We go hands-on with the HTC Rhyme, the cool accessories are here, too [HANDS-ON]

Another week, another HTC party – we didn’t even make it through the door when we were greeted by a lavender-colored Android miniature keychain. From then on, it was an easy guess that the HTC Rhyme is the guest of honor.

The Rhyme is designed with an emphasis on style and boasts a ton of accessories.

Kicking off the HTC event

The hardware isn’t exactly new – it’s basically a Desire S. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sense UI 3.5 out of the box and features the HTC Watch movie streaming service.

The sheer number of accessories is what sets the HTC Rhyme apart from its siblings. First off, there’s the tangle-free in-ear wired headset with music controls, then comes the color-coordinated wireless Bluetooth headset.

But wait there’s more – a docking station (with speakers) and a sports armband. There’s also a car speaker accessory. The so-called “Charm cable” is a real attention grabber – it serves a notifications for incoming calls and messages.

The dock, wired headset and charm cable come in the box

In the retail box, you’d get the Charm cable, the docking station and the wired headset. It’s not clear at this point how much the rest of the accessories will cost.

The Bluetooth headset, car speaker and armband cost extra

We also spend a short time with the HTC Rhyme itself – it will be available in lavender and silver. The lavender is quite noticeable as it is a fairly unusual color, but then again those that want a dull version that you can’t tell apart from a Desire S can get the silver one.

The HTC Rhyme in lavender and silver color schemes

Here are a few close-up shots of the accessories, too. The dock is detected automatically and plays music through its speakers cable-free. The in-ear headset features handy music controls.

The speaker dock and the tangle-free wired headset

The Charm cable is also a standard accessory and comes in two colors (depends on which color version of the HTC Rhyme you get). It plugs into the 3.5mm audio jack and glows to notify you of incoming calls and messages – interesting as an idea, but occupying the audio jack for that may prove to be a problem.

Also, check out the car speaker and the variety of colored (and transparent) cases that are available for the Rhyme.

The charm cable • the car speaker • the selection of cases for the HTC Rhyme

The HTC Rhyme runs Sense UI 3.5, which is another novelty compared to the Desire S – it now lets you delete homescreen, here it is in action:

Deleting homescreens in Sense UI 3.5

The HTC Rhyme will be available in GSM and CDMA flavors. Verizon has exclusivity on the handset in the US and will start selling it on September 29th for $200. The global GSM version is coming out in October (there’s no pricing info for that one yet).