HTC ThunderBolt Video Hands On: 4G Speeds, Skype Video Calling

Here at CES 2011, we were able to spend a little quality time with the new HTC ThunderBolt smart phone for Verizon. This updated handset, launched today at CES, features lots of advanced hardware plus access to Verizon’s blisteringly fast 4G LTE network. Powered by a modern 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 CPU, the device felt pretty responsive.

The phone runs Android 2.2 which isn’t the most current verison of the OS. HTC does , however, cover the ThunderBolt with the latest incarnation of its HTC Sense UI. Graced with a big 4.3-inch display, the phone did feel a little on the heavy side (5.8 ounces), similar to the Evo 4G and HD2. Apparently all that glass and LTE radios add heft. Still the WVGA LCD display looked crisp and pleasing to the eye. We also dig the kickstand in the back, but who doesn’t. Also cool is how the stand covers the speaker grill.

Sadly, the new Skype video conferencing feature wasn’t activated yet. Just for kicks though we ran a little speed test to see how much data we could squeeze out of the phone. We measured 3.7Mbps down and 3.8 Mbps up, not bad. Of course we can’t wait to get the  HTC ThunderBolt in for review to see what it can really do. Check back soon since we expect to get our hands on a unit ASAP.