HTC Ultra is up for sale now

[jamezr]

With little fanfare the HTC Ultra is up for sale on HTC's website
Here is the link to the specs...

HTC U Ultra Unlocked | HTC United States

 

[Aquila]

I think this is officially the most I've ever hated a device on launch day.

 

[X1tymez]

3000 MaH battery? I'm going wait for good review.

With this price I can go buy Mate 9.

 

[Matty]

3000 MaH battery? I'm going wait for good review.

With this price I can go buy Mate 9.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about the battery. The Snapdragon 821 is really efficient and runs quite cool. The QHD screen at 5.7 is quite large though. I think it will be fine but nothing amazing.

Would have been very happy with 3,400mAh.

A droid a day, keep the apple away.

 

[wricu01]

I just preorder it

 

[wricu01]

Anyone pre order

 

[booster_gold]

not the HTC one 11

 

[bkeaver]

I'm having issues pulling the trigger on this. It has a lot of great little software gimmicks but only a 3000mah battery for a 5.7"QHD device?? That doesn't seem like a good pairing at all

 

[Aquila]

The battery, design and a few hardware choices just make this thing really strange to me. I'm still holding out hope they have a 2017 specd phone coming that pays proper homage to the One series roots.

 

[anon(9072051)]

Honestly, the thing I hate most about this phone is the d-bag ad copy. I doubt even most 10-year-olds would find that clever. HTC put good money into guaranteeing a widespread FU in response.

But if my N6s crapped out on me tomorrow, I would consider the Ultra as a replacement, obvious identity crisis and all. It's really too bad it's going to be plowed under in a few months as the 835-SoC phones start to trickle in.

 

[isdaako]

It's pretty, but I'm not interested. However, I'm looking forward to the reviews.

 

[Dubss]

Yeah I still think the 821 soc performance will be very close to the 835 in real world use. Just as the 820 vs 821 I did pre order the Ultra O may cancel cause it's not being shipped till mid March thats crazy

 

[Wildo6882]

I'm not sure why everyone is already hating on it. It looks great to me, however, I'd probably wait to buy it until I see reviews and for the price to drop a bit.

 

[Aquila]

I'm not sure why everyone is already hating on it. It looks great to me, however, I'd probably wait to buy it until I see reviews and for the price to drop a bit.

My list of missed opportunities on this device would start with the following:

Ripped off Samsung general body design and it looks just as bad if not worse - when they already had one of the best looking designs
Ripped off LGs second screen
Front fingerprint scanner
3000 mAh battery in a huge phone
LCD screen instead of AMOLED
Quick Charge 3.0
Capacitive buttons
Small internal storage (64)
Micro SD card slot
Doesn't work on many networks, for the US market won't work for most consumers
Snapdragon 821 is fine, it's a good chip but it's also last year's chip.
They don't say if they support seamless updates - any phone that doesn't support it in 2017 = no buy because this will force it obsolete

I think that's a good start. What this device appears to be is a white flag from HTC saying that they have no idea what consumers want and so they will go straight into copying mode from devices that got positive feedback at the end of 2016. I have no interest in accepting HTCs surrender, let alone paying them for it, jumping on board and going down with the ship. They can sink by themselves or they can build a compelling device. This one just reeks of mediocrity and misguided confusion about what makes a 2017 device desirable.

 

[Wildo6882]

My list of missed opportunities on this device would start with the following:

Ripped off Samsung general body design and it looks just as bad if not worse - when they already had one of the best looking designs
Ripped off LGs second screen
Front fingerprint scanner
3000 mAh battery in a huge phone
LCD screen instead of AMOLED
Quick Charge 3.0
Capacitive buttons
Small internal storage (64)
Micro SD card slot
Doesn't work on many networks, for the US market won't work for most consumers
Snapdragon 821 is fine, it's a good chip but it's also last year's chip.
They don't say if they support seamless updates - any phone that doesn't support it in 2017 = no buy because this will force it obsolete

I think that's a good start. What this device appears to be is a white flag from HTC saying that they have no idea what consumers want and so they will go straight into copying mode from devices that got positive feedback at the end of 2016. I have no interest in accepting HTCs surrender, let alone paying them for it, jumping on board and going down with the ship. They can sink by themselves or they can build a compelling device. This one just reeks of mediocrity and misguided confusion about what makes a 2017 device desirable.

Haha, well you definitely have your reasons! I understand and see your points - but I'll reserve final judgment until I can actually see and play with it. It sounds like a lot of your disdain for it just the mentality that you perceive HTC has. I don't see it that way. But that's what makes Android great - options!

 

[Aquila]

Haha, well you definitely have your reasons! I understand and see your points - but I'll reserve final judgment until I can actually see and play with it. It sounds like a lot of your disdain for it just the mentality that you perceive HTC has. I don't see it that way. But that's what makes Android great - options!

I think I'm still stuck on how awesome HTC has been and being frustrated with their downward spiral. I'd love for them to just not release some of these devices, conserve their resources and focus on one or two really great phones per year.

 

[anon(9072051)]

They don't say if they support seamless updates - any phone that doesn't support it in 2017 = no buy because this will force it obsolete

Good point, and something that hadn't occurred to me. I doubt seamless updates would register with most consumers, but if they are supporting seamless updates, throwing a little consumer education into the marketing would be much more effective than all the cutesy "what it does for U" malarkey.

I'm also curious to find out more about the audio set up in the U Ultra. I read something yesterday that claimed the DAC & onboard speaker set-up weren't going to be the same as those in the 10 (and not in a good way).

Edit: These are the articles I saw yesterday:

http://newatlas.com/lg-v20-vs-htc-u-ultra-comparison/47665/
http://newatlas.com/apple-iphone-7-plus-vs-htc-u-ultra-comparison/47478/

 

[Wildo6882]

I think I'm still stuck on how awesome HTC has been and being frustrated with their downward spiral. I'd love for them to just not release some of these devices, conserve their resources and focus on one or two really great phones per year.

I think that could be said for a lot of Android OEMs. I think most would be wise to have a budget phone, and a small and large flagship. I love the options in Android, but it seems like many OEMs think like little kids - quantity over quality.

 

[Ranny99]

Surely this release is about the 835 only being available to Samsung early doors, it allows HTC to release in the summer when the chips are available?

 

[Alex_Hong]

Ended up with a blue one here in Singapore just to test it out and give it a review. Sales started ytd only. The blue looks pretty stunning, almost metallic.