A rumor mill staple the last couple of months, the HTC Thunderbolt finally got an official unveil this week at CES. Like a lot of the phones shown off at the event, it's 4G-equipped, operating on Verizon's LTE network.
The handset will get Android 2.2, paired with the well-received HTC Sense 2.0 UI. It's also one of the first smartphones to integrate Skype Mobile right into the software, allowing you to do video calls as intuitively as regular voice calls and see your friends' availability status right on the Contacts list.
Details of the HTC Thunderbolt include a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen (800 x 480 resolution), an 8.0 megapixel camera module (with 720p video recording), aGPS, WiFi (with mobile hotspot capability for up to 8 devices), Bluetooth and microSD card expansion (up to 32GB). Multimedia appears to be a heavily-favored feature, too, with Dolby and SRS Surround Sound, DLNA multimedia streaming and a built-in kickstand for tabletop viewing. The phone comes with Android 2.2, along with the usual roster of Google apps and HTC widgets. A 1Ghz Snapdragon CPU presides over the action.
No details on pricing or dates, but this should be out any day now at the requisite $199.99 retail tag with a two-year agreement.
[HTC Thunderbolt]
