After several months, HTC has finally come up with two new smartphones in the new 'U-series' - the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play. The major highlight of the U Ultra is its secondary 2-inch 520 PPI display, placed above the main display. Comparable to LG's V20 that came out with the same concept. On the other hand, the HTC U Play is a compact variant of the HTC U Ultra, without the secondary display and a 5.2-inch full HD main display.
HTC U Ultra
For the HTC U Ultra, the company claims that it has devised an unusual process called "optical spectrum hybrid deposition” to give multi-layered color look to Glass. The phone is also integrated with HTC's own Sense Companion software that offers suggestions based on users preference. The AI-based software detects your most significant contacts and apps. After accumulating the data, it displays correlated notifications on the secondary screen. It will also remind the user to charge the phone if your schedule shows that your phone's battery may die before you go to bed.
The HTC U Ultra comes with a 5.7-inch Quad HD main screen and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM. Like other HTC phones, this one also features BoomSound audio paired with four microphones for recording 3D audio. Notably, with HTC U Ultra, the company has ditched 3.5mm audio jack for USB Type-C audio connectivity. It comes in 64GB/128GB internal storage variants, wherein storage is expandable up to 2TB via microSD card. The phone runs Android 7.0 Nougat with HTC Sense UI out-of-the-box.
In the imaging department, the phone sports a 12-Ultrapixel camera, similar to the HTC 10 with dual-tone LED flash, 4K video recording, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, and OIS. There is a 16-megapixel front-facing camera onboard with f/2.0 aperture, 28mm lens, and the UltraPixel mode. For connectivity, the phone supports Hybrid Dual-SIM (nano+nano/microSD), 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Fingerprint Sensor, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS with GLONASS, NFC, and USB 3.1 Type-C. A 3000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 technology backs the device.
HTC U Play
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, the HTC U Play is a compact variant of the HTC U Ultra without the secondary display. It comes with a 5.2-inch Full HD Super LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 chipset coupled with Mali T860 GPU. It is unveiled in two variants - 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage and 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage (expandable storage up to 2TB via microSD card). Just like the HTC U Ultra, this one also lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and has USB 2.0 Type-C audio connectivity instead. It features HTC USonic speakers with Dual microphones and noise cancelation.
The phone runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with HTC Sense UI out-of-the-box. In the imaging department, it features a 16MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, and OIS. There is a 16-megapixel front-facing camera onboard with f/2.0 aperture, 28mm lens, and the UltraPixel mode. For connectivity, the phone supports Hybrid Dual-SIM (nano+nano/microSD), 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Fingerprint Sensor, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS with GLONASS, NFC, and USB 2.0 Type-C. A 2500mAh battery with fast charging backs the device.
Pricing and Availability
The HTC U Ultra is launched in Sapphire Blue, Comestic Pink, Brilliant Black and Ice White color options. The phone is already up for pre-ordering in the US via htc.com for $750 ( approx. Rs. 51,000). The 128GB Sapphire Glass storage variant is priced at US$ 911 (approx. Rs. 62,015). The shipping for the phone will start from March 2017. On the other hand, the HTC U Play is also announced in Sapphire Blue, Comestic Pink, Brilliant Black and Ice White color options. It is priced at US$ 438 (approx. Rs. 29,813) for the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant. It will also start shipping in March 2017.
HTC has not yet revealed any information regarding the availability of these devices in India. Stay tuned with us to get more news on HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play's launch in India.
