Review: Verizon’s HTC Rhyme, The Stylish Smartphone And Accessories To Reason With

Here we have another Review for you from TGSB.  We bring to you just in time for the holiday season, the HTC Rhyme for Verizon. Let’s see if the Rhyme has reason to be on your Holiday Gift list this year, and if not for you then for a loved one.

The HTC Rhyme is a very stylish phone and a little off beat from the “modern” phones of today.  While other devices are not so personal, the Rhyme brings personality back to those of us that like to accent our lives with devices that speak for us.  It has a sleek body and comfortable feel with a rubberized backing that gives you a secured grip with out necessarily needing a case for it.  It also has a host of attachments right in the box that compliments itself.  From the time of purchase you are already getting a pair of HTC headphones, a Bluetooth docking station, and a visual alert in the form of a charm that lights up, for those busy days in business meetings or trouble free nights, when you just don’t need anyone to hear your phone sounding off but you need to know.

Accessories in the box?  Who does that anymore? Verizon and HTC with the Rhyme.  You would think the phone is already worthy of your time and attention but there is so much more that this phone has to offer.  Besides saving you or a loved one money on accessories for the phone, the device has a look to appeal to the masses. HTC has incorporated their newest 3.5 Sense User Interface to allow you to further personalize how you interact with your phone.  From setting up your Twitter as your wallpaper to Quick access icons (that you choose) right on the lock screen.  Imagine not needing to unlock your phone every time you want to take a picture, make a phone call, send a text message, or read an email.  

Battery life is pretty good for an everyday user of their phone, avid text messenger and an occasional email to send when not in the office.  If you are used to running everything from 5 email accounts, a blog, facebook,  and need to watch the latest youtube video or trailer for all the movies coming out next Friday then you will quickly bring demise to your battery.  I found that a few messages, phone calls, facebook and some music through iHeart or in my own library didn’t make the battery life that bad.  I was able to run just about 8 to 10 hours with the battery.  Those were definitely more of my relaxed days.  Trying to multitask with the GPS, and checking stats and scores throughout the day while making sure I kept up with my 18 Words for Friends games, did the battery no justice. Gone in 6 hours. The battery was not built for me and my tech hogging ways.  The battery is also built-in to the phone as well so there is no replacing the battery when it is all juiced out. I am sure there are those of you that are worried about battery pulls if technical failures arise, which I had none, you can always soft reset the device.

The HTC Rhyme has built up a nice portfolio of pictures from a professional photographer exclusively for this device, so of course it had to show off how well your pictures can be as well.  The Rhyme has a 5 mp rear facing camera with face detection software, auto focus and F-stop 2.2 on a 28mm lens.  If you don’t know what that means, just know your pictures will look great with little time and practice.  It has a VGA front facing camera and supports most standard video formats. It has front facing video recording as well as rear camera recording, Adobe Flash Player, Bluetooth 3.0, and of course the latest Gingerbread Android OS. It is running a single core 1 Ghz processor.  It boasts a 3.7 capacitive touchscreen which looks great from all angles but very important and necessary for viewing your picture slideshow when the phone is docked (if you so choose to).  The sound profiles on the device can be set up for the Charm, Dock and headphones.  There are also additional accessories for the Rhyme that also compliment the color scheme that include a Bluetooth earpiece, and an armband.

The HTC Rhyme is a welcomed addition to the thin, uni-body phone arena.  Definitely a taker for those that like to be in the mix and look good with matching accessories.  At a price point of $199.99 through Verizon on a 2 year standard contract it is a great gift idea especially considering the accessories, which alone could cost an additional $100 maybe the Bluetooth Dock by itself.  The personalizing of the phone has definitely made an impact on the market and HTC and other devices, therefore making your phone more about you and what you want on it, not just with apps.  The refresh with wallpapers, and quick access icons on the lock screen makes it a steady competitor with the other smart phones  and allows it to stand out, but for those power users you have to just subject yourself to the bland mix of black and white phones with colored accents to keep you going.  Their is no reason the Rhyme will be of any interest to you without a portable battery pack or a travel charger/dock.

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