HTC Rhyme is not considered a purely feminine device, although the description for the phone contains words like “elegant”, “sophisticated”. Nevertheless, the exterior of the device, with its details, lines, color, demonstrates its belonging to a female audience. The themes are similar to the unobtrusive color scheme of the case. Additionally, Rhyme has a set of accessories, most of which are suitable for the owner of this gadget.
Design
To some extent, it can be called strange. The form and shape of the device are smooth and simple, pleasant options for body colors. But some details of the phone, which the designers did not hide, look out of place. For example, the front-facing camera with sensors stands out strongly on the front of the Rhyme.
By the way, the device has three color options: sand, blue and lilac. For the first two options, the complete accessories are white. For a lilac phone, all accessories are also lilac. Note that only the sand color has a neutral look, which is also suitable for men.
Body materials
The base material of the case is aluminum, but the largest area is still plastic. The frame around the touchscreen is made of aluminum, smoothly turning into a small metal strip on the back of the gadget. The rest of the back side is occupied by matte soft-touch plastic: the upper half is non-removable, the lower one is the battery compartment cover. By the way, the smartphone battery cannot be removed.
Rhyme is pleasant in the hand thanks to its shape and combination of materials. In the hand, even when wet, it does not slip. It is difficult to drop the phone while talking. The assembly is perfect. The only removable part - the battery cover - fits snugly in the case, does not wobble or creak.
Dimensions (edit)
In terms of dimensions, the tested model is similar to the HTC Desire S. It is a small smartphone, especially in comparison with such large-sized devices as Samsung Galaxy S II or HTC Titan. The dimensions of Rhyme are 60.8x119x10.9 millimeters. The gadget fits comfortably in any pocket. Due to the shape of the case, in particular - the thickness, it will rarely "remind" you of itself.
Control elements
In modern devices of the company, including HTC Rhyme, all soft-keys are replaced by touch-sensitive counterparts. The block of these buttons is located under the screen. The leftmost key - "Home" - is needed to go to the central screen or, if you hold it down, open the manager of running applications. The Menu button also performs two functions: when pressed normally, it opens the context menu; when pressed, it turns on / off the on-screen keyboard. You can go back one screen by pressing the third key - the Back key. The touch button on the far right is Search. If you just click it, a search window will open. When you hold down the key, the voice search window will appear. The block of soft buttons has a white backlight, when you press them, the smartphone vibrates slightly.
The touchscreen of the model is turned off by the button on the upper end. Due to the fact that it protrudes slightly above the body, it is convenient to press it. Holding this key displays a menu through which the smartphone can be turned off, turned on the "Airplane" mode, or rebooted. There is a 3.5 mm mini-jack near the button. Not only the headset is connected to it, but also the bundled HTC Charm flashlight.
The volume is regulated by a not very convenient double key, which was placed at the top of the right edge of the smartphone. Firstly, its location is not very convenient, since the typical location of this button on HTC devices is the left side. The second drawback is the low key height, which makes it almost impossible to find it. Especially during a conversation.
The microUSB connector is located on the left side of the Rhyme and has a cover. The microSD and SIM card slots are located under the back cover.The memory card is changed without turning off the device, but you will have to remove the cover.
Slightly to the left of the earpiece are two sensors: proximity and light. On the right side is a VGA camera for video calls. There is an LED indicator on the right under the speaker grill. Blinking green, it signals about unread messages or missed calls, blinking red - a low battery. The indicator just glows red when the smartphone is connected to a PC or is charging, glows green - when the charger is connected, but the battery is fully charged.
Display
The model used a capacitive S-LCD-matrix, which was already installed on HTC Desire S. Its diagonal is 3.7 inches (80.5x48 mm), and the resolution is 800x480 pixels. The screen has an excellent brightness reserve and can display 16 million colors. The image on it is natural and lively.
The display has maximum viewing angles, with any color deviation the images are not distorted. By choosing the minimum brightness of the backlight, you can comfortably read books. The display fades slightly in the sun, but the picture remains readable.
Matrix indicators cannot be called ideal, the screen cannot be compared with that of, for example, the iPhone 4S. However, it is pleasant to watch videos on it, there is no grain in the photos.
Camera
The lens of the main 5-megapixel camera is recessed half a millimeter into the body and is bordered by a thin golden ring. On the left is the flash LED, on the right is the loudspeaker grill.
The camera interface is borrowed from the Desire S. The viewfinder mode has: at the bottom - the main panel with information about the shooting mode, flash status and a button for opening settings, on top - the keys to enter the gallery and select photo effects. By turning Rhyme, the camera interface also turns, and interestingly, in all four directions.
Photo mode. Pictures can be taken in both standard (4: 3) and wide (5: 3) resolution. There is a panel of graphic effects that can be applied to the created snapshot. Adjust the white balance, ISO value, change the levels of exposure, sharpness, contrast, turn on the shutter sound, the grid on the viewfinder. You can add geotags to photos.
Video mode. When shooting video, the h.264 codec is used, the sound is recorded with the aac codec. The received 3GP files can have a resolution from MMS-format (176x144) to HD 720p (1280x720). All video mode options are the same as in photo mode. Additionally, you can turn off sound recording. Focus during shooting is changed by touching the touchscreen with your finger, but there is no tracking autofocus. Zoom while recording works with any resolution setting. The resulting video can be trimmed.
The Slow motion video recording function is unique, in which the received clips have a playback speed slowed down twice.
Autonomous work
The HTC Rhyme uses a 1600 mAh Li-Ion battery. To be honest, the battery life was disappointing, considering that it has noticeably increased in the new models of the company. The autonomy of the tested device is at the level of Desire S, that is, it is mediocre.
All attempts to "squeeze" more than a day of smartphone operation out of the battery were unsuccessful. The special profile "Energy saving" does not help either, in which unnecessary interfaces are disabled, automatic backlight adjustment, and so on. By the way, you can set the battery charge level (by default - 15%), below which this profile is activated automatically.
Performance
Rhyme has a Qualcomm MSM8255 platform with a processor frequency of 1 GHz. The device has 768 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory. About 750 MB is available for installing various software and storing information. Plus, on Android 2.3, you can install applications directly to a flash card, so you will always have free memory, no matter how many programs you install.
The tested device has built-in DivX / XviD codecs out of the box. The set of playable formats is extensive, only .mkv files cannot be played.For a more convenient viewing of films, we recommend installing an alternative player, for example, RockPlayer.
The smartphone works quickly, there is no thoughtfulness or slowdowns.
Interfaces
The model works in GSM and UMTS networks and supports both HSDPA and older EDGE data transmission standards. Turning off modules, switching between them is carried out through the tab of the system panel, in the settings menu, or through widgets.
USB 2.0 interface is designed to connect HTC Rhyme to PC. The cable for this is already included in the kit. After connecting the device, a menu with five types of connection will appear in it: HTC Sync, charging only, memory card, Internet modem and access to the network through a computer.
The Bluetooth 3.0 module is great for exchanging information and listening to music. We tested Creative WP-300 headphones with the device. Wireless sound quality remained excellent.
The existing Wi-Fi module worked without problems. Its capabilities include hibernation settings, activating the use of only a static IP address, installing security certificates, enabling a Wi-Fi router. There is an option "Maximum Wi-Fi performance", although its inclusion does not affect the operation of the module. At least visually it is imperceptible. Working Wi-Fi almost does not heat up the smartphone.
Navigation
The Rhyme uses Qualcomm's gpsOne chip. The initial search for satellites takes 12-16 seconds. In addition to the Maverick program, the device has HTC Navigation (based on Route 66) and Google Maps with Google Navigation.
Entering text
The tested device uses a traditional HTC QWERTY on-screen keyboard. Among Android devices, this keyboard is implemented in the best way. Although many claim that it is the best among all smartphones. But there is one drawback in it, which they cannot correct in any way. On the English layout, entering additional characters requires only holding down the desired key. Moreover, these symbols are already drawn on the buttons. But in the Russian layout this was not done. Additional characters are entered from a special menu, which is long and inconvenient.
Each keystroke is accompanied by a slight vibration of the device for added convenience. The input languages are switched by simply pressing a button, holding the same key calls the voice dialing of the message. The keyboard has its own dictionary where new, frequently used words are stored. It can be edited, create a copy on a flash card.
In addition to the full-size QWERTY, there are compact telephone-type keyboards.
Operating system
HTC Rhyme runs on Android 2.3 OS with HTC Sense interface skin of version 3.5. The interface looks a bit unusual. At the bottom of the screen there are only two keys instead of the standard three. There is also a special widget with side icons, although it is inconvenient to use it.
Desktops can now be removed or added, swapped existing places. Their maximum number is 7 pieces.
It is worth noting that almost all HTC applications that are developed for the new version of Sense have a clear (and therefore convenient) system for working with tabs. Inside the program, you can delete them, change their places or add new ones by holding your finger on the tab, or using the "Edit tabs" item in the menu.
Accessories
For HTC Rhyme, they are quite important, so they should be paid attention to. Below we will tell you about the accessories that come with the phone.
Headset. It is quite traditional, with call control keys and music playback.
Cover. It is made of sand-colored leatherette, quite elegant in appearance. The girls will definitely love it. The device is pushed in and out of it with difficulty, but, most likely, over time, it spreads.
Flashlight indicator. The company calls him Charm. This is a kind of cube-shaped keychain that can be connected to a 3.5 mm jack. When there is an incoming call, it blinks, it stops only when you pick up the phone. The flashlight also signals with a new incoming SMS. In this case, it will blink for about five minutes before going out.The flashlight is also interesting in that it has a special clip, thanks to which the cube can be conveniently attached, for example, on the outside of the purse. So its glow will be noticeable, and you will not miss a call.
Dock station (charging glass).It is a small box with a recess at the top, shaped like a smartphone. This recess has three protruding contacts that line up with the contacts on the "back" of the phone. It is through them that the charging process takes place. The drawback of the docking station is that the place for the device is deep and it is very inconvenient to remove the device from the glass.
Putting the smartphone in this niche activates Bluetooth and the dock profile in it. Now, with an incoming call, not only the phone will ring, but also the accessory. This is an interesting and, importantly, useful idea, since the glass has a very loud ringer, similar to the ringing of home phones. It is almost impossible not to hear the trills of the docking station. Unfortunately, there is only one ringtone.
Conclusion
For a couple of weeks of testing, there have never been any complaints about the quality of speech transmission. The speaker is powerful, the speaker of the loudspeaker through which the ringtone is played is average in power. The vibrating alert is also of medium strength, it is easy to not feel its vibration in your pocket when walking.
The HTC Rhyme phone is basically overrated. For this amount, you can easily buy a better smartphone, but you will not get the set of accessories that makes this model a completely complete product with all the devices it needs. We repeat once again - this model is more suitable for women, although the device in sand color will look adequate in a man's hand.
