HTC U24 Pro Review: Not Quite The Glorious Return

Anybody who’s been a fan of telephones for some time will know the title HTC.

For some time, the Taiwanese firm was one of many main producers of high quality handsets and appeared set to dominate for years. In reality, my first correct Android cellphone was the HTC Need, which continues to be a basic design to today.

However issues didn’t fairly go to plan and the corporate fell away after a collection of unenthusiastically obtained releases. 

Final 12 months marked the return of the legendary model, with the introduction of the HTC U23 Professional, an unremarkable mid-range cellphone that failed to chop by means of the very crowded pack. Now, it’s again once more with the U24 Professional. So, has the magic returned or will HTC fade away as soon as extra? I examined the HTC U24 Professional to search out out. 

Design & Construct

• Improved design over the U23 Professional
• Curved edges
• IP67 waterproof ranking

After we reviewed the U23 Professional, design wasn’t one in all its strengths. The cellphone had a chunky, primarily plastic body that was heavy within the fingers.

HTC appears to have taken word, because the U24 Professional improves in all these areas. Admittedly it’s nonetheless slightly on the heavy aspect, however the 199g is just about par for the course with regards to fashionable mid-range Android telephones. 

Martyn Casserly

The chassis is now aluminium relatively than plastic, giving it a sturdy really feel, whereas the rear panel is a skinny plastic with a luminescent blue end that modifications as you angle it within the mild.

It’s a pretty big machine, with dimensions of 167.1 x 74.9 X 8.98 mm, making it taller however narrower than the U23 Professional whereas retaining across the similar thickness.

Curved edges on the 6.8-inch show and the rear panel make it really feel much less cumbersome within the hand, reminding me of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S9 Plus fashions of yesteryear. That being mentioned, the cellphone is a handful, not that grippy and slightly top-heavy, so that you’ll actually need to purchase a case (because the machine doesn’t ship with one).

HTC sells a handsome one on its website for £24.99, however I additionally discovered a couple of cheaper choices on Amazon that might additionally do the job. A case might additionally assist with the digicam bump on the again, which makes the U24 Professional wobble when positioned on a flat floor.

Across the body of the machine, you’ll discover a USB-C charging port, twin Nano-SIM tray (which additionally helps Micro-SD playing cards), energy and quantity controls, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

There’s a speaker grille on the underside edge, plus a slim slit alongside the highest of the entrance panel that acts because the output for name audio and as an accompanying speaker for basic sound. It’s not fairly the twin front-facing audio system of the HTC One days, however it’s good to see HTC providing a couple of nods in the direction of its modern previous. 

Martyn Casserly

An IP67 water and mud resistance ranking means the U24 Professional ought to survive liquid spills and even a brief dunk, so that you don’t need to be too cautious with it round water. 

Display & Audio system

• 6.8-inch FHD+, 120Hz OLED show
• Beneath-display fingerprint sensor
• Overly delicate responses

HTC has gone with a 6.8-inch FHD+ (2436 x 1080) OLED panel on the U24 Professional, which is shiny and renders colors in a satisfyingly crisp method.

The curved edges do imply that there are hardly any bezels in any respect on the machine (it boasts an 88.3% screen-to-body ratio), though I discovered myself by chance triggering on-screen instructions on fairly a couple of events as a result of flaky palm rejection software program.

The 20:9 facet ratio does make it virtually not possible to succeed in the higher edge whereas holding the machine in a single hand, so it’s very a lot within the two-hand class. 

Martyn Casserly

The panel itself can be fairly responsive, maybe overly so. It wasn’t uncommon to by chance choose an choice whereas scrolling by means of a web page. Once more, I feel a case would assist with a few of these points, however with out one I discovered the U24 Professional a bit awkward to make use of. 

Scrolling may be very clean although, due to the 120Hz refresh fee, and watching video content material is a pleasurable expertise due to the big show and the wealthy colors delivered by the OLED panel. There’s a punch-hole for the selfie digicam that’s situated within the central space close to the highest of the cellphone, however that’s par for the course today.

HTC has additionally gone with an optical under-display fingerprint reader, as on the U23 Professional, and I discovered this to be quick and dependable to make use of all through my time with the machine. That wasn’t the case on the U23 Professional, so HTC has made some enhancements this time round.

It additionally makes use of Corning’s powerful Gorilla Glass to guard the panel however doesn’t specify which model. 

Brightness isn’t a difficulty, with the 400 nits I measured on the complete brightness sufficient for nearly all environments. Very sunny days offered extra of a problem, however the ‘Daylight mode’ boosted issues as much as a extra seen 700 nits, which did the trick. 

Sound comes from the principle speaker on the underside edge, paired with the cellphone’s earpiece alongside the highest of the entrance panel. The audio is respectable, with sufficient quantity and readability to make it good for YouTube and Netflix.

After all, as with just about each cellphone, the bass is a bit subdued, however I feel most individuals will likely be proud of the sound the U24 Professional can ship. 

Martyn Casserly

If you wish to beef issues up, the three.5mm headphone jack is there, or you could possibly use the Bluetooth 5.3 capabilities to attach wirelessly to audio system or headphones. 

Specs & Efficiency

• Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset
• 12GB RAM, 256GB storage 
• Micro-SD card growth as much as 2TB

As this can be a mid-tier cellphone, the selection of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 isn’t shocking.

Nonetheless, this does put the U24 Professional at a drawback to shut rivals just like the OnePlus Nord 4, which will get the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 and its improved GPU. This makes a distinction within the benchmarks and gaming efficiency, as you’ll see under. 

However for on a regular basis duties, the U24 Professional is a pleasant and snappy performer. Apps open shortly and run easily, together with extra demanding, graphic-intensive ones.

The machine is impressively succesful for gaming, and I didn’t expertise any substantial heating throughout intense periods. Sure, the cellphone will get heat, however not a lot to make me fear. 

Martyn Casserly

The processor is aided by a beneficiant 12GB of DDR5 RAM, which retains issues ticking alongside properly, whereas the 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage is a welcome addition on this value bracket.

If that’s not sufficient, merely pop in a Micro-SD card and you may increase it by as much as 2TB. That ought to maintain even probably the most ardent music or film fan blissful for fairly a while. 

HTC U24 Professional benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp + 50Mp + 5Mp rear cameras
• 50Mp front-facing digicam
• Software program bugs are a frustration

There’s a triple digicam array on the rear of the HTC U24 Professional, comprising a 50Mp f/2 lens with OIS, a 50Mp f/1.88, and an 8Mp f/2.2 digicam.

It’s an honest choice of choices, which might return some good photographs. Nonetheless, the palm rejection concern I discussed above was additionally an issue right here, leading to a relentless mis-triggering of the Google Assistant whereas making an attempt to take footage, which was very irritating.

I did discover a workaround by going into the settings and altering the navigation from the software program buttons to gestures. This appeared to unravel the difficulty, because the software program not thought I used to be urgent a button. Nonetheless, it’s wonderful how dysfunctional the digicam was by default. 

Martyn Casserly

With this sorted out, I used to be capable of dig into the photographic capabilities of the U24 Professional. The resolutions differ, relying on what format you employ. 4:3 makes use of 13Mp whereas 16:9 is 9Mp, with a couple of others on supply. Which means that the digicam pixel-bins by combining information from 4 pixels into one, which is commonplace today.

The primary digicam data a balanced cross-section of sunshine and color, with loads of element accessible. Reds do are inclined to veer in the direction of being slightly boring, whereas greens can pop slightly greater than how they give the impression of being in actual life.

However total, the pictures I managed to get with the U24 Professional had been good, particularly because the climate meant shiny sunny days had been uncommon throughout my testing.

Low-light pictures aren’t notably spectacular, with photographs showing murky and never as sharp as I’d like. This could usually be an issue with mid-range telephones, and sadly the HTC U24 Professional does nothing to buck this pattern. 

I did discover that the Portrait mode wasn’t as spectacular as on different units – even my spouse’s outdated Pixel 4a might get higher bokeh (background blur) – whereas the main target was usually wayward. I’d faucet on the topic within the foreground, solely to search out that the ultimate picture would have the background in focus. Generally it acquired it proper, however it’s too hit or miss for my part. 

I additionally encountered a number of events the place the on-screen focus level simply refused to acknowledge a contact. This meant I needed to attempt a number of occasions to get the cellphone to do what I wished. Once more, it felt like some type of software program concern that hadn’t been ironed out earlier than launch.

Video high quality goes as much as 4K at 30fps. If you’d like 60fps you then’re restricted to 1080p.

To be honest, the footage in that decision is lots ok for sharing on-line, so it doesn’t really feel too large a sacrifice to not have every little thing in 4K/60fps. The stabilisation works effectively to maintain footage clean and the publicity tracks altering environments fairly effectively, adjusting shortly to keep up a constant tone. 

Listed here are some examples of pictures I captured with the HTC U24 Professional:

Battery Life & Charging

• 4600mAh battery
• Helps as much as 60W quick charging
• 5W reverse charging

The U24 Professional acquits itself effectively within the battery division, simply making it by means of the day and never leaving me looking for a charger because the evenings start.

Though, once more, it does lag behind the OnePlus Nord 4 which contains a large 5500mAh cell versus the HTC’s 4600mAh. The OnePlus additionally provides 100W charging, whereas the U24 Professional tops out at 60W, however that’s nonetheless a decent velocity.

You’ll want to purchase a quick charger although, as HTC doesn’t embrace a charger in any respect within the field (which can be the case with the OnePlus). 

Martyn Casserly

One benefit the HTC has is wi-fi charging. The OnePlus doesn’t function it in any respect, whereas the U24 Professional goes as much as 15W but additionally provides 5W of reverse charging utilizing the Qi protocol. This implies you could possibly prime up one other Qi-compatible machine simply by putting it on the again of the HTC. Very spectacular at this value level. 

Within the PCMark battery check we use for all telephones, the U24 Professional scored a decent 10 hours and 20 minutes.

Recharging (utilizing simply a regular charger), returned the HTC from 0% to 23% in quarter-hour and 44% inside half an hour. A full cost took round one hour and 20 minutes, which is okay for a mid-tier machine. 

Software program & Apps

• Android 14
• No bloatware
• No Android updates

The U24 Professional comes outfitted with Android 14 and a plain vanilla model of the software program. I like this, as Google has completed a superb job of constructing the menus and features streamlined and intuitive, so not having some clumsy interface dumped on prime of it’s all the time a plus. 

Martyn Casserly

There’s additionally a stunning absence of bloatware, with hardly any non-Google apps on the arduous drive if you first boot up the U24 Professional. There are a few HTC’s VR ones current, however my guess isn’t virtually no-one will use them until you have already got the software program for work. In any other case, the cellphone comes clear and pristine. 

Software program help is an issue, although. HTC has confirmed that the U24 Professional gained’t be getting any Android updates throughout its lifespan, not even to Android 15.

Safety updates are solely barely higher, with simply two years of patches from its July 2024 launch date. That implies that when these two years are up, the cellphone will likely be ineffective as it should change into unsafe on account of no safety points being addressed any extra.

The shortage of software program help is garbage and a powerful motive to not think about the cellphone in any respect. Distinction this with the Pixel 8a, which is able to obtain Android and safety updates for 7 years.

Value & Availability

You will get the HTC U24 Professional within the UK for £479 or €549 in Europe, however the machine gained’t be launched within the US.

It’s not accessible on contract within the UK, so that you’ll have to purchase it outright and pair with a SIM-only deal. See one of the best choices under.

This places it firmly within the crowded mid-tier class, the place it is going to be competing with some actual heavyweights. As I’ve talked about already, the OnePlus Nord 4 is a wonderful machine, with a much bigger battery and a sooner processor for its £429 beginning value.

There’s additionally the Pixel 8a (from £499) which comes with glorious cameras and loads of different software program bonuses that Google provides to its own-brand units. Samsung’s Galaxy A55 (£439) is one other robust contender, with the Samsung construct high quality and software program help.

You can too try our finest mid-range cellphone chart for extra choices. 

Must you purchase the HTC U24 Professional?

There’s little question that the HTC U24 Professional is a step ahead from final 12 months’s disappointing U23 Professional. Nonetheless, in some ways it nonetheless fails to over any compelling motive to purchase it over one of the best telephones at its value.

It has a pleasant design, respectable cameras and loads of storage, however finicky show that registers too many unintended touches is a misstep. Then there’s the incorrect portrait mode and weird bug the place Google Assistant retains launching.

To be trustworthy, these might all be fastened with software program updates and possibly they are going to, however if you’re already up in opposition to robust opposition it’s not good to create issues for your self.

Nonetheless, the actual dealbreaker is proscribed software program help, with no new variations of Android and safety updates for under two years, which in 2024 is appalling.

It’s like HTC is barely making a half-hearted try at placing out telephones once more, which is a technique you’re assured to fail within the aggressive market that the U24 Professional has to navigate. Don’t purchase this cellphone, purchase a Pixel 8a or OnePlus Nord 4 as a substitute.

Specs

• Android 14
• 6.8-inch FHD+, 120Hz OLED show (Gorilla Glass)
• Beneath-display fingerprint sensor
• Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor
• 12GB DDR5 RAM
• 256GB UFS 3.1 Storage (microSD card expands storage by as much as 2TB)
• 50 Mp, f/1.9, OIS
  50 Mp, f/2.0
  8 Mp, f/2.2
• 50Mp f/2.5 selfie digicam
• NFC
• GPS
• Wi-Fi 6e
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 3.5mm headphone Jack
• USB-C charging port
• Nano SIM / microSD slot
• Twin Audio system
• IP67
• 4600mAh battery
• 60W wired charging
• 15W wi-fi charging
• 5W reverse wi-fi charging
• 167.1 x 74.9 X 8.98 mm
• 199g