CES: Get ready for 4G LTE; Verizon unveils 10 consumer devices

LAS VEGAS - Verizon's 10 new 4G LTE devices received Las Vegas rock star treatment at an event here today, complete with thumping techno music, swirling spotlights and the paparazzi-like flashes of the cameras. After all, the buildup to this moment has been strong.

HTC Thunderbolt

It's only been a little over a month since Verizon first unveiled LTE 4G technology - but only in wireless aircards. While the devices that were showcased today still aren't officially available, the timeline for their release is aggressive. The company said they will all be available by mid-year, with the first of them becoming available as early as March.

The company said the rollout of LTE has been good so far. Sure, there are bound to be hiccups and speed bumps when you roll out a new technology but Verizon said that those have been at a minimum.

For the most part, the technology has performed as the company expected - and now it's ready to unleash the power of 4G LTE on more regions, as well as a full lineup of consumer products. For now, 4G is in 38 markets - but the company said it is adding another 140 markets this year and should have the entire country covered within 3 years.

In all, the LTE portfolio includes four smartphones, two tablet PCs, two mobile hotspots, a notebook and a netbook. The full lineup is:

• HTC ThunderBolt smartphone, which is an exclusive to Verizon Wireless, touts HTC Sense 2.0, Skype mobile with video, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3" WVGA display, Dolby surround sound, 8-megapixel camera and HD video recording and wireless DLNA capability.
• LG Revolution smartphone, which offers HD support for streaming, playing and recording video, a 4.3-inch touch screen, video telephony support with a front-facing camera and mobile hotspot capability to share a 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
• Motorola DROID Bionic 4G smartphone, which includes a front-facing VGA camera, a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch HD quality screen, HDMI connectivity and a dual-core 1GHz processor.
• Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone, which includes a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touch screen display, a 1GHz application processor, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera to support video chat capabilities
• Motorola XOOM, a 10.1-inch HD 4G LTE upgradable tablet that will run Android Honeycomb and offers 1080p HD video, a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats and 5-megapixel camera to capture video in 720P HD.  It also includes mobile hotspot capability to provide connections for up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
• 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab, offering a 7-inch enhanced TFT display with 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution, a 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird application processor, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera.
• Novatel MiFi® 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, which was small enough to fit into a pocket but powerful enough to share the 4G LTE, as well as 3G networks, with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
• Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot, a dual-mode device that works as a wireless access point to connect up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the 4G LTE or 3G networks.
• The Compaq CQ10-688nr netbook, which offers a 10.1-inch diagonal anti-glare widescreen LED display, Intel's Atom N455 processor and up to 8.5 hours of battery life, among other features.
• HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr notebook, which has an 11.6-inch display and features HP's CoolSense Technology, HD 1080p, VISION Technology from AMD, up to 10.75 hours of battery life, 320 GB of storage and a full-size, island-style keyboard and HDMI port.

The company did not announce pricing details on any of the products, nor on the 4G connectivity access. All of the products will be released by mid-year.