The U12 Life is a mid range device from HTC. Can it claim its position in the midrange devices war? Let’s find out!
DESIGN
As major manufacturers continue to take the bezeless road, the HTC U12 life seem not to care that much, and retains the standard edges on the screen. The U12 Life is made from plastic and has 6-inch display taking up almost 80 percent of the front with a front-facing speaker in the top bezel and a selfie camera to the left.
On the back, HTC decided to go with an unusual design that HTC calls 3D Ultra Stripes with a two-tone pattern with super reflective stripes and distinctive texture which covers the lower part of the phone, with a shinny top which houses the dual-lens camera on left and a fingerprint sensor in the middle.
On the left side of the phone, you’ll find the SIM card MicroSD tray while on the right there’s the volume rocker with a textured power button. On the bottom there’s a USB-C port and a speaker. HTC also retained the 3.5mm audio jack on this one.
The phone is available in just two colors: Midnight Blue and Twilight Purple
DISPLAY
HTC used o a new panel type called LTPS (Low-Temperature PolySilicon). The colors on the U12 Life are vivid, brightness is good (not the greatest) with solid viewing angles. The 6-inch display adopts the 18:9 aspect ratio with 2,160 x 1,080 resolution and 402ppi.
PERFROMANCE / SOFTWARE / INTERNALS
Inside the HTC U12 Life there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as standard. Despite few lags on heavy games and apps (expected for mid range device), in general, the phone is responsive and has no issues handling continuous usage. The HTC U12 Life runs Android 8.1 Oreo with HTC’s Sense on top. The battery is larger this time with a 3,600mAh unit, but was more or less performing less than its sized and barely lasted the day in our test.
CAMERA
the U12 Life doubles down with a dual rear camera setup as compared to the U11 Life which had one major camera on its rear. There’s a main 16-megapixel sensor with a f/2.0 aperture lens, alongside a 5MP lower-resolution sensor used for depth perception. Te camera has phase detection auto focus (PDAF) and electronic image stabilization (EIS).
SELFIE
OUTDOOR PHOTOS
he U12 Life can take decent quality photos. You can also shoot videos at 4K at 30fps, and Full HD at 60fps. Video quality is ok, but frustrating without proper stabilization. On the front, the camera is lower resolution 13Mp camera with HDR, which also has an aperture of f/2.0 and boasts an LED flash. The camera UI is really clean, with a few special modes like Bokeh and Panorama.
LOW LIGHT PHOTOS
VERDICT
HTC U12 Life is a classy mid ranger with a good price point and a unique look. The phone has some good offerings as and is positioned as a competent contender within its range and does the job.
The HTC U12 Life is available across retailers in the UAE at AED 1,299.
