14 DAY TRIAL // Today, HTC announced two new smartphones, the high-end HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play mid-ranger. The phones follow the same design elements in the U series, but have different specs with just some similar features.
And now the prices and release dates for the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play have been revealed. HTC U Ultra is up for pre-order in the US for the price of $749 on HTC’s website. Shipments will begin in mid-March 2017 and the retail box includes the HTC Rapid Charger 3.0 with USB Type-C Cable, HTC Clear Case & HTC USonic Adaptive Earphones.
The phone supports multiple US carriers, like AT&T, T-Mobile, MetroPCS, Alaska Communications, Cricket, NET 10, Straight Talk & WalMart Family Mobile. The Sapphire Blue, Ice White and Brilliant Black color variants are available for pre-order.
It comes with a 5.7-inch display with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64 or 128GB of internal storage.
The new handset also has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 coating on the front and back. The price tag is set for the HTC U Ultra variant with 64GB of internal memory and Gorilla Glass 5 coating. The version with 128GB of storage and Sapphire glass will be priced at $910 and will arrive at a later date.
The price for the U Play might start at $440
HTC U Play with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage will be priced at about $440, while the price for the variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of memory is unknown. Both models are set to be released in the coming weeks.
HTC’s U series was introduced with the tag “It’s All About U,” which refers to an increased focus on personalization features for users, allowing them to adjust the device’s audio to fit their unique ears’ pattern. This system is called USonic and the reason HTC granted so much attention to it is connected to the fact that the company decided to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack on the new phones.
Both smartphones come with built-in voice assistants called Sense Companion, with similar features to Google’s Assistant and Siri. Another novelty is the secondary display on the HTC U Ultra, a 2-inch screen that shows information like weather forecast, notifications and contacts.
