HTC has finally unveiled their new line of ‘U’ phones for 2017. Called the U Ultra and U Play, the former for now is the company’s flagship, while the U Play will play its smaller, lesser spec-ed cousin. Both phones get an all-new design and feature an all-glass, glossy, slippery exterior, which HTC calls Liquid Surface construction. The phones also come with HTC’s new smarter, self-learning “U” AI companion and get rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack in favor of a Type-C port. Both will come bundled with USonic earphones. Let’s take a look at their specifications.
HTC U Ultra
Measuring 162.41 x 79.79 x 3.6-7.99 mm, the HTC U Ultra weighs 170 grams. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 64-bit quad-core processor clocked at 2.15GHz, it comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage (expandable up to 2TB via a microSD card). A limited edition 128GB variant with Sapphire glass coating for the screen will arrive later. The U Ultra comes with a dual display setup – a 5.7-inch, SUPER LCD 5, Quad HD main display (2560×1440 pixels) and a 2-inch secondary screen (160×1040 pixels). While the bigger screen serves as the main display, the smaller screen will display notifications, shortcuts, reminders and music controls. The screen gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
The HTC U Ultra gets a 16MP front camera with an UltraPixel mode and a BSI sensor which supports full HD 1080p video recording. The rear camera is a 12MP HTC UltraPixel unit with f/1.8 aperture, BSI sensor, OIS, PDAF and laser autofocus. It comes with dual-tone flash and supports 4K video recording. It uses HTC’s USonic and BoomSound technology for sound output.
The HTC U Ultra runs Android 7.0 Nougat with HTC Sense on top. The phone is backed by a 3,000 mAh battery which offers talk-time of up to 26 hours and a standby time of up to 13 days. Sensors on the device include 4G VOLTE, an Ambient light sensor proximity, motion G, compass, gyro magnetic, fingerprint and Sensor Hub for activity tracking. It supports GPS + AGPS, GLONASS and Beidou. Connectivity options include USB Type-C, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5GHz), NFC and HTC Connect. The HTC U Ultra goes on sale today for $749 (Approx Rs. 50,100) and is available in Pink, Blue, Black and White. Deliveries in Taiwan will begin by the end of this month, while availability in the rest of the world will be by March end.
HTC U Play
Measuring 145.99 x 72.9 x 3.5-7.99 mm, the HTC U Play weighs 145 grams. Still running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it gets a 5.2-inch full HD display with Gorilla Glass coating. The U Play is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 64-bit octa-core processor with 3GB/4GB RAM and 32GB/64GB internal memory options. Storage is expandable up to 2TB via a microSD card.
The dual SIM, 4G VOLTE enabled phone supports nano SIM cards and is backed by a 2,500 mAh battery that offers talk-time of up to 15.21 hours and a standby time of up to 427.54 hours. It features an extreme power saving mode and fast charging technology.
The HTC U Play features a 16MP primary camera with a BSI sensor, PDAF, OIS and f/2.0 aperture. It supports full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps. There’s a 16MP front camera with UltraPixel mode, BSI sensor and f/2.0 aperture. Sensors on the device include ambient light, proximity, motion G, compass, gyro, magnetic, fingerprint and Sensor Hub for activity tracking. It supports GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5GHz), NFC and HTC Connect. Expect this phone to be available sometime in the second quarter of 2017.
