MWC 2017: HTC shifts the focus on “U”

Unlike most smartphone brand attendees in this year’s Mobile World Congress, HTC had no new products to unveil at the event. They did the launch of their latest devices a little earlier and by the time MWC rolled in, people have been familiar with the HTC 10 U Ultra and HTC 10 U Play.

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U Ultra

The flagship variant for HTC’s latest phones has a large 5.7-inch Quad HD Super LCD 5 screen with a 2-inch Dual Display sitting on top of it. Users have a pick of 64GB or 128GB variants, and can even pick their glass front: Gorilla Glass 5 or super fancy sapphire glass (like the ones in expensive metal watches). Like other phones with second displays, this one shows you messages or app icons. The U Ultra features a Snapdragon 821 2.15 GHz processor with 4GB RAM and up to 2TB storage.

The phone runs on Android 7.0 with the latest HTC Sense on top, and comes with a 12MP HTC DualPixel 2 rear camera with OIS and dual tone LED flash. On the front, the phone has a 16MP camera which can switch to 4MP UltraPixel mode, the more light-sensitive mode for capturing snaps in low light.

The head-turning feature of the U Ultra is the lack of headphone jack. Like the new iPhone, HTC’s flagship ditched the jack in favor of its USonic earphones and can be plugged into the handset via its USB-C port. An adaptor for your favorite 3.5mm earphones can be purchased separately.

U Play

For the U Play, HTC used a MediaTek Helio P10 octa-core 64-bit chip to power its 5.2-inch Full HD Super LCD display. Customers can also choose between 32GB or 64GB storage options with up to 2TB expansion in addition to picking 3GB or 4GB RAM variants.

The U Play also features a 12MP DualPixel 2 rear camera and 16MP camera with 4MP UltraPixel mode like the U Ultra, with 1080p video recording at 30fps. Both phones also have a pretty good fingerprint sensor at the front of the device. The U Play has a small power cell at 2500mAh versus the U Ultra’s flat 3,000mAh.

Both phones have been released and are currently available for purchase.