HTC U Ultra now official

HTC has just announced a "new direction" in the form of a series of handsets that come with the company's own AI assistant. The HTC U Ultra is the flagship of this new family of devices, offering a 5.7-inch display and a design that uses glass for both the front and back panels. According to HTC officials, the virtual assistant of the company uses in-house AI software, but also provides full compatibility with Google Now.

These are the specs and features of the HTC U Ultra:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC
• Memory/Storage: 4 GB RAM; 64 GB or 128 GB internal storage and microSD support up to 2 TB with Flex Storage
• Display: 5.7-inch Super LCD 5 with 2,560X1,440 pixels and 2.05-inch with 160X1,040 pixels dual display, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 (64 GB) or Sapphire Glass (128 GB) protection
• Cameras: 16 MP Ultra Pixel front, 12 MP Ultra Pixel 2 main camera 
• Connectivity: 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. Bluetooth 4.2, USB 3.1 Type-C, NFC, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, and Beidou support
• Operating system: Android 7.0 Nougat with HTC Sense UI on top
• Weight/Dimensions: 0.37 pounds; 6.39X3.14X0.32 inches
• Battery/Autonomy: 3,000 mAh; up to 26 hours talk time and 13 days standby (both on 3G/4G)
• Colors: white, blue, black

While this handset is HiRes audio certified and comes with HTC BoomSound and HTC USonic, it has no 3.5 mm audio jack. Pre-orders can be placed already, the price is $749 USD, and the retail box includes the handset, a clear case, earphones, a rapid charger, and one USB Type-C cable. Unfortunately, shipments are only expected to start in March.