HTC Thunderbolt Available for Free on Verizon Wireless

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Verizon is offering a promotion this month that allows its customers to obtain a HTC Thunderbolt smartphone for free with a new two-year contract.

This deal will last until Jan. 26 and can be accessed through the Verizon Wireless website. This will be the first time this device will be offered for free on the carrier since it entered its line-up in March of 2011.

The HTC Thunderbolt is a slightly older device, but it still brings LTE connection support along with a 4.3-inch Super LCD display. It weighs in at 6.23 ounces with a 1400mAh.

"The higher than mid-range Thunderbolt will provide a decent smartphone experience for the first time smartphone owner and the feature list isn't all that bad either," wrote Technobloom.com.

The device is powered by Android 2.2, leaving it slightly behind in terms of software. It also landed on a fake Ice Cream Sandwich update list that appeared online recently that HTC ended up denying.

HTC did state that it would update users as soon as they know when an Ice Cream Sandwich update will be available. So far nothing has been heard regarding an Android 4.0 upgrade for the device.

When the Thunderbolt launched, it was one of the finest devices on the market with its 4.3-inch screen, being one of the biggest at the time. It also included a single-core 1GHz processor from Snapdragon that powered the device along with just less than 1GB of RAM and an Adreno 205 graphics processor.

It has 8GB of built-in storage and is upgradable to 32GB with the addition of a microSD card. The Thunderbolt was also one of the first smartphones to sport an 8-megapixel camera and have a front facing camera that records in 720p.

It can also be used as a mobile hotspot for other devices.