LG Revolution review

The army of high-speed broadband phones is actively seeking new recruits to join its rapidly-growing force, and the LG Revolution is the latest to graduate from boot camp. We’ve witnessed the emergence of three Verizon LTE handsets in as many months, beginning with the HTC Thunderbolt and the Samsung Droid Charge a few weeks later. As if this wasn’t enough choice to tempt your tastebuds already, the LG Revolution — the entertaining climax to the classic 4G trilogy — was born one full moon after that. With three options, all so close to each other in dimension and features, it’s natural to compare all of ‘em and make the call on which one is the best of the bunch. Is LG’s first crack at Verizon’s LTE network truly a game-changer, as its name suggests? Or does this Revolution fail to even get its feet off the ground? Read on after the break to find out.

 

Verizon and HTC offer Thunderbolt extended battery, give your phone dumps like a truck

Though never confirmed by Verizon, it seems likely that battery life (or more accurately, the lack thereof) played a part in the series of delays preceding the Thunderbolt’s launch. To combat this problem, Big Red and HTC are offering a rather unsightly extended battery pack that nearly doubles the handset’s capacity from 1400mAh to 2750mAh. All that extra juice will certainly come in handy for folks leaning heavily on the phone’s LTE radio. However, the device costs $50 and adds an ounce of junk in the trunk — on a device that isn’t svelte to begin with — so why not buy another standard battery for ten bucks less instead? Then you can use the Qi-compatible back and induction charging station Verizon’s releasing in April. It’s just under $100 ($29 for the back and $69 for the pad) for those who want to cut the cord and don’t mind the expanded waistline we assume comes with the privilege.

HTC talks up its Thunderbolt in four minutes of self-congratulatory oratory

 

The first LTE smartphone to ever grace Verizon’s networks finally got released from captivity yesterday, and its maker HTC has decided to mark the event with a little promo video. You won’t find much here that you don’t already know about the 4.3-inch Thunderbolt, but you do get to hear from a bunch of HTC’s bright lights, including Sense UI designer Drew Bamford, on the motivations behind the company’s designs. And hey, there’s no harm in seeing that marquee device in the flesh again, is there?

HTC Thunderbolt now available to buy: $250 from Verizon, $180 at Amazon

Another saga put to rest. The question of just when Verizon will release its first 4G LTE handset was answered yesterday with the word “tomorrow,” which makes today that day! Verizon Wireless is now taking online orders for HTC’s 4.3-inch Thunderbolt, pricing the LTE lubber at $250 on a two-year contract. It comes with Android 2.2 as the OS underlying the HTC Sense 2.0 UI, an 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording, 768MB of RAM, and a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 chip that will have to do its best to keep up with those crazy 4G download speeds. If Verizon’s own pricing feels a bit rich to you, shop around — we’ve found the Thunderbolt as low as $180 at Amazon, although the online retailer has it on back order for the moment.