HTC was the first with a 3G phone, the first with a 4G Wimax phone, and now they want to be the first with a 4G LTE phone on Verizon. This phone, which has been codenamed Mecha so far, will probably be called the Thunderbolt when it will be shipped.
HTC is certainly one of the most innovative, if not the most innovative smartphone companies around. They are not happy with the status quo for too long and they try to push the boundaries of what you can do with your phone. Being the first with a 4G LTE phone is quite a big deal, especially when it mean that it will push competitors to follow them soon.
However, what will probably disappoint about this Thunderbolt phone is that it won't be a dual core phone. Not only are we about to get invaded by dual core phones just a couple of months from now, but the real disappointment will lie in the fact that the fast LTE speedsare pretty much useless without a powerful dual core processor to render full web pages fast as well.
Although HTC tries to be innovative most of the time, it has fallen behind in processing power and GPU power this time, and all because of their very tight, almost unhealthy relationship with Qualcomm. Because they only use chips from Qualcomm, they are going to fall behind not only in CPU, launching a dual core probably months after their competitors, but also in GPU performance where the Adreno GPU always seems to stay behind competition. I wish they would use other chips, as well.