Technology

HTC Rezound Hands-On Roundup From Around The Web

By Chris BurnsUpdated: Nov. 3, 2011 6:17 pm EST

This week a device by the name of HTC Rezound was released, one that'll be carried by Verizon on their 4G LTE network and will play host to the very first appearance of HTC's Beats collaborative fruits here in the USA. While several other devices have been announced for the UK already, this 720p (another first for the company) dual-core 1.5GHz processor 4.3-inch display having smartphone will be on its own here in the United States, at least at first. Here in this post there's a collection of hands-on accounts from across the web on the device that HTC has already called "Ice Cream Sandwich ready."Brian Heater of Engadget spoke on how the Beats were flowing through the device, noting that the actual earbuds that will come with the device didn't seem to be on hand to test out, but that the much more expensive over-the-ear headphones sounded heavy:

Unfortunately, the company wasn't showing off those custom Beats earbuds for our demo, and we had to settle for an over-ear pair — naturally, we rocked a little Dre on the thing. As you'd expect, the sound is extremely bass-heavy. You can thank Beats for that, no doubt. The music continues to play, even as you launch other apps, which can be bit a distracting when you're trying to stream a video using the phone's LTE radio. For the record, that video loaded quite quickly.

Chris Ziegler of The Verge has a bit to say about the actual feel of the device, taking special care to assure you that the device isn't your everyday wafer:

Let's just cut to the chase: this is a beefyphone. As they did on the Sensation, HTC employs a trick in which it rounds the edges of the device to give the appearance (and feel) that it's a little less thick than it actually is, but the trick works with less dramatic effect here — there's just no lying about a shell this deep (13.65mm, according to the official fact sheet). The rear cover has a pretty pronounced non-stick effect; I wouldn't call it straight-up rubber, but needless to say, it's not going to slip out of your hands.

Jordan Crook of TechCrunch spoke on beats and compared the audio quality to the iPhone:

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical over whether or not Beats would make a big difference, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the Rezound and its audio quality. I was really able to hear those low notes in a way that's lacking on my iPhone and other phones I've tested, and anyone who's all about the tunes will surely appreciate Beats integration.

Mark Spoonauer of LaptopMag speaks on how much of an improvement the display is over the DROID BIONIC, another dual-core LTE device on Verizon:

Having a 720p screen might sound like overkill for a phone, but we appreciated the enhanced detail when loading Laptopmag.com next to the Droid Bionic. We saw more lines of text on the Rezound, and the panel is fairly bright. However, the viewing angles on this LCD aren't as wide as what you'll find on the HTC Droid RAZR or Galaxy Nexus, both of which have Super AMOLED screens.

NOTE several of the images below are from the publishers above as well as HTC USA on Facebook, HTC USA also providing the hero image for this post.