HTC and BlackBerry are two of the biggest contenders in the smartphone market, for both business and personal use. Let’s take a look at two of their most popular touchscreen handsets to see how they compare. . .
The HTC Rhyme (Bliss) is a recent release from the HTC stable, and it comes with a rather interesting accessory, and an innovative way of getting message notifications.
We’re talking, of course, about the HTC Rhyme’s glowing charm accessory, which is designed to be an eye-catch addition. It attaches to the Rhyme by a micro USB port and can then be dangled out of your pocket or handbag, glowing when you get a message, call or update – thus minimising both the irritation to yourself of a missed notification, and also not annoying other people by ringing loudly in a quiet environment.
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 doesn’t quite have this in its accessory bag, but nevertheless is a good looking and stylish smartphone.
The 9860 is powered by the new BlackBerry 7 operating system, which includes a greatly improved web browser supporting pinch to zoom and HTML5 video as well as the powerful Liquid Graphics interface to really make your photographs, videos, games and apps pop, and keep BlackBerry up to speed with the competition. BlackBerry Balance is also included as a brand new feature to keep your work and personal content streams separated. The useful BlackBerry Messenger service has now been upgraded to version 6 so it’s never been easier to stay up to date with all your BlackBerry owning buddies.
The HTC Rhyme is an Android smartphone, running Android version 2.3 Gingerbread with the HTC Sense 3.5 skin on top. It’s powered by a 1GHz processor, and connectivity features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G and DLNA, so media sharing and internet access are never a problem. As for the BlackBerry Torch 9860, it has had a processor boost since its predecessors, with a powerful 1.2 GHz processor and improved graphics processing for increased smoothness.
There is also a microSD slot, 5 megapixel camera with HD recording, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi and a 1230 mAh battery.
With the HTC Rhyme you also get a wireless Bluetooth headset, which matches the device’s colour scheme and is compactly designed to remain discreet. You can also get a wireless Bluetooth speaker to use when driving and a docking station that can be used as a music hub or an alarm clock.
The HTC Rhyme also has a 5 megapixel camera with some pretty nifty features – an instant shutter and LED flash, and a special mode called Action Burst Scene that takes five shots so you can pick the best one.
Both smartphones have up to 32GB storage capacity with the addition of a microSD card.
So, if you like the easy organisation and sleekness of the BlackBerry, with the increasingly popular BlackBerry Messenger service, that’s the phone for you, while if you’re a real fan of nifty gadgets than the HTC Rhyme might just be the best choice.
Clove Technology stock the HTC Rhyme for £396 including VAT, and the BlackBerry Torch 9860 for £418.80 including VAT.
