After all the rumors that predicted the specs of new smartphones from HTC, the Taiwanese company has finally unveiled the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play. This has come as a surprise, as it was expected to present three different smartphones that were to be launched at the same time, but HTC has presented only two.
The expectation around the new smartphones of HTC was very high, especially after the fanfare with which the company had presented the event days behind. With the new U series, the Taiwanese brand hopes to recover some of the land it has lost in recent years in the smartphone sector. Users expecting a new cell phone with Snapdragon 835 processor inside will be disappointed: the HTC U Ultra, the top of the range presented, features Snapdragon 821. The HTC U Play, on the other hand, has a SoC MediaTek and will come to the fore for a lower price range. Let's know the other specs.
HTC U Ultra, specs
As the name implies, of the two, the HTC U Ultra is the most interesting smartphone, at least for three reasons. First, because it is more powerful and elegant. Snapdragon 821 processor with 4 GB of RAM and 64 (or 128) GB of internal memory. In addition, it incorporates a new artificial intelligence function called Sense Companion, which records and plays high-resolution audio, recognizes the owner's voice to identify it and wakes up from standby with voice commands.
In addition to a 5.7-inch screen and Quad HD resolution with Gorilla Glass 5 slightly curved (although there is also a version with sapphire crystal), the manufacturer accompanies the main screen with a small independent secondary element of 160 x 1040 pixels, similar to the secondary screen used by LG in its smarpthone V20. As the solution proposed by Koreans, it is used to display notifications and important information without having to turn on the main screen.
As for the camera, it incorporates a 12-megapixel sensor coupled to a f/1.8 lens. HTC called this camera UltraPixel, but in all likelihood is the same (excellent) unit that the Taiwanese company put on board the Pixel and Pixel XL, the smartphones made for Google.
HTC U Play, specs
The HTC U Play matches its big brother in design, a memory expansion slot, fingerprint reader, dual SIM support, the ability to recognize the owner's voice, and a 16-megapixel front camera capable of reducing the definition to work on the amount of light captured, but otherwise is a more modest smartphone. The processor is a MediaTek Helio P10 flanked by 3 or 4 GB of RAM and 32 or 64 GB of flash memory. The 5.2-inch screen is left in Full HD resolution and the 16-megapixel (even more than decent) camera has an optically stabilized f/2.0 aperture lens.
Price
To reflect the difference between the two smartphones, the best option is to take a look at the discrepancy of the final price offered by HTC to the public. The company will open the pre-orders in mid-February and the HTC U Play will cost € 449, while the HTC U Ultra raises the price to € 749. This announcement comes at a time when the competition is quiet, between CES 2017 and MWC 2017 to be held in several weeks. We will see how the rest of the manufacturers respond, and if they can pull an ace up their sleeve for the year that has just begun.