HTC Rezound First Impressions/Reviews

Cyber Warrior

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Hello everyone,

The purpose of this thread, is to hear members thoughts & opinions on how the HTC Rezound stacks up amongst a suggested list of attributes:

  • Aesthetics
  • Screen
  • Hardware
  • Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
  • Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense)
  • Widgets
  • Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
  • GPS
  • Social Networking
  • Email/Calendar
  • Battery Life
  • Performance
  • Media (music, movies, DLNA)
  • Keyboard's
  • Camera (both still & video)
  • How the Rezound compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
  • Disappointments (if any)

Feel free to provide as little or as much detail as possible, while trying to make it as useful as possible. Hopefully this will help others who are considering the Rezound, but would like to hear some user feedback first. Also, please do not review the Rezound prior to having one ;)

And if you read a review that you found helpful, please use the Thanks button to show them your appreciation!
 

kenc3dan

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Aesthetics - nice enough, a little thick, a little heavy, like the grippy back

Screen - beautiful, daylight readability only OK

Hardware - very fast, Google Earth very responsive

Phone - no BT to test, speakerphone was just fine

Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) - snappy, needs a little tweaking to reduce clutter, unfortunate Verizon crap built-in - Camera/Gallery/More/second menu item is V CAST VIDEOS!!! Totally uncalled for.

Widgets - I like the new message count right next to the icon, missed that in Blur

Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - average, same as my Droid X

GPS - no problem getting a lock

Social Networking - fine, I don't use the Sense gizmos though so I can't address that

Email/Calendar - works as expected, no big difference between Sense and Droid X

Battery Life - OK after first 6 hours :p

Performance - Fast everywhere, no crashes after 6 hours

Media (music, movies, DLNA) - same old music player, movies/DLNA untested

Keyboards - just fine

Camera (both still & video) - stills are noisy and lack detail under all lighting conditions, worse camera than Droid X and Incredible, video stutters a bit and otherwise mirrors the poor quality of the stills, I miss my dedicated shutter release button badly
Two quick samples can be found here, taken in a bright room

How the Rezound compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable) - bulkier than Droid X, way faster, 4G is great, camera sucks

Disappointments (if any) - camera is may be a deal breaker, probably may be returning this thing and getting the Galaxy Nexus, tested the Razr in-store...its camera was equally bad basically the same.

Camera takes excellent macro photos, quick comparisons to my Incredible and Droid X indicate that the Rezound camera is a bit better. I really need to post some side-by-side tests.
 
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dennism1358

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I have had the Rezound since Saturday coming from the DX and I love the camera with this phone so much better. With the DX low light pic’s sucked and I have taken pic’s in every type of light with the Rezound and the quality is like night and day to me
 

Hanko

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Can any of you confirm that it uses microUSB, the demo unit that was in the Verizon store today looked like something different.
 

wckesq

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Can any of you confirm that it uses microUSB, the demo unit that was in the Verizon store today looked like something different.
Yep, all my Dinc and BB chargers and computer cables work fine. The output is a little different to accommodate HDMI Out. Haven't fooled with that yet.
 

bberrynewbie84

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I have had the Rezound since Saturday coming from the DX and I love the camera with this phone so much better. With the DX low light pic?s sucked and I have taken pic?s in every type of light with the Rezound and the quality is like night and day to me

I'm happy no now that,Im getting my rezound tomorrow and I'm coming from a DX as well, and I hate the picture quailty.
 

Bravozero

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IMO... if you're obsessed with having a good camera, carry one with you. A camera on a cell phone should not be a deal breaker. If so, try another camera app instead like Camera ZOOM, made a huge difference on my old Bionic.

Anyway, I went to the local VZW store and played with the Rezound... fell in love with it. The screen in itself is fantastic, no pixelation and beautiful NATURAL colors, not cartoonish and vivid like the AMOLED screens. It's very fast, great 4G speeds, call quality was better than the RAZR they had in the store... big winner for me and as soon as I get $649 together I will be going up and buying one.

The RAZR is a failure, the screen is vivid, yet very pixelated because they still use a Pentile-matrix AMOLED screen. Call quality was better on the Rezound which was the most surprising feature believe it or not. No, it's not a Droid-branded device, but I will take something that kicks ass over something with just a Droid name to it. Android is Android.
 
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You know... I've got the Bionic... Had the DX before it. I've always been fans of Moto and HTC... I was thinking about bailing ship from moto to the Gnex... But I'm going to keep a close eye on the reviews for this phone. Hardware wise it one ups the Gnex.... I'm just wondering what HTC will do with ICS when the phone gets it.
 
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Bravozero

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A review was just done on this site, it's on the main page.

The only big negative is the fact that the phone is thick, which doesn't bother me at all. I'm using an OG droid which is just as thick, if not maybe .5mm thicker, than the Rezound and I'm fine with it. At least you know that it'll be a solid build and not thin and frail-like with the RAZR. The battery situation can be fixed easily, as the batteries available for the Tbolt work with the Rezound.

LBF... if you come to the Rezound, that would be awesome. Your themes for the Bionic were fantastic, as I've mentioned a few times on RootzWiki.
 

pheatton

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I picked mine up yesterday around 1130 EST. I went straight to work and swapped my SIM back to my Thunderbolt and charged it fully. I then set it all up at home.


Aesthetics - Feels very good in the hand. Not quite as wide as the Thunderbolt which makes it easier to hold for me. Seems to weigh less also.

Screen - Very good screen! You can immediately tell its a higher rez looking at it and the Thunderbolt

Hardware - Hardware looks and feels sturdy. The SD card does not have the normal spring loaded mechanism which I miss. Volume buttons are sometimes a little hard to push. Power button is fine for me and does not rattle like the Thunderbolt does now. No light leakage like the Thunderbolt.

Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage - BT works fine with my 2011 MINI Cooper S and I have not used the speaker phone yet. The speaker is plenty loud though playing music and videos.

Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) Sense is Sense and I love it. 3.5 is very cool with the new weather and overall changes. I like the spinning home screens instead of the scrolling. I do miss the downloadable widgets like the Sticky pad etc. I also miss the Flashlight app and the Battery Widget. I carried them over from my TB but they dont display correctly.

Widgets - Great new widgets but I do miss the ones you could download
.
Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - Signal seems to hold better in the office then the TB but overall good so far.

GPS - Have not had to use it yet

Social Networking - Sense UI integration is just what I would expect.

Email/Calendar - Works great as always. Now if I could get the Google Calendar Sync to work with Outlook 2010 that would be awesome...

Battery Life - So far on my first full charge I have gone way past what my Thunderbolt you get. Im looking at 50% battery left and unplugged for 7 hours now.

Performance - Good performance, phone is ridiculously fast. I have seen some very small hangs when loading very long lists ie contacts but overall very good.

Media (music, movies, DLNA) - Music is great, the Music app is much more feature rich then the Thunderbolt. I do think the sound quality is a little better than the Thunderbolt. The Beats feature does improve the audio over my little portable headphones but I will test with my Grado SR80s tonight.

Keyboard's - From what I have used its very good and easy to read and use.

Camera (both still & video) - Have not really used it that much

How the Rezound compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable) - Compared to both the Incredible and the Thunderbolt, personally I think it was worth the $270 I paid for it. I like the form factor and size and the performance and battery life is good.

Disappointments (if any) - I do miss the downloadable widgets and the Flashlight app. Its kinda strange that HTC left these out as I do see the Flashlight plugin listed when you look at all apps and Tiny Flashlight does work but never shows up in the app list...
 
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AeroEngi

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A review was just done on this site, it's on the main page.

The only big negative is the fact that the phone is thick, which doesn't bother me at all. I'm using an OG droid which is just as thick, if not maybe .5mm thicker, than the Rezound and I'm fine with it. At least you know that it'll be a solid build and not thin and frail-like with the RAZR. The battery situation can be fixed easily, as the batteries available for the Tbolt work with the Rezound.

LBF... if you come to the Rezound, that would be awesome. Your themes for the Bionic were fantastic, as I've mentioned a few times on RootzWiki.

Thin and frail like the RAZR? Have you even held one?
 

Bravozero

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Thin and frail like the RAZR? Have you even held one?

As a matter of fact I have, I'm not fond of how thin it is compared to every other smartphone out there. The fact that it's wide and tall yet so thin is just waiting for someone to snap it in half by accident, despite the Kevlar backing.

So if you don't mind, please keep this on topic about the Rezound.
 

didiwags

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I got mine today and have really only played with the camera. (my son had a family night at the local childrens museum through school). I love this camera! Way better then the DX!!!! :) I do not even miss the actual camera button!
 

georgekn3mp

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I bought the Rezound as my first smart phone on Launch day 11/14 after waiting a couple of weeks. That delay to launch allowed me to research the big 3 phones launching in November...Galaxy Nexus, Razr and Rezound. To me the Rezound won on a couple of points over the other two devices.

Impressions -
Aesthetics - I like the red accents, and the capacitive buttons in red. It just does look better to me than HOME buttons in bright white...I do like the soft back but then the Rezound-speific VZW clip/holster negates some of that. It definitely should not drop into a toilet either bare or in the case..



Screen- The 720p screen is beautifully sharp...Retina display is falling behind I'd say! No earlier phone I can compare but a few friends have a Thunderbolt, Sammy Stratosphere and a Bionic and I like the S-LCD better than SAMOLED penTile on those...at least for clarity. Richer colors and blacks on SAMOLED but to me they are just blurry compared to Rezound's 342 dpi. Yes the fonts appear tiny on some sites but "pinch to zoom" usually resolves that! The GNex may fix the blurry but I would say the 1280x720pscreen at 4.3" inches is a better looking display than my Nook Color at 1024X600 even though that is an IPS LCD.

Hardware - I love the red-plastic see-through under the battery cover, it just looks neat. I have seen the 2700 mAh battery which requires a new back cover but at least it doesn't need a rubber band to hold that in like the T-Bolt does.
As it is, it fits my hand better than the Razr, that phone was just too "wide" side-to-side for me. The GNex may be a better fit but the Rezound just feels natural to me. Easy to reach across the screen with either hand.

Phone - LG Bluetooth paired fine, very good call quality. I love the voice-to-dial over BT except if the kids are too loud and they hadn't realized that talking about Siri they had played with a VZW made the phone try to CALL Siri at some strange number ;) I have to teach them not to say "Call Police" where the BT can hear them. :)



Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) - The buttons for power and volume are almost too recessed. Hard to find by touch, even more so in the case.


Widgets - Once I got updated HTC drivers to load then HTC Sync, then the Backup Assistant stopped bugging me, and was able to load the music/video gallerys direct from PC. I like Sense with multiple homes, and swiping through all the screens is a lot easier than on Rzar, where you can go 3 screens to the left then have to go back to the right where in Sense you roll over without having to "back up".

The ALL APPS capacitive button is kind of redundant and can't be edited..

Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - Wifi-N was seamless and was giving DL speeds over 25 Mbps. 4G is close to that in my area but at work it does tend to flip from LTE to 3G depending on where I am in the building. No DEATH GRIP!


GPS - Quick, and works well with the compass in Google Maps, watching it change to match orientation!

Social Networking - Facebook widget is nice, and even better is FriendStream widget as its own "screen".

Email/Calendar - I liike the Notifications bar, and YahooMail integrates well with it.

Battery Life - Still testing, but the BT headset battery seems a shorter life. Im still learning location-based "actions" settings to turn off BT / Wifi / etc when leaving house / going into work. I need an APP for that (SmartActions would be nice. I did like that part of Blur during comparison..)



Performance - Very fast, no stutters I have seen, I like the Ring to unlock and photos on the lock screen customized. No problems opening apps but it does seem to use a lot of the 1GB phone memory even being aggressive with task manager. 186 MB free memory with not that many widgets opened, maybe a few live notifications pulling down data.

Media (music, movies, DLNA) - Awesome youTube streaming even at 720p resolution. And video caches invisibly to me...ibeats really pounds the bass...


Keyboards - Kind of small fonts to pick at but I'm learning..new to smartphone keys.

Camera (both still & video) - stills seem yellowish in dimmer lighting and somewhat blurry, so I am disappointed since I heard the f2.2 camera was really good. It did seem to clear up after a few pics so I am still evaulating. Havent tried much video capture yet.


Speed - Quadrant test and Speed test along with nenaMark1 and 2 were somewhat impressive, just not TOP of the line like a SGS2... must be the Snapdragon. It appears to be in the top 10-20 in results and that's good enough for me...

Can't wait for ICS though. GNex almost sold me on that but the specs for Rezound carried the day...for me.
 

kenc3dan

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Calendar is all fouled up. Google Calendar sync doing crazy stuff. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving apparently, if I believe my Rezound. Checked with Google Calendar in the browser and it has it listed correctly. Too basic a problem to overlook.
UPDATE, PROBLEM RESOLVED. They swapped my Rezound, problem did not return!
 
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SPD

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Just got my Rezound this evening. Coming from the Thunderbolt this phone is a huge step up. I love it! Feels absolutely perfect in the hand, not too big at all. TB felt much bigger. Screen is super crisp, iPhone 4 like. By far the best phone I've ever had.
 

Nerelda

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Calendar is all fouled up. Google Calendar sync doing crazy stuff. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving apparently, if I believe my Rezound. Checked with Google Calendar in the browser and it has it listed correctly. Too basic a problem to overlook.
UPDATE, PROBLEM RESOLVED. They swapped my Rezound, problem did not return!


Thanks for this update! I'm thrilled with this resolve! :)