In January, the HTC U Ultra and U Play came to life, but none of these two devices has reached the public. While the high-end U Ultra is expected to start shipping in the Middle East today, the company has just made it official for those in India.
In an event held in the country, the tech giant has finally launched the HTC U Ultra and U Play in India. Even though not revolutionary as many would expect, the HTC U Ultra happens to be the first from the company to come with a secondary ticker display that resembles the LG V10 and V20. You will also come across the company’s Sense Companion, which is just another AI-powered application that is meant to make your life with the phones more interesting.
Both HTC U Ultra and U Play come with support for fingerprint scanning technology embedded in their physical home buttons. Furthermore, you can also proceed with biometric voice controls if nee there be. HTC says that the phones have four low-powered microphones that are always on and ready to respond to any voice commands you give to them, but there is no 3.5mm headphone jack, instead, the USB-C port takes its place.
The high-end U Ultra has a 5.7-inch QHD display with Gorilla Glass 5 on top as well as a resolution of 1440p. As for the secondary screen, you get a 2-inch size as well as a QHD resolution. Under the hood, the HTC U Ultra comes with a Snapdragon 821 SoC clocked at a speed of 2.15GHz and paired with a RAM of 4GB. These are then paired with 64GB of expandable storage.
HTC went for a 12MP Ultra Pixel 2 camera on the back and added PDAF, OIS as well as laser AF, among other features. As for the front camera, there is a 16MP Ultra Pixel lens that promises the best selfies possible. Software-wise, the HTC U Ultra has Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Extras include Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, fast charging and a decent 3000mAh battery unit.
As for the HTC U Play, you get a 5.2-inch display screen with a Full HD resolution as well as Gorilla Glass protection. But under the hood, there is no Snapdragon processor, instead, you come across a MediaTek Helio P10 chipset that is paired with the same 4GB RAM as the U Ultra. The storage capacity is also the same at 64GB with room to expand it via a microSD card slot. In terms of photography, the HTC U Play has a 16MP main camera with OIS, PDAF and dual-tone LED flash while the front carries the same 16MP shooter with Ultra Pixel mode that the HTC U Ultra uses.
While perks such as NFC and 4G LTE are on board, the HTC U Play comes with Android Marshmallow out of the box and a smaller battery unit of 2500mAh. Although disappointing, the weaker specs mean that the phone also gets a lower price tag of Rs 39,990 as compared to the Rs 59,990 needed for the HTC U Ultra. Despite launching them today, the two will be available for purchase by mid-March.