HTC officially announces the Rhyme for Verizon, Europe, Asia

And here it is, folks: the HTC Rhyme (aka the Bliss). Coming to Verizon on Sept. 22, the 3.7-inch smartphone has Android 2.3, a 3.7-inch WVGA (480x800) display and a 5MP camera, along with the latest version of HTC Sense, seen only in leaks until now. It's also got a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 768MB of RAM.

The real story, of course, are the accessories. There's the plugless dock (the trio of gold contacts is a telltale that you just place the phone in it), a glowing "charm cable" that plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack, a sports armband and a Bluetooth headset. Note that the tangle-free earbuds are NOT of the Beats Audio variety.

The Rhyme -- which will cost $199 for all that purple goodness -- will be hitting Europe and Asia next month as well.

We're at HTC's event now -- hands-on impressions coming up.

Phil Nickinson