HTC Thunderbolt Now Delayed Because of Battery Life?

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Those of you waiting for the HTC Thunderbolt to hit stores, and especially those of you that have already pre-ordered the phone must be really annoyed to see February pass without getting a chance to actually buy their new favorite handset.

The HTC Thunderbolt is going to be the first 4G LTE Android handset in the world, and Best Buy has opened pre-orders a few weeks ago, on February 6. We expected to see the phone in stores by MWC 2011 but that hasn’t happened. We saw the handset live in Barcelona, for a second hands-on preview, and we were told then that the Thunderbolt should be available in the following days or weeks.

There have been various rumors explaining the HTC Thunderbolt’s delay: the iPhone launch, the missing Mobile Hotspot and/or Skype video call app, or the delay of the Samsung 4G LTE Android smartphone. Now we find out that the Thunderbolt’s battery is the reason the phone still lacks a final release date.

That new LTE radio is most likely to blame and it looks like those people testing the phone can only get two to three hours of battery life. This is apparently the real reason behind the delays and according to the source that spoke with Engadget, this is the sixth time the phone got delayed already.

A fix is supposedly in the works, as a new firmware should deal with both the battery life and signal problems, although nothing can be confirmed at this time. In fact we’ll take everything with a grain of salt just as we did with previous rumors regarding this particular handset and its delays.

This constant Thunderbolt delay could convince potential buyers to consider getting some entirely different handset in the fist place, so HTC and Verizon should launch it as soon as possible. Keep following us on Twitter and subscribe to our feed to get more details on the Thunderbolt’s status and release dates.