HTC has launched its latest flagship smartphone in the all-new HTC U series, the HTC U Ultra at an event in India. The smartphone was first sighted in January when it was officially announced, and just last week, the company sent out invites for the phone’s launch event which took place today.
What makes the U Ultra spectacular is its secondary display which was present on the LG V20 and gives you access to some extra useful functions alongside the ones the main display gives you. The U Ultra was announced alongside another new HTC smartphone in the U series, the HTC U Play.
HTC U Ultra Specifications, Review and Highlights
Display & Design
The HTC U Ultra comes with a 5.7-inch Super LCD 5 primary display with a Quad HD resolution and Gorilla Glass 5 protection for the standard 64GB ROM variant and Sapphire Glass protection for the 128GB ROM variant. It also has a 2.05-inch secondary display which is made with the same technology as the primary and has a 1040 * 160 pixel resolution and 520 PPI pixel density.
The phone is made of metal and both the front and back are covered with glass finishing, the rear glass being fully curved at all edges.
Storage & Processor
Under the hood, the HTC U Ultra is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with a 2.15 clock frequency and an Adreno 530 GPU.
It has 4GB of RAM and comes in 64GB and 128GB internal memory variants, both of which can be expanded up to 2TB via its microSD card slot.
Camera
The flagship smartphone sports a 12MP UltraPixel 2 camera with a dual-tone LED flash at the rear and a 16MP selfie shooter with UltraPixel mode and a f/2.0 aperture at the front.
The rear camera can capture excellent pictures in low-light situations since it has a f/1.8 aperture. It also has OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) for capturing more stable images, and its Laser Autofocus (AF) feature allows it to focus on images faster.
Battery & Connectivity
It packs a 3000mAh battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 feature which allows you to charge the battery up to 56% in just 30 minutes.
Like in recent HTC smartphones, the U Ultra lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and forces you to make all your connections through its USB 3.1 Type-C port. You can make wireless and seamless payment transactions with the phone since it comes enabled with NFC.
The phone comes with a hybrid dual Nano SIM slot and supports 4G LTE networks.
Software & Hardware
On the hardware side, the HTC U Ultra uses the HTC Usonic and BoomSound Hi-Fi audio technologies with 3D Audio recording with 4 microphones. It also sports a fingerprint sensor embedded into its home button present below the display.
The smartphone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with HTC’s Sense UI layered on top. Software-wise, the HTC U Ultra comes with HTC’s new smartphone AI – HTC Sense Companion which learns about its user over time, offers advice based on his/her preferences, and helps the user to carry out tasks on the smartphone.
HTC U Ultra Full Phone Specifications
General
| Device Brand | HTC |
| Model | U Ultra |
| Announced | January 12, 2017 |
| Released | February 21, 2017 |
| Status | Available |
Network
| 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 GHz |
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 GHz |
| 4G Network | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 17(700), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) |
| SIM Type | Nano SIM |
| SIM Count | Dual Hybrid SIM |
Data
| 2G | GPRS Up to 32 to 48 kbps; EDGE – up to 236.8 kbps |
| 3G | Up to 42.2 Mbps (HSDPA), 5.76 Mbps;(HSUPA) |
| 4G | Up to 300/50 Mbps |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE Cat6 300/50 Mbps |
| Web Browser | Yes, HTML5 |
Design
| Type | Smartphone |
| Dimensions | 162.4 * 79.8 * 8 mm |
| Weight | 170 g |
| Build | Metal Unibody Design. |
| Protection | n/a |
| Colors | Sapphire Blue, Brilliant Black, Cosmetic Pink & Ice White |
Display
| Display Type | Super LCD 5 Capacitive touchscreen |
| Size | 5.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 * 2560 pixels |
| Colors | 16M colors |
| Pixel Density | ~513 ppi pixel density |
| Touch Screen | Yes |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5/Sapphire Glass |
| Features | ~69.7% screen-to-body ratio |
| Secondary Display | 2.0 inches (Super LCD 5 | 1040 * 160 pixels | 520 PPI |
Camera
| 12MP UltraPixel 2 Camera | |
| f/1.8 aperture, 1.55µm pixel size, OIS, Laser & Phase Detection Autofocus, 1/2.3” sensor size | |
| Yes | |
| 4K Video | |
| Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, Auto-HDR, panorama | |
| Yes, Dual-tone LED flash (Primary) | |
| 16MP | |
| f/2.0 aperture & UltraPixel mode |
Software
| Android OS, v7.0 (Nougat) | |
| HTC Sense | |
| Yes | |
| Skype | Yes |
| Yes | |
| Yes | |
| Youtube | Yes |
Hardware
| 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM 8996) | |
| CPU | Quad-Core 2.15 GHz |
| GPU | Adreno 530 |
| 4GB RAM | |
| Internal Storage | 64GB/128GB |
| Expandable up to 2TB (microSD) [hybrid] | |
| Accelerometer, Proximity, Light, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyroscope, Compass | |
| Controls | – |
Connectivity
| Yes, Bluetooth v4.2 A2DP, LE | |
| Infrared | n/a |
| Wi-Fi | Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4 & 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA |
| Wi-fi Hotspot | Yes |
| USB Type | Yes; USB v3.1 Type-C reversible connector, USB On-the Go (OTG) |
| GPS | Yes, GPS + A-GPS + GLONASS + BDS |
| NFC | Yes |
| HDMI | n/a |
| Yes (Qualcomm Fast Charge 3.0) |
Battery
| Battery Type | Li-Ion Battery |
| Capacity | 3000 mAh Battery |
| Placement | Non-removable |
| Standby | Up to 312 h (3G) |
| Talk Time | Up to 26 h (3G) |
| Music Play | – |
Messaging
| SMS | Yes (threaded view) |
| MMS | Yes |
| Yes, IMAP4, POP3, SMTP | |
| IM | Yes |
Media
| Yes, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, MIDI, WAV, AC3, FLAC | |
| Video Playback | Yes, 3GP, Mp4, MPEG4, H.263, H.264 player |
| n/a | |
| Yes, FM radio No | |
| Vibration, Ringtones | |
| MP3, WAV | |
| Yes | |
| No |
Other Features
| – MP4/H.264 player – MP3/WAV/eAAC+/Flac player – Photo/video editor – Document viewer |
Availability and Price of HTC U Ultra in India
The HTC U Ultra comes in Sapphire Blue, Brilliant Black, Ice White and Cosmetic Pink colours and will be available in India starting from the 6th of March. The smartphone comes with a one-year insurance and 7.5% cashback when you use your Standatd Charted card (debit or credit) to order it between the 6th and 31st of March.
The HTC U Ultra costs Rs. 59,999 in India, which in my opinion as is many others, overpriced for a smartphone that uses a MediaTek processor.