HTC Rhyme: Verizon’s female-targeted Android device

 

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 tablets. On the surface and in terms of raw specs, the cheap android phones seems to be just another android phones — 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.
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 cheap android tablets 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 android phones wholesale 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 android tablets wholesale 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.