Introduction
The One couldnt reinstate HTC as the King of Android, so will U be able to? The HTC U Ultra sets off on a new path of design but stays on the familiar footing of high-caliber camera and audio. A Dual Display makes a surprise appearance as the stalwart headphone jack is left behind.
The main screen is a 5.7" Super LCD5 panel covered in Gorilla Glass 5 or, for the fancier 128GB model, Sapphire crystal glass. The supplementary screen adds 2.05" worth of space for vital notifications and reminders, but we didnt see any apps make use of the extra room for additional controls.
HTC U Ultra key features:
- Glass back with a "liquid surface"
- 5.7" Super LCD5 with 1,440 x 2,560px resolution (513ppi)
- 2.05" secondary screen with 1,040 x 1 60px resolution (Always on)
- Snapdragon 820 chipset - 4x Kryo (at 2.15GHz/1.6GHz), Adreno 530; 4GB of RAM
- Android 7.0 Nougat with HTC Sense UI and Sense Companion
- 12MP main camera, f/1.8, OIS, Laser and Phase detection AF, dual-LED flash
- 2160p and 1080p videos at 30fps; 360° sound or High-Res audio (24-bit FLAC)
- 64GB storage, microSD slot (hybrid dual-SIM slot); 128GB version available later
- LTE Cat. 11 - 600/50Mbps; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, USB-C (USB 3.0, DisplayPort)
- 3,000mAh battery (sealed)
Main shortcomings:
- More expensive than similar phones
- Secondary screen is underutilized
- No headphone jack
- Battery capacity smaller than 10 evos (despite Always on screen)
- 4K video capture capped at 6 minutes
The U Ultra is powered by a Snapdragon 821 chi pset, which coupled with the QHD resolution of the main screen leads to HTCs other passion - VR. The Viveport app comes pre-installed, which currently serves to augment the HTC Vive experience but does not have VR capabilities of its own... though HTC has expressed interest in mobile VR, so well see how that goes.
Back to the real world, youll be able to capture spectacular photos and videos of it thanks to the 12MP camera that we first saw on the HTC 10. It boasts a large sensor (and, as a result, large pixels), a bright aperture and high-res audio recording for the 2160p videos.
HTC U Ultra official images
Speaking of audio, the HTC U Ultra supports both BoomSound and USonic. The first tunes the stereo speaker experience - for either music or videos - while the second personalizes the headphones experience. You will need USB-C headphones, though, preferably ones from HTC as those are the only ones (for now) to support USonic.
HTC U Ultra 360° spin
The HTC U Ultra is among the bigger HTC phones out there as the company has had little participation in the 5.5+ inch field recently. The Ultra screen stands at 5.7" big, plus an additional row for the secondary screen.
The phone is about the size of the LG V20, which has a very similar screen setup. However, LG has managed to fit a slightly bigger removable battery i n the V20, while the HTC U Ultra comes with a 3,000mAh sealed battery.
Hardware
Now that all-metal phones are fairly commonplace, HTC has shifted to a glass back with a "liquid surface." The effect is similar to a soap bubble - mostly transparent, but as the surface curves away a rainbow of colors appears.
Our HTC U Ultra unit is Ice White and before we go on we should note that its very difficult to photograph - to the naked eye the phone appears white most of the time (and its green in the photos). Only when the light hits it at a certain angle can you see the green and pink hues that hide within the glass.
Its a subtle but cool effect. The other three color options similarly combine several hues. The prismatic nature of the glass also makes fingerprints harder to spot.
The outer shell of the phone consists of two panes of glass fixed to a metal frame. On the 64GB version, the front is Gorilla Glass 5, while the back glass is of unknown origin but similarly scratch resistant. There is a special 128GB version which will swap the front GG5 for more durable Sapphire instead. This model will launch at a later date and will be even more expensive.
The back has a subtle curve, not enough to affect ergonomics but the change in angle is enough to bring out the colors out of the glass.
The light show on the back shouldnt distract you from the two stars in this production - the 12MP camera on the back and the secondary screen on the front. They are what makes the U Ultra special and worth the extra cash over the HTC 10 evo.
And so well give them special attention later, for now lets focus on the rest of the phone.
The secondary screen, the better camera and "liquid surface" put the U Ultra ahead of the 10 evo
The HTC U Ultra is among the larger phones out there - no other way it could be, given its 5.7" main screen and secondary screen above that. And while it is not part of the current "mini-bezel" trend, the bezels are fairly slim.
The bottom bezel features capacitive buttons with Home doubling as a fingerprint reader. It is fast and accurate, but we think it is a tad too thin, which means you have to be more precise about putting your finger on it.
The top bezel has to house the secondary screen, of course, and there is also the 16MP selfie camera that has snuggled up next to it. The notification LED is right next to it. Above that scree n are the sensors and the earpiece, which doubles as the second loudspeaker on the phone.
Fingerprint-reading Home button • Selfie cam snuggled next to the secondary screen
Well cover it in more detail later, but the U Ultra has one loudspeaker on the front (the earpiece) and one on the bottom. How they work depends on what mode they are in - they can provide pleasing stereo sound for music or crank up the surround sound for movies.
The USB-C port is also here and it is the only wired audio output - theres no headphone jack here. This enabled HTC to make USonic, a feature that uses additional hardware in its headphones to scan your ears and tune the audio based on that. You could use other USB-C headphones (or get an adapter for regular wired headsets), but you will lose that feature.
Loudspeaker, USB-C port, microphone • The USB-C port doubles as a headphone jack
Another point of interest here is one of four microphones. The HTC U Ultra uses this set of mics to record "360° audio", which provides an immersive experience (it shows that HTC is a fan of VR). Alternatively, you can record High-Res audio (but not both).
360° audio is a feature of the camera, the sound recorder seems to lack such an option (but it can record High-Res FLAC).
HTC U Ultra
The camera itself comes from the HTC 10. It features a large 12MP sensor with large pixels - 1/2.3" and 1.55µm respectively. A bright f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS) further improve the phones performance in low light. Theres a dual-tone LED flash to help out as well. To ensure fast and accurate focus, the camera comes loaded with Laser and Phase detection autofocus.
The camera does protrude from the back, but even the 64GB model has a Sapphire lens cover to protect it from scratches.
The 1 2MP main camera protrudes from the back • The hybrid slot gives you an option of more storage or an extra phone line
Topside we find yet another mic (the other two are on the front and on the back) and the card slot. This is a dual card tray as the U Ultra is available only in dual-SIM flavor. We think thats a smart move by HTC - its a hybrid slot so most people will use it as a single-SIM device, while those who need dual-SIM will not have to seek out a separate version.
Another one of the four mics and the card slot are on top
Theres the downside that you can either slot in either a second SIM card or a microSD card but not both. Still, with 64GB storage as base (48GB of which is available to the user) and with a 128GB option on the way, we dont think i ts much of an issue.
The final items of interest on the exterior are the buttons on the right side - the Volume rocker and the Power button. Both are fairly large and have a satisfying click, we especially appreciate the texture on the power button that makes it easy to find by touch.
Side-mounted Volume rocker and Power button
As we said before, the HTC U Ultra is larger than your average Android. Not an issue for phablet fans but it is something to consider if youre looking at your HTC 10 and wondering if you should upgrade. It really has been a while since HTC went beyond 5.5".
Still, the subtle curve of the back is enough to give you a good hold on this 170g phone. Still, glass can be quite slippery (even clammy palms can make a huge difference). Not that metal is any grippier, basically all modern high-enders go for looks rather than grip.
At least the shifting colors of the glass back conceal fingerprints and make for an interesting talking point - few phones ever put on a such light show and exclusivity goes hand in hand with a premium feeling.
The smudge-resistant properties of the back are only valid for the white version as as far as we can tell, the other colors are quite bad in this respect.
Display
The HTC U Ultra has two screens, the main one being a 5.7" Super LCD5 with QHD resolution (thats 1,440 x 2,560px). The secondary one has 160 x 1,040px resolution, losing 400px of horizontal resolution to make room for the selfie camera.
Those specs sound very similar to the LG V20 screen, but the U Ultra has a noticeably different panel.
For one, it has a big advantage in contrast ratio - thanks to the surprisingly deep blacks, it achieved over 1,800:1 while the V20 screen managed about 1,100:1 (which is still good, but not as good as the U).
HTC also allowed the screen to reach a higher maximum manual brightness of 520nits, but didnt go into overdrive once subjected to brighter light, unlike the V20 implementation.
And finally, the HTC screen had a noticeable color shift when you look it from a side angle, something the V20 screen didnt have.| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.284 | 520 | 1831 | |
| 610 | |||
| 0.387 | 525 | 1357 | |
| 0.41 | 573 | 1398 | |
| 0.50 | 681 | 1362 | |
| 0.00 | 392 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 610 | ∞ | |
| 0.43 | 475 | 1097 | |
| 0.59 | 628 | 1064 | |
Despite the higher contrast ratio, the sunlight legibility was on par with the LG screen - a very respectable score, one of the best among both LCD and AMOLED screens.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
< span class="value">2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2.378 - HTC 10
2.378 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2. 254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2. 166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026- Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zen fone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
3.983
Color accuracy is not perfect - the default mode gets 6.1 average deltaE, 10.7 max. We managed to improve that reading by dragging the color temperature slider all the way to Warm (since the white balance is too cool by default). That only got us to 4.6 average and 8.8 max.
Those readings are comparable to the LG V20, but behind the leading phablets in this class. We normally dont worry about color accuracy, but we love having the option.
For late night usage, the HTC U Ultra can drop its screen all the way down to 5nits, and the Settings menu offers a blue light filter that you can toggle on in the late hours of the day when youd probably prefer the warmer hues.
The second screen can be set to Always on or to be active only when the main screen is on (or the other way around - only when the main screen is off). You dont get much mo re settings for it; theres no separate brightness slider or a way to schedule the screen to switch off at night.
Connectivity
The HTC U Ultra is available only as a Dual SIM phone with a hybrid card slot - meaning you can put in a microSD card only if you use a single SIM card. A pretty fair trade-off, we think, given that you get 64GB as base storage and can go up to 128GB if you need both dual SIM and plenty of storage.
Anyway, youre looking at 600Mbps of theoretical download speeds thanks to LTE Cat. 11 with 3 Carrier Aggregation. Both VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling are supported, which offer higher quality audio and better reception respectively. Note that theres no CDMA support.
The Wi-Fi connectivity itself covers a/b/g/n/ac and theres Bluetooth 4.2. NFC is available for Android Pay and other uses.
The sole wired connection is the USB-C port, but it is highly capable. It is wired for full USB 3.1 speed and supports DisplayPort connections, meaning you can have TV out with the right adapter.
This USB-C port is also responsible for audio output, good thing that HTC includes a decent pair of buds in the box.
Battery life
The HTC U Ultra comes with a 3,000mAh battery that is sealed inside the body. QuickCharge 3.0 fills up the battery fast, but you may need to do it more often than you would like. The smaller (and cheaper) HTC 10 evo has a bigger battery, 3,200mAh. Even the iPhone 7 Plus is not far behind at 2,900mAh.
The U Ultra does have a more efficient chipset than the 10 evo - Snapdragon 821 features many refinements in power efficiency compared to its predecessors. Still, in a body this size we expected more.
The phone starts off well, we got an 81-hour Endurance rating with the secondary screen off. There are several ways to activate it with movement or tapping so that you may be okay without the Always-On functionality. Still, its a feature that several flagships offer, and if you leave it on, youre looking at a lower 66-hour Endurance. Thats more than the Galaxy S7 edge gets with Always on enabled, so its a good job by HTC!
The HTC U Ultra should last up to 26 hours in a 3G call according to official numbers, we measured 23 hours, which is still respectable.
Both web browsing and video playback deplete the battery in around 8 hours, give or take half an hour, which is not as ideal. The good news is that the LG V20 gets similar times, actually an hour in web browsing. A Galaxy S7 edge or iPhone 7 Plus will go for hours more, however.
Overall, the U Ultra battery lasted longer than we thought it would - after all, you dont have to look far to find a phablet with a larger battery. Still, HTC made it work, and thats all that matters.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case youre interested in the nitty-grit ties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones weve tested will compare under your own typical use.
Secondary screen
The secondary screen is meant to be a dedicated area where only the most important things go - whether they are your closest friends or the apps you use most often, they go on the screen. Also, current notifications and reminders show up here, but with customization tools you can make sure that you see only the most important stuff.
The secondary screen has surprisingly few settings. You can control when it comes on (based on the main screen, could be Always on as well) and you can select which of the pre-loaded features are available.
Theres a slightly different selection, based on whether the main screen is on or off. For example, t heres no weather info when the phone is locked, which we find odd (its a natural thing to want to check).
Settings for the secondary screen
Worse, basically no apps use this screen for any extra functionality. Only Google Play Music showed its playback controls there, but thats only because the secondary screen displayed its notification (which has those controls).
On the LG V20, camera, sound recorder and other apps put additional controls on the secondary screen while leavi ng the main screen entirely to the viewfinder or app interface. At this point were not even sure if HTC provides the functionality for apps to display additional controls here. If thats possible, we really want to see HTC lead by example and add this functionality to its first-party apps.
To us, this reduces the value of the secondary screen, it doesnt do that much more than an Always on screen like the LG G5 or Galaxy S7 have. The one thing we truly appreciate is that we can see the whole notification when it comes it, instead of just a tiny preview. Still, thats not quite enough.
Sense Companion
The Sense Companion is HTCs entry into the digital assistant field. AI-powered apps are all the rage these days and HTCs promises to learn from your behavior (by tracking info on certain sites and from certain apps) and be smarter about it than your average Apple Si ri or Google Assistant.
For example, by checking your calendar for long upcoming events, the Companion can prompt you to charge your phone, if it thinks the battery charge wont last you until you get back home from the event. If you have a long trip planned, the app will remind you to pack your external battery.
The app features voice recognition and is always listening for the wake up word so you can call it to action from a distance. The U Ultra has four capable mics, giving the Companion great ears.
Unfortunately, the app is a separate download and at the time we finished this review, it still wasnt available on our unit. Which is not surprising as the U Ultra is still not officially available in our region anyway.
User interface
The HTC U Ultra launches straight with Android 7.0 Nougat, same as the Bolt/10 evo. The interface is largely identical, other than the secondary screen and the Companion (which can be downloaded on the 10 evo as well).
We start with the fingerprint reader. HTC claims it recognizes a finger in a blink of an eye - 0.2s. In practice, the phone sometimes took longer to be usable - it could take closer to a second before the screen is on and ready for you.
The fingerprint has no other use beyond unlocking the phone. You cant use it as authentication in services, secure files on the device or anything of the kind. Swipe gestures are not supported either.
Setting up the fingerprint reader
The Sense Home hasnt changed much. BlinkFeed is still on the left, waiting for you to disable it or add content fr om various apps. All supported apps are listed when you hit the + button, even ones not installed (those take you to the Play Store).
BlinkFeed remains a stable of the Sense homescreen
By the way, if you notice annoying notifications about Themes, "Designer updates", promotions from HTC and others, those can be disabled from the homescreen settings. Also here youll find some data sharing toggles - precise location (used to recommend nearby restaurants and other places) and personal usage data (this one is off by default, it tracks apps you use, sites you visit, what you watch and listen to).
The Themes app is a one stop shop for homescreen customizations. You can install whole themes or individual wallpapers, icon packs and fonts.
We really like the Freestyle layout themes. Those not only change the wallpaper and icon pack, but arrange shortcuts in a fitting way. Notice that they also change the clock widget style to match.
Some of our favorite themes for the HTC U Ultra
The App drawer feels very HTC. Its organized in vertical scrolling by pages with the dark background (you can set a custom wallpaper here). Unwanted apps can be hidden - there was a moderate amount of bloatware on the unit we received.
The app drawer is familiar and functional
The HTC U Ultra comes with 64GB of storage, unless you get the 128GB version. Of that, 16GB are reserved for the system and by the time the apps finish their first updates, youll lose another gig.
Moving on, HTC has left many Nougat things untouched. The Notification area is simple enough - one pull for toggles and notifications, second pull for all toggles. The latest version of the OS supports things like Quick reply, which allows you to shoot back a text message straight from the notification area.
The Nougat notification area
The App switcher is similarly unchanged. You can drag an app card to one side of the screen to go into Multi window mode. A double tap on the app switcher key alt+tabs betw een the two most recently used apps.
Stock app switcher • Multi window, the best Nougat feature
Several power user toggles hide in the Boost+ app. There are automatic optimizations like Boost and Clear junk along with ones that give you the controls. Optimize background apps can disable apps you havent used in 3 days (this can be disabled per app).
Boost+ app • Optimizing foreground apps • Background apps • 3 days of inactivity and an app gets the boot
Optimize foreground apps reduces the screen resolution they run at. This is good both for performance (QHD resolution may be too much for some games) and for battery life. There is no fine-tuning here, you cant adjust resolution and frame rate separately - an app is either optimized or it isnt, thats it.
Performance
With a shortage of new Snapdragons, most companies opted for the Snapdragon 821 for their flagship. The HTC U Ultra is one of those phones, along the likes of LG G6, Xperia XZs and a few others.
The 821 is a solid chip, but it provides only a minor advantage over the 82 0, which powered early 2016 flagships. But again, HTC is not alone in this, only companies with their own chipset manufacturing arms can sidestep Qualcomms supply issues.
And those companies - Apple, Samsung, Huawei - top the charts in Geekbench 4, both single and multi-core, as well as Basemark OS 2.0.
GeekBench 4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei Mate 9
6112 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
5664 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
5645 - HTC U Ultra
4201 - Google Pixel XL
4152 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
4142 - ZTE Axon 7
3990 - LG V20
3824 - HTC 10 Evo
3354
GeekBench 4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3473 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
1911 - Huawei Mate 9
1898 - ZTE Axon 7
1702 - HTC U Ultra
1647 - LG V20
1576 - Google Pixel XL
1507 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
1467 - HTC 10 Evo
1109
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3796 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
2670 - Huawei Mate 9
2637 - ZTE Axon 7
2346 - Google Pixel XL
2281 - HTC U Ultra
2222 - LG V20
2159 - HTC 10 Evo
1913
Whats Snapdragon 821 and what makes it different from the 820, anyway? Glad you asked. Both are based on Qualcomms custom Kryo cores, four of them grouped in pairs in a big.LITTLE setup. In Snapdragon 821, the cores have improvements that allow them to stay at full throttle longer.
Its important to note that there are two variants of the 821 chip. The one marked AB, that is the one used by the HTC U Ultra and Google Pixel XL, runs at the same clock speed as the older Snapdragon 820 with the goal of providing longer battery life without any compromises with the S820-level performance. The non-AB version has a 0.2GHz boost to the two "big" cores and a small bump to GPU speed with the goal of providing improved performance while keeping the S820-level battery life.
For those reasons, the older Snapdragon 820 inside the LG V20 can be competitive in AnTuTu 6. However, in this test, the HTC U Ultra way outperforms the Huawei Mate 9, which uses the Kir in 960 chipset. It uses Cortex-A73 cores, which serve as the basis for the new Kryo cores found in the Snapdragon 835 chipset.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
173110 - LG V20
141945 - Google Pixel XL
141186 - HTC U Ultra
139750 - ZTE Axon 7
129926 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
129629 - Huawei Mate 9
122826 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
113397 - HTC 10 Evo
82841
Without the GPU speed boost, we expect the U Ultra to show a similar 3D performance as S820 phones. However, on a few occasions, it even lagged behind a touch.
Offscreen tests show raw performance and here the HTC U Ultra often came behind Snapdragon 820 phones like the LG V20 or the ZTE Axon 7. Even the S821 AB chip in the Pixel XL managed to get ahead.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
60 - Google Pixel XL
47 - HTC U Ultra
41 - LG V20
40 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
38 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
37 - Huawei Mate 9
30 - HTC 10 Evo
27 - ZTE Axon 7
15
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
39 - Google Pixel XL
32 - ZTE Axon 7
31 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
29 - LG V20
29 - HTC U Ultra
27 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
25 - Huawei Mate 9
22 - HTC 10 Evo
20
GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)
Higher is better
- LG V20
20 - Google Pixel XL
19 - HTC U Ultra
18 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
16 - ZTE Axon 7
15 - Huawei Mate 9
13 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
13 - HTC 10 Evo
12
On-screen perf ormance can vary, you can use the Boost+ app to reduce the resolution for troublesome games and have them run much faster.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
56 - Google Pixel XL
30 - Huawei Mate 9
28 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
27 - LG V20
25 - HTC U Ultra
24 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
23 - HTC 10 Evo
16 - ZTE Axon 7
12
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
42 - Huawei Mate 9
23 - LG V20
17 - Google Pixel XL
17 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
15 - ZTE Axon 7
15 - HTC U Ultra
13 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
13 - HTC 10 Evo
11
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- < li>ZTE Axon 7
- Huawei Mate 9
14 - LG V20
12 - Google Pixel XL
11 - HTC U Ultra
10 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
8.3 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
7 - HTC 10 Evo
6.9
16
Basemark X thinks highly of the HTC U Ultra, while the Basemark ES 3.1 is not particularly impressed. This goes to show you that the games engine can have a great impact on performance.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Huawei Mate 9
36519 - HTC U Ultra
35875 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
32609 - ZTE Axon 7
32243 - Google Pixel XL
30861 - LG V20
29385 - HTC 10 Evo
28736 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
23513
Basemark X (medium)
Higher is better
- HTC U Ultra
41006 - HTC 10 Evo
39283 - ZTE Axon 7< /span>
38812 - Google Pixel XL
34679 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
28038
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus
1517 - Huawei Mate 9
794 - Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
680 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
642 - Google Pixel XL
626 - ZTE Axon 7
606 - HTC U Ultra
582 - LG V20
526 - HTC 10 Evo
520
The HTC U Ultra is definitely fast enough to serve its flagship duties, though it is not the fastest phone you can buy currently (let alone in the next couple of months). We are at least grateful that HTC didnt pull another 10 evo and resurrect an outdated chipset. Still, for the price that HTC is charging, we think it could have went up to the faster version of Snapdragon 821.
Telephony
The HTC U Ultra supports VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling (which needs carrier support to work). The chipset supports several LTE bands (both FDD and TDD) so you should have no trouble traveling abroad, but the phone will not work on CDMA carriers. The Home dialing assistant will make sure to add the correct country code to numbers that dont have it.
HTC U Ultra dialer
Flip to mute, Quiet ring on pickup and Pocket mode are available (the latter boosts the loudspeaker volume when the phone is in your pocket or bag). The U Ultra supports Android Nougats native call blocking abilities.
Loudspeaker
The HTC U Ultra has stereo speakers in a setup that has become popular on HTC phones - the earpiece is used as the second speaker in the stereo pair. Two modes are available, Theater and Music and their names describe their best uses.
Music goes for traditional stereo sound and creates good separation. The Theater mode feels more like multi-channel e mulation and creates a more immersive sound.
The effect is quite pronounced and we think quite good too. However, it affects the sound, especially vocals and high frequencies, so its best to use the right mode.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overall score | |
| 60.6 | 69.5 | 70.3 | Below Average | |
| 65.0 | 68.2 | 70.8 | Average | |
| 70.0 | 69.1 | 71.8 | Good | |
| 68.3 | 72.2 | 72.9 | Good | |
| 68.2 | 68.6 | 80.9 | Good | |
| 67.3 | 73.1 | 80.6 | Very Good | |
| 61.7 | 73.1 | 86.7 | Very Good | |
| 65.8 | 75.4 | 80.6 | Very Good | |
| 66.4 | 72.2 | 84.1 | Very Good | |
| 83.1 | 74.5 | 85.0 | Excellent |
Messaging
The messaging app is simple and with clean Material Design looks. You can adjust the message preview between 1 and 3 lines for the threaded view. The apps wallpaper and speech bubble colors can be customized.
Basic messaging app • Saying hi • Blocking contacts • Changing speech bubble colors
HTC continues to use the TouchPal keyboard as the default on its phones. It offers solid customization options like 2-axis resizing, split view and themes (including custom fonts). You can add a number row, pick which emoji to use (and theres even emoji prediction, imagine that!).
The TouchPal keyboard • 2-axis resizing • Split keyboard • Themes
Note that this is the free version of the keyboard. You can get a bit extra out of it, by enabling TouchPal Cloud, which will offer better word suggestions and teach you about trends in words and phrases. The Cloud will also sync your personal dictionary (privacy-minded people may not like that).
Other apps
HTC preloaded the Record app - as you may have heard, the company partnered with Under Armour to make fitness tracking solutions. This app is how you control them. You can use the full HTC Healthbox combo - a smart band, chest heart rate monitor and a smart scale. It was nice to see that this isnt locked to just the UA brand, also supported are: the S amsung Gears (S2, S3, Fit2), Withings watches, Fibtit, Garmin, Jawbone and so on.
The app can work without accessories. It can count steps and calories, track activity and sleep time, even your general mood. You can follow friends and famous people as they post updates (you can post too), a mini social network to keep your motivation up.
UA Record app • Logging your exercises • Samsung Gears are supported • And many others
The Voice recorder app seems basic, but its worth pointing out that it has high-quality recording mode s - AAC LC (good but lossy) and FLAC (lossless and Hi-Res, but takes up a lot of space). There is no option to record 360° audio. However, we assume thats the default mode though, just like it is in the camera.
Voice recorder • Switching audio codecs • Lossless FLAC recording
It was nice to see the Flashlight, an old HTC standby, but it has lost its ability to change the light power of the LEDs. Were used to a certain standard of living, HTC, that includes three brightness levels for the flashlight app.
The flashlight app has only one brightness level
Jokes aside, this about exhausts the list of useful pre-loaded apps. Facebook (+ Messenger) and Instagram came pre-installed, a dead-simple Weather app and some bloatware (to be fair, it seems that it was region-dependent cruft).
Gallery
Google Photos is a top notch gallery and were okay with it being the only gallery app on the phone. It can sync photos to the cloud so you never lose them, the image recognition and search are unsurpassed and the interface is fast and intuitive.
Google Photos is available on most Android phones
Editing tools offers image styles as well as extensive manual controls. There is a RAW Enhancement option too, but thats fully automatic (we would have preferred manual controls for RAW).
Zoe lives on even without the HTC gallery. It allows you to quickly create Highlight videos. Just select a number of photos and videos and pick a theme and music. The Smart trim option makes sure the video wont run too long, by clipping long videos down to 3 seconds.
Creating a Highlight video with Zoe
Theres no dedicated video player, by the way, you start videos from Photos. Thats good enough for clips you shot yourself, but with no subtitle support and other options it is not the best for watching videos.
Music player
Google Play Music takes care of your listening needs. Google would want you to pay into their streaming service, but the app is a perfectly capable offline music player too.
No custom music app either, just Google Play Music
You may want to try out the HTC BoomSound Adaptive Audio feature. After all, thats the major reason HTC cites for cutting the analog headphone jack. The headphones that come with the HTC 10 evo are able to work as sensors, scanning the inner shape of your ears and optimizing the sound.
You have to go into the settings to create an audio profile, it takes less than a minute. You can create several profiles, in case you share the phone with others or have several pairs of supported headphones.
The process of creating a personalized audio profile takes seconds
The HTC 10 evo is Hi-Res audio certified and supports FLAC - the most popular lossless audio format out there.
Audio quality
Unfortunately, our review unit did not come with a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter. This means we couldnt test the audio quality because it very much depends on wha t kind of headphones or adapter you have - each has its own DAC and has to be tested individually.
The good news is that the HTC U Ultra comes with a pair of USonic headphones, so you are ready to go out of the box. They are in-ear headphones, though, if you want on or over ear, you have to provide your own.
Camera
In our HTC 10 review, we dubbed this camera "UltraPixel 2.0." Its not called that officially (though the selfie cam does have an UltraPixel mode), but the return to large pixels instead of chasing high MP numbers was right on the money.
The pixels arent quite 2µm big like in the original, but at 1.55µ they still have loads of light-collecting power. The bright f/1.8 aperture over the large 1/2.3" sensor further enhances the cameras performance.
In its tool bag are also optical image stabilization, plus combo autofocus - Laser and Phase Detection. The dual-LED flash has two-tone LED s.
We complained that the camera UI doesnt have the best controls since some simple things require a lot of tapping. This hasnt changed, to toggle from 1080p video back to 2160p, for example, you have to tap through all options, including "MMS" (does anybody still use those?) Theres no way to switch directly to the resolution you want, not for video, not for photos.
HTCs camera UI is simple, too simple
Pro mode is available with all the manual controls you expect - focus, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance. There are no "aperture priority" or "shutter priority" modes here, but some easier to understand modes. Macro only lets you adjust the focus and handles t he rest automatically, sport mode lets you touch only the shutter speed, night mode gives you ISO and shutter speed control and does the rest itself.
Pro mode offers all the manual settings you would expect • Including RAW shooting
RAW shooting is available in Pro mode (in fact, its RAW + JPEG). As we mentioned in the previous chapter, RAW editing on the phone itself is limited to auto enhancement.
Zoe lives on, a camera mode that debuted with the HTC One way back when. In Zoe mode, the HTC U Ultra will take your full resolution photo, but also record a 3 second video (at 1080p). We like this because it gives context to the photo, memories that will be left out of a still ima ge.
Then theres the Hyperlapse mode - it shoots time-lapse video with impressive image stabilization. Yes, the phone has OIS, but Hyperlapse makes the video seem like you shot it on rails.
We liked this camera on the HTC 10 and we still like it now. Noise is kept low and photos exude quality. They are rich in detail and their colors are accurate. However, pixel peepers will notice that the noise reduction gets overwhelmed in some of the trickier areas and it smudges detail.
HTC U Ultra camera samples
The above shots were taken without HDR, so we toggled it on for the next batch.
HTC U Ultra HDR samples
The HTC 10 evo has a 16MP camera, but that advantage in pixel count doesnt translate into an advantage in image quality. Heres how those two compare in our Photo quality comparison test.
HTC U Ultra vs. HTC 10 evo in our photo quality comparison tool
The Panorama mode proved a tad disappointing - the stitching is mostly fine, we were just hoping for a higher resolution.
HTC U Ultra panorama
The selfie camera is interesting because it has two very different modes. By default, it shoots 16MP photos, a higher resolution than the main camera. Those turn out fairly sharp once you find the right focus distance (unlike the HTC 10, the selfie cam here does not have autofocus).
HTC U Ultra 16MP selfies
In the dark, you may want to switch over to UltraPixel mode. It uses binning to create a 4MP image, but it promises 4x better light sensitivity. Or you may not - in our testing, the camera didnt do much to improve image quality, but introduced processing artifacts. Some areas look pixelated, which isnt what you want in a low resolution 4MP image.
HTC U Ultra 4MP UltraPixel selfies
Video camera
The video camera gives you a choice of 2160p and 1080p videos, of 360° and High-Res sound. Theres no 60fps mode, which is a bit of a bummer.
360° audio is captured at fairly high quality - 192Kbps AAC at 48kHz. It combines sound from all four mics that are speckled around the phone to create an immersive experience. We do wish HTC put some effort into wind noise reduction, though.
If you want the best sound quality, you need to switch to High-Res. It switches the codec to lossless FLAC and records at 96kHz and 24 bits. You can definitely hear the difference, for best effect download our samples since YouTube tends to mangle audio.
Anyway, this chapter is about the Video camera, lets get back to that! Video is captured at 54Mbps for 2160p resolution and 20Mbps for 1080p, in both cases with the AVC/H.264 codec. Whether you get an MP4 or MKV file at the end depends on which audio mode you used, but MKV is well established now and we had no issues with it.
Note that 2160p videos are capped to 6 minutes long. We cant imagine why, the S810-po wered HTC 10 evo did it to prevent the chipset from overheating. The Snapdragon 821 should have absolutely no issue shooting longer videos. Even if you never need longer than 6 minutes, its still a silly limitation on a phone in the top price segment.
Those 2160p videos are sharp and rich in detail, but the camcorder doesnt manage its bitrate well and we see the occasional "pulse" of compression artifacts. Other than that, the videos are worthy of a flagship.
1080p videos have a narrower field of view, meaning they fit less in the frame. They get the best out of the available resolution, but that pesky compression pulse is still present.
Here is a video sample shot with High-Res FLAC audio and one with 360° audio for you to listen at home, both of them in 2160p resolutio.
Again, we pit the HTC U Ultra against the HTC 10 evo, which also does 2160p videos and carries a lower price tag.
HTC U Ultra vs. HTC 10 evo in our photo quality comparison tool
Conclusion
We think its fair to say weve always liked the HTC phones, but never at the price HTC intended for them. The HTC U Ultra is a perfect example of that - its a solid phone, but in the US it is a whopping $200 more than an LG V20. Is it better than the V20? "Yes" in some areas (and "no" in others), but we cant justify th e massive price premium.
Sure, the camera is great, but the LG V20 had one of the best cameras of 2016 (remember that the U Ultra also uses a 2016 camera). And it has a secondary screen, but we found it less useful than LGs implementation. The main screen was one of the areas where the HTC beat its opponent, though.
The story of the chipset is similar - its really good, but hardly something weve never seen before. This particular implementation even lags behind the 2016 flagships by some measure. Not a big deal normally, but if youre going to charge more than the competition then you better have a good explanation why.
We did enjoy the "liquid surface" glass on the back of the HTC U Ultra - its one of its truly unique features. And since this isnt the most compact phone in the 5.7" category (or any other for that matter), then we would have at least expected ex tra features like a bigger battery, wireless charging, waterproofing... or at least one of those. As you might have guessed already, the U Ultra has none of those. Not even a headphone jack.
HTC U Ultra key test findings:
- Flagship build quality with a unique, lively color effect on the back.
- If you paid a lot of money for analog headphones, prepare to shell out for a DAC too.
- The 5.7" QHD screen was better than expected, beating the LG V20.
- The secondary screen, however, was less useful - HTC should allow apps to access it.
- The 3,000mAh battery is smaller than 10 evos, but the efficient chipset delivers better than expected Endurance.
- The fingerprint reader is fast and accurate, but among the smaller ones (making it hard to hit).
- The HTC Sense Companion is an interesting addition, but its not a key selling point (theres alwa ys Google Assistant).
- HTC U Ultra is faster than the 10 evo, sure, but its not faster than 2016 flagships.
- The Loudspeaker scored Very Good, just make sure youre using the right mode for the best quality.
- The still camera on the back is great, competitive even in 2017; the UltraPixel mode on the selfie cam didnt do much, though.
- 2160p videos are annoyingly capped at 6 minutes long, but their quality is well worth it; High-Res FLAC marks an audible improvement over even good phone audio.
The LG V20 is the first phone we thought of when we saw the HTC U Ultra and with good reason - this secondary screen was pioneered by LG. As we found out, the 5.7" QHD screen on the HTC offers deeper blacks and higher contrast ratio than the similarly specced LG screen.
But LG actually made use of the secondary screen for extra app controls. On the U Ultra, it is just reserved space for notifications. And the LG V20 is thinner, with a larger, removabl e battery and you get a proper headphone jack with QuadDACs. All for $200 less. Unfortunately, the V20 is not available in Europe, so the U Ultra goes unchallenged there.
LG V20
Who needs a secondary screen when you have an Always on display? Okay, the secondary screen can be useful even when the main screen is on, but as already established, HTC didnt make the best use of it.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge has an AOD Super AMOLED screen with great sunlight legibility. Plus, its 12MP camera boasts Dual Pixel autofocus, which allows it to focus faster than the HTC (and theres no 6 min limit to 2160p videos). The phone is waterproof and offers fast wireless charging. Those are things that make you feel you got your moneys worth, even though were talking less money than the U Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
If youre going to be paying the big bucks, why not just get an Apple iPhone 7 Plus? Theres a reason those sell so well - they are very good phones. Its just that they are too expensive for what they do - a bit like the U Ultra actually.
This one has a dual camera, something the LG V20 also has but the HTC U Ultra does not. And Apples implementation does digital zoom and digital bokeh quite well. Then theres the waterproofing, 3D Touch screen, stereo speakers too. Keep in mind, youre going to pay more if you want to match Ultras storage and youre losing the secondary screen.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
The Google Pixel XL isnt cheap either but its camera is universally acclaimed as one of the best. Plus, fans of a pure Google experien ce will take no substitutes. Somehow we think Google is better poised to develop AI-based digital assistants than HTC.
The Pixel is surprisingly lacking in fancy specs - it uses the same Snapdragon 821 like the HTC, it lacks wireless charging, true waterproofing (but does have splash resistance), not even more basic stuff like stereo speakers or a microSD slot.
Google Pixel XL
With all said and done, its probably Huawei that has the phablet to beat. Theyve managed to fit a 5.9" screen in the Mate 9, which is more compact than the U Ultra. And you get a second-generation dual camera tuned by Leica, which (similar to the iPhone) offers lossless zoom and bokeh effects. Not to mention the striking B&W photos.
Then theres the in-house Kirin 960 chipset, which outperformed Qualcomms chip and will remain competitive this year. And there is the price aspect too - more than 100 euros less than the U Ultra.
Huawei Mate 9
The HTC U Ultra is a fine phone and we enjoyed our time with it. But we had to return our review unit and wed be reluctant to pay HTCs asking price to get it back. You see, the U Ultra picked a fight with some of the best 2016 flagships and didnt win. And the 2017 flagships are already arriving. And wed forgive all of that if the price was decent - what HTC is charging is not going to fly - not on the enthusiasts market where the top-dollar purchases are made.
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