HTC Rhyme review

Another stylish mid-range offering from HTC…but is it offering anything particularly new?

HTC Rhyme
More or less a purple update of the HTC Desire S

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

HTC rhyme review

There isn't much to say about the HTC Sense overlay that hasn't already been gushed over before, but we'll give it a go given the HTC Rhyme comes with the new 3.5 update.

The customisable lockscreen shortcuts are pretty awesome, allowing you to pick up to four shortcuts to get to from the lockscreen without even going into the home screens. It's especially handy for the camera given there's no physical soft key.

There's no juddering and it's quick to scroll through the menu and the seven home screens, all of which, of course, are fully customisable as well with widgets and shortcuts galore. The old standard favourite of the live weather wallpaper is also there, happily aping the conditions outside. Pinching in on the screen will bring up all homescreens at once.

HTC rhyme review

To change anything is simple; tap and hold the homescreen to be faced with the personalisation list to choose either a folder, shortcut, app or widget to put on your page, or toggle the display and sound settings.

HTC rhyme review

The menu is displayed in a simple list or grid form that can be ordered into alphabetical or most recently used apps, though not entirely personalised and no folders can be created here.

HTC rhyme review

There's also, of course, the often-stolen notifications pull down bar from which you can enable and disable connectivity settings such as Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspot, volume, and airplane mode. It also displays a list of your most recently used apps.

HTC rhyme review

Gingerbread isn't a difficult operating system to pick up, especially for someone who's looking for say, a snazzier HTC Desire S; it will all be familiar.

HTC rhyme review

That said, it's not even difficult for someone who's never used the HTC Sense overlay. It's intuitive, with every important app and most-used setting within easy reach and enough processing power to ensure it all keeps ticking along nicely.