HTC U11 Review

- [Voiceover] The HTC U11 is a smartphone
full of contradictions.
A stunning backplate made into a forgettable face,
quick software blunted by extraneous gimmicks,
slick multimedia features without a big battery
to back 'em up.
Even the name is fighting with itself.
Awkward compromise of last year's simplicity
and this year's peculiar clap trap.
But despite all the flip flopping,
this is a good smartphone with some unique features.
Let's see whether they're enough to make it matter
in the Mr. Mobile review of the HTC U11.
(uptempo music)
If I were HTC, I would try to find a way
to show the U11 in stores with the backside facing out,
because visually that's the only chance it has
of standing out.
There is zero exciting about the face here
with its big bezels and capacitive keys
ported right over from last year's model.
It's fine.
The display is HTC's usual Super LCD 5
with a limited range of brightness
and the traditional 16 by nine aspect ratio.
So, if you don't like the modern trend
toward stretched screens, that'll probably make you happy.
Flip the phone over and you see
where all of HTC's design effort went.
The backplate has been coated using a process
called optical spectrum hybrid deposition,
which mixes refractive material into the paint job.
It seems to change color depending
on the angle you observe it from.
That's less evident in the blue and silver
review devices I've handled,
but the solar red version is almost otherworldly.
Yes, it's a smudge fest, just as you'd expect,
which is probably why HTC dropped
a protective shell in the box gratis.
Also in the box, a set of earbuds,
but wait, don't skip ahead,
because these are actually worth your time for once.
In exchange for the sin of killing off
the standard headphone jack,
HTC has given the earbuds acoustic noise canceling
powered by the USB type C port.
It's not gonna do as good a job at blocking
background noise as a good set of over ear headphones,
but for earbuds that come in the box,
these are pretty damn good.
And if you're at home and wanna forgo the phones,
I'm excited to report that the boom is back in boom sound.
- [Voice On Phone] And boom goes the dynamite.
- [Voiceover] It's the same earpiece
and bottom edge arrangement as last year,
but HTC claims a 100% boost in volume
and 150% boost in dynamic range over the HTC 10
and yeah, you can hear it.
("Bombastic" by Shaggy)
HTC also brought some of that acoustic excellence
over to the camera.
When you're shooting video,
you not only have the outstanding
high res audio recording of generations past,
but a new feature called acoustic focus
that amplifies a subject's volume as you zoom in on it.
(acoustic music)
When I first heard about acoustic focus,
I kind of rolled my eyes,
but after a week with the thing,
I'm convinced it's something people will come to love.
As for the rest of the camera,
while it may not be able to go toe to toe
with the Galaxy S8 or Google Pixel in every single scenario,
I never found myself longing for another phone
when a photo op came along.
The software is fast, the camera adaptable,
with a builtin slow motion mode that's perfect
for showing off your dope bowling form, or lack thereof.
And since the phone is IP67 water and dust resistant,
you can sneak in the occasional underwater video
if you're careful about it.
Bottom line, I think the photo and video output here
is gonna be great for 95% of people.
The remaining 5% will be able to see the dip in saturation
characteristic of HTC's HDR mode,
or argue over DxOMark scores,
but that's not really my bag.
In fact, the only area I came away truly disappointed
was in the front-facing camera.
Now, it does a solid job at selfies.
It's not that, it's just that it lacks
the optical stabilization of the HTC 10,
which was a really rare value add
that HTC can no longer claim an exclusive on.
So if you're the type that does a lot
of walking and talking on his phone,
well, it's just not gonna be as good as the 10,
at least not in terms of stabilization.
Sorry, vloggers.
I need a haircut.
Maybe it was desire for replacement features
that propelled HTC to load this phone up
with fluff, like Edge Sense.
Yes, this is the phone you can squeeze,
but unlike the truly useful audio features
I just talked about, squeezing my phone
never came to feel natural or convenient to me.
Maybe if it also incorporated
a jog dial gesture for scrolling,
or it let me do something handy
like drop the notification shade, I'd feel differently.
A software update is rumored
to bring more functionality this summer.
For now, it just kind of seems like a publicity stunt.
Same deal with Sense Companion,
which is yet another so called smart assistant
that wastes your time with obvious suggestions,
usually at inconvenient times.
Yes, it takes time to learn
and I'm sure it'll get better over time.
It really didn't in the week I was using it,
and look, it's all beside the point.
The sooner manufacturers admit
that Google does a better job at this stuff
because of the enormous pool of data it's sitting on
that the manufacturers just don't have,
well, the sooner those manufacturers
can redirect their efforts into something other than cruft.
Fortunately, there's nothing stopping you
from just using Google Assistant on the U11,
or if you're more of an Amazon fan,
HTC does have a little feather in its cap here.
Alexa is baked in, as well,
and it has wake word support
so you don't even need to push a button.
I kept that disabled, though,
in an effort to lengthen the phone's battery life.
While the U11 usually lasted me all day,
they were short days, with the phone
dipping below 15% shortly after dinnertime,
and less screen on time than I'd generally like to see,
just under four hours.
Now, in exchange for putting up with that,
you do get the most responsive Android experience
you can find without buying a Pixel.
When I was really loading up the U11,
I was streaming a podcast while trying
to meet up with friends downtown
and jumping back and forth between
messaging and maps and Spotify,
and the phone's just so fast,
it almost felt like it was one step
ahead of me the whole time.
Predictably, phone calls are very good
with excellent noise cancellation,
probably thanks to that four microphone array.
In sum, HTC has finally filled most of the gaps
and delivered a phone with almost everything
we've ever asked for.
But like the phone itself, I'm conflicted.
There's so many great features here.
The zippy software, the alluring spec sheet,
solid camera, the innovative audio features,
and all that's especially great given the phone's price
undercuts its high end competition.
$649, or $599 with the discount codes
I'll share in a second.
But the squeeze and AI gimmicks,
the bizarre marketing approach,
it all feels unworthy of the company
that's brought us so many quietly brilliant smartphones
over the past two decades.
To put it more pragmatically,
the U11 is a very good phone priced reasonably well,
but I expect most people will either spring
for something a bit more expensive and more advanced,
like the Samsung Galaxy S8,
or something more affordable and almost as good,
like the OnePlus 3T.
If you want an HTC U11, good for you.
You can buy one at a Sprint store, the only retail carrier,
and if you pre-order before June 8th,
you'll get two Amazon Echo docks in the deal,
which is pretty cool.
If you go for unlocked, use one of these discount codes
to knock 50 bucks off the price at HTC's web site.
I'll drop a link in the description.
Let me know what you think about the U11 in the comments
and subscribe for more mobile tech video every week.
Until next time, thanks for watching
and stay mobile, my friends.

HTC U11 Review

Latest Posts