Verizon updates the Thunderbolt

This seems like something out of the Twilight Zone, Verizon Wireless is updating the HTC Thunderbolt to Ice Cream Sandwich.

ThunderBolt by HTC is the next smartphone to be upgraded to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. The software upgrade will start getting pushed in phases beginning today Feb. 5.

Why is this odd? Because the phone in question is almost 2 years old and Android phones rarely get updated this late in life. Most of the early adopters of the phone will be up for contract renewal soon and there are 2 other higher end HTC phones in VZW’s lineup right now. It’s incredibly odd that they’d update something this old given their track record.

If you don’t remember, the Thunderbolt was VZW’s first LTE phone so perhaps they have a personal bond with the hardware. Still the update to ICS is quite strange considering the last update pushed to the device was Gingerbread in Sept 2011. I knew a few people who bought the phone during release week and the battery life was horrid. They were lucky to see 3-4 hours of life because the LTE chipset was so power hungry and the phone shipped without a way to shut it off. I have no idea what future software updates introduced but it’s doubtful they were able to fix the power needs of the chipset.

Whatever the reason, congratulations Thunderbolt owners, I’m sure there are plenty of newer phone owners who aren’t happy with you right now.