Last week I had the pleasure of flying to New York for the launch of HTC’s latest smartphone, HTC Rhyme, which was held at a rather cool warehouse studio the High Line Stages, just round the corner from the redeveloped High Line railway walk network.
I have to own up I am a Blackberry girl, my last three mobiles have been of the qwerty variety and I have had a strictly no touch screen policy, well that is until now. The iPhone as appealing as it is with all its applications, I completely despise something that doesn’t allow me to change the battery; yes I am an over-user of my mobile and sometimes I need to re-juice it with a spare battery, I am not one for struggling to find a plug socket. Trust me I was the only one during London Fashion Week not suffering from battery fatigue.
I have always heard good things about HTC and Android its operating system, mainly from men to be honest, and the Taiwanese company have a knack for developing great looking phones, but nothing purely driven at the lifestyle market. It seems that HTC Rhyme is set to remedy all this with a cool smartphone aimed at us girlies. I know many brands have done this before, and most of them have been a hue of pink, do you remember the Samsung E530 or how about the Nokia 7373, or they’ve featured a calorie-counting app pre-installed or adorned with diamantes, or maybe you were one of those women who bought the LG mobile complete with a mirror to re-apply your lippie?
Well trust me the HTC Rhyme maybe be plum in colouring but that I think that is where the girlie-specific characteristics stop. Yes it is feminine it in its appeal, as it is slightly smaller than the norm for HTC, the screen is 3.7 inches rather than the 4.3 inches seen on the HTC 3D Evo, but saying that still bigger than the iPhone screen.
It has a sleek interface called HTC Sense, which includes a quick menu on the front that shows your most used applications, for me it would have to be email, Twitter, text messaging, and contacts. Talking about contacts, one of the things I love with my BB is that if I go to contacts it shows my recent activity with that person, well HTC have gone one step further as well as emails, phone and text it also features social media conversations. Just testing out the phone I loved the interface and can’t wait to see how it copes with my over-use when it launches here in the UK next month.
As well as being a great mobile, HTC have considered all those little things that you normally buy separately and combined it in the same set-up box. So as well as the Rhyme, you will get a dock, tangle-free headphones, and trust me they are tangle-free I tested them out much to the amusement of the HTC demonstrator, and a cute bag charm that clicks into the headphone socket and clips to your bag strap; so when you receive a call, text, email for instance it flashes, great idea for people like me who have huge bags and are prone to losing them inside!!
In the development of the Rhyme it seems that HTC did a lot of ‘people watching’ and researched how people use their mobiles, and apparently most people take their phone to bed with them *I must be the only one who doesn’t*. So to make this easier the mobile comes complete with a dock in the box, which means no-wires-required charging and it makes a great alarm clock. I told you this smartphone was nifty. They’ve also developed other accessories like bluetooth headsets, and something that I was very excited about, like with your iPod or iPhone there is going to be an exercise accessory that can be strapped to your arm. Seriously LOVE this phone!!
As well as being available in Plum, the handset will also come in Clearwater, a gold hue, a step away from the classic black or iPhone white. But as you can see above you can make it any colour you want as you can buy covers.
If like me you’ve never gone for touch screen, or maybe you also don’t want an iPhone the HTC Rhyme will surprise you. This little beauty is sleek in its design, features a sexy interface that caters to your needs, and best of all it is super light, I always worry about touch screens being heavy but this one was about the same as my Blackberry Bold. If anything can get me to step away from the qwerty keys it is this mobile, I know I have gushed about it, but at heart I am a geek and I love gadgets and this one has gone to the top of my wish list.
So far only O2 have released the launch date of October 17, sadly with no price points as yet, but trust me if you are due an upgrade soon and you want something a little different then please try this out before going with the norm.
Also did I mention HTC also has a mirror app!!!
I’m a Blackberry girl too – and I actually prefer touch screens so I am starting to consider the possibility of looking at this phone when I next come to upgrade.