HTC Shows Off The HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play

HTC has announced two new phones that will be coming soon to select markets, the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play.  The new lineup is a departure in design for HTC with both phones having a curved glass design over metal designs like the HTC 10.  What’s interesting here is that HTC isn’t being real clear on if the new U lineup is replacing the 10 or if it is a complementary device.  With the 5.7″ Ultra expected to be around $749, it certainly has a flagship price tag to go along with the flagship specs.

Focusing on the HTC U Ultra, it has a 5.7″ Quad HD display along with a 2′ secondary display that is 160 x 1040 in resolution.  That secondary display is aimed for things like notifications and is strikingly similar to the second display on the LG V20.  Powering the phone is a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor running at 2.15GHz and is coupled with the Adreno 530 GPU.  It has 4GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage which can be expanded up to an additional 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  You will also find a fingerprint scanner built into the Ultra.

The main camera of the Ultra is a 12MP shooter with laser auto focus, phase detection auto focus, OIS and a dual tone LED flash.  The front facing camera is an even more impressive 16MP shooter.  The Ultra has a 3000 mAh battery which is good but battery life will be interesting to find out as the 5.7″ display is certainly going to draw a fair amount of juice.  All of this in a sleek package that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.  What is not know is which markets or even a definitive launch date for the Ultra.  It looks like the price will be around $750 but that’s about all that is know otherwise.

As for the HTC U Play, it is more of their mid-range offering which has slightly lower specs in some areas and a different processor to keep the costs down.  The Play has a 5.2″ Full HD display and

HTC U Ultra

is powered by the MediaTek Helio P10 Processor.  It has 3GB of RAM in the base model (4GB is available too) and has either 32 or 64GB of storage.  There is a MicroSD slot so you can expand that out to an additional 256GB.  Like the Ultra, the Play has a fingerprint scanner for quick access.

The cameras on the U Play are not bad with the main camera being a 16MP shooter with OIS and PDAF.  It has a dual tone flash and can shoot 1080p video.  The front camera is also 16MP.  The Play is powered by a 2500 mAh battery which on a 5.2″ device should do well but it does come with USB-C for charging so it can recharge quickly.

While the U Ultra will be running Android Nougat, the U Play will be shipping with Marshmallow which is a bit of a head-scratcher and a disappointment.

So what do you think?  Do you like the look of these new phones?  Do you think they will help HTC get their footing back in the market?  Leave a comment with your thoughts.