The HTC U Ultra smartphone makes an immediate impression, which is something it needs to do, because its manufacturer has had very few hits in recent memory. But like a fleeting pop song, the U Ultra is catchy, but easily forgettable. There's nothing wrong with it exactly, there's just nothing that makes me want to use the device after just a few weeks with it.

The first thing you'll notice with it is the gorgeous outer shell. The back of the phone is reflective curved and coloured glass, unlike any other phone on the market. And it's huge – with a massive 14cm screen, a somewhat useful smaller OLED screen above it, and a sizeable forehead and chin, the device is impossible to hold comfortably. The display is gorgeous, to be fair, but a gorgeous display comes standard in 2017.

And the U Ultra feels even bigger when compared to the new LG G6 and the soon to be released Galaxy S8, both handsets that have jammed a massive screen into a smaller, almost bezel-less body. Inside that massive outer shell is a competent Android smartphone. HTC has shipped a simple version of Android 7.0. There's nothing in here gunking up Google's operating system. But again, that's no longer a selling point.

The camera is serviceable, but nothing outstanding. HTC have always struggled with HDR, and it struggles here as well. Photos from the U Ultra are desaturated when compared to the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S7, and the camera, once again, struggles in low light.

Beyond the striking design, the major selling points for the U Ultra are a smaller, second screen that sits above the main display, and a new assistant called Sense Companion.

That tiny OLED strip above the screen is great in theory. It can display always-on information such as the weather or your next calendar appointment, give you quick access to music controls, or you can use it as a dock for your favourite apps. But like the TouchBar in the latest MacBooks or the Edge controls on a Samsung Galaxy, I never found myself using it in practice. It doesn't help that it sits far beyond my reach.

Sense Companion is another feature that sounds great on paper. The machine-learning AI built into the U Ultra is supposed to learn your daily routine and offer suggestions, like an umbrella on rainy days, or shutting down apps you haven't used in a while to save battery. But Android can already do both those things thanks to Google Now, so perhaps I'm missing something? Either way, Sense Companion never lived up to the marketing in my short time with it.

Sadly, the one thing HTC could be trusted to deliver – the best phone speakers on the market – is absent here. The company is still calling the speakers BoomSound in its marketing material, but they sound just like any other stock standard stereo speakers.

The often repeated cliche in tech is that companies need to "skate to where the puck will be". With the big bezel phablet design of the U Ultra, last year's battery and camera, and selling points you can find in almost any other mid-range phone on the market, HTC have skated to where the puck was last season.