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HTC has been slow to update its phones to Android 9 Pie, and there have even been stumbles along the way. The Pie rollout for the U12+ began last month in HTC's home country of Taiwan, and now the update has started to arrive on US models.
Two months back, HTC announced its intention to update the U11, U11+, and U12+ phones to Android 9 Pie. Although it has missed its original "late June" estimate for the U12+ (not to mention the issues it's having with the U11) it would appear that the Pie update for the U12+ is finally rolling out — but only in Taiwan, for now.
As surprising as it sounds, there are still recent phones that haven't been updated to Pie, and the HTC U11, H11+, and U12+ are among these few. However, the Taiwanese manufacturer is finally getting ready to roll out the new Android version to these devices, right on time before Q becomes available.
As we truck along into 2019 with Android Q on the horizon, there are still some phones from the last couple of years that have yet to receive their Pie updates. While typical slow-pokes like Samsung, Huawei, and Asus have brought most of their flagship devices up to the latest version, HTC has lagged behind — excluding, of course, the U11 Life late last year. But the company's official Twitter account announced today that the U11, U11+, and U12+ will get Pie in Q2 2019.
About a month has passed since our last TWRP installment, and several more Android devices have joined the ranks since then. This time around, new entrants include the HTC U12+, Xiaomi's Mi Max 3, the minuscule Unihertz Jelly Pro, as well as some Samsung and ZTE Nubia phones.
HTC, despite floundering in the smartphone market, is still trying to keep itself relevant. Hopping on the red device bandwagon, the company just announced that is now accepting pre-orders for the Flame Red variant of its U12+ flagship. Based on the photos, it's quite attractive.
Android 9.0 Pie is finally here, and now comes the fun part - waiting for OEMs to update their phones. Google and Essential have already started rolling out Pie to their devices, and now HTC has announced which of its phones will get Android 9.0.
HTC isn't doing particularly well these days, and the few people out there who purchased a U12+ likely weren't too pleased with the last bit of news about their devices announced: 'CryptoKitties.' Luckily, HTC is releasing an update for the U12+, starting with the Taiwanese dual-SIM model and coming soon to US and European versions.
It's no secret that HTC isn't doing too well these days. Between lackluster overall sales and the U12+'s lukewarm reception, the former OEM heavyweight is in a tight spot. Earlier this spring the company revealed a set of nebulous plans for a blockchain-powered phone that sounded more like an act of marketing desperation than a consumer product (complete with a "Decentralized Chief Officer" and promises to "Take back the internet"). Following all this, today HTC has announced exclusive support for CryptoKitties, a Beanie Babies-esque set of Ethereum ERC-721 token-powered collectibles.
After a brief period of pre-orders, the HTC U12+ is now shipping immediately from HTC and Amazon. This device seemingly ticks all the boxes with a Snapdragon 845, 18:9 display, and a big 3,500mAh battery. Sadly, even though you can buy the phone today we would probably recommend you don't.The U12+ starts at $799 for the 64GB version. An extra $50 gets you upgraded to the 128GB edition of the phone. It's unlocked with support for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks. The chassis comes in either black or translucent blue, which doesn't look as cool in real life as you'd expect.
The HTC U12+ isn't a great phone, but if you bought one anyway, I have some good news for you. HTC just released the kernel source code for the U12+, allowing developers to more easily create custom recoveries and ROMs for the company's latest flagship.
The U12+ is the latest high-end smartphone from HTC, and while the ‘+’ moniker may have you wondering where the “regular” version is - this is it: HTC is, for the time being, only launching a large premium phone in 2018. It packs the latest Snapdragon 845 processor from Qualcomm, a large 6.0” Quad HD LCD display, and four cameras. It also costs a whopping $800, and you can only buy it direct from HTC or Amazon in the US.
It’s no secret that HTC, as a smartphone company, is hard up. And while the relative success of its Vive VR unit has warded off active ‘death watch’ speculation to date, there’s little doubt that HTC’s days as a smartphone maker are winding down. The company’s release schedule has become haphazard: it announced a “U Ultra” smartphone in early 2017 seemingly out of nowhere - that ended up being a complete flop. Six months later it revealed the U11 to largely positive reviews, but little in the way of consumer response. The “light” version of that phone, the U11 Life, wasn’t even worth a second glance, and now it seems HTC won’t even release a proper mainstream premium phone in 2018 at all.
HTC is going out on a limb with the U12+, which starts at $800 and won't be sold through carriers. You would expect to get all the bells and whistles when you spend that much on a phone, but HTC is cheaping out on the accessories. This phone lacks a headphone jack as so many others do lately. However, the U12+ won't come with an adapter for your 3.5mm headphones, either.
Last year, it felt like the sudden rise of smartphones with extra-wide-aspect-ratio screens — those starting at 18:9 and going up from there — caught HTC by surprise. While spring flagships from the likes of LG and Samsung were early adopters of the new screen geometry, HTC's U11 came across like a leftover from 2016, with its bog-standard 5.5-inch 16:9 panel.
HTC may not be the force it once was in the Android smartphone market, particularly after selling off a chunk of its hardware unit to Google, but it's still capable of producing a compelling phone. Last year, the Taiwanese OEM returned to form somewhat with the U11, before following it up with a plus model that better aligned with some 2017 smartphone trends. The U11+ bumped the display up to an 18:9 (6" instead of 5.5") panel, moved the fingerprint sensor to the rear, and shaved off some bezel all around.You'd be forgiven for expecting to see both a U12 and U12+ launch this year, but you'd be wrong. HTC is skipping the non-plus variant altogether, focussing only on the one high-end device (which had already been leaked here and there). It would appear to be a rather incremental update to last year's phone, albeit with some important distinctions that give it at least some chance against other current flagships.
HTC's next flagship, the U12+, has cropped up a few times over the past few months. The phone was shown at a 5G industry event, and just a few days ago, images and specifications were leaked by Evan Blass on Twitter. It seems HTC is one leaky ship, as the company itself is responsible for the latest set of leaks. Congratulations HTC, you played yourself.
It has been exactly one year and a day since the HTC U11 was unveiled, marking the beginning of the company's 'Liquid Metal' design language. Plenty has happened since then; Google purchased a large chunk of HTC's hardware team, and both the U11 Life and U11+ have been released.
HTC took to Twitter today to tease the unveiling of its next flagship phone. What may be called the U12, U12+, or something different entirely is due to be announced May 20th by the Taiwanese manufacturer. We started hearing about the U12 way back in February when an early prototype leaked out at an industry event in Taiwan. Not much more than an 18:9 screen could be confirmed at that time.
We've heard quite a bit about the upcoming HTC Imagine, but we simply assumed that it'd be dubbed 'U12' since its predecessor was called U11 and there doesn't seem to be a smaller model in sight. It turns out that the phone may actually be named U12+, despite the fact that there may not be a regular U12.