With the Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4) update for the HTC Thunderbolt finally getting the go-ahead from Verizon, it should become available to a small batch of users starting today (according to our sources). If you do not feel like waiting though, we have manual update instructions here, but just know that you will lose root and also wipe your phone completely if you go that route. So while you wait for your phone to get the green light, we thought we would share some of what you will see.

In the gallery below, we captured all of the big things that are capture-able like the fact that this update is Android 2.3.4 with working video Google Talk. It’s definitely still Sense 2.1 and does not have a custom dock as the VZW support document would have you believe. The app manager is much quicker and more advanced and you will find toggles in your notification bar. The rest of the update provides under-the-hood performance tweaks which are impossible to show through pictures. You should see better data connectivity, proper sending of SMS messages, and better Bluetooth connectivity to name a few.

Update: I should point out that while Google Talk appears to have video chatting enabled, it definitely does not work. Verizon’s Twitter support account points out that this was not listed as a featured in the support doc, except when you load it, it looks as if it should work. We are also hearing that Voicemail notifications are broken once you update. And they have had how long to work on this?

One thing I can say for sure, is that the phone is noticeably faster thanks to Gingerbread.