The wait is finally over for Verizon Wireless's first 4G LTE smartphone! Say hello to the HTC Thunderbolt, which will be taking advantage of the company's new 4G LTE network. After reviewing AT&T's Inspire 4G, which is cut from nearly the same cloth, it was apparent that Verizon customers were the lucky ones based on the Thunderbolt's overall package. Not only does it connect to Verizon's new 4G LTE network, but the HTC Thunderbolt actually offered some significantly advanced features when compared to its AT&T cousin. Competing smartphones should be sweating copiously with the release of the Thunderbolt, which offers 40GB of storage out of the box, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera with skype video chat on the rise, kickstand, and access to the burgeoning Android Market. The HTC Thunderbolt is not the most groundbreaking device on the planet, but we found it to rank amongst the top smartphones in its time. Join us on our hunt for the storm as we chase the Thunderbolt (specs) throughout the InfoSync labs.
Design
From a head-on perspective, the HTC Thunderbolt is almost identical to the HTC Inspire 4G. We're assaulted by a sizable 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen display and a panel of haptic feedback buttons: Home, Menu, Back, and Search. Just like the Inspire 4G, the phone's screen was highly sensitive and offered an impressive graphics spread. However, the Thunderbolt strays from the Inspire by embedding a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera next to the handset speaker. At some point, users will be able to take advantage of video calling via skype, but that wasn't available to us just yet. To compliment the front-facing camera, the phone is equipped with an 8-megapixel primary camera on the back with 720p HD video recording capability and a dual LED flash.
Aside from the front-facing camera, the phone is a memory machine compared to the Inspire 4G. Out of the box, we get a whopping 32GB MicroSD card and 8GB of internal storage, bringing the total to 40GB from the starting line! The HTC Inspire 4G has 4GB of internal space and an 8GB MicroSD card, offering a net of 12GB out of the box. For the multimedia junkie, the Thunderbolt packs in one of the largest storage capacities in its class. Unfortunately, accessing the MicroSD card on the Thunderbolt means removing the battery—something we didn't have to accomplish on the Inspire 4G, thanks to its separate compartments. Therefore, we found it was best to connect the phone to a computer via the included USB cable for drag-and-drop action.
Lastly, you'll notice that the phone has a kickstand for propping the phone up while watching movies and playing certain games. Not only that, but we truly dig the Thunderbolt's style, flaunting a gunmetal gray and matte black color combination with stainless metal kickstand running across like a belt. The Thunderbolt also offers the standard architectural fanfare, including a 3.5mm audio jack, volume control rocker, open USB terminal, and Power/Lock switch. Portability wise, the phone is slightly thicker than the HTC Inspire 4G, but we prefer its looks over its AT&T cousin any day.
Software and Interface
The HTC Thunderbolt is equipped with a 1GHz Snapdragon MSM8655 chipset with the Adreno 205 GPU for improved graphics and video hardware acceleration, which is the same configuration found in the Inspire 4G. More common traits consist of the Thunderbolt's Android 2.2 OS with the latest iteration of HTC Sense. It's worth noting that the phone will receive an Android 2.3 upgrade within the near future, an OS tweak that we praised on the Nexus S. Let's just say the Thunderbolt was one of the faster smartphones we've tested, enabling us to fly through screens and pages effortlessly.
But the star of the show was HTC Sense. The latest version of the highly acclaimed interface offered more versatility in the appearance department via the Personalize feature. Here we could choose from various Scenes, which acted like profiles that were tailored to a particular user's interests. Social, Work, Play, and Travel were some options offered by HTC, and we could also apply Skins (Themes) that customized the entire look of the phone. In fact, when we tap and hold on one of the Thunderbolt's 7 home screens, the Personalize screen pops up, offering Widgets, Applications, Shortcuts, Folders, and even Sound Settings.
We got Leap, which allowed us to pinch and zoom a home screen to display all home screens minimized at once, and HTC Sense offered its famous Weather widget with live weather updates and animation. We really liked the fact that the dropdown menu displayed our most recently opened applications, and Androids Manage Applications program enabled us to kill programs that were hanging around and chomping memory and battery life. Overall, the HTC Sense experience was seamless and refined—certainly an example of premiere phone software.
Internet
Thanks to Android 2.2 with Flash 10.1 support, our browsing experience was enhanced with the ability to view flash content right from within the browser. For instance, we could load one of our reviews and watch the embedded YouTube video right on the page without a hitch. Audio matched up perfectly, and we could even pinch and zoom while watching. The HTC Sense experience fortified our browsing experience with a robust Bookmarks menu and the ability to scroll through open windows. Bookmarks included Favorites and History, controlled via a virtual sliding switch with flawless graphics.
Search allowed us to not only search our phone for anything, but the Internet as well, so it was more of a universal experience. We will say that our HTC Thunderbolt review unit froze while we were jumping between windows, and the phone needed a restart in order to get back on track. We're hoping that the Thunderbolt used its "Get Out of Jail Free" card with that unfortunate behavior, but based on the random glitches we found on the HTC Inspire 4G, it looks as though it might be more of a normal occurrence.
Multimedia and Productivity
The Android Market was readily available to handle all of our gaming and application needs, belonging to a giant library of titles that seems to be increasing the quality of its content. 3D gaming was a snap for the HTC Thunderbolt, and the phone offered DLNA for wirelessly streaming to digital home devices. With 40GB of storage, the HTC Thunderbolt rocked for compiling giant movie libraries and storing ample music titles. Social networking was taken care of by the FriendStream widget, which acted as a live stream of status updates, and we could keep a Rolodex of our favorite contacts thanks to the Favorites widget.
In addition to Google, Verizon Wireless' new 4G LTE smartphone gave us Flickr, Skype, Facebook, AIM, and other IM programs that could only be used as part of a My Verizon profile. Skype will offer video calling down the line, but we'll have to wait for it, and that's going to be one of the highlight features on the Thunderbolt. Lastly, the phone had QuickOffice for modifying Microsoft Office documents, and Exchange Email support. The bottom line is that the HTC Thunderbolt is one equipped phone.
Call Quality/Battery Life
We had no major complaints with the call quality on our HTC Thunderbolt review unit, and actually preferred it over the HTC Inspire 4G on AT&T. That said, both phones exhibited a very similar battery performance, though the phone has a more superior 1400 mAh pack compared to the Inspire 4G's 1230 mAh juice box. Regardless, the phone will definitely need a daily charge, just like any high-end smartphone, and in some cases an additional charge throughout the day will be necessary.
Camera
One arena that the HTC Inspire 4G has the HTC Thunderbolt beat is the camera department. The phone has an 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 720p HD video recording. When we looked at the diminutive size of the Thunderbolt's lens compared to the Inspire 4G, it was obvious that low light for the Thunderbolt would be taking a major hit. And it did. We tested the Thunderbolt against the Inspire 4G and HTC's new Arrive, and both phones offered twice the amount of exposure when the lights went out. Bright light shooting was great, however, and above many other phones in its class. However, you'll find that the flash will be needed very frequently on the HTC Thunderbolt.
We experienced the same phenomenon in video mode—bright light looked dandy while low light was exceedingly temperamental. Fortunately, the video light and touch focus could be employed while recording video, and that is a prime feature to have on a phone these days. However, the phone does not handle motion that well, especially in minimal/low lighting conditions. It's still a phone camera, while we look at the iPhone 4, which rivals certain point-and-shoot cameras. The HTC Thunderbolt does have a great shooting interface with Effects and control over Exposure, Sharpness, ISO, and more. The camera on the Thunderbolt is good, but the Inspire 4G holds the edge, thanks to its superior low light sensitivity.
HTC Thunderbolt – infoSync Diagnosis
Verizon's first 4G LTE phone is not too shabby at all. The phone joins one of the strongest data networks in the country and gives users 40GB of storage space out of the box. It has a front-facing camera, Android 2.2, HTC's beautiful Sense interface, and a kickstand to hang with the rest of the premiere multimedia smartphones. Yes, the phone is indeed a striking start for Verizon's LTE network, and will certainly be a hot seller this year.
We could have used some extra battery life and a camera with better low light sensitivity, but our main concern centered around the Thunderbolt's tendency to freeze randomly like a deer in the headlights. After spending over a month with the HTC Inspire 4G, we have seen the phone freeze or glitch up intermittently, but it's usually due to an unstable application. The fact that the Thunderbolt called it quits while we were browsing the Internet led us to proceed with caution when we were prepared to go balls to the wall with this phone.
Regardless, the phone is one of the best smartphones on the market, and will definitely fit the needs of those who live within LTE territory. With download speeds of 5 - 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 – 5 Mbps, the HTC Thunderbolt is the first of the soldiers on its way to 100/50 Mbps speeds Verizon Wireless hopes to one day offer. But for now, the Thunderbolt has struck, and the competition will be scrambling to clean up the debris.
Price and Release Date
The HTC Thunderbolt is available now from Verizon Wireless. It costs $250 with a new two-year contract.
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