6 replies to this topic

[The Guru]

One of the more popular Android smartphones launched earlier this year was the HTC Desire S, which maintained the number one spot in a fair number of tech-web site ranking systems. HTC have now released a newer updated model, which seems aimed squarely at the fairer sex (due to its purple colour), which has some pretty cool enhancements - the new model has been given the name of the HTC Rhyme.

• Manufacturer: High Tech Computer (HTC)
  
• HTC Code name: HTC Bliss
  
• Supplier: Telefonica UK (O2 UK)
  
• Product Name: HTC Rhyme
  
• Price: Varies depending on contract

The Rhyme continues to have all the great functionality that the Desire S had on board but has a nicely updated specification; a newer version of Sense, larger battery, increased internal storage, new widgets, as well as some really cool hardware accessories that ship with it in the box. The differences in specification are shown below:

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EXTERNALS



The body has been re-engineered compared to the Desire S, and the controversial 'lip' has been removed to give a much flatter front face, but it is still composed of a single machined aluminium housing which gives a great deal of strength to the body of the machine. It should be plenty rugged enough to withstand wear and tear and also the occasional slip from the hand. The 'uni-body' construction serves to give good protection to the internals but also aesthetically enhances the design as there are no join lines separating the two halves of the device. The matte coating on the aluminium gives the impression of smoothness, yet manages to produce a surface finish that is not unduly slippery.  

In the hand the Rhyme feels tiny and svelte with the smooth lines and purple colouration serving to making it appeal to the ladies out there. This is the first smartphone that I've reviewed that my other half has been interested in and would consider using - she loves the form factor and the stylish colour!

The right hand side of the body holds the volume rocker controls, with the left hand side containing only the micro-USB port. The port is actually covered (which makes a welcome change on HTC phones) with a small hinged protective cover. This has possibly been implemented with the thought that the Rhyme may spend time in a ladies purse or handbag and therefore the port needs protection from intrusive makeup powder leaks?

The base is featureless apart from the 'pin prick' hole in the bottom of the device which serves to give sound entry into the microphone. The top again is of a clean design with the housing incorporating the 3.5mm jack plug for the headset, while further towards the right hand side is the power button. This is nicely placed so that it can be activated by the index finger (when held in the left hand). It is raised slightly from the body and does require a decent amount of pressure to activate the control, however it may have been better if it was recessed to prevent accidental operation while in the pocket, gadget bag or handbag.

As has already been intimated the Rhyme is smooth and sleek, this is carried over design wise onto the front of the machine where HTCs designers have striven and succeeded to carry on the minimalist look. The upper part of the device sports the speaker used for telephone calls with the front facing VGA camera located to the lower right of the speaker grill.

The mainstay of the front face is of course the 3.7" 480 x 800 WVGA screen which is flush mounted to eliminate any bezel around the screen, this gives a smooth surface to operate and interact with - just what is needed for a touch orientated device. The screen itself is bright and lively with no banding visible at all, readability in sunlight is good despite this being a regular TFT screen and not AMOLED.

Below the screen are the four touch operated activation buttons, which are back lit with bright white LEDs (when needed), and as standard on Google Android phones the usual functions are present; Home, Menu, Back and Search. Pressing and holding the Home button brings up a short list of icons showing recently used applications.

Internally the Rhyme runs Android 2.3.5 and on top of that HTC have further enhanced system with their latest 'Sense 3.5' interface bringing additional finger friendly widgets and customisation into play. As well as the software the hardware has been upgraded with storage memory being taken up to a massive 4Gb. Battery life has been improved with the larger 1600 mAh capacity battery.



On the back of the Rhyme the uni-body is pierced in two places, at the upper end of the device there is the HD video capable camera, the loudspeaker and the LED flash. This also has a very small hole (almost a pin prick) to the right of the speaker, I believe that this is the noise cancellation sensor used to reduce background audio noise during a phone call. More interestingly below the camera lens are three copper contacts which are used to connect the Rhyme to the docking station (see later).

The lower end of the Rhyme contains the back cover which can be slid downwards away from the housing (moderate pressure being applied), once this has been removed the SIM and micro-SD cards can be inserted. The battery is non-removable and cannot be changed out or replaced. Within the back cover there is a copper contact which mates with matching contacts within the body of the machine, these are actually part of the antenna system and if the battery cover is left removed you'll not get any signal. Once the cards have been inserted the back cover can then be slid into place where a frictive lock holds it firmly in position.

My own usage of the machine which includes social networking, e-mail (3 x push accounts), eBook reading as well as occasional phone calls tend to leave me with around 60% of charge left at the end of the working day. This is excellent indeed and gives the Rhyme a much longer useful working life on a single charge than most recent phones I've used.

The back face camera offers HD (720p) recording capability and a front VGA camera is present to support video calling.

You may want to share any videos on YouTube so the 3G connection speed is a goodly 14.4Mbps / 5.76Mbps to give the best performance on a 3G connection. If you wish to share those videos (or photos) with the family and if your TV supports the DLNA protocol then you can wirelessly stream the content straight to the TV!

---

INTERNALS



Sense improvements include:

• The Quick Settings control within the Notifications Panel has been enhanced to allow the Wi-Fi controls to be accessed more easily. The > symbol on the screen allows these additional functions to be accessed.

• Additional 'Accounts' can now be added including one for Evernote for HTC Sense', which allows you to synchronise your Evernote notes to the Rhyme, which can be displayed in the HTC Notes widget.

• A new HTC Tasks widget ties back into the Exchange (or Google Tasks) system to allow you to quickly interact with any defined tasks.

• The Personalise options have now been split into three sections; Add to Home (Widget, App, Shortcut, Folder), Display (Scene, Skin, Wallpaper, Lock Screen Style, Lock Screen Shortcuts) and Sound (Sound Set, Ringtone, Notification Sound, Alarm) which makes the configuration much smoother to adjust.

• The camera application has been updated to include a focus indicator to show you where the focus point is, and includes a new shake detection indicator to warm of shaky grip. Facial recognition and focus adjust are also included. One big enhancement is the Panorama photographic mode whereby directional arrows and screen guides take you through taking a 'continuous' photo of a panorama where the final result is produced from stitching together all the recorded shots taken while in that mode. There is also a 'Backlight HDR' Scene available which disables flash and allows you to take HDR photographs. Finally the Action Burst mode allow you to take five successive shots of your subject.

• The Gallery application has been enhanced to allow you to give basic editing and the adding of post-production effects. Video can also be cropped from the start and end of video recordings.

• Lockscreen: HTC have again used the lockscreen first seen on the Sensation it being a customisable interface designed for ease of use. The default lock screen that is in place on the Rhyme consists of a blank screen which shows the current wallpaper and below this sit four rounded 'Quick Launch' icons for: Phone, Mail, Camera and Messages. Where applicable these icons also have number indicators for item counts such as unread new e-mail. Finally at the bottom of the screen is a half-buried silver ring that rises from the bottom of the screen, that sits on top of a converse silvered bar. To unlock the screen one can tap and hold on the half ring shape and drag it upwards onto the screen, it then follows the finger and becomes a full loop centered on the fingers touch. When the ring is released the device is unlocked. Cool enough as it is the system becomes even more impressive when one taps and holds one of the 'Quick Launch' icons as if any one of these are dragged and dropped over the buried ring it rises up to accept the dragged and dropped icon. Once the icon has been swallowed by the ring the Rhyme unlocks and switches immediately to the application that was quick launched. This works impressively both with respect to functionality as well as eye candy.

Finally HTC take the lockscreen system one step further as they offer various alternatives to the vanilla Wallpaper lockscreen. Alternatives provided are:

• Wallpaper - See your wallpaper and open your favourite shortcuts
  
• Weather - Displays a beautifully animated screen showing the current locational weather conditions
  
• Friend Stream - Displays a screen of flying updates from the Sense social system and allow you to scroll through the latest entries
  
• Stocks - Displays a screen of floating stock update information
  
• Clock - Shows a large animated timepiece
  
• Photo Album - Shows flying enlarging and shrinking images from a selected gallery album

The system has one more customisation that makes it even more useful. You can change the shortcuts which appear on the lockscreen - you can replace these with any application shortcut you choose to configure.



The Sense Launcher consists of seven launch screens with the central screen considered to be the home screen, all screens are pre-loaded with HTC widgets. These are:

• Shortcuts & Clock
  
• Google Search & People
  
• Locations
  
• Blank
  
• Show Me Tips
  
• Watch
  
• Friendstream

The screens can be flicked between with a sideways movement of the finger and work in a round robin, that is when you get to the last screen it continues round back to the first screen in a continuous loop. In fact if one 'spins' the screens faster and faster they transition into a fast smoothly rotating carousel! The impressive smooth graphics that are both eye candy and useful as the rotation can be slowed with the touch of a finger to allow you to choose the page you wish to access.

The initial start screen has been varied from other HTC Sense enhanced phones as previously one would have the well-known HTC Clock / weather icon presented centrally on the screen, with the Rhyme this has been replaced with the new 'Shortcuts & Clock' widget which offers as standard icons for:

• Mail
  
• Messages
  
• Music
  
• Camera
  
• Market

The right hand side of each icon can be tapped upon, and once activated a side bar from the icon pops out offering either added functionality or help on how to use the system. For example the music icon extends to give you quick music playback controls, and the camera to show thumbnails of recently taken photographs.

The 'Shortcuts & Clock' widget can be edited and you can choose which icons / functionality you wish to have in place. The widget also contains the time, date, location and weather in the bottom right hand corner. A very useful widget - the only drawback is that it does take up the entire screen leaving no room for other widgets.

The Sense program launcher; this is activated by tapping the left hand bottom screen button on the main screen. Once in the launcher you have the primary screen itself which can be vertically swiped through. Each swipe moves a single screen of icons, instead of the continuous movement seen on the older Sense incarnations. At the bottom of the launcher are three mode indicators; the left showing you all icons, the centre star shaped icon takes you to a subset list of those icons you most commonly use, and the third icon serves to show you the applications that you have downloaded.

Needless to say the star icon becomes a great time saver as it allows you to locate those favourite or commonly used icons without scrolling through what can be a large number of screens - very handy as your use of the Rhyme continues.

The right hand bottom button on the main screen now takes you into one of the newly enhanced functions of Sense, and this facility allows you to really customise the look and feel of the machine, the same functionality can also be accessed by tapping and holding on a spare location on screen.

If a pinch is performed on the launcher screen this brings up an overview of the individual screens for fast access, but it can also be used to reorder the screens themselves as they can tapped, held and then dragged into new locations. Screens can also be deleted if they are no longer needed.



HTC continue to use their Sense enhanced dialler on the Rhyme. When the Phone application is first entered you are presented on the lower part of the screen with a finger friendly numeric dial pad which shows the numbers in black with the alpha equivalent shortcuts underneath. At the top of the screen the system creates shortcuts to contacts that you have recently been in communication with; the lower part of the list shows your regular contacts in alphabetic order. The list can be expanded and the dialler hidden by pressing the icon at the bottom left of the screen. If tapped again this serves to reinstate the dialler. Quick search is in effect so that typing the name of a contact on the dialler keys will filter the contacts list to the contacts whose name(s) match the alpha pattern of the keys tapped.

Tabs at the bottom of the screen give you access to:

• Phone
  
• People
  
• Groups
  
• Call History

If the menu key is pressed whilst at the dialler access is given to:

• Speed Dial
  
• Settings
  
• Blocked Callers
  
• Tips
  
• Edit Tabs

As with previous HTC phones the Rhyme supports silent mode whereby flipping the machine upside down when a call comes in serves to mute the call. This can also be achieved by pressing the volume up (or down rocker) or the power button. Also supported is the Quiet Ring feature that automatically lowers the ring volume when you pick up the machine and Pocket Mode whereby it automatically detects if the phone is in your pocket and increases the volume of the ringer accordingly. The Speakerphone can also be engaged by placing the Rhyme face down during a call.



HTC Sense has also been used to replace the standard Android notification system and HTC have split the notification system into two parts; notifications present on by the left hand portion of the screen and a right hand section which contains commonly used quick settings such as toggling on and off regularly used functions like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS etc.

As the Rhyme starts to be used the upper portion of the notification system also shows the recent applications used in icon form which adds an additional way of quickly launching your often used applications.

HTC have added a number of other new widgets on the Rhyme:

• Facebook Chat
  
• Notes
  
• HTC Shortcuts & Clock
  
• Show Me
  
• HTC Tasks
  
• HTC Watch
  
• Endomondo

with others being available to download directly from HTC within the 'add widget' application.

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USAGE MONITOR


One useful application added to the Rhyme is a Usage Monitor application which operates in the background as you use your phone. Within the application are three tabs which allow you to flick between monitoring of:

• Mobile Data
  
• Minutes
  
• Messages

Alas though you can only reset the counters or set an auto-zero date you can't set your particular individual limits as per data, minutes, messages etc. It does give you the opportunity to keep an eye on your usage though and it is certainly better than nothing at all!

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CAMERA


With the Rhyme there are two applications shortcuts; the Camera for taking photographs and a Cam which is specifically used for recording videos. Both however link to the same core application, just operating in different modes:

Camera Controls available on screen are:

• Zoom bar (digital zoom control)
  
• Shake Detection indicator (only when shake is detected)
  
• Photo / Video - Front / Main mode switch
  
• Flash Button - on / off / Auto
  
• Shutter Release
  
• Effects Button - None / Distortion / Vignette / Depth of field / Dots / Vintage / Vintage warm / Vintage cold / Grayscale / Sepia / Negative / Solarize / Posterize / Aqua
  
• Gallery Button
  
• Scenes - Auto / portrait / Landscape / Action Burst / Panorama / Backlight HDR / Whiteboard / Close Up / Low Light

Tapping the Menu button brings up the following settings:

• Self Timer - Off / 2 Seconds / 10 Seconds
  
• Image Adjustments (all between -2 / +2): Exposure / Contrast / Saturation / Sharpness
  
• White Balance - Auto / Incandescent / Florescent / Daylight / Cloudy
  
• ISO - Auto / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800
  
• Resolution : 5M (2592x1552) / 3M (2048x1216) / 1M (1280x768) / Small (640x384)
  
• Review duration - no review / 3 seconds / 5 second / No limit
  
• Widescreen - resolution - 5:3 / 4:3 - on / off
  
• Geo-tag photos - on / off
  
• Auto-enhance - on / off
  
• Auto-focus - on / off
  
• Face Detection - on / off
  
• Shutter sound - on / off
  
• Grid - on / off
  
• Auto-upload
  
• Reset to default

Once a photograph has been taken the Review Screen offers:

• Share
  
• Set As
  
• Delete

---

READER


Of course everyone needs a little downtime and the Rhyme provides that via video watching using the HTC Watch application (where you can rent or buy movies) or read for a while with the Reader eBook reading application. This utilises the popular ePub book format and any book located on your micro-SD card are added automatically to your library.

The Book Reader can be accessed handily by adding the 'My Shelf' widget to a free home screen page, whereby you will be presented with a list of imported eBooks. Once a book has been accessed and reading commencing that book will rise to the top of the list.

It should be noted that the widget appears to have a limit of around 20 eBooks if any more than that are found they are not shown within the widget. The good news is that if the Reader is loaded via the application icon then all books that are present on the SD card are shown within the library list.

The Reader itself works very well in that sideways finger glides allow swift navigation backwards and forwards between pages, and as expected the search key allows one to locate text within the book. The font size can be varied to suit the reader and if required bookmarks can be set. Needless to say the last read position is remembered when an eBook is re-entered.

The program also supports the purchase of eBooks via the Kobo book purchasing web site.

The only real critique of the application is that one cannot vary the margin sizes, the current margins set are acceptable but in an ideal world I'd be looking to reduce them to give more room to the main text of the book.

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HTC Sync:

HTC supply the free to download HTC Sync application as PC companion software for all their Android phones including the Rhyme. Once installed this serves to allow the machine to connect to the PC via USB cable and synchronise content.

You can use HTC Sync to:

• Sync your contacts between your Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and your phone.
  
• Sync your calendar events between the Outlook or Windows Calendar and your phone.
  
• Sync your photos, videos, documents, songs, and play lists (Media Player or iTunes) to your phone.
  
• Easily import your captured photos and videos from your phone to your computer.
  
• Store the same bookmarks on both your computer and phone's web browser.
  
• Install third-party mobile phone apps (not downloaded from Android Market) from your computer.

---

ACCESSORIES





The review Rhyme was provided with:

• 'Charm' accessory
  
• Slip case
  
• micro-USB / PC / Sync cable
  
• HTC Power adaptor
  
• Docking station

The charm is intended for the ladies out there and is designed to plug into the headphone jack on the Rhyme. Once in place it can be configured via the 'Settings / Charm' control where it may be set to trigger on receipt of messages or incoming or missed calls. The Charm will glow with a rosy light to indicate the designated notification. The Charm is designed to allow you to store the Rhyme deep inside a handbag with the charm peeking out through the fastening whereby the cube can be allowed to glow and signal if needed.

Docking Station - this has to be one of the coolest accessories that HTC have ever developed for a phone. The Dock should be plugged into a micro-USB power source (PC or mains power via the adaptor), and then the Rhyme can be placed into it. Once in position those three copper contacts on the back of the Rhyme align with matching contacts within the dock. Once the  connection is made the Rhyme automatically turns on the Bluetooth Radio and switches into Dock Mode.

Once Dock Mode is activated you can:

• Use the Playback buttons to control music playback, tap the album cover to open your music library, or adjust the media volume
  
• Tap the Clock widget to open the Clock application where you can set alarms or view the time in other cities
  
• Tap the Weather information to open the Weather application and check the forecast
  
• Tap the Photo Frame to view photos on your storage card as a slide show
  
• Tap the icons at the bottom to open your defined applications

When playing back music the Dock acts as an enhanced speaker.

This is such a cool accessory - HTC should bring out similar systems for their other phones. As well as being functional it also serves to charge the Rhyme without it just being plugged in and say on the desk. Plus with there being no cables to unplug to un-dock the Rhyme you can just grab and go!

---

General Use:

The Rhyme has been used as my main phone and in constant use for around 2 weeks. During this time it has served and acted as my all-purpose device performing all manner of tasks: morning alarm clock, social networking tool, e-mail response device, eBook reader, star gazer, etc. During that time it has performed well and the only real critique is that the 1GHz processor may be a little slow compared to other phones on the market. However the large battery in conjunction with the WVGA screen and that slightly slower processor do give the Rhyme exceptional battery life!

Signal Strength and Voice Quality - The new 900mHz frequency in Manchester was used to obtain a HSPDA connection which was stable and solid, achieving 5 bars of connectivity at home and work. Phone call quality is excellent with no callers reporting any distortion in voice phone quality at all.

GPS - The phones has an embedded A-GPS system within to assist the navigation system in locating the satellites and gaining a fast GPS lock. The Rhyme obtained a 10/10 or 8/8 (variable) lock in 21 seconds, and maintained a 6/8 lock indoors.

Volume - HTC have ensured that the Rhyme has a loud well amplified speaker system so that alarm sounds are loud enough to wake one from slumber.

Internet - The Rhyme performed well on web browsing tasks. As an example the Engadget page loaded in 13 seconds, the BBC main UK site in 7 seconds. Flash animations that were used as check points played back without any issue. The  WVGA display meant that all text was very small text but with 'tap to zoom' was clear to read. Added functionality is available in the browser whereby if you press on the screen to highlight text and then hold you gain a pop up offering you the options of 'Copy, Quick Lookup and Share' the Lookup option gives you the choice to research the phrase or word on Google Search, Wikipedia, YouTube Google Translate, or the Google Dictionary.

---

Applications:

The following Applications listed below are included on the Rhyme::

• Adobe Reader
  
• Calculator
  
• Calendar
  
• Call History
  
• Camcorder
  
• Camera
  
• Clock
  
• Connected Media
  
• Dock Mode
  
• Downloads
  
• Dropbox
  
• Endomondo
  
• Facebook
  
• FB Chat
  
• Flash Player Settings
  
• Flashlight
  
• FM Radio
  
• Friend Stream
  
• Gallery
  
• Gmail
  
• Google Search
  
• HTC Hub
  
• HTC Likes
  
• Internet
  
• Latitude
  
• Locations
  
• Mail
  
• Maps
  
• Market
  
• Messages
  
• Mirror
  
• Music
  
• Navigation
  
• News
  
• News & Weather
  
• Notes
  
• O2
  
• People
  
• Phone
  
• Places
  
• Polaris Office
  
• Quick Lookup
  
• Reader
  
• Settings
  
• Setup
  
• Show Me
  
• Stocks
  
• Talk
  
• Task Manager
  
• Tasks - links into Exchange and Google Tasks
  
• Teeter
  
• Transfer
  
• Twitter
  
• Usage Monitor
  
• Voice Recorder
  
• Voice Search
  
• Watch
  
• Weather
  
• Wi-Fi Hotspot
  
• YouTube

Conclusion:

I have to say that the Rhyme is a sweet device, giving good battery life, with a reasonably responsive interface and of course made easy to use by HTC's Sense enhancements. The styling and colour does appeal to the ladies that I've shown the device to although for myself I'd prefer it to be available in either a charcoal colouration or if I had to be adventurous in dark green. The revised version of the Sense home screen with the 'Shortcuts & Clock' widget works well for me. Battery life is incredibly good and one can easily get through the longest of working days with the power provided. The colouration itself does stop me using it as a regular device, but I do get tempted back to using it due to the docking system which is completely awesome. The 'charm' I have no need for myself but my good lady advises me that it is very useful for use with the Rhyme in the handbag and charm left outside - it does ensure that no calls are missed! So it may not quite be my perfect machine but it will certainly draw the eye and tastes of the ladies!

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

Good battery life
Massive amount of internal storage
Fast and smooth in operation
HTC Sense enhanced
eBook reader included
Numerous HTC widgets included
Fast locking and reactive GPS system
Good voice clarity
Enhanced connectivity via DLNA and 3G / Wi-Fi hotspot
Custom skinning system (scenes and skins)
Handles multiple Exchange accounts
Strong uni-body construction
720P video playback and recording
High speed Internet connectivity
Stylish modern design
viable noise cancellation system during phone calls
Sense enhanced notifications and reminders
Good quality intelligent keyboard
HTC Watch progressive video system
HTC Locations with Premium Content Navigation
Bluetooth 3
HDR photographic mode
Action Burst photographic mode
Panorama photographic mode
Gorilla Glass screen
HTC Sense account for download of additional widgets, feature restore, etc
Android 2.3.5
Sense 3.5
Included awesome docking station
Included 'charm' for notifications

Cons:

Non-removable battery
Pink colour may not appeal to male users
No 1080P video recording / playback

Example Photography:

The following two shots taken from the Rhymes camera on a wintry afternoon in December. The first is taken using default standard camera settings, and the second taking using the panorama mode (three shot combination).

Each of the photos are thumbnails onto original full sized pictures from the Rhyme with confidential EXIF data stripped out.









[All images in this review have been processed using Snagit by Techsmith]

Attached Thumbnails

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[tonybro]

Wow!

Another monstrous review....

Looks a nice device and that 'Charm' attachment could certainly catch on with the ladies. My wife is forever missing calls or messages when her phone is in her handbag....

I like it and the dock is certainly useful too. I just wonder how many they will sell?

[neilm]

Looks like a nice phone- but why discriminate against us blokes!  I sometimes miss calls when my phone is in my briefcase- maybe a similar 'charm' should be made available in the form of a small fob watch

The memory allocation has been causing a few comments elsewhere. Although cited as having 4GB internal storage, plus the 8GB mSD card, no-one has been able to 'find' the internal memory. It doesn't appear when connected to a PC and can't be directly addressed. The feeling is that this is 4GB of ROM memory for the purposes of storing Apps and App related data.

[fowljr]

Excellent review, I'm with Tony, I think the dock is very useful and more devices should have them. I'd like a universal dock, save me having to keep buying for each device!

[The Guru]

The Dock is indeed one of the the best features of the phone, loving it here!

Agreed over the memory, I've gone with what HTC actually publish but as you say it is somewhat misleading!

Also looking forward to this variant of Sense coming to other phones.

[cyclist]

The description of the charm reminds me of an ancient phone a friend had, which had red and green leds along the side that flashed while the phone was ringing.  Ideal for finding it in the bottom of a briefcase or handbag, and gender neutral.

[The Guru]

That brings back memories, was it not an old Sony model IIRC?