The HTC U Ultra made its debut back in January as the company's latest flagship, but how durable is it?
Well-known YouTuber JerryRigEverything frequently subjects hot devices to torture tests to push their durability to the limit. The latest one to get the treatment is the HTC U Ultra, which just went through scratch, bend, and burn tests, but the results might be disappointing for those expecting a highly durable device.
HTC U Ultra Durability Test
JerryRigEverything started out by scratching the display of the HTC U Ultra to see how easy it is to damage. Things got serious with a level 6 pick, which is pretty much the standard for the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 panel protecting the smartphone's display. The front camera has the same protective glass, so its scratch-resistance level is good as well.
The smartphone's earpiece, however, doesn't offer much scratch resistance, and neither does the fingerprint scanner, which scratches easily, but at least it keeps working even if it's scratched. The HTC U Ultra's back and rear camera lens offer good scratch resistance, but the rear LED flash has a plastic top that's fairly easy to damage.
Moving on to the burn and bend tests, the HTC U Ultra's display quickly recovers after being subjected to a flame for 10 seconds, which is a good sign in terms of durability. However, the smartphone's display easily cracked under the bend test, and the damage from the scratch test could have contributed to this effect. JerryRigEverything managed to bend the HTC U Ultra quite significantly, albeit it's worth noting that the handset did not break completely.
Either way, the HTC U Ultra doesn't hold a candle to the HTC 10 in terms of durability, as the previous flagship was significantly tougher all around.
Scratch, Burn, And Bend Test Purpose
While regular smartphone users won't subject their newly purchased smartphone flagships to such extreme torture tests, the scratch, burn, and bend tests do offer a good glimpse of a smartphone's durability and aim to indicate how the device could withstand daily wear and tear.
That said, although users might not take a pick to scratch their device, light a fire under the phone, or try to bend it as much as they can, it's still good to know how easily it could get damaged.
The HTC U Ultra is among the better-looking Android smartphones currently on the market, but the durability tests indicate that it's not all that tough.
HTC U Ultra Specs
As a reminder, the HTC U Ultra sports a metal and glass design, a massive 5.7-inch QHD display and a 2.05-inch second panel, and packs a Snapdragon 821 processor paired with 4 GB of RAM. Other specs include a 12-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), a 16-megapixel front shooter, 64 GB of native storage, microSD support for additional storage of up to 2 TB, a 3,000 mAh battery and Android Nougat on board out of the box. The smartphone costs $749, which might seem quite steep.
Check out the HTC U Ultra scratch, burn, and bend tests in the video below and drop by our comment section to share your thoughts. Do you think the HTC U Ultra makes for a good investment?
