HTC U Play's SoC is terrible. And the HTC U Ultra could do with a larger battery.
No Headphone Port.
And I *despise* crappy glass backs on Phones. They tend to be glossy and fingerprint magnets and are fragile. (Will crack when dropped.)
They had better have made the device waterpoof if the battery is non removable (Which I don't think it is waterproof) and added in wireless charging if they go with Glass.
I can understand the 1 year old SoC (although barely considering the price). I would get past the "all glass" design since that back would never see the light of day from under a case. But the 3000mAh battery? Add another damn mm to the back, make the camera flush and squeeze in a bigger battery.
I hope that AI will tell them how to go about designing the next phone...
I wish they had launched HTC U Play with SD 650/652. HTC U Ultra looks really good. The battery capacity is a but disappointing. 5.7 + 2 makes it effectively a 5.9 inch phone, which is too big for me. The smaller one has a weak processor. Plus HTC must get the price right in order to make impact. Phones with SD 835 will start launching in next 2-3 months, and if this one is priced at par with other HTC flagships, it may not find many takers
You clearly haven't used an HTC recently in any sense of the word. Sense is the closest to native Android of all of the skins. HTC puts a lot of effort into UI perf and responsiveness. They are easily the smoothest out there. Part of how they do that is that they've broken up all of their custom services into apps so they can constantly update them from Play Store. You always have the best performance without having to download the entire ROM. One final nail in your ignorance coffin. HTC releases the kernel source on their dev website.
Interestingly enough, many others would say that Sony makes the "closest to stock Android experience" so you claiming someone else is ignorant while potentially spouting off igorance, is quite ignorant of you. :)
Well we can tell your reading comprehension is terrible. He claimed that all third party skins bring down performance, which is simply not true.
Second, you are also wrong. I wasn't speaking purely from opinion on what is closest to native Android.
"Sense is the user interface of Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. HTC's set of icons and widgets take on a flat, Material Design style aesthetic in its latest version – and it's the most similar it's been to stock Android for a while."
Ok "genius" tell me how to better interpret this: "You clearly haven't used an HTC recently in any sense of the word. Sense is the closest to native Android of all of the skins. "
I said that others have stated Sony is the closest to stock. The quote you wrote says that it's the closest SENSE has been to stock android. So who's reading comprehension is struggling?
Despoiler, that's kind of my feeling - Sense for me patches the gaps in Android without dragging it down. I don't have a problem with other people having other opinions on the matter but I like to understand those opinions as they may know something I don't.
It holds back updates and eats precious storage space for little in return. I'd much prefer HTC published their apps on Google Play so only those interested will install them.
What holds back updates? HTC has just about monthly updates for the security patches on their unlocked phones. Again, all of their custom services are apps already on the Google Play store so they don't need to create a whole new ROM version to fix something.
List of issues here: Battery life is likely poor on the Ultra - surely that battery can not be big enough for that screen? If it's just about acceptable when new, it'll start becoming an issue after 12-18 months and a few hundred charge cycles. The "AI" to detect when you're not going to make it through the day sounds like a spin on "if you use your phone too much, we'll gradually cripple it in the brackground to compensate for our small battery". Perhaps they didn't want a Note 7 fiasco? Samsung can survive that but HTC would be dead.
Glass case - hate hate hate. I drop phones and glass cracks. They say "get a case". So I spent a fortune on a phone that sells on its looks and have to cover it with a case which ruins those looks because it's not strong enough to survive a drop. I know someone with an S7 which has acquired a crack and hasn't even been dropped.
IP rating? Not mentioned anywhere so we can assume they aren't waterproof / resistant. Not good enough for a top end phone. Acceptable in mid range.
SoC choice in Play - the MediaTek one probably isn't too bad to be honest but the modem is only cat 6 which isn't good enough for me. Also LPDDR3 and eMMC are probably mandated by this SoC choice. Depending on price this could be an issue - if they aim it at midrange then it'll probably be fine but there's a lot of competition and these could be performance affecting when you get a few apps running on there. As for the Ultra - S821 running at lower clockspeed means this is going to be a very brief flagship product. Seems an odd time to release something that is going to be surpassed very shortly by a slew of competitors.
I'm not a fan of these ever bigger screens - I have size 7 hands and 5.2" is the limit for me. It seems like LG are going for a big screen in the G6 and if the S8 only comes in an edge version it'll make life very difficult for me. I have a 7" tablet, why do I want a near 6" phone?
In short, this Ultra won't sell well. Battery too small, not waterproof (it would seem) and has an SoC which will be surpassed by the next generation very shortly. Also robustness should be taken into account and when you add on a case this becomes a very big phone.
The Play may well sell well if the price is right. But it had better be competitive.
As for the headphone port - I regularly charge my phone and listen to music at the same time using decent headphones I've paid a lot of money for. I don't want to have to shell out for an adaptor which I'll lose or forget when I want it. That said, the audio on most phones doesn't really come up to scratch for proper music so I suppose it's not a deal breaker but it's damned annoying. To compromise both on battery size and the bloody headphone port is just silly.
One thing I do like is the separate buttons for home, back and so on. I much prefer having these present all the time without having to sacrifice screen space but this is a personal preference.
The main reason for the addition of a smaller screen is actually to save battery life. I had an LG V10. Terrible phone BTW, but loved the smaller screen. My most common use was to control streaming music, which I have playing almost my entire work day. The main screen has to be used so much less than normal. Your use cases might vary of course.
No wireless charging is strange, considering the glass construction. Should be fairly easy to implement, and allows for listening to music while charging.
If they were to do that, then why not just use OLED for the entire display and implement always on for that? This is the best way to have always on functionality for LCD without sacrificing battery life.
Perhaps difficult to match the characteristics of the two types of screen? Might look disjointed with different brightness, contrast and saturation and controlling both so they're matched would probably be more trouble than it's worth.
Why do you insist on an OLED display for the second screen? It looks like it will be displaying white primarily so unless it's a monochrome OLED display, you might end up with the same or higher power consumption than the current LCD solution. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it's LG supplying the displays, so it's probably a package deal that's easy to integrate. Also, you won't have to worry as much about potential burn-in from the always-on functionality.
This looked interesting until I saw $749. Handset makers are going to have to adapt to the new cell phone market which is that of a saturated market. $749 handsets might still be bought by the "tech vanity" crowd, but most of those people buy iPhones. It's too bad because HTC is one of the better manufacturers.
According to HTC's website the Ultra comes with a nice pair of headphones. That does ease the cost a bit. Of course many folks use Bluetooth, so that's not a problem.
What don't all mid to high end phones with headphones now days still? If you pay $750-$950 they better include a set of headphones I know a lot don't use them but ther are just as many that do.
No Daydream or Tango support, and HTC has the worst customer service that I've ever experienced. I now buy replacement parts for my Vive, rather than dealing with them for warranty service, because dealing with their support people is terribly frustrating, a huge waste of time, and often results in being ignored completely. They sometimes ship things back to their customers still broken, if you're even able to communicate with them to get an RMA.
Check out r/vive on Reddit if you want to see what a customer-service disaster HTC is. There are several posts about support nightmares every week. They make some cool products, but they don't care to support them.
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Gich - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
I hope there will be an HTC 11 with Snapdragon 835...StevoLincolnite - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
HTC U Play's SoC is terrible.And the HTC U Ultra could do with a larger battery.
No Headphone Port.
And I *despise* crappy glass backs on Phones. They tend to be glossy and fingerprint magnets and are fragile. (Will crack when dropped.)
They had better have made the device waterpoof if the battery is non removable (Which I don't think it is waterproof) and added in wireless charging if they go with Glass.
Otherwise I give it a big fat, solid. Nope.avi.
close - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
I can understand the 1 year old SoC (although barely considering the price). I would get past the "all glass" design since that back would never see the light of day from under a case. But the 3000mAh battery? Add another damn mm to the back, make the camera flush and squeeze in a bigger battery.I hope that AI will tell them how to go about designing the next phone...
cyberfrost - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
I wish they had launched HTC U Play with SD 650/652. HTC U Ultra looks really good. The battery capacity is a but disappointing. 5.7 + 2 makes it effectively a 5.9 inch phone, which is too big for me. The smaller one has a weak processor. Plus HTC must get the price right in order to make impact. Phones with SD 835 will start launching in next 2-3 months, and if this one is priced at par with other HTC flagships, it may not find many takerscyberfrost - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
The battery capacity is a "bit" disappointing. Edit button please.WorldWithoutMadness - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
This is HTC, right price is never in their mind. I can guess 1.5-2x from rivalsbug77 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Sign me up to the list of users disliking HTC use of MediaTek SoCs (though at this point they don't do it by choice).Sense is another no-no for me.
philehidiot - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Just out of interest, what don't you like about Sense? I prefer it to most Android skins as it's a little lighter so I'm just interested.TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
He may be like us that are stock android or GTFO.Third party skins just drag down the OS and eat up precious battery, made more precious by their sealed nature.
Despoiler - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
You clearly haven't used an HTC recently in any sense of the word. Sense is the closest to native Android of all of the skins. HTC puts a lot of effort into UI perf and responsiveness. They are easily the smoothest out there. Part of how they do that is that they've broken up all of their custom services into apps so they can constantly update them from Play Store. You always have the best performance without having to download the entire ROM. One final nail in your ignorance coffin. HTC releases the kernel source on their dev website.fanofanand - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Interestingly enough, many others would say that Sony makes the "closest to stock Android experience" so you claiming someone else is ignorant while potentially spouting off igorance, is quite ignorant of you. :)Despoiler - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Well we can tell your reading comprehension is terrible. He claimed that all third party skins bring down performance, which is simply not true.Second, you are also wrong. I wasn't speaking purely from opinion on what is closest to native Android.
"Sense is the user interface of Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. HTC's set of icons and widgets take on a flat, Material Design style aesthetic in its latest version – and it's the most similar it's been to stock Android for a while."
https://www.androidpit.com/android-ui-comparison
fanofanand - Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - link
Ok "genius" tell me how to better interpret this: "You clearly haven't used an HTC recently in any sense of the word. Sense is the closest to native Android of all of the skins. "I said that others have stated Sony is the closest to stock. The quote you wrote says that it's the closest SENSE has been to stock android. So who's reading comprehension is struggling?
philehidiot - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Despoiler, that's kind of my feeling - Sense for me patches the gaps in Android without dragging it down. I don't have a problem with other people having other opinions on the matter but I like to understand those opinions as they may know something I don't.bug77 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
It holds back updates and eats precious storage space for little in return. I'd much prefer HTC published their apps on Google Play so only those interested will install them.Despoiler - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
What holds back updates? HTC has just about monthly updates for the security patches on their unlocked phones. Again, all of their custom services are apps already on the Google Play store so they don't need to create a whole new ROM version to fix something.Gich - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Wasn't HTC one of the quickest to push Nougat?philehidiot - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
I'm still awaiting android 7 for my M9 and my last security patch was October. I think their reputation on updates is slipping.Gich - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Lastest flagship is the one that gets updated first.Gich - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Sense is actually great. HTC should sell it on the playstore.I'd give a couple of € for that on my Nexus.
philehidiot - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
List of issues here:Battery life is likely poor on the Ultra - surely that battery can not be big enough for that screen? If it's just about acceptable when new, it'll start becoming an issue after 12-18 months and a few hundred charge cycles. The "AI" to detect when you're not going to make it through the day sounds like a spin on "if you use your phone too much, we'll gradually cripple it in the brackground to compensate for our small battery". Perhaps they didn't want a Note 7 fiasco? Samsung can survive that but HTC would be dead.
Glass case - hate hate hate. I drop phones and glass cracks. They say "get a case". So I spent a fortune on a phone that sells on its looks and have to cover it with a case which ruins those looks because it's not strong enough to survive a drop. I know someone with an S7 which has acquired a crack and hasn't even been dropped.
IP rating? Not mentioned anywhere so we can assume they aren't waterproof / resistant. Not good enough for a top end phone. Acceptable in mid range.
SoC choice in Play - the MediaTek one probably isn't too bad to be honest but the modem is only cat 6 which isn't good enough for me. Also LPDDR3 and eMMC are probably mandated by this SoC choice. Depending on price this could be an issue - if they aim it at midrange then it'll probably be fine but there's a lot of competition and these could be performance affecting when you get a few apps running on there. As for the Ultra - S821 running at lower clockspeed means this is going to be a very brief flagship product. Seems an odd time to release something that is going to be surpassed very shortly by a slew of competitors.
I'm not a fan of these ever bigger screens - I have size 7 hands and 5.2" is the limit for me. It seems like LG are going for a big screen in the G6 and if the S8 only comes in an edge version it'll make life very difficult for me. I have a 7" tablet, why do I want a near 6" phone?
In short, this Ultra won't sell well. Battery too small, not waterproof (it would seem) and has an SoC which will be surpassed by the next generation very shortly. Also robustness should be taken into account and when you add on a case this becomes a very big phone.
The Play may well sell well if the price is right. But it had better be competitive.
As for the headphone port - I regularly charge my phone and listen to music at the same time using decent headphones I've paid a lot of money for. I don't want to have to shell out for an adaptor which I'll lose or forget when I want it. That said, the audio on most phones doesn't really come up to scratch for proper music so I suppose it's not a deal breaker but it's damned annoying. To compromise both on battery size and the bloody headphone port is just silly.
One thing I do like is the separate buttons for home, back and so on. I much prefer having these present all the time without having to sacrifice screen space but this is a personal preference.
/rant.
Despoiler - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
The main reason for the addition of a smaller screen is actually to save battery life. I had an LG V10. Terrible phone BTW, but loved the smaller screen. My most common use was to control streaming music, which I have playing almost my entire work day. The main screen has to be used so much less than normal. Your use cases might vary of course.philehidiot - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
That's fair enough, a good point actually. I think for me probably not of much use but good shout.Laxaa - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
No wireless charging is strange, considering the glass construction. Should be fairly easy to implement, and allows for listening to music while charging.negusp - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
The least they could've done is use OLED for the second screen.Trixanity - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
If they were to do that, then why not just use OLED for the entire display and implement always on for that? This is the best way to have always on functionality for LCD without sacrificing battery life.negusp - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Why is it the best way? Small OLED screens are readily available, and IMO IPS LCD is generally better for general usage in terms of battery life.So, you have an OLED ticker, and an LCD main.
philehidiot - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Perhaps difficult to match the characteristics of the two types of screen? Might look disjointed with different brightness, contrast and saturation and controlling both so they're matched would probably be more trouble than it's worth.Trixanity - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Why do you insist on an OLED display for the second screen? It looks like it will be displaying white primarily so unless it's a monochrome OLED display, you might end up with the same or higher power consumption than the current LCD solution. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it's LG supplying the displays, so it's probably a package deal that's easy to integrate. Also, you won't have to worry as much about potential burn-in from the always-on functionality.fanofanand - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
This looked interesting until I saw $749. Handset makers are going to have to adapt to the new cell phone market which is that of a saturated market. $749 handsets might still be bought by the "tech vanity" crowd, but most of those people buy iPhones. It's too bad because HTC is one of the better manufacturers.BPB - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
According to HTC's website the Ultra comes with a nice pair of headphones. That does ease the cost a bit. Of course many folks use Bluetooth, so that's not a problem.rocky12345 - Saturday, February 18, 2017 - link
What don't all mid to high end phones with headphones now days still? If you pay $750-$950 they better include a set of headphones I know a lot don't use them but ther are just as many that do.rocky12345 - Saturday, February 18, 2017 - link
disregard comment I may have misread what you said.JeffFlanagan - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
No Daydream or Tango support, and HTC has the worst customer service that I've ever experienced. I now buy replacement parts for my Vive, rather than dealing with them for warranty service, because dealing with their support people is terribly frustrating, a huge waste of time, and often results in being ignored completely. They sometimes ship things back to their customers still broken, if you're even able to communicate with them to get an RMA.Check out r/vive on Reddit if you want to see what a customer-service disaster HTC is. There are several posts about support nightmares every week. They make some cool products, but they don't care to support them.
philehidiot - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
Whilst I know my own experience is just one of many, my experience using HTC support via Facebook was pretty good.zodiacfml - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Too late, too expensive.