HTC on Thursday introduced a Rezound smartphone that will ship ready to upgrade to Android 4.0.
The Rezound smartphone will provide users with the best multimedia experience of any smartphone on the market, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, at a launch event in New York.
The upgrade to the recently introduced Android 4.0 mobile OS, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, could take place as soon as early next year, HTC officials said.
Rezound has a 4.3-inch screen and will be available for Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network on Nov. 14 for US$299.99.
The device includes advanced audio capabilities with Beats technology. HTC wants to revolutionize audio capabilities in mobile devices, Chou said.
Beats involves software and hardware to bring stronger sound to devices through speakers and headsets. The Beats technology, which musician Dr. Dre helped develop, is also used in Hewlett-Packard laptops.
There was a time when speakers mattered, but the quality of audio has degraded with the digital revolution, said Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Beats by Dr. Dre and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, at the event.
By the time a song gets from an MP3 player, through a headset and into a person’s ear, it loses a lot of sound quality.
“We have to bring the quality back,” Iovine said.
Rezound takes some design cues from HTC’s Droid Incredible smartphone line. It has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 32GB of storage. An 8-megapixel camera allows recording of video in full 1080p high-definition resolution. Battery life was not immediately available.
The smartphone will also ship with a custom pair of Beats headsets.