HTC U Play Mid-Range For U – Review: Finally HTC has opted for an high-end mid-range market as their recent release HTC U Play series. Even though we think this product is budget but it’s not as HTC priced this phone for $399 which is way above expectation if we looked at its specs. HTC made this mid-range smartphone to attract more attention from the audience as their is very hard war were going on mid-range smartphone and HTC also performing better as compared to their flagship war. HTC recent steps in Flagship won’t made HTC more profit so they try to capture Mid-Range Industry rather than a flagship.
HTC U Family is the flagship for HTC for 2017, as HTC has launched two model called as HTC U Ultra which is the high-end flagship and HTC U Play which is mid-range smartphone HTC has made some revolutionary changes from their design to bring new features which we gonna unveil to you. The company hopes that this lineup may perform better than their predecessor. HTC unveiled these smartphone last month at MWC at Barcelona we are there to capture some glimpse of this product but now we give you a full review of it.
Design:
Talking about HTC U these smartphone first HTC smart which drop metallic design over new 3D contoured Glass design which made this device more attractive while more gorgeous as it looks the little bit like Samsung or Huawei design language. The surface of the phone is super reflective which made a really good reflection of the back so when you see the device you’ll see the reflection. While it very hard to capture an image of the device as its reflective surface won’t able to do this, but if you’ll see this device you’ll surely know. The tough size of the smartphone won’t able to match flagship smartphone lineup as this big phablet and mid-range device.
While holding the phone in hand feel nice as we are testing the Blue version which looks more apeling as you might think this phone is a fingerprint magnet but it not as design team made some changes to the glass panel so that it attract less fingerprint. HTC design team approaching the similar design of many flagships we found today like Samsung’s Galaxy S7 or LG G6 which have similar design feature. HTC calls it “liquid surface” design.
New color choices are just amazing at it looks less decent but more eye apeling people will surely like to opt this color like pink, black and blue.
While this device looks fragile but hTC has made some arrangement to made this device sturdier than you think of as they use Gorilla Glass 5 at the back which made this device to survive drops from 1.6m. Dimension of device 146 x 72.9 x 8 mm (5.75 x 2.87 x 0.31 in) and weigh around 145gm.
Display:
As one-handed usage of people are more likely than a bigger display so HTC made this display smaller about 5.2-inch which made this device more comfortable to hold, it has F-HD display which is not so fair if we compare to price but HTC made their cut in this part. Display of this device looks really perfect HTC uses same Super LCD 5 which they use on bigger one. While using this display you really love this crispy display device has good color saturation and nice contrast. Sunlight readability is good so using in bright sunlight looks really nice.
Hardware:
While in announcement HTC won’t clear much about the device lineup as this will replace HTC current flagship device HTC 10 or not. While seeing on the spec sheet it is clear that HTC will make another smartphone announcement with new Snapdragon 835 Processor as for this year flagship. While the U-Play may have to feature Snapdragon 652 or 650 but it includes Helio processor which not up to the mark.
Talking about HTC U Play as expected device as it a smaller version of it flagship Ultra but it includes quite good specs like Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10 which is a processor with Octa Core CPU for graphics it uses Mail GPU T860MP2. Device comes two model of different RAM as 3GB for 32GB Model while 4GB for 64GB model. Using device for running multitasking will never let you regret about performance of this device.
While it also includes Micro SD slot which made this device to give around 256GB of Storage.
HTC puts fingerprints bottom of the screen. The button works as both Home button and fingerprint sensor. HTC also promises that fingerprint works blazing fast and accurate as same as bigger one.
Camera And Its Features:
On the top of the display, it includes 16 MP, f/2.0, 27mm, 1 µm pixel size. Which capture image very good while this version doesn’t have Ultra Pixel like a bigger one. While one back side, you’ll find 16MP UltraPixel sensor same as last year flagships pattern with PDAF as laser auto focus is missing but it won’t affect images much and made photos more impressive. The camera also has OIS means more stable shots.
Camera sensor has a 1.0 µm pixel size, and a f/2.0 aperture. But all these configurations means that Good picture will be shot from this device. As spec looks pretty solid but needs the device to come out then we will able to compare with recent giants.As HTC camera are always known for years like their Ultra Pixel technology which is ground breaking technology of its time.
Battery:
The battery on this device is around non-removable 2500 mAh as this amount of battery is well but not better while it is expected to give around a full day of power. While for charing and Sync purpose HTC adopted Type C, While there is no Headphone jack which may mean that Apple is right for their courage. So listening music while charing is an issue while you can use wireless option like Apple new AirPods or Bose QuiteComfort Wireless Range. Talking about music and how to forget HTC Boom Sound as this awesome sound quality will help you keep miniature HiFi speaker in you the pocket. While main thing start when you plug headphone to Type C port you will feel a difference.
Interface:
Unfortunately, the U Play doesn’t match the U Ultra in the software department either, shipping with Android Marshmallow 6.0. So you won’t get any new thing with this smartphone.
HTC hasn’t yet made any announcement of Android Nougat update but they’ll try to made this device available for an Android newest update but this response of HTC feels lagging behind. Google finally release Google Assistant for this device so you’ll really enjoy this companion. Some of the feature like AI hasn’t made available yet while some feature is obsolete from this product.
Overall
HTC not at all made a fair deal if we compare price with a feature as you’ll not get any newest android version, a processor of the device is really underpowered, Display is not Q-HD as you’ll get a Q-HD display in this price range.
While another feature like Camera and battery life is good for this device. HTC made really good color choices for you Black, Cosmetic Pink, Ice White, and Sapphire Blue. The Sapphire Blue version is really good for you and you’ll love it.
