HTC Thunderbolt still needs polishing before launch

Verizon's upcoming 4G LTE flagship – the HTC ThunderBolt, failed to meet all its predicted launch dates and is still officially expected to “strike” soon. Nevertheless, according to Verizon's chief technology officer, Tony Melone, the HTC ThunderBolt is still on track with the company's plans and will be launched before the end of the year's first half after the resolving of some “issues.” Unfortunately, an official release date has not been announced yet even though Verizon is already rolling advertisements of the handset.

Melone did not specify exactly what kind of issues were slowing down the release of Verizon's first LTE-enabled smartphone, but the delay was said to have something to do with LTE being a new technology. Other probable causes were rumored to be the battery life being below par in comparison to other devices and the smartphone's ability to establish data and voice sessions simultaneously. It has even been suggested that Verizon may be intentionally postponing the launch in order to keep the interest in its iPhone 4 high.

Still, Verizon's CTO did eventually include that a year ago LTE smartphones were not expected to launch as early as 2011 at all, which meant that Verizon is still doing a great job in adapting to the new technology. We just have to remain patient and wait until the HTC ThunderBolt gets polished to perfection before hitting the shelves.

source: ZDNet