Released September 9, HTC designed their plum colored Rhyme Android smartphone for those fashion sensitive cell phone shoppers, and added three accessories which match the handset’s plum coloring. in a design nod toward the female smartphone shopper, the HTC Rhyme comes with a built-in cell phone charm that glows to indicate missed calls, missed messages and incoming calls.
The HTC design team also built a desktop or bedside charging dock that allows you to use your Rhyme handset as an alarm or radio while it charges. they also added a plum colored set of tangle free ear buds, and these three accessories are included with the Rhyme handset at no extra charge for a retail price of $49 at select Verizon authorized retailers with a new two-year activation. Buy the HTC Rhyme starting at only $49.99.
HTC chose the Rhyme as one of the first handsets to run the new Sense user interface version 3.5, and it is an effective overlay to Android’s 2.3.4 Gingerbread operating system. Physically, the handset is very similar to most other current Android smartphones, with no physical controls or buttons and the four familiar Android controls below the 3.7 inch capacitive touch screen. Resolution is offered at 480 x 800 pixels, and the display has proximity and light sensors built into the S–LCD screen.
Built as a budget priced handset, the guts of the HTC Rhyme are not going to challenge the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S II for tech superiority. the processor on board is a 1.0 GHz single core Qualcomm MSM8655 chip, and a respectable 768 MB of RAM memory accompany it. 4 GB of onboard storage are built in, and that can be upgraded to 32 GB by accessing the microSD slot.
The on board audio player and video player handle all major file formats, and the audio player offers album art cover and background playback features. a YouTube video player is also installed, and the new Sense 3.5 user interface offers a consolidated view of your favorite social media and web 2.0 sites. the rear camera on the Rhyme is a 5 megapixel model with the ability to record in 720P HD. a front facing 0.3 megapixel VGA quality chat cam also allows for video calls be placed.
Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n wireless connectivity is offered, as is Bluetooth version 3.0, and a microUSB port is on board for charging the handset and connecting to other devices. the HTC Rhyme Android smartphone is exclusive to the Verizon wireless 3G mobile broadband network.