Review: HTC Rhyme for Verizon Wireless
Charm
I have to admit, I don't really *get* the charm. The charm is a cube that's on a cable and needs to be plugged into the headphone jack. The idea is to drop the Rhyme in a purse (or bag) and leave the charm's cube exposed. When you have an incoming call, SMS, IM, or other message, the charm will gently pulse with light to alert you to the message. This could be why the vibrate alert is so weak.
The pulsing light is barely visible when out and about during the day, so it would be easy to miss. It is much more visible in dark places, such as restaurants or bars. If you're going to have a pulsing light at the dinner table, I honestly don't see how that's any less distracting than a quick buzz or ring when you get an SMS.
Last, the charm can be firmly attached to the Rhyme via a hook. This means if the charms starts pulsing, you can yank on the charm to retrieve the phone from the depths of your purse (or bag).
Dock
Who doesn't like using a dock for their smartphone? The Rhyme's dock may be plain looking, but it charges the phone through three small contacts that are on the back. This means you can drop the phone into the dock without worrying about carefully aligning a delicate microUSB port. You can also grab it quickly and run out the door.
The dock puts the Rhyme into dock mode, which prioritizes the clock, alarm app, and notifications so that you can always be informed without having to pick the phone up all the time.
Headphones
The Rhyme also ships with a pair of headphones, which HTC says are of higher quality than they might otherwise include with a phone. I suppose they are slightly above average as far as out-of-the-box headphones go, but that's not saying much. There's no way in hell they'd replace my own favorite pair of headphones. The one thing that HTC says about them is that they are supposed to be tangle free. They are, no doubt. Perhaps the worst, though, is that they are rather large to be in-ear headphones. For example, I couldn't comfortably insert them into my ear canal. I'd posit that my ears are larger than most, so the likelihood that these headphones will fit comfortably in the ear of a woman isn't very high.
HTC Rhyme for Verizon Focuses On Usability and Reason
HTC Rhyme
