If you’re the proud owner of the HTC Thunderbolt we have some amazing news today that you probably thought was never coming. You’ll never believe this, but HTC and Verizon have just confirmed and approved the update to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich for the LTE-packing device. After initially hoping for an August release date, multiple delays, and lost hope of many the update is finally being delivered.

Slow Clap! Can we give Verizon and HTC a heartfelt applause for their efforts please? For the many many HTC THunderbolt owners that haven’t given up on the first 4G LTE handset to grace Verizon, or haven’t resorted to a 3rd party custom ROM like CyanogenMod, this is excellent news. Verizon and HTC will be delivering the update very soon. It’s listed as “coming soon” but that could be as soon as this weekend.

To be honest we had completely lost hope, and I have a feeling we’re not alone with that either. The last we heard they were pushing for a December release date following an initial Android 4.0 ICS leak back in November. Without any more wondering we can officially confirm the update is coming soon thanks to the Verizon support page.

The HTC Thunderbolt will be getting upgraded to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and along with it comes HTC Sense 3.6 for the UI tweaks. The improved launch bar, lockscreen notifications and shortcuts, Face Unlock, and a completely new user interface are a few of the things you’ll notice right away. This is a major update from Gingerbread, and one that thousands of Thunderbolt users should be extremely excited to receive. It should also help with battery life, but don’t expect miracles for the battery-draining smartphone.

For those poor users that haven’t moved on to bigger and better things, the Thunderbolt update to ICS should arrive in the next few days so stay tuned. We’ll report back when we hear more. Who’s excited?

[device id=65] [via Verizon]