HTC U12 Life offers up a big screen, lots of grip and solid specs for an attractive price

The HTC U12 Life has been announced at IFA 2018 in Berlin, Germany, and it looks to be an enticing offering with a solid spec sheet paired with an attractive price.

The U12 Life replaces last year's slightly lack-luster U11 Life, with an improved design, more power, larger battery and upgraded power.

• Read our hands on: HTC U12 Life review

You get a 6.1-inch full HD display, Snapdragon 636 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD slot, dual rear cameras (16MP + 5MP), 13MP front facing camera with LED flash and a sizable 3,600mAh battery.

The battery is actually larger than the 3,500mAh power pack found in the flagship HTC U12 Plus, and it's comfortably bigger than the 2,600mAh battery in the U11 Life.

Stripes for Life

The HTC U12 Life also introduces a new design element from the Taiwanese firm, with its '3D Ultra Stripes' adorning the lower two thirds of the rear of the handset.

They chiefly have two jobs (other than looking pretty cool), the first of which is to add lots of grip. Glass backed phones tend to lack grip, but the physical, laser-etched lines in the rear of the U12 Life should keep it more secure in your palm.

Secondly, HTC claims the lines reduce the appearance of fingerprints on the rear of the phone, which means fewer wipe downs will be required to keep things look shiny.

There's also a fingerprint scanner on the rear of the phone, and audio fans will be happy to learn HTC has included a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the U12 Life.

In terms of price, the HTC U12 Life will set you back £299 (€349) when it launches towards the end of September/early October in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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