And just like that, the long rumored HTC Bliss - herein known as the Rhyme - is official. Yep, after months of following the "lady phone" (our internal name for the handset), HTC and Verizon are finally announcing the details of their female-aimed Android smartphone. On the surface and in terms of raw specs, the Rhyme seems to be just another Android device - it packs a 3.7-inch WVGA Super LCD display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 (MSM8655) CPU, 768MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera, and a VGA front-facing shooter. (Nope, no LTE.) However, it's the included accessories (and its plum color) that really give it the differentiation for the female set.
HTC Rhyme: Verizon’s female-targeted Android phone with a bizarre charm indicator coming September 29th for $199.99
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Just as we originally reported, the phone comes with a matching LED-infused charm, which plugs into the phone’s 3.5mm headphone jack and lights up when you receive a call or text message. The idea, of course, is that the charm can clip to a bag or purse so you can see if you’ve got a message without actually having to dig through to find the phone. On top of that, HTC bundles a set of tangle-free headphones (not Beats!) and an alarm dock.
There's also some slight differentiation on the software side - the Android 2.3 Rhyme runs HTC's "next iteration of Sense" (or Sense 3.5). As far as general interface tweaks are concerned, not too much has changed, though there's a slightly redesigned homescreen and the classic HTC Sense clock has been nixed for something a bit more understated. The plum-colored Rhyme will be hitting Verizon on September 22nd, while a more subtle silverish version (picture of that here) will be arriving in Europe and Asia in October. Sadly, no word on pricing, but we will be bringing you some hands-on impressions very soon.
Update: Verizon just announced that it is coming September 29th for $199.99. (Pre-orders start on the 22nd.) That includes the phone, the charm, the speaker dock, and the headphones. Not a bad deal.
Check out our hands-on pictures, video, and impressions of the Rhyme here.
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