HTC just announced the U Ultra smartphone at a
keynote filled with U puns. The personal touch is all over the place, with a
brand new Sense Companion assistant taking center stage.
It's covered in
Sapphire glass. The huge catch here
is that the Sapphire will be limited to an exclusive edition to be launched
later in the year. Some might call the U Ultra a
repackaged LG V20 - it sports a 5.7-inch QHD display with a secondary portion
on top, only here it will be home to the Companion. The chipset in charge is
the Snapdragon 821. There are 4GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB storage
versions with microSD for expansion.
The HTC 10 lends its camera setup to the U Ultra - a
12MP UltraPixel unit with large 1.55µm pixels behind an f/1.8 lens with OIS.
This one is made of Sapphire crystal on all version, at least. The HTC 10 had
laser autofocus, the U Ultra adds phase detection to the mix. On the front
you'll be getting a 16MP shooter, which will also output 4MP images for the
UltraPixel-nostalgic among you.
What's not too great is battery capacity - 3,000 mAh. You'll be charging that battery
through the Type-C USB port, which just happens to be the only wired interface
on the U Ultra - farewell to the 3.5mm jack. It's all because of U, though -
that enables HTC to deliver a personalized audio output to match the specifics
of your eardrums.
The U Ultra will be available globally this quarter. Price will be US$ 749 in the US, pre-orders
open now, and units will start shipping in mid-March.
