HTC Rezound initial impressions: Music to my ears
HTC CEO Peter Chou shows off a HTC Rezound.
(Credit:
Sara Tew/CNET)
To positively nobody’s warn (twice), HTC now announced a HTC Rezound for Verizon, a initial U.S. smartphone to use HTC-owned Beats Audio.
Originally famous as a Vigor, a Rezound is HTC‘s stateside answer to Europe and Asia’s HTC Sensation XL with Beats Audio, that CNET got a possibility to see in early Oct at
CTIA.
The Rezound, that facilities a same formation with a Beats headphones as a Sensation XL, will run on Verizon‘s ultrafast 4G LTE network. In addition, it’s make-up a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, that should make mincemeat out of qHD displays we’ve seen from phones like a Motorola Droid Bionic. There’s a ton some-more besides with this
Android 2.3 Gingerbread device, so let’s detonate in.
Design
The Rezound has dull corners, and a face only hardly set into a unit. HTC has prolonged delivered on glorious phone craftsmanship, as a Amaze 4G and Sensation 4G phones have demonstrated.
The Rezound has a matte behind cover surrounding an island of ridges on a backing, to assistance with grip. The camera and LED peep are on a behind cover, with a volume rocker on a right spine. The Micro-USB charging heart is on a left, and a 3.5mm headset jack is adult top.
It’s not as flashy-looking a phone to my eyes as a all-white HTC Radar 4G, or even a purple HTC Rhyme, though HTC phones are solidly built and that engaging patterning on a behind does give it a small additional character. we wish it had Gorilla Glass to improved strengthen a goods.
Taking a evidence from a HTC Droid Incredible, a Rezound is designed inside and out.
(Credit:
Sara Tew/CNET)
Features
The facilities are where a Rezound can soar. Of march it’s off to a good start with Verizon‘s 4G LTE network, that offers now unbeatable speeds. The large understanding is a set of Beats by Dr. Dre earbuds that come with any phone–I cover those in a following section.
Another ballyhooed trait is a phone’s 4.3-inch 720p HD hold display. While it positively sounds impressive, we won’t unequivocally be means to decider clarity, color, sharpness, and all a rest until we lay it corresponding with a favorite screens–right now those go to a Samsung Galaxy S II phones, a iPhone 4S (and
iPhone 4), and a LG Marquee.
It’s also versed with a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MDM9600 processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB of inner storage, and a 16GB preinstalled microSD card. It’ll lift HTC Sense 3.5, a comprehensive latest chronicle of HTC‘s tradition Android interface. Sense 3.5 will underline a customizable and interactive close shade from that we can do things like check a weather, stocks, and amicable network updates.
For multimedia, there’s a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with support for 1080p HD video constraint and fun effects like slow-motion recording. There’s a front-facing 2-megapixel camera as well. These are a top-notch specs we’d wish for in a Rezound, though of march camera peculiarity isn’t about megapixels alone. The Rezound has a low-light sensor to assistance urge night shots. We shall see.
HTC Rezound hands-on (photos)
HTC hasn’t had a repute for a ultimate cameras opposite a board, HTC pronounced during a launch eventuality in New York, notwithstanding a feature-packed HTC Amaze 4G and a T-Mobile MyTouch Slide 4G. Like those two, a Rezound’s camera will have present capture, panorama, and movement detonate modes. There will also be photo-editing tools, that is a clear plus, generally as some-more and some-more smartphones from competing brands embody these.
Other sum embody a 1,620mAh battery, Bluetooth 3.0, DLNA support, hot-spot support for adult to 10 devices, and Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) capability for examination calm on a concordant HDTV.
Apps like HTC Watch, a film app, are also onboard.
(Credit:
Verizon/HTC)
Beats Audio
Just how good is Beats by Dr. Dre? Good adequate to aver shopping a phone? Our group got a demo of a Sensation XL’s Beats headphones during CTIA and yes, with a one-two multiple of a hardware (the headsets) with a onboard software, they done a large difference.
When we block in a headphones, a phone recognizes that you’ve got Beats. When we spin on a program algorithm, it unequivocally boosts a sound, privately boosting a drum and formulating louder, fuller, and heavier audio. It’s like personification song by your automobile speakers, contra pumping adult a drum line we can feel thrumming in your seat.
One often-heard critique is that a headphones aren’t a one-size-fits-all resolution for each low-pitched genre. One common censure is that a assertive tones reduce some-more ethereal symphonies and choral music. However, people who primarily listen to rock, hip-hop, and other genres in that capillary will notice a rounder sound. Of course, we’ll do some some-more in-depth audio tests once we get a phone in palm for an discernible length of time.
The Beats in-ear headphones on their possess operation from $120 to $180 when we buy them by sell channels, so there’s a clear advantage to shopping an HTC Beats phone like a Rezound, that has in-ear buds bundled in.
What we will contend is that if you’re concurrently in a marketplace for a new phone and some new earbuds, get ye to a Verizon store when these come out and try them for yourself. Pro tip: if we can conduct it, take a microSD label filled with songs we like to see how a Beats-enhanced sound plays out.
The Ice Cream Sandwich question
Verizon has a problem on a hands. It’s backing adult a engorgement of presumably illusory phones, like a razor-thin Motorola Droid Razr and this here Rezound. But it’s also going to start offered a challenging Samsung Galaxy Nexus someday in mid-to-late November, with a huge Ice Cream Sandwich update. Where does that leave a Rezound?
The good news is, Rezound fans (and HTC devotees) should know that HTC is committed to bringing phones introduced within 18 months of an Android recover adult to speed, so yes, a Rezound will get Ice Cream Sandwich. HTC has already pronounced during a launch proclamation that Ice Cream Sandwich “will expected come early subsequent year.” The doubt we can’t answer is accurately when, though demeanour for it in January.
Price and availability
The HTC Rezound will cost $299.99 with a new, two-year Verizon use agreement and will be accessible commencement Nov 14 during Verizon, Best Buy, and Best Buy Mobile stores. You’ll also need a $39.99 smallest Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk devise and a smallest $30-per-month information plan.
This is a dear gold that creates a Rezound one of Verizon‘s priciest phones, and that’s even though a status of Android Ice Cream Sandwich–for now. LTE is expensive, there’s reward hardware on palm if we count a status headphones, and it has a hottest specs on a market, so a price, while high, is not a surprise. we think holiday deals will flog in once a phone hits shelves.
In sum
The HTC Rezound did not disappoint. The shade quality, camera, and speed all guarantee to be top-of-the-line, and a phone also comes with a span of celebrity-branded in-ear headphones that are value utterly a bit on their own. At $300 and information requirements, a Rezound might be one of Verizon‘s priciest phones, though it also promises to be one of a many powerful. It’ll be a prohibited contender opposite Verizon‘s other stirring handset powerhouses: a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and a Motorola Droid Razr.
CNET will move we a full, in-depth examination as fast as we can once we get a examination territory in a prohibited small hands.
