HTC's Dr. Dre-Branded Rezound Will Cost You $299

Thus proving that cash really does rule everything around us.

ZoomMonths after leaking last summer, and having undergone a name-change from its original Vigor code name, HTC has officially unveiled the Rezound, its upcoming Verizon-exclusive Android (Gingerbread) smartphone available on November 14th starting at $299 if you purchase a 2-year contract.

Rezound is a beefy little guy, with a dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor, 16 GB of on board memory, a 4.3 inch HD screen with 720p display featuring a 2-megapixel front camera for video chat and the ability to charge wirelessly. The 8-megapixel camera is sounds like a winner too, with dual LED flash, 28mm wide-angle lens and numerous modes like panorama and action burst. All drool-worthy features, but the big selling point is that it features Beats Audio integration, derived from the Dr. Dre-branded headphones that can cost as much as $400. Rezound will be the first phone available in the U.S. utilizing the audio tech; Europeans got it with HTC's Sensation phone back in September.

It's a sleek gadget to be sure, and Beats Audio, even on tiny earbuds, sounds like a great idea. On the other hand, Verizon also sells iPhone. Though unlikely to pry away iPhone users from their precious status symbol, Rezound gives people looking to pay too much for phone service a choice in how good they'll look with the LTE network's arbitrary data caps.