PERFORMANCE: Overall the performance of the HTC U Ultra did well but was not among our top scorers. Many users will be satisfied with its performance especially if you're looking for a mid-range smartphone. Ergonomics on the U Ultra were excellent. The touchscreen and ease of use were top notch. You should be able to comfortably hold the phone and use its buttons and touchscreen easily. Call quality and convenience on the U Ultra were not the best but they were very good. Sound while on a call was very good in a quiet room and with background noise. Your sound quality will vary due to many factors including background noise, if you are moving between cell towers, the quality of the phone on the other end of the call, and the quality of the cell tower and antenna.
DURABILITY: After 50 drops in the tumbler, our experts rated it as excellent. An included protection cover was used in testing. There were just some minor scratches. Overall, it was in good working condition. After our more strenuous 100 drops in the tumbler the screen and body proved they can take a serious tumble. Our experts rated it as excellent. .Overall, it was in good working condition.
PORTABILITY/BATTERY: The 5.7-inch screen on the U Ultra comes in a body measuring 6.4-inches tall, 3.1-inches wide, 0.4-inches thick, and weighs 6.1 ounces. Those measurements mean the phone is larger and heavier than most. At 19 hours, it has an average battery lifespan. Its battery is not removable and the phone doesn't support wireless charging.
CAMERA: The U Ultra has a single 12-megapixel camera. The camera has optical image stabilization to improve your chances of taking better handheld photos under low-light conditions. Overall the camera performance was good, below that of many other models but still good enough for most users to capture fine still shots. Images are evaluated on high quality 24-inch LCD displays. The test photos are taken in a brightly lit studio and outdoors on a sunny day. In the viewing tests the images were rated good overall. These images offer acceptable results for color quality, exposure level, sharpness (without much over sharpening), and image noise but the images are not among the better cameras on smartphones. The U Ultra comes with a 16-megapixel selfie cam. Overall the selfie camera quality was good.
DISPLAY: Overall the display quality was very good. The display resolution was high enough, close to or greater than 300dpi, so you see a smooth, crisp display but it didn't appear quite as crisp as our best displays. If the display does have a higher resolution, most people will not be able to tell the difference. Readability outdoors is a combination of brightness, measured in candelas per square meter, and reflectivity. The readability rating was very good. Brightness was a little dim for outdoor sunlight at 370cd/m² and reflective glare was slightly noticeable.
