extended battery and all. Time to fire up ebay and unload my DX collection. Between the TBolt and my Xoom, think I will be happy for a couple of years. Using my DX less everyday because of this. And the easily hacked TBolt will be overclocked and rooted in no time.

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