[ WWW.TECHLIFE.NET ] [ 015 ]
HTC U ULTRA
$1,
http://www.htc.com/au
CRITICAL SPECS
Android 7.0; 5.7-inch
Super LCD5 display
@ 1440 p; 2.05-inch
secondary display
@ 160 x 1,040-pixels;
quad-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon 821 CPU;
Adreno 530 GPU;
64 GB onboard storage;
microSD slot up to 256GB;
dual-SIM (4G/LTE and
2G/3G); 162 .4 x 79.8 x
8mm; 170 gWHILE THE NEW HTC U Ultra isn’t quite a
flagship product for the Taiwanese phone
maker, it still packs some impressive specs
— and the company is obviously hoping it
may tempt fans into upgrading before the
upcoming HTC 11 launches. So does the
HTC U Ultra do enough differently to stand
out from the rest of the crowd and, more
importantly, justify its premium price tag?
The headline feature of the U Ultra is its
dual-screen design. The primary display is
a gorgeous Super LCD5 5.7-inch display with
a QHD resolution — that’s 2,560 x 1,
pixels — while the smaller 2.05-inch display
has a resolution of 160 x 1,040 and displays
a series of apps in a similar fashion to the
second screen on the LG V20. This can be
useful for notetaking or Spotify integration
due to the immediate access of controls and
constant display of reminders.
Another highlight of the U Ultra is a new
AI feature called HTC Sense Companion
(HSC) which, among other things, will work
out your favourite people, offer power-saving
suggestions based on your daily schedule,
[ HTC ULTRA, Y U NO GREAT PHONE ]
Here’s lookin’ at U, kid
HTC’S NEW U ULTRA ANDROID PHONE EMPLOYS A NOVEL DUAL-DISPLAY DESIGN,
BUT DOES IT JUSTIFY ITS PREMIUM PRICE TAG?
[ JAMES PECKHAM ]
[] ]
HTC U ULTRAWINNERAPPROVED
AWARDand check whether you really want that
meeting reminder to go off when it’s a
national holiday.
The HTC U Ultra’s ‘liquid surface’ back
design combines glass and metal, appearing
as either a single block colour or pearlescent,
depending on how the light plays off it,
and it looks pretty stunning from afar.
The subtle curve of the phone is nice to
hold in the palm, allowing for a better grip
than you might expect, although its
lightweight design ultimately means it lacks
satisfying heft and its larger width may
inconvenience those with smaller hands.
HTC is renowned for its quality front-
facing speakers but, like the headphone port,
these are missing from the U Ultra, which is
disappointing, considering HTC’s superior
audio capabilities in previous phones.
Under the hood is a quad-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon 821 processor backed up by
4GB of RAM, although running the phone
through benchmarking software, we found it
returned an average score of 3,851. That’s OK
for a mid-range phone, but it’s not really31 / 2strong enough considering the price of the
U Ultra, and it pales in comparison to the
HTC 10 (4,962) and Samsung Galaxy S
(6,542). There’s a 3,000mAh battery here
powering that large QHD screen and high-
end processor, and we’re disappointed HTC
didn’t opt for a larger cell as the phone would
regularly die off towards the end of the day.
The 12MP rear sensor is remarkably
similar to the HTC 10’s camera, which we
didn’t exactly fall in love with. We found that
auto mode made for darker pictures, and the
autofocus wasn’t fantastic. The front-facing
camera is a big upgrade over the HTC 10
and the 16MP sensor is even bigger than
the U Ultra’s rear shooter, offering video
recording at Full HD, as well as an auto-
HDR mode.
In the end, the U Ultra is a phone that
doesn’t really know where it sits in the
market, and it’s hard to fathom who it was
built for. It takes a lot of what made the
HTC 10 a great device and sprinkles on a
little extra, but the design is very different,
and it all comes at a higher price.