- Dec 1, 2014
- 152
- 2
- 18
It was with a streak of rebellion that I ordered HTC U12 Plus. Just about everyone was saying "Don't buy it! Run the other way! Flee!", so I bought it anyways, and it turned out to be far better than I expected.
Even now, I don't want to retire it, but after AT&T kicked it off their network (though it worked beautifully with it), now Mint has decided to no longer play nicely with it. Apps were also dropping their support, and last week Google decided to block NFC transactions. Still running Android 9, so I guess that's expected
.
I replaced it with the U24 Pro, and while not a flagship, it still does it's job well. Some things I like, some things I DON'T, but I'll cover that in another post.
U12 Plus Pros:
The cameras were good out of the box, but an update not long after release made them wonderful. Better than iPhone? Yes.
For headphone audio, only LG was in the same league as HTC. It's such a drastic difference between these and phones with "ordinary audio", that I can't even listen to music on iPhones. USonic earbuds are the closest thing I've heard to a commercial recording studio main monitor system, and I know that from personal experience working in the studio with Motown Records legend Bob Dennis. Then we have low impedance wired headphones like the Sennheiser HD 600, which HTC's external DAC drives with ease, but most popular phones can't.
Regarding performance, the U12 was the fastest phone in the world when released. Later on that year, OnePlus would catch up using the same SOC, but no one else would. The U12 Plus also beat out the iPhone X in performance tests, and did it so well that Apple released an iOS update to improve iPhone performance in response.
Feel in-hand without a case is delicious, and the glass back grips skin, but slides on fabric.
Durability was far better than expected. I dropped mine, without a case, dozens of times. It hit cast iron table legs, ceramic, hardwood, steel surfaces, and even did a four foot drop onto granite onto the glass front corner, and bounced. The U12 Plus has a couple of secrets: One is that the glass back is flexible and can deform without breaking. The other is that there's a steel rim imbedded IN the front glass to disperse energy on impact. I do have one nick in the frame from it hitting the sharp edge of a steel heat vent, but the rest of the phone is pretty much like new.
The fingerprint sensor has always been super quick, but the U12 also has REAL 3D facial recognition. An independent security company tested the U12 face unlock feature, and found it just as secure as Apple's face ID.
The last thing is Edge Sense. The U12 has frame rails that have capacitive touch capability, and it knows WHERE you are touching them. No other phone has had this, AFAIK) The options were staggering, and not locked down like they were on the Pixel. Having a rotary menu pop up was the coolest.
Storage options with removable media were good. I had 370GB in my pocket.
Charging was QC3, 4, 4+, and Power Delivery over USB C in 2018, but it seemed like it would charge even from the weakest sources.
You don't often hear about the U12 Plus being well suited to gaming, but it was. Games like Riptide GP2 and Asphalt ran beautifully, Fortnite was no problem, and although my iPhone XS struggles with Minecraft when there were more than twenty worlds on the phone, the U12 has ninety worlds on it and performs as if it had only 1.
U12 Plus cons:
Lack of updates. Last security update October 1, 2019. Still running Android 9. Come on guys, seriously?
The buttons worked fine. The buttons continue to work fine after six years of hard use. They will never wear out. Unfortunately, they were not better than normal buttons from a functional standpoint. They were not perfect out of the box, and HTC issued an update to compensate for manufacturing tolerances and changes in temperature, but the damage was done. The irony was that HTC's pressure sensitive buttons were better than Samsung's Note 10 FP sensor (we owned both at the same time), and reviewers came after HTC with pitchforks but defended Samsung.
Conclusion: The U12 Plus has become of my personal favorites with many features that I'm missing in my first 24 hours without it. The M8 was legendary, and I still have mine. However, if I had the choice of completely updating one phone and making it current so I could use it as a daily driver, I would pick the U12 Plus. It's been a great ride, and because it still does things that the U24 can't, the U12 will only be semi-retired.
Even now, I don't want to retire it, but after AT&T kicked it off their network (though it worked beautifully with it), now Mint has decided to no longer play nicely with it. Apps were also dropping their support, and last week Google decided to block NFC transactions. Still running Android 9, so I guess that's expected
.I replaced it with the U24 Pro, and while not a flagship, it still does it's job well. Some things I like, some things I DON'T, but I'll cover that in another post.
U12 Plus Pros:
The cameras were good out of the box, but an update not long after release made them wonderful. Better than iPhone? Yes.
For headphone audio, only LG was in the same league as HTC. It's such a drastic difference between these and phones with "ordinary audio", that I can't even listen to music on iPhones. USonic earbuds are the closest thing I've heard to a commercial recording studio main monitor system, and I know that from personal experience working in the studio with Motown Records legend Bob Dennis. Then we have low impedance wired headphones like the Sennheiser HD 600, which HTC's external DAC drives with ease, but most popular phones can't.
Regarding performance, the U12 was the fastest phone in the world when released. Later on that year, OnePlus would catch up using the same SOC, but no one else would. The U12 Plus also beat out the iPhone X in performance tests, and did it so well that Apple released an iOS update to improve iPhone performance in response.
Feel in-hand without a case is delicious, and the glass back grips skin, but slides on fabric.
Durability was far better than expected. I dropped mine, without a case, dozens of times. It hit cast iron table legs, ceramic, hardwood, steel surfaces, and even did a four foot drop onto granite onto the glass front corner, and bounced. The U12 Plus has a couple of secrets: One is that the glass back is flexible and can deform without breaking. The other is that there's a steel rim imbedded IN the front glass to disperse energy on impact. I do have one nick in the frame from it hitting the sharp edge of a steel heat vent, but the rest of the phone is pretty much like new.
The fingerprint sensor has always been super quick, but the U12 also has REAL 3D facial recognition. An independent security company tested the U12 face unlock feature, and found it just as secure as Apple's face ID.
The last thing is Edge Sense. The U12 has frame rails that have capacitive touch capability, and it knows WHERE you are touching them. No other phone has had this, AFAIK) The options were staggering, and not locked down like they were on the Pixel. Having a rotary menu pop up was the coolest.
Storage options with removable media were good. I had 370GB in my pocket.
Charging was QC3, 4, 4+, and Power Delivery over USB C in 2018, but it seemed like it would charge even from the weakest sources.
You don't often hear about the U12 Plus being well suited to gaming, but it was. Games like Riptide GP2 and Asphalt ran beautifully, Fortnite was no problem, and although my iPhone XS struggles with Minecraft when there were more than twenty worlds on the phone, the U12 has ninety worlds on it and performs as if it had only 1.
U12 Plus cons:
Lack of updates. Last security update October 1, 2019. Still running Android 9. Come on guys, seriously?
The buttons worked fine. The buttons continue to work fine after six years of hard use. They will never wear out. Unfortunately, they were not better than normal buttons from a functional standpoint. They were not perfect out of the box, and HTC issued an update to compensate for manufacturing tolerances and changes in temperature, but the damage was done. The irony was that HTC's pressure sensitive buttons were better than Samsung's Note 10 FP sensor (we owned both at the same time), and reviewers came after HTC with pitchforks but defended Samsung.
Conclusion: The U12 Plus has become of my personal favorites with many features that I'm missing in my first 24 hours without it. The M8 was legendary, and I still have mine. However, if I had the choice of completely updating one phone and making it current so I could use it as a daily driver, I would pick the U12 Plus. It's been a great ride, and because it still does things that the U24 can't, the U12 will only be semi-retired.
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