Positioning

Rhyme HTC phone is by no means intended for ladies only, although the description of the device prevail words like "elegant" and the like.

The entire apparatus is characterized by the appearance of fine details and the impression is that this is the right device for the gentler sex.

Housing design, paint, where all three colors in warm and pleasant tones, and the selection of topics are unobtrusive and relaxed.

In addition, HTC Rhyme comes with great additional features that are highly convenient for the owner of this phone.





Design

In my opinion HTC Rhyme strange looks.

On the one hand he has a very simple form of housing and pleasant colors, on the other hand, some additional elements that are not characterized by a logical choice.

For example, proximity sensors and light, the camera on the front of the device.





Available to buy this smart phone is available in three colors: red, light blue and purple.

For appliances in beige and light blue version additional elements are made in white, a flashlight (HTC Charm) is also white, while the accessories for purple version available in other shades of purple.

In certain markets this model will be available only in beige and light blue, while the variation in purple come later.







Beige is a neutral variant of the model and is suitable for both men and ladies.

In fact, it is difficult to discern color, I think that it is the color of coffee, or simply phone dirty white.



Housing Materials

The casing is made of using the aluminum frame but it is not material that is made much of the housing.

It's a frame around the screen, which is turning into a small metal stripe on the back.

However, plastic parts have become more noticeable.

The top and bottom of the apparatus observable parts are made of soft touch plastic and the back of the case.

The upper part of the device is lighter and the darker bottom.

The upper part of the move can not be located below the memory card slot and SIM card.

The battery of this smart phone can not be removed.







Is a pleasure to hold this device in hand primarily because of its excellent combination of materials.

Phone does not have a tendency to slip out of your hands so you need not worry that you will not drop.

During the telephone conversation is also nice in the hand.



Build quality

The build quality is good.

The cover slots for memory card firmly in place and there are no gaps between the other parts that move.





Dimensions

In size this model is similar to the HTC Desire S as well as many other compact smart phones such as HTC Titan Nexus, or Galaxy.

Compare the size of these models:



Samsung Galaxy II - 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm, 116 g

Apple iPhone 4S - 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm, 140 g

HTC Desire S - 115 x 59.8 x 11.6 mm, 130 g

HTC Rhyme - 116.8 x 61 x 10.1 mm, 130 g











The smartphone is easy to carry in your pocket, even in a shirt pocket or jacket, due to their generally small size.





Controls

As with all other new devices of this company, and in this model under the screen there is a block made up of four touch-sensitive buttons.

The "Home" is used to return to a central screen or open a window with eight running apps (hold button).

If you click on the central screen you will see a matrix of all HTC Sense desktop and you can opt for either of them.

The following key "Menu" is used to invoke the contextual menu (holding the keys - call or hide the keyboard on the screen).

Following is the Back button to return back.

The last button is there is a "Search".

Clicking this button opens the search field and retaining key opens a voice search.











Button to turn off the screen is right above screen .







The volume of the sound is located on the left side and is almost level with the surface of the body without looking so you will hardly be able to manage these keys.

This is not common with HTC smartphone, but you will eventually get used to.





From the front, the upper part, there is a grid headphones.

Below and to the left speaker is the light and proximity sensors.

To the right of the screen is forward-facing VGA camera.

It can be used for video conversation.

The indicator light flashes green if there are missed calls, unread text messages or e-mail messages or other information, light green when you connect it to your computer or when the battery is fully charged (when the smart phone still connected to the charger).

When the battery is low and flashing red when charging light continually red.





microUSB socket for charging and connecting your smartphone to the computer is on the left.

MicroSD memory card slot is located under the battery cover in the lower left corner.

Replacing the Memory card is not required to discontinue use.

SIM card slot is under the battery cover.

Although theoretically not necessary to turn off the phone to replace the memory card, it is far from changing traditional hot swap cards.





Screen

HTC Rhyme, a S-LCD capacitive screen diagonal length is 3.7 "which is the same as the Desire S and a resolution of 800x480 pixels (WVGA) 80.5x48mm physical size and supports up to 16 million colors.

The level of brightness is more than adequate.

The colors are rich and in terms of sharpness.





Viewing angles are the maximum and the image does not fade even when viewed from the side.

When the sun fades the screen but is still readable.







Generally, the screen is of good quality, and through him to perform all functions.

Not a question of any cutting edge technology ensures maximum image quality, such as the Apple iPhone 4S or SGS II apparatus, but the picture is pleasant to watch, no grainy texture, and the display features a high standard.





Camera

The device is equipped with two cameras, a 5MP main camera and 0.3MP camera on the front.

The camera lens is located in the upper back of the device and is slightly concave to the surface casing (0.5 mm) is surrounded with gold-colored frame.





The camera interface is the same as in HTC Desire S.

In the viewfinder mode on the right hand side is the info panel that displays information about the current recording mode (video or photo) and the status of the flash (auto, manual, off) and provides quick access to the gallery images and effects.





If rotating the smart phone, the icons on the panel will automatically change its orientation, ie, the interface is suitable for both portrait and landscape orientation for.



Photo.

The list of supported resolutions, both standard (4:3) and Wide (3:2 ratio) is as follows:



5 M (W) - 2592x1552

3M (Wide) - 2048x1216

1M (Wide) - 1280x768

L (W) - 640x384



White balance:



Car

Incandescent

Fluorescent lamp

Daylight

Cloudy

As with the HTC Desire HD device has a graphics window with visual inspection.

Number of effects may be increased.

Below you can see a collection of photos with each applied effect.Pored addition, you can always play with the levels of sharpness, saturation, contrast and exposure, ISO (from 100 to 800) or enable / disable the sound of the shutter, viewfinder grid, timer and geotagging (

with GPS).











The quality of images in different modes can be estimated on the basis of several examples.

Quality photos of HTC Rhyme is not far from the original Desire and something worse than an advanced Desire S.

However, this is just my opinion.











video.

Video is recorded at a rate of 29-30 frames per second in 3GP format (H.264 codec).

The sound clips are encoded using the AAC codec.



Video is available in the following resolutions:



HD 720p - 1280x720

WVGA - 800x480

VGA - 640x480

L - 320x240

MMS - 176x144

Also available is a slow-motion video - slow-motion (x).





Settings for video content are the same as for the photos.

It is available on / off function when recording during video content can be changed by simply placing the focus of a finger on the screen to the other area where you want to focus your camera.

Is not available tracking autofocus while shooting video.

Change the resolution is available in record time.





Recorded video can be immediately edited, or cut off the area that you do not need.



Battery

The device uses Li-Ion 1600mAh battery.

Bearing in mind that increased capacity is expected that HTC I Rhyme provide longer battery life than some previous models, but unfortunately it did not happen and the battery lasts just as in HTC Desire S.



My typical scenario of using the unit looks like this. In

morning phone with charger, turn on the music and move somewhere.

Depending on the music I listen to daily obligations 3 to 5 hours.

The device is turned on constantly push mail option for two mail account, sometimes I read something from the internet (average during the day search for about an hour).

The calls went from 40 to 60 minutes a day.

In this mode, use the device in one week HTC Rhyme successfully surviving well into the evening or night, having made one working day of work or maybe even a little more.





Rhyme HTC has a new section setting called "Energy Efficiency".

From there you can access the various parameters that allow you to save battery power.

When the battery charge level falls below 15% (this parameter, you can check yourself) suggests that the phone switch to power saving mode in which all interfaces (except network) is disconnected and the backlight is automatically adjusted among others.



Performance

The smartphone is built on Qualcomm QSD8255 platform where the clock speed of 1GHz processors.

The device has 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory which is available for user applications to 700-800MB.

I believe that the performance of the device efficient enough for most cases.

In addition, Android 2.3 enables you to install some software on the memory card, which indicates that you will not run out of space for programs even if you install them on a daily basis.





As Desire S and other devices company smart phone supports DivX and Xvid codecs.

A complete list is as follows 3gp, .3 g2,. Mp4,. Wmv (Windows Media Video 9). Avi (MP4 ASP and MP3), xvid (MP4 ASP and MP3).

In reality, for comfortable viewing of videos in any case need to install an alternative player (eg Rock Player).



The overall speed of the device is excellent.

No slowdowns when working with different applications.



Linking

The smartphone supports GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and UMTS (900/2100) network as EDGE and HSDPA are also available.

Various communication modules can be changed in the settings menu or with the help of widgets.

Separate widget buttons are also available for the Android OS standard widget.





For PC phone uses microUSB sync cable that came in the box that uses USB 2.0 interface.

When you connect your smartphone to your computer, you can choose five types of connections for the purpose of synchronization with the HTC Sync program to charge the device, transfer files to a memory card (drive) or use the device as a modem.





Built-in Bluetooth 3.0 (A2DP, EDR).

supports the following profiles.

Sound quality device provides when listening to music through wireless headphones is good, whereas I used the HTC Rhyme listening to music via wireless headphones Creative WP-300 and I was quite pleased.



Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n).

Working with Wi-Fi module does not cause any problems.

Smart phones can be configured for Wi-Fi transmission in sleep mode using only static IP addresses when you connect and adding security certificates.

When using Wi-Fi, the smartphone is hardly heated at all.

Warming up is minimal and hardly noticeable.





Wi-Fi router.

Rhyme HTC and other smartphones based on Android 2.2 and later versions can be "shared" 2G/3G Internet connection with Wi-Fi.

Works as follows: in the settings, select wireless interfaces Wi-Fi option that activates the appropriate settings to select the network name, password and connection type (WEP, WPA, WPA2).







In addition to these, you can select the desired access point (APN) for internet connection and enable a routing.

You can also go online using your laptop via Rhyme and routing using GPRS / EDGE or UMTS / HSDPA connection-configured on your phone.

These feats can be useful if you travel or are at and you can not get for some reason the connection over WiFi, but you have a local SIM card with a relatively low-cost 2G/3G traffic.

This is very convenient when you say you are sitting at a coffee shop and say you want to check of e-mail using a laptop computer.





Navigation

HTC uses Qualcomm Rhyme's built-in chip for the purpose of navigating through the gpsOne technology.

Search for satellites lasted from 10 to 15 seconds (we used a Maverick application).



The device has built-in Route 66 navigation software as iGoogle and Google Maps Navigation ..

Maps provides route calculation (without voice tips), can search street or specific address and location.

Navigation with Google you can do with navigation routes and voice guidance.









Now let's say a few words about HTC Navigation.

It runs through the Location.

This application offers features similar to other applications for places , routing, and so on.

Navigational features and routes print is still unavailable so that navigation can now be used only for walking.









Enter text and voice input

In HTC HTC Rhyme a standard QWERTY keyboard on the screen.

Again I will say that this is one of the best implementation of on-screen keyboard of all the devices based on Android operating system, and other operating systems.

The only problem that exists with this keyboard is that it is sometimes necessary to move and too much time to enter some symbols that are specific to certain letters and character sets.





Each keystroke on the screen follows the small vibration that facilitates users to feel what the press.

Switching between languages ​​can be done using separate keys pressure.

This is a very simple and the same button is also responsible for entering your voice messages.



When it comes to on-screen keyboard I have to mention that it can be hidden by pressing and holding Menu button and dedicated.

Under the keys with the letters a sliding panel that moves the cursor through the text if you make a mistake.

This is much easier to work when the text is enlarged as an option that was first introduced just for this phone.

The idea is obviously borrowed from the Apple iPhone, but this fact does not make it less valuable.

When you keep your finger on the text of a few seconds activate the pop up window with enlarged fragment of text and cursor.

You can easily move the cursor along the fragment.

When your finger leaves the screen you will see additional menu to select the text or fragment.

Another option is that the text does not change suddenly.



A disadvantage is the lack of updated keyboard settings for shortcut keys.

To enter the settings you must disable the keyboard general settings, find the "Language and keypad" and only then you can change the shortcuts.

Regardless of the full QWERTY keyboard you can use the compact version of the keyboard.

See her photos below.







The keyboard has a personal dictionary in which you can store the new words you use frequently.

With the Desire HD, you can edit the dictionary, which is not new and can synchronize with the backup on the memory card.



Given the increasing popularity of Siri service I want to stress that Rhyme HTC and other devices based on Android have the option of voice search and voice calling.

You can then dictate the message, smart phone and then send them.





Software

The smartphone runs on Android 2.3 operating system while the user interface uses the HTC Sense 3.5.

The external interface of the device looks somewhat unusual, and there are only two buttons at the bottom instead of three in the standard representation in which Sense has a special widget for the side icons.

This widget is not very convenient to use, where it should be noted that occupies the entire screen.







A small change in appearance compared with Sense 3.0, which is one of the options changed the lock screen.

Other functions have not changed the lock screen.







The new version of Sense in almost all programs that are designed for the HTC interface (e-mail client, calendar, contacts, etc.) makes the system easy to work with tabs.

Now the tabs within the program can be replaced or removed from the screen, and add a retaining finger tab for a few seconds or by calling the menu option "Edit Tabs."







As for the all-new version of HTC Sense will try to handle it in a separate article.



Accessories

Speaking and accessories, in Rhyme HTC it occupies an important place.

All accessories of which had previously been discussed, it comes with the handset, and is included in the price.



Unfortunately, the camera that I tested did not have the accessories and will be shown only to the official photography equipment and I will mention that the only available keys to control music and calls.





Leather case.

Ordinary case of skin that I do not look particularly beautiful and elegant.

Smart phone is placed into it quite difficult to remove from it even more difficult.

However, due to daily use it will spread and will definitely be easier to operate.













Then come to light torches or as HTC calls this piece of equipment Charm.

It is a cube that is connected to the conductor at the other end has a 3.5mm jack and the flashing lights, or during a call or a message.

During the call, she blinks until you hang up.

When you receive a new text message flashing dice about five minutes and then turns off.













An interesting accessory that can be fixed, for example on the bag so that the flashing so clear you can see as you have a missed event on the phone when you say the phone is packed in a bag.

Charm For there are no settings, so you can not select the frequency and type of flicker, although the most significant was that it can select colors.

I think that in the future this part of the additional equipment will be of interest to users and will make it more functional HTC.







Then we come to a special docking station for charging.

It is a relatively small white stand for the phone which allows the inner form of the terrific phone.

Depending on the angle under which the device is available to set the three speakers and three contacts that connect to the back of the device and allow charging devices.











The lack of these accessories is to remove the smart phone out of her view that the way the phone sets makes its taking a little tricky.

The good thing about this option is that when the device is placed on this docking station gets an extra sound in mind these three speakers, and you will rarely happen to miss a call.

The negative thing is that when using a docking station is not possible that you are choosing a ring tone.







Conclusion

During the two weeks we spent with this device I had no problems with the quality of sound, the handset was not bad, and the ringtone volume was slightly above average.

Vibration was average in terms of volume, but when you're walking and when the unit is in your pocket you will not usually be able to feel the vibration.



This model appeared in stores several weeks ago.

Its price as the price of the main models of HTC and Samsung Sensation such as the Galaxy II.

Original Apple iPhone 4 with 16GB of memory is slightly more expensive than this model.





However, when it comes to the price of this model must be said that every part of the additional equipment that is available with this model will cost, so we come to the conclusion that the device is not so expensive.

By comparison, if the calculated price of the HTC models Rhyme it would be only slightly higher than the price of HTC Desire S, which was significantly decreased compared to the start time of its availability.



In the end it turns out that the HTC Rhyme phone for anyone who wants a complete set of accessories.

Personally, it seems that the LED flashlight and Charm to be beneficial only girls, while the docking station for a truly excellent and useful part of the additional equipment.

As for the positioning of this model in my opinion black version of this model is universal and does not look like a solution that is designed for girls and women agree.

As is usually the case with smartphones HTC model is overrated, but unlike some other models we now have a good range of accessories which makes this model a complete device.



Features:

Class: smartphone

Form: Monoblock

The materials: matte plastic and metal

OS: Android 2.3, HTC Sense 3.5 interface

Networks: GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS / HSDPA 900/2100

Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 platform

Memory: 768 MB

Memory Storage: 4GB (~ 800MB available) + microSD card slot

Wi-Fi (b / g / n /), Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0) connector for charging / synchronization and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Screen: capacitive S-LCD 3.7 "800x480 resolution (WVGA), with automatic backlight adjustment levels

Camera: 5 MP with autofocus; video recording in 720p resolution (1280x720), LED flash can also work as a flashlight, a camera on the front

Navigation: GPS on the Qualcomm gpsOne chip on the platform (with A-GPS support)

Additional features: accelerometer, proximity sensor and light, FM radio.

Battery: removable Li-Ion 1450 mAh

Dimensions: 116.8 x 61 x 10.1 mm

Weight: 130 g.