As expected, HTC has gracefully skipped CES 2017. The Taiwanese device maker is expected to host the “For U” media event tomorrow, during which we expect to see some new smartphones make an appearance into the wild.
One of them is probably the HTC Ocean Note (or HTC U Ultra) – a phablet that aims to wow even disheartened ex-Galaxy Note7 owners. According to a report coming out of Venture Beat, the HTC Ocean Note will indeed be quite impressive. For one, it will allegedly feature the same 12MP camera the Google Pixel and Pixel XL take advantage of.
That’s pretty promising, especially since the Pixel and Pixel XL are known to have one of the best cameras currently available. We reported the same in our Pixel XL review.
However, the camera software will bear HTC’s distinctive touch, so the overall quality of the images might be a bit different (but hopefully, not too different).
Apart from the camera, we’re told the HTC Ocean Note is going to bundle last year’s Snapdragon 821, not the new Snapdragon 835. Bummer, but HTC doesn’t seem to be keen on keeping up with the latest chipsets trends. After all the company launched the HTC Bolt in late 2016 with the previous-gen Snapdragon 810 inside of it.
We mentioned before the HTC Ocean Note is going to be a phablet, so the device should rock a 5.7-inch QHD display (2560 x 1440-pixel resolution) plus a secondary display in the vein of LG V20. Many consider the small display on the LG V20 a gimmick, but it will be interesting to see HTC’s take on it.
Other rumored specs of the HTC Ocean Note include 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, a big battery (possibly 4,000 mAh) and Android 7.0 Nougat. While we wait for the official announcement, check out these leaked images showcasing us the device.
During the same event, HTC is also expected to unveil the HTC Alpine (HTC U Play) and HTC X10 mid-ranger. Stay tuned to find out more about HTC’s 2017 lineup.
