The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE system in the United States is present in over 440+ major markets. That is a presence that is more than 4 times larger than their nearest competitor AT&T, and the HTC Windows Phone 8X running on that speedy and pervasive wireless network recently received a retail price drop. The handset was spotted at the Amazon Wireless store online, sporting a bargain-basement retail price of $49 on contract. Offered in a wide variety of colors, the Windows Phone 8X by HTC is the first Windows smartphone to deliver the exclusive Beats Audio.

The Beats by Dr. Dre audio software package contains a unique sound amplifier. This amplifier powers both the 3.5 mm audio jack and the handset speaker, improving sound quality and quantity. With Internet Explorer 10 pre-installed, the Windows operating system allows you to sync your smartphone with your laptop, tablet or desktop computer. The Windows Phone 8X by HTC offers a large 4.30 inch display, protected by a scratch resistant Gorilla Glass layer, with a pixel density that ranks it among the leaders in the entire smartphone marketplace.

A generous 342 pixels are found over every inch of display space, giving the handset a resolution of 720 x 1,280 pixels. The Super LCD 2 display supports standard capacitive, multitouch gestures, and uses battery conserving light and proximity sensors to deliver nearly double the amount of talk time of the standard smartphone. 15.0 hours of talk time and 12.5 days of standby battery power are delivered from a single battery charge.

The handset’s hardware package includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 chip suite, 1.0 GB of RAM memory and 16 GB of built-in data storage. HTC has added 7.0 GB of free SkyDrive cloud storage, and the CPU is a speedy dual core 1.5 GHz Krait processor. An Adreno 225 will GPU has also been included for graphics processing. The camera combo on the HTC WP8X is one of a very limited number which provide both front and rear extrawide angle 88 degree panorama mode, with the front facing chat cam also providing video call support.

The rear facing 8.0 megapixel camcorder arrives with an instant access shutter button, HTC’s exclusive ImageSense technology, a continuous shot mode and ultra fast capture times. That camcorder shoots video at 1,080P HD resolution. The HTC Windows Phone 8X for Verizon also offers out-of-the-box NFC wireless support, and popular applications Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Picasa have been pre-installed.