HTC U Ultra: A pricey alternative?

HTC has proved itself time and again, and with design, the Ultra U is no exception. It’s an outright premium phone with some incredibly fancy materials gone into the manufacturing process. The phone sports a 5.7-inch Super LCD5 panel with 1440x2560 pixels. There’s a secondary 2inch screen strip sitting beside the front-facing camera — pretty reminiscent of LG’s V10 and V20. It can be used for surfacing notifications that gives you access to your favourite contacts, apps and more. The handset runs Android Nougat with HTC’s Sense on top. While Samsung’s UI is utilitarian, HTC aims for aesthetics. Undoubtedly, it is the best looking Android skin in the market.

The Ultra is powered by a SD821 chipset with an Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of hybrid storage. Be it heavy multitasking or resource hungry games, the phone handles it all. The only concern here is that it heats-up during gaming.

Since the phone lacks a 3.5 mm audio jack, it comes with fancy USB earphones — USonic, made specifically for the U Ultra — they analyse your ears by sending a sonic pulse. The technology works much like SONAR.

The U Ultra comes with a 12MP rear camera with OIS to enhance performance in low-light. Pro mode offers control over white balance, exposure, ISO, and shutter speed and a laser focus system is quick to lock on objects. In bright lighting, the shots contain good amount of detail and colours. Selfie-lovers can find a 16-megapixel front-facing snapper.

The HTC U Ultra is a great looking handset. Every inch of the phone screams premium. Priced at `57,800, the U Ultra is priced too steep and considering that this phone costs, the lack of water and dust resistance is criminal.