May has been a big month for Android smartphones with reveals of the LG G7 ThinQ and OnePlus 6, and now another major flagship has been revealed.

The HTC U12+ made its official debut today. One of the highlight features of the U12+ is its cameras, of which there are four. The two rear cameras include a 12MP wide angle UltraPixel 4 camera with fast autofocus, HDR Boost 2, optical image stabilization, and f/1.75 aperture, while the other rear camera is a 16MP shooter with 2x optical zoom and f/2.6 aperture. Around front are dual wide angle 8MP cameras with f/2.0 aperture.

Those cameras have scored pretty well with camera testing firm DxOMark, earning a score of 103. That makes it the second-highest scoring phone in the firm’s rankings, beating out the likes of the Galaxy S9+, Pixel 2, and iPhone X, finishing just behind the Huawei P20 Pro.

Other notable features of the HTC U12+’s cameras include support for bokeh to give you photos a blurry background, AR stickers, and an auto zoom feature that’ll slowly and steadily zoom in while you’re recording video to give you a cinema-like feel.

The HTC U12+ also boasts HTC Edge Sense 2, an upgraded version of the Edge Sense feature found on last year’s HTC U11. In addition to squeezing your phone to launch apps and perform actions, you can now hold your phone and tilt it to lock the screen orientation as well as double tap the side to launch a one-handed mode.

As with previous flagships, HTC is placing a focus on audio quality with the U12+. HTC says that the U12+ includes its loudest ever BoomSound speakers, and included in the box is a pair of HTC USonic earbuds with Active Noise Cancellation. Also packed inside the U12+ is support for Qualcomm aptX for higher-quality Bluetooth audio.

The spec list of the HTC U12+ is loaded with features that you’d expect from an Android flagship in 2018, like a large screen — a 6-inch 2880×1440 Super LCD6 screen, to be exact— slim bezels, a Snapdragon 845 processor, and 6GB of RAM. There are 64GB and 128GB storage options, and HTC has included a microSD card slot if you need more storage. A 3500mAh battery powers the whole package, and you’ll recharge using USB-C.

There’s a fingerprint reader on the back of the HTC U12+ and support for face unlock on the front of the phone. The U12+ body is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance and includes pressure-sensitive buttons. On the software side, the U12+c runs Android 8.0 Oreo below HTC’s custom Sense user interface, which comes preloaded with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

The HTC U12+ will be sold unlocked, and while it includes support for LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12, and 66, unfortunately there’s no LTE band 71 support to be found. Here’s the full wireless support for the U12+:

2G/2.5G GSM/GPRS/EDGE

• 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

3G UMTS

• AWS/850/900/1900/2100 MHz

4G LTE

• FDD: Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 20, 28, 32, 66
• TDD: Bands 38, 39, 40, 41

You can now pre-order the HTC U12+, and in the U.S., it’s available in Ceramic Black and Translucent Blue color options. HTC is selling the U12+ for $799 for the 64GB model and $849 for the 128GB version.

The HTC U12+ looks like a solid smartphone. It’s got a simple, attractive design, and it’s not often that you see a see-through color option like the U12+’s Translucent Blue. The bad news for T-Mo customers is that there’s no LTE band 71, and since it’s not being sold by T-Mobile directly, you can’t buy the U12+ using EIP or JOD. HTC does offer its own financing option that’ll get you the U12+ for $34 per month for 24 months.

What do you think of HTC’s newest flagship smartphone?

Source: HTC