Verizon HTC Rezound Review

The HTC Rezound was released in mid November from Verizon. It's available for $300 with a new 2 year contract. It comes with a lot of cool features and doesn't compromise of specs either. The Rezound is the first of it's kind that comes with Beats Audio and a pair of nice headphones.

Here's a rundown of the features:

• Android 2.3.4 (with an update of Ice Cream Sandwich coming soon) w/ HTC Sense 3.5
• 4G LTE
• 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor
• 16GB of internal memory (10gb accessible to user) + 16gb microSD card
• 1gb DDR2 RAM (DDR2 is faster)
• 4.3" HD 342ppi 720x1280 screen
• 8mp rear camera w/ dual LED flash
• 2mp front camera
• 1080p video
• Bluetooth 3.0
• 1680mAh battery
• Wireless charging
• Comes with iBeats headphones, different size ear buds & case

If I didn't know any better I would assume the Rezound was the Droid Incredible 3 (or HD). The styling is identical to the Incredible phones. Obviously some substantial improvements have been made since the Droid Incredible 2 though. Some improvements have been made since the HTC Thunderbolt as well. Although it's still double the thickness of the Motorola Droid RAZR.




HTC wisely kept the rubberized plastic on the back cover to keep down on fingerprints, but added some ridges for grip. The volume and power buttons are nicely integrated into the phone, however the power button is sometimes hard to press. It seems that dedicated camera buttons have gone away completely.



The 4.3" 342 pixel per inch HD 720x1280 screen is very nice. The pixel density is more than that of the iPhone 4 & 4s, and the Rezound has a larger screen. It even beats the qHD display on the Droid RAZR by 86ppi. You definitely are not going to miss any details on this screen!

The Razound's camera is actually the same 8mp camera found in the HTC Vivid and Titan. It performs very well. I've always been a fan of the HTC camera program too. Everything is nicely laid out. It includes features like face detection, continuous focus, ISO, effects, white balance, exposure & contrast, and saturation & sharpness. With this you also get 1080p video at a max of 30fps. There's also a slow motion feature that captures video at 60fps and then slows it down to 30fps. Pretty neat!



With Beats Audio you basically get the iBeats headphones, and a music player with Beats enabled (which is a special EQ sound profile with more bass). The headphones are pretty neat. They sound really good, are comfortable, come with their own baggie, additional ear buds, and have a play/pause, rewind/forward control right on the red wire. Unfortunately you're not getting a reworked music player here. The provided sound profile cannot be adjusted, so if you don't like bass, it's either live with the bass or just turn off the sound profile. That being said, if you already have a good pair of headphones, then you shouldn't feel compelled to buy this phone for the 'special Beats software'. Although it does look like people are selling their headphones on eBay.



The Rezound is very fast due to it's 1.5GHz dual core processor and 4G LTE data speeds. I encountered one instance where it wasn't picking up a data connection at all when another Verizon phone I had was getting a strong 3g connection. This eventually sorted itself out though. I'm not quite sure what the issue was.

Overall the Rezound is a great phone with a lot of chart topping specs (until something new comes out next month). It's a great phone whether you want headphones/music or not. You may even be able to get some money back on the headphones if you don't want them. If you're not a fan of HTC sense and are used to something else, it may take some getting used to. If you really want Ice Cream Sandwich now, better battery life and a sleeker profile, check out the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.