The HTC Rezound is the first product to bear the fruits of HTC’s $300 million investment in Beats Electronics LLC which was announced back in August. The deal afforded HTC a majority stake in the company along with exclusive rights to use Beats Audio products on mobile phones.
Beats is subtitled with a ‘by Dr. Dre’ byline and is also partnered with Monster Cable Products. The company seeks to bring quality audio back to mainstream consumers.
The investment on HTC’s part was rather interesting as they seem to have been trying to copy the Beats headphone style for quite some time. They may have copied the Beats aesthetics, but HTC headphones were absolutely lacking in the audio quality department [see the ‘Headphones’ section of my HTC Rhyme review].
From the consumer side, HTC’s investment in Beats is certainly a good thing, as long as the price doesn’t spill-over too much into the cost of the phone.
The inclusion of the iBeats headphones with the HTC Rezound, which normally retail for $120, is a great value-add to the HTC Rezound. HTC went from including headphones that were really just a joke to anyone serious about music, to including a pair of headphones that definitely sets the bar for headphones that come included with mobile devices. These blow Apple’s iconic earbuds out of the water.
The iBeats aren’t the greatest headphones I’ve ever used, but they are going to be a significant upgrade to anyone who has subsisted completely on headphones that come bundled with some other product. I’ll have a more detailed analysis of the headphones, and any tweaks that HTC made to the Rezound itself in the name of Beats, in my full review which will be coming soon.
If you’ve got any question about the HTC Rezound or the included iBeats headphones, drop them here and I’ll be happy to answer them. For now, you can get an early peek at the HTZ Rezound in the gallery below: