HTC says ThunderBolt launch will be announced 'soon'

HTC threw out a piece of HTC ThunderBolt news, to let us all know another piece of HTC ThunderBolt news is coming "soon."  On its Facebook page, HTC had this to say:

There is a lot of excitement about the first Verizon LTE device, the HTC ThunderBolt. HTC and Verizon will officially and publicly announce the Thunderbolt launch dates soon. Please stay tuned for the debut of this great new device.

So yeah, it is just a nice way of letting us know there's more waiting to be done.  But at least this time it's official, and we know you guys love you some ThunderBolt news.  And I'm afraid of what you would do to me if you found out I knew this one and didn't share :p [Facebook via Twitter] Thanks, Cory!

Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Twitter.

59 Comments
  • "soon"
    looks like HTC is becoming the new Motorola....DONT U DARE DISSAPOINT HTC!!!
  • HTC can only disappoint with the phone it's self -- it's Verizon that is dragging it's feet on the release date. The phone was ready for sale at the beginning of FEBRUARY.
  • that is the power of apple.
  • what does Apple have to do with anything?
  • Apple may have contractual agreements with Verizon that prevent them from releasing new non-apple products too close to the release of new apple products.
  • Not when it's being reported that the delay was due to battery life, which is an HTC problem, not VZW.
  • There have been LOTS of things "reported" (including many inaccurate release dates) we don't know for sure, EXCEPT that VZW has the control over the release date. HTC can't release the Thunderbolt to customers. And what part of "HTC can only disappoint with the phone it's self" did you not understand? The battery is part of the phone, is it not? Maybe it was VZW's UI that was draining the battery, or it's not-ready-for-prime-time 4G LTE that was causing the problems. We may never know for sure for months, if ever.
  • Hey watch it moto is a really good company the best in my opinion if they doubt lock the bootloader
  • why are people so excited about this phone if its not dual core?
  • because i get a new phone every 6-12 months anyway and right now there arent many pluses to the only dual core (bionic) coming out compared to the thunderbolt so i rather have the first 4g phone and then re-evaluate my phone options at the end of the year.. this has more ram and a more powerful 2nd get snapdragon (scorpion) processor that is more than capable of doing everything i want. in fact it might be more optimized for gingerbread and froyo than tegra 2
  • Why do people like you keep asking the same ANSWERED question?
  • from the quadrant tests it's plenty fast... so who cares?
  • Dual core is going to drain battery life so fast. It's a new technology so it wont have been as well developed as far as power vs performance. The Thunderbolt is the newest single core processor so it will have been optimized. The only problem with the thunderbolt will be the LTE radio which is extremely new technology, but I bet a dual core LTE phone will be even worse.
  • they are all evil pieces of shit. Too bad there isnt a company that would allow you design your own custom phone and build and ship it to you.
  • Ya, there is. It's from Synapse Phones. http://synapse-phones.com/
  • This is a great phone. To bad we do not have access here in the US OF A. I would like a little larger screen as i have mature eyes that need the larger size of screen to see the small letters. The difference between the Droid and DX is a huge difference for me. This would be nice with the dual-core. Then I could put it on what ever carrier I desire and not be at there mercy.
  • Yeah, that's what I want. My own custom designed $50,000 cell phone..... of course it would only be $49,500 with a two year contract.
  • Europeans use commas instead of periods, dummy. That's why there are only 2 zeroes after the comma, not 3. So your phone would be $500.00, not $50K.
  • PearlJam: If ignorance is bliss, you must be pretty damned blissful.
  • It's ALREADY been ANNOUNCED - it needs to be RELEASED!!!!!!!
  • You're no dummy Cory, thanks for the news. \;-)
  • I was excited over the Thunderbolt. If the phone was ready to release we would have it already. So Verizon or HTC have some concerns with bugs or maybe the battery. Being the first LTE device for Verizon there may be some bugs that still need to be worked out.
    I still love my Incredible and just started flashing roms. I hope that will hold my itch for a new phone until around Christmas, when there will be the next great phone.
  • With the delays of the Thunderbolt , the Droid Bionic might end up the first LTE 4G phone on Verzion
  • Not according to the Verizon CEO. I listened to his presentation during the investor report and he stated very clearly that the HTC "device" will be the first LTE phone they will release. Unless there is another HTC device with LTE we don't know about for Verizon, that is the TBolt. All other LTE phones will come shortly after that, namely, LG, Samsung, and Motorola. He even repeated the same thing in reply to a question.
  • Like I said at the podcast I'm. A early adaptor and I rather them fix all the problems with the phone and delay it if there really are problems then to have a unfinish product like the xoom I love it its just I wish instead of rushing it out because the maxipad2 they would of waited and had 4g in with flash and the working sdcard slot, or have a phone that's totally full of shit and doesn't work the blackberry storm I got that phone because it was different and I paid the price to be a early adaptor it had so many bugs that didn't get fixed untill about the storm 2 cam out and it was still buggy but u know what it was the best phone on verizon at the time with that said I would rather have the tunderbolt late then never dual core means nothing to me I don't play to many games and I don't need a web page to load 5 seconds quicker as long as I can text and make calls I'm good I will get a dual core next year tho
  • Ever hear of punctuation and propper spelling? Use a period every once in a while.
  • whoop whoop it's the spelling police, we dont need speling correctors we need a relase date at least this is a sign of hope that it may be here "SOON" LOL
  • Proper*....just saying :)
  • Damn, my deepest fear has been realized. Can we pretend I did that ironically? Normally I'm not a grammar cop, but I had to really pay close attention to when a new sentence started through his whole comment.
  • I was just teasing ya man. I never meant for it to be disrespectful :)
  • Its sad to say but severely dissappointed in VZW. If I were to choose to buy this phone off contract it would cost me about $825 after taxes. For a phone. The same damn phone on @t&t is only about $430, less the ffc that I could care less about. It will be a long time before I get 4g service where I live so that's not the real issue for me. Price point is huge. And Att just enabled 3g on the tower that's less than a mile from my home. Speed testing gave me about 3megs down last night on a friends phone and mine on VZW gets about 400k with never more than 2 bars at home. Its frustrating. Why are cdma phones so much more expensive off contract?
  • I've said this before about the Evo. This is a great phone and wish it came to ATT. The Inspire is a good phone but this one if not buggy on release will be a very solid phone.
  • Great phones are worth waiting for! =)
    "Patience is a Virtue"
  • @gq50 How is the inspire different from this phone less the lte radio and ffc? Am I missing something? Other than of course the network.
  • Not much difference other than LTE, Front Facing Camera(once OS allows to use with pc's) which I would use with friends/family over seas some in the service, a larger battery and twice the internal memory(T/Bolt 8192 MB vs Inspire 4096 MB) and doesn't the T/Bolt come with a large micro sd card? Just stuff "I" would find useful..LTE aside...fast, reliable 3G would keep me happy awhile..
  • wow whats with all the hate?
    I was just asking...
  • Jealousy... if they cant have it may as well make those of us waiting for it feel bad for getting it.
  • It's called fanboyism. Here's a tip to survive around here; you can insult a person's mother, or a non-HTC device, but never an HTC device. You will be chopped up and fed to the dogs.
  • It's already out...its called the Evo.
  • If you really need to feel better about your EVO, you can make this comment, but its really not true. Similiar in some respects, but still different.
  • Thats right Cory, you know if you held anything back we would corner you in the halls during recess and beat you up and take your lunch money.
  • Why is everyone so googoo over the Thunderbolt when other more powerful devices with better features will be out within the amount of time the Thunderbolt has been delayed so far. The delays make me believe something is wrong with this handset. Checkout the Infuse that is right around the corner! Save the "it is not 4G LTE" because if you do not live in the signal range of one of the 39 cities that has 4G LTE, you won't get 4G LTE anyways!
  • Because they AREN'T out, and this one supposedly will be within days/weeks/months... And there are a LOT of people who live in one of those 39 cities. I'd even wager that the majority of the population of this country resides in one of these 39 cities, so it's kind of a big deal.
  • No reason to even bother with this phone. Bionic at least has dual core and other than revoltion any have voip? Besides were over a year out before lte gets here so if x2 were out would be my best choice.
  • Why is everyone so critical about everyone else liking a phone and wanting it to come out. They like it. You don't have to and no one is asking you to care about it. Get over it. They want this phone for whatever reason they do. You don't have to come in here and start attacking people and this phone. Jeez people get off each others backs.
  • I haven't been keeping up totally with all of this, but was at the verizon store the other day and was told by a rep that they were told it IS a battery problem due to skype. HTC either had to fix it before release or pull skype from the phone. Don't undertand why the app wasn't just pulled, then fixed and released to the app store. Who knows..
  • What would happen if apple delayed the iPhone this many times? It would get destroyed by blogs. There is no reason to release date a phone if its not done. You just tick off your day one buyers. I have the EVO and it has been a great device, the Tbolt is next Gen HTC. It will probably be worth the wait. If the battery is the problem they must fix it. Don't wanna buy your Tbolt and have it go dead on the drive home. EVO batt is a joke too but it wont get fixed. I had to get a 3500 to make it thru the day.
  • Can they make the Thunderbolt two core phone ??
  • That would make even more delays, and I'm pretty sure people would be rioting in the streets at that point.
  • Why does Sense look different (lighter gray) here? Is there an option in Sense 2.1 to change colors, or did I miss something? I've seen pics of this phone with the normal colors too.
  • At this point, they are all prototype phones. So who knows?
  • Ah, just saw a video showing someone playing with Sense 2.1 on another phone. There is an option to change between a bunch of skins. Kinda neat... I keep seeing that commercial for this phone and I've gotten to the point of just rolling my eyes. Why advertise it like it's out when it's not? At least say 'coming on such-and-such date'.
  • I lost patience with the wholed deal and switched to AT&T for the Motorola Atrix. Def a good move since the price was much better and the the Thunderbolt may be pie in the sky.
  • hmmmmmm....pie! I'm wondering what new phones Sprint is going to announce. Sprint has good 4G coverage in my area..... EVO II maybe?
  • It's NOT going to be released this Friday - Why? You ask? If it were, it would be in all the Sunday advertisements - it's not. So check your Sunday circulars next week end. Sorry folks. Maybe their excuse THIS time will be Day Light Saving time…..they couldn't figure out how to set the clock. :-D
  • I just read that the Earth quake in Japan could delay the Thunderbolt indefinitely. Anyone else hear that too - or anything contrary to it? I don't think Cory wants me on his forum indefinitely. :)
  • 1stQ is almost gone - Thunderbolt may yet hit it's release goal on 3/31, 11:59:59 PM PST.
  • Buddy of mine was in the Verizon store end of last week and they told him it would be released on the 17th of March. Not sure if anyone else has heard this, but it came from a Verizon rep.
  • I just found this article over at Phandroid, it helps support my buddy's information: http://phandroid.com/2011/03/11/verizon-approves-thunderbolt-for-sale-pe...