HTC Rhyme officially revealed: It's honestly not "for girls", or so say HTC

The HTC Rhyme Android smartphone that’s been doing the rounds online for the past few weeks has been officially revealed. The handset garnered some raised eyebrows for its misjudged, apparently “female focussed” design. HTC have denied that’s the intention, instead saying the device is merely for phone users looking for “advanced features” that fit “seamlessly into their lives”.

Despite dropping the initial “Bliss” moniker, the handset still has the somewhat dated and condescending smell of a “ladies lifestyle phone” about it. For a start, the shades of “Clearwater, Hourglass and Plum” reek of focus groups, while the included phone “Charm” which attaches to the phone and blinks when you get a call or message helping you “find your phone buried in your cluttered purse or backpack” seems completely superflous.

Whether you believe HTC’s asexual stance or not, the phone’s spec sheet remains worthy of your attention though.

A mid range handset, the Rhyme boasts a 1GHz single core processor with 768 MB of RAM and 4G of internal storage expandable via microSD cards. GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity are all featured too.

A 3.7 inch Super LCD touchscreen running at a 800×480 resolution is more than respectable, with touch sensitive Android buttons just below the screen. Though running the HTC Sense 3.5 UI, the Rhyme sports a modified homescreen which features a widget down the left handside, which you gives access to five key apps such as Mail and the Android market.

On the rear is a 5MP camera, with autofocus and an LED flash.

An O2 exclusive, the HTC Yorkie as we’re going to call the Rhyme from now on (“it’s not for girls”, geddit?), goes onsale on October 17th.