Table of Contents
amazon HTC U Play reviews
Design: glossy and fancy
When holding the blue HTC U Play, the writer immediately remembers an earlier HTC product, the HTC Butterfly 2. The phone has a blue color, glossy surface and a soft, The only difference is the back of non-glass plastic material like U Play. Of course, the quality of U Play’s surface treatment is much better, smoother and “wiser” than Butterfly 2.
In particular, the U Play’s back looks in different directions, the color is different. The HTC maker said it was due to the fact that the glass surface was multicolored, so different angles would come in different colors. This glossy surface design is also featured on HTC Ultra UI and is considered by many to be the main focus in the Taiwanese manufacturer’s 2017 smartphone design language.
The glossy surface makes U Play look really fancy, different from most competitive products today. Even so, the gloss is so clear that it can mirror and can be used to selfie with the back camera. However, the glossy surface is limited to fingerprints that can easily come out like the glossy black of the Apple iPhone 7/ Apple iPhone 7 Plus, looking after only a few minutes of use. The blue version clearly see this point. In addition to blue, U Play also has white, glossy black and pink nacre. Perhaps in the white and pink versions of nacre fingerprint phenomenon will be less noticeable than the glossy black and blue. Apart from fingerprints, the glossy surface also has another drawback, which is to smooth the handle when held.
In terms of design, the HTC U Play has a sloping top and back design that looks soft, comfortable to hold and holds hands. The metal frame is also rounded, matching the shape of the waist. The body is 8mm thick, is not thin but designed bo should still give the feeling of elegance. The product has excellent finishes, from smooth surface finishes to coupling details and ports, keys or slots. All the products have only a slightly wavy part is the coupling between the back of the metal frame.
In addition to the drastic design changes, HTC also boldly abandoned the 3.5-inch audio jack on the U series, with only the Type-C USB port. The handset comes with USonic headset connected via USB Type-C. The abandonment of audio jacks is seen as a trend for more and more smartphone adoption, allowing manufacturers to make phones thinner or improve water resistance. But weird U Play does not have both. The 8mm thick body is not thin and the product is not capable of “swimming”.
On the U Play, HTC has also pushed the navigation buttons on the bezel instead of placing it on the screen like many of its predecessors. The fingerprint sensor is located at the Home button. This is the same type of touch button on the One A9, just touching it, not pressing it, and it’s very sensitive, the touch screen is open. In addition to unlocking the phone, the fingerprint sensor can be used to unlock applications that are password-protected by the user.
Overall, the design is impressive at U Play, which makes it a bit different from previous HTC products, while the finish was well done.
Screen
HTC U Play uses a 5.2-inch Super-LCD screen with Full HD resolution at 428 PPI, which is comfortable in detail. This screen shows the colors are quite brilliant, slightly darker when compared directly with the color on the screen of the Apple iPhone 6s and Apple iPhone 7 Plus. Wide viewing angle. When used outdoors, the machine can look relatively clear if the brightness to the highest. However, when compared directly to Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 and Samsung A7 2017 of Samsung, this HTC phone has the ability to look inferior.
When measured with a dedicated device, U Play’s screen scores well and well in important criteria such as contrast, black display and maximum brightness. Warm color screen and can adjust the color temperature to your preference in the setting. However, the color accuracy deviates much from the standard color. This explains why the color of U Play is darker than that of the iPhone 6s and 7 Plus screens, which is considered to be a very standard color.
Software
HTC U Play is currently using Android version 6.0, not the new Android 7 update as some other brands.
The most notable feature on the U series is the Sense Companion, which is now included in the Google Play app store. This is a feature introduced by HTC that is capable of self-learning through user habits to make guesses and suggestions for users, For example, the machine will remind users to wear warm clothes when the weather becomes cold. HTC said that Sense Companion will become more and more intelligent based on learning the daily habits from users.
While experimenting to write reviews, the Sense Companion feature has not been updated. The HTC side said they just introduced the Sense Companion software to the Google Play app store. HTC U Play and HTC U Ultra users can checkout for updates.
In addition to Sense Companion, both the U Play interface and software features are similar to the recent HTC Desire 10 Pro. Since the One A9 last year, HTC has begun to purge the software, retaining only the features of HTC and increasing its use of the original Google software.
Many past applications have duplicates such as photo viewers, movies or music players now using the original Google app. That makes the U3’s Android 6-based Sense software smoother and smoother. HTC now only includes a number of its own unique applications such as news aggregator News Republic, theme software for interface changes, imaging applications and especially the new Boost + software suite.
The new Boost + software suite includes a variety of cleanup and resolution enhancements for speed improvement, application management and, in particular, application locking to ensure privacy by password or fingerprint.
where can you get a HTC U Play online
HTC U Play – 64GB – 5.2″ FHD – 4G LTE (Brilliant Black) – International Version, No Warranty, GSM Only: Buy it now
HTC U Play – 64GB – 5.2″ FHD – 4G LTE (Sapphire Blue) – International Version, No Warranty, GSM Only: Buy it now
HTC U Play – 64GB – 5.2″ FHD – 4G LTE (Ice White) – International Version, No Warranty, GSM Only: Buy it now
HTC U Play (U-2u) 4GB RAM / 64GB ROM 5.2-inch 4G LTE Dual SIM FACTORY UNLOCKED – International Stock No Warranty (COSMETIC PINK): Buy it now
HTC U Play 32GB Single SIM Factory Unlocked Android OS Smartphone (Sapphire Blue) – International Version with No Warranty: Buy it now
HTC U Play 32GB Single SIM Factory Unlocked Android OS Smartphone (Ice White) – International Version with No Warranty: Buy it now
HTC U Play 32GB Single SIM Factory Unlocked Android OS Smartphone (Brilliant Black) – International Version with No Warranty: Buy it now
Performance
HTC U Play’s internal configuration is not impressive. The Mediok MT6755 Helio P10 has eight Cortex A53 cores (four 2.0GHz quad-core and four 1.1GHz quad-core) and the Mali-T860MP2 GPU is popular in many mid-range smartphones. In addition to this chipset, users have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of memory (about 52GB available), enough for most users. Those with a high demand for data storage on the phone can purchase external memory cards. But note that the UMB external memory card slot is shared with the second SIM tray, if you regularly use 2 SIM cards will not use external memory card.
In actual use, that configuration helps the machine to handle well and smoothly the normal operation. Fast open application, smooth interface conversion and exceptional multitasking ability thanks to large RAM and software optimized by HTC.
With gaming, the power of the Helio P10 can be said to be insufficient to handle smooth, heavy games on Full HD resolution. Try the Dead Trigger 2 heavy game, the self-rated high but laggy game with the frame rate measured by GameBench software is only about 26 frames per second. When Boost + is turned on to reduce the screen resolution, the game is a little smoother with frames up to 32 frames per second, but the game is still lagging when it comes to the monster scene in the game. However, the Dead Trigger 2 experience becomes smoother after enabling high-performance CPU mode in the developer options. The frame rate in the game runs at about 37 fps. For other heavy games like Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade or N.O.V.A.3, the situation is similar.
Battery life
U Play has a relatively modest battery life, only 2500 mAh. Therefore, it is not surprising that the product’s duration is only moderate, enough for one day for users with low demand. Those who need to use the phone more often, most with the game or web browsing on the 3G network continuously, should consider adding extra battery charger or consider moving to better battery products. .
This phone supports MediaTek’s fast charging technology. It takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to fully charge the battery with the bulb and the included charger cable, with 30 minutes of charging initially charging about 45% of the battery.
Camera
U Play has front and rear cameras with 16MP resolution, f / 2.0 and 1 micron pixel resolution. The back camera supports optical anti-blur and phase focus, two-tone dual flash, and front camera with 4MP UltraPixel to improve image quality in low light conditions.
In automatic mode, U Play has an HDR Auto feature that pops up based on shooting context analysis to increase contrast. When this mode is turned on, the focus and focus are slightly longer but the difference from the normal mode is negligible. HTC also introduced a number of other features, such as panoramas and Zoe, to capture 3 seconds of video for each photo.
If you switch to Expert Mode, you can adjust the white balance, ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation and focus range to get the desired image quality. You also take pictures in RAW format, which is rarely seen on cell phones, for post-production editing.
During the trial, U Play showed good clarity, detail and clarity even in low light conditions. Pictures have a good range of bright, detailed in both light and dark areas. However, in bright enough scenes, U Play’s photos often offer lower brightness than the actual color, pale colors, unstable white balance, focus and shutter speed are not really fast, Especially when shooting poorly or turning HDR on. When compiled with photos from the Galaxy A7 2017, photos from U Play have more detail but color and brightness are not equal.
U Play’s 16MP front camera has focus and quick focus. Photographs in sufficiently bright, well-defined, sharp, and beautifully-lit environments. In normal mode, you can take 16MP self shots, have wide-angle shooting when shooting multiple people, and can capture shots (2, 5 or 10 seconds) .
If the lighting conditions are poor, you can turn on the 4MP Ultra-Pixel mode or turn on the flash (using screen light) to improve brightness and picture quality. According to HTC, in Ultra-Pixel mode, U Play’s front camera can capture up to four times brighter than conventional shooting. In fact, shooting in 4MP Ultra-Pixel mode on HTC U Play will improve picture quality in terms of sharpness, detail even in low light conditions and bright enough.
Conclude
In the smartphone market, HTC is struggling to make the transition. This year, the company began a strategic shift, focusing on high end products with new design language and more emphasis on the user experience. The U Play shows very clearly that direction. The machine is glossy design, different from competitive products and good quality finishing.
The product also has a good quality screen, lightweight software, fast performance with basic needs and a camera for natural, richly colored images. However, U Play has some drawbacks. The camera has slower shutter speeds and focus, and the performance is not strong enough to carry high-end games and the battery has to be crisp enough to last a day without charging.
Overall, with this product in mind, this phone may appeal to HTC’s hard-core fanbase for a differently designed product, and for the masses, the same restrictions apply to the high price will be significant barriers. In other words, the restrictions will become blurry or even not a problem if the machine has a better price.