Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
Remember when HTC had a really good story as to why the HTC U12+ carries the "Plus" moniker in the absence of a vanilla version? Well, we do and we're not above bringing it up, purely for the comedic effect. HTC was quite adamant that the U12+ would be the sole representative of the U12 family. And the "Plus" suffix was simply there as a way of letting consumers know that the phone was good enough to compete with any other smartphone that carries the "Plus" moniker like the iPhone 8 Plus or the Galaxy S9+.
Enter the HTC U12 Life - the proverbial wrecking ball to that particular PR-infused stack of cards, that is the original U12+ naming story. All joking aside, HTC hasn't really been doing all too well lately, so we are pretty happy to see any new model unveiling.
HTC U12 life specs
- Body: Plastic (plastic frame and back panel); 158.5 x 75.4 x 8.3 mm; 175 g
- Screen: 6.0-inch, 2160x1080 IPS LCD, 402 PPI
- Rear Camera: 16MP, f/2.0, PDAF primary, 5MP depth sensor; 4K video
- Front Camera: 13MP, f/2.0; 1080p video
- Chipset: 14nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, Kryo 260 (4x Cortex-A73 @ 1.8GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.6GHz), Adreno 509
- Memory: 4/6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB storage + microSD (up to 512GB)
- OS: Android 8.1; HTC Sense
- Battery: 3600mAh
- Connectivity: Hybrid dual SIM, 4G, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, USB 2.0 Type-C, headphone jack
- Misc: Fingerprint sensor
Just, be sure to adjust your expectations accordingly. The U12 Life, which is HTC's fancy way of denoting its lite devices, lives up to its name. It is a solid mid-ranger, equipped just well enough to go against some current popular competitors from the likes of Xiaomi or Nokia.
For that reason alone, the U12 Life is worth checking out in more detail. Plus, unlike your typical "lite" variant, it doesn't necessarily follow its bigger brother in design and internals. The U12 Life is more of a distinct device, a unique offer, on its own.
Design and hardware
As far as the overall footprint and shape go, the U12 Life isn't all that different from the U12+. After all, is based around an equally sized 6-inch display. One also complete with curved corners and no notch.
Since we are already on the subject of display, it is somewhat downgraded, compared to the U12+. Namely, due to its 1080 x 2160 pixel resolution. Still, it looks plenty sharp in person. HTC also didn't feel quite confident enough to call the particular panel a Super LCD6 unit (as per its traditional naming convention).
We can't really comment on its quality, for sure, until we get the U12 Life in for a full review, but the panel did look decently bright at the show floor in Berlin. Viewing angles were nice and wide and also didn't disappoint.
We would be lying if we said that the U12 Life is part of the trendy all-display crowd. It does have an extra-tall, 18:9 panel. But, beyond that, the top and bottom chins are fairly wide. The same is mostly true for the side bezels, on either side of the display.
We can't really complain too much about the look. What has us worried, though, is the suspicious absence of info regarding any protective finish on both the front and the back. The units we got to handle were already scratched and scuffed quite a bit.
The frame of the U12 Life is pretty much subject to the same faith. HTC apparently decided to forgo the standard metal, sandwiched between glass approach and went for a plastic frame. It looks and feels sturdy enough, but doesn't really instill the same level of confidence as metal.
Plus, it definitely contributes towards the overall feeling of "lightness" of the U12 Life. For a phone, which measures 158.5 x 75.4 x 8.3 mm, 175 grams are really on the low end. Combined with the plastic feel of the finish, it's not really a great sensation. Dare we say, the U12 Life feels a bit too budget.
Looks, though, are a whole different story. We really have to commend HTC's design team on the exquisite work they have been doing on the back panels of recent models. Now, we can't say for sure if the U12 Life follows the same "Liquid Surface" design philosophy as the U12+, but it is just as visually stunning from the
HTC really pulled off the two-tone look really well. Arguably better than Google. In case you were wondering, the pattern on the lower portion is not actually textured and the surface is smooth. Still, it looks really good in both Moonlight Blue and Twilight Purple color options.
It's just a real shame that HTC opted to make the panel out of "acrylic glass", which is a fancy way to say plastic. Hence, you might just need to cover that gorgeous back with a case to protect it.
Touching briefly on the subject of controls and inputs - everything is pretty standard on the U12 Life. On the right - a volume rocker and power button. Both conveniently placed, comfortable, with the latter featuring a really nice textured finish. Just like the rest of the phone, these are still plastic, though.
On the left - a SIM tray, One of those hybrid affairs, which can either take a couple of nono-SIM cards or one of them can be swapped out for a microSD. On the top - a good old 3.5mm audio jack is checked and accounted for. On the bottom - a USB 2.0, Type-C port and a bottom-firing speaker.
One of two, in fact. We are happy to say that, in keeping with HTC tradition, the U12 Life has a stereo setup. It's hard to say just how it compares to the legendary BOOM speaker setup, while on the noisy show floor. So, we'll have to get back to you in the full review.
Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to run benchmarks at the event. That's another thing left for the review. Still, you are all probably pretty familiar by now, as to what the Snapdragon 636 is capable of. Long story short - adequate, every-day performance. For a more detailed look, you can check out one of our recent Xiaomi reviews, like the Mi Max 3 or Redmi Note 5 Ai Dual Camera.
Camera
The U12 Life is rocking a pretty standard setup: 16MP, f/2.0 main snapper, accompanied by a 5MP unit, intended purely for depth sensing. The only real "extras" HTC added on top are Phase detection autofocus, and a dual LED flash.
The camera UI looks really clean, with only a few special modes added in, like Bokeh and Panorama. There is an Auto HDR toggle and 4K@30fps video recording is supported out of the box. Something we can't really take for granted, given some of our recent experiences with Xiaomi's approach to market segmentation.
On the selfie side - a simple 13MP snapper. Nothing too fancy, just a fixed focus camera.
Software
The U12 Life boots Android 8.1 Oreo, with Sense UI or HTC Sense on top. On the surface, it has a really clean, almost stock look to it, which we really appreciate. There are some notable additions, though.
The HTC Sense companion app will remind you to charge your phone if you don't have enough juice to make it to your dinner meeting (provided it is in your calendar). It's quite reminiscent of the Google Assistant.
Boost+ is HTC's optimizer app for clearing junk files, freeing up RAM, looking for possible battery saving settings, locking apps behind a pattern lock, and the apps manager feature is nice to delete a bunch of apps at once.
Blink Feed is still here and it's just a swipe to the left of your home screen. We're not fans of unifying all feeds within a single one, but apparently some HTC users still are. There's support for many social networks, YouTube, news, and whatever else you like to consume.
There is also Theme support, navigation bar options, face unlock and a few other goodies added to the mix.
Conclusion
Frankly speaking, it's kind of hard to read HTC's marketing strategy and intentions lately. The U12 Life only adds to the overall confusion of the matter. It's clearly not a toned-down version of the U12+, but something different entirely.
All things considered, HTC appears to be trying to go after the popular mid-rangers of the day. Offers from Xiaomi, Nokia and a few other players, like we mentioned earlier. That, however, is probably the most competitive space to be in right now.
We'll definitely be keeping an eye on the U12 Life and how well it brushes elbows with the competition. But, one thing is for sure, HTC has a tough battle lined up for itself on this one.
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