AndroidEatsAppleCores
Active member
- Jun 30, 2012
- 43
- 0
- 0
I really love this phone. I switched from a Samsung Galaxy S8 +. The build quality is awesome and I enjoy being able to program the squeeze part for pretty much anything
Post your HTC U11 review/initial thoughts here!
- Thread starter digitalbreak
- Start date
mfreeland
Well-known member
- Apr 26, 2011
- 776
- 2
- 18
bhatech
Trusted Member
- Nov 21, 2012
- 8,026
- 917
- 113
Alex_Hong
Well-known member
- Jun 8, 2012
- 112
- 0
- 0
Got the phone a while back, finally put together my thoughts and review of the phone. In a nutshell, it's a really good phone that does almost all of the basics really well, in a design that is very Unique and attractive. It's perhaps a step above the HTC 10 in the sense that HTC 10 was an all round good phone, but it just okay across the board.
Design wise i have to say i still like the HTC 10 better, but not that the U11 is bad looking. It's a big phone with big bezels, but when looking at the broader picture (at least till this point in time), it's still the norm. Tall displays are more of an outlier still. Maybe that'll change at the end of the year.
The squeeze function isn't really something I like using that much because the phone is quite big, the frame is a bit thin and rounded. It always feels like I don't have as good a grip on the phone while squeezing. It can be useful for some things, but it's quite a forgettable feature.
Performance wise it's really good too, where I live we get the 128gb/6GB RAM version. It's smooth and super fast for the most part, but I wouldn't say the fastest phone I've used. I noticed that at times it clears out the RAM for some of the apps that I've recently used seemingly at random. Not sure if it's just it being too aggressive at cleaning or what. but not a big deal.
Camera is probably one of the highlights of the phone, and it produces all round pleasing looking shots in both good and low light. But I wouldn't pick this as my favourite camera experience though. In lowlight, the metering favours higher exposure, which results in clipped highlights in shots with artificial lighting. I live in a city with street lights everywhere, so it can be a bit annoying manually tweaking the exposure a bit lower for almost every shot.
Battery life is also surprisingly decent for a 3,000mAh battery. Gets me through a day of normal use just fine, though not much more. But definitely better than the U Ultra and the HTC 10 with the same capacity.
Overall, It's just a good smartphone. Nothing really groundbreaking or amazing worth noting, but it does what a basic smartphone should really well. Checks most of the boxes for me anyway. I don't really mind not having 3.5mm audio jack since i use bluetooth earbuds primarily, but this will probably turn some people off.
It's been a good year so far. Good phones from Samsung, LG, Sony, and even HTC. Just hope that HTC can keep this up. They have been known to be a bit up and down (M8, M9, 10, U Ultra, U11) when it comes to their smartphone releases.
Design wise i have to say i still like the HTC 10 better, but not that the U11 is bad looking. It's a big phone with big bezels, but when looking at the broader picture (at least till this point in time), it's still the norm. Tall displays are more of an outlier still. Maybe that'll change at the end of the year.
The squeeze function isn't really something I like using that much because the phone is quite big, the frame is a bit thin and rounded. It always feels like I don't have as good a grip on the phone while squeezing. It can be useful for some things, but it's quite a forgettable feature.
Performance wise it's really good too, where I live we get the 128gb/6GB RAM version. It's smooth and super fast for the most part, but I wouldn't say the fastest phone I've used. I noticed that at times it clears out the RAM for some of the apps that I've recently used seemingly at random. Not sure if it's just it being too aggressive at cleaning or what. but not a big deal.
Camera is probably one of the highlights of the phone, and it produces all round pleasing looking shots in both good and low light. But I wouldn't pick this as my favourite camera experience though. In lowlight, the metering favours higher exposure, which results in clipped highlights in shots with artificial lighting. I live in a city with street lights everywhere, so it can be a bit annoying manually tweaking the exposure a bit lower for almost every shot.
Battery life is also surprisingly decent for a 3,000mAh battery. Gets me through a day of normal use just fine, though not much more. But definitely better than the U Ultra and the HTC 10 with the same capacity.
Overall, It's just a good smartphone. Nothing really groundbreaking or amazing worth noting, but it does what a basic smartphone should really well. Checks most of the boxes for me anyway. I don't really mind not having 3.5mm audio jack since i use bluetooth earbuds primarily, but this will probably turn some people off.
It's been a good year so far. Good phones from Samsung, LG, Sony, and even HTC. Just hope that HTC can keep this up. They have been known to be a bit up and down (M8, M9, 10, U Ultra, U11) when it comes to their smartphone releases.
popartist
Well-known member
- Nov 11, 2010
- 478
- 26
- 28
After using it for a couple of weeks, I am loving the phone! Battery life has been great for me - while I still can't get enough to only charge it every other night, I have consistently been getting home after a long day to 55-65% battery left. I had a long day last Sunday 9am to 1am that was also very hot, with a ton of usage including the camera, and I still had about 30% left. And it uses next to no battery when it is idle. Camera has been pretty superb, although I still find myself occasionally needing to switch to Pro mode and tweaking shutter speed and ISO under certain conditions but it has been much easier to set it to attain a good result. Audio through the speaker has been great. I actually like the headphone sound through my 10 a bit better, but the sound through the u11 is still very good.
Morty2264
Ambassador
- Mar 6, 2012
- 22,921
- 1,057
- 113
Thank you so much for your review! I like how honest you are with your experience. Every phone has pros and cons, and it's good to acknowledge those cons or places for improvement.
Alex_Hong
Well-known member
- Jun 8, 2012
- 112
- 0
- 0
Thanks for reading/watching! Yeah, every phone has their own pros and cons, and frankly a lot of it might be just down to personal preference. Some people might like bezels for better grip, some people will hate curves screens, some people need a headphone jack, etc. So it's all subjective. But it's been a great year so far, with good showing for a lot of the major OEMs. Which results in great choices for consumers to choose from.
Deep down i'm a bit of a Motorola fan despite having been disappointed one too many times, but really looking forward to what they have to offer next too, in particularly the Moto X4.
Anyway, i think this is probably one of the best HTC phone (except for the design imo). I have had all of the flagship phones in recent years. The One XL, One M7, M8, M9, 10, and U Ultra, and the U11 is probably the most complete package yet (again, 3.5mm not a big deal for me personally). Really hoping HTC will be able to keep it up and keep bringing the fight to samsung.
Morty2264
Ambassador
- Mar 6, 2012
- 22,921
- 1,057
- 113
Couldn't agree more! Our choices and preferences are subjective, so of course, some phones just "may not work for us" not necessarily because they're "bad" per se; but because they do not meet our personal needs or a specific feature we like is not available on said phone.
I agree, this HTC device looks sick! I really wanted either the M7 or the M8 when it came out; but now I'm eagerly hoping to be able to get my hands on the U11 sometime next year.
Morty2264
Ambassador
- Mar 6, 2012
- 22,921
- 1,057
- 113
So glad you are enjoying it! That seems to be the general consensus of HTC U11 users.
Had it for 3 days. You've seen the reviews, and read this thread. I generally agree with all of them. Here's my 'brain dump' coming from a OnePlus 3T (before that, S7, S6 active, OnePlus One, MotoX 2013, and a bunch of iPhones)
- One reason I didn't get OP5, Camera. The U11 camera can capture my kids without bluring in most cases. The 3T on auto defaulted to 1/17 shutter and everyone was constantly blurred. Other photos are much clearer and without as much 'processing' when zoomed. Overall the U11 totally 'delights' me as far as camera.
- Phone is FAST and smooth. I never had issues with the 3T, so I was a little scared that the U11 may have studders. It doesn't. Really, my experience with Samsung scared me when getting a 'skinned' phone.
- Battery: I have setup my U11 exactly the same as my 3T as far as launcher, apps, and configurations. I am easily getting 6hrs SOT. Bluetooth on all the time, same locations with the 3T, no tweaks or anything. My 3T was was doing about 4hrs SOT, still brought me through the day with some to spare, but I think the SD835 has some real gains to be realized.
- I wear polarized sunglasses, so landscape outdoors sucks.
- I mostly used Bluetooth for headphones and audio, so no 3.5mm jack was fine. However, the supplied headphones are REALLY good. I'm a casual listener, but wow, even I could hear a big difference compared to what I was used to on my crappy BT headphones and standard wired earbuds.
- Screen is good overall. I never minded the 1080p on the 3T. I can't really tell much of a difference with 1440p. Screen is bright and clear. Actually, the 3T always defaulted to a very dim 'auto' mode. HTC defaults to a much brighter auto. Battery is still great so I actually prefer the brighter setting.
- I don't like that the volume and power buttons are all on the same side. Just my personal preference, I keep turning off the screen when I want to Vol-
- HTC apps like dialer, clock etc look really dated. Samsung and OnePlus were much more pleasing. I switched to Nova Prime day one so I could configure Icons, launcher, guestures. Using 3rd party apps makes the user experience much better. (I did the exact same on my S7 and OP3T). I never cared for default launchers. I did like some of the customizations on OnePlus and loved the dev community behind the OPO and OP3T. So I am looking forward to what happens with the U11. There's a lot to love with the software and the future of dev with the U11, I'm looking forward to future improvements from HTC or other devs.
- I'm vain, but I love that I could change the system font without rooting/ROMing/or much trouble.
- Love that I don't get a warning message for high volume.
- Fingerprint scanner is the fastest and most accurate compared to the S7 and 3T. The U11 hasn't misread my finger once. On my 3T, it was like 1 out of 10 scans would give me an error (maybe I needed to recalibrate, too late, I've moved on)
- Speakers are improved over my past phones, not but tons, but to my untrained ears, it was slightly better/louder. To me the 'Theater Mode' was better sounding than the other mode.
- Nice to have waterproofing again. I took the S6 Active underwater a bunch, but after a close call with the phone not charging, I didn't dare do the same the the S7. But it is nice to know that the U11 can handle a spill/drop in the water.
- I'll miss you Dash Charging. It was FAST, but the U11 is no slouch either. There are more QC3.0 accessories (battery packs/chargers, etc), so it helps ease the pain of losing Dash.
- Design is nice and solid, no complaints. I had to put a case on it because it was so slippery. I like to keep my phones pristine for resale (I love to switch phones). The included case isn't great. I got a $8 Amazon case that does the job.
- Phone is ever so slightly larger than the 3T, plus I need a case since it is so slippery.
- Radios, BT, Wifi has been solid for me. I'm on AT&T service. No networking drops/hiccups/disconnections.
Overall, the U11 is an upgrade all around, I'm very happy with it. Hope HTC gets back on its feet and builds a bigger user base with the U11. Thanks for reading!
Morty2264
Ambassador
- Mar 6, 2012
- 22,921
- 1,057
- 113
A piece of S...
Had every flagship since HTC Athena x7500, never had any damage on any phone, all were built like tanks. U11 broke on it's second fall from like 20cm on a wood floor.
It is slippery, it is fragile, it is beautiful if you don't mind braking it in the first couple of weeks.if you do get a case basically you are throwing away all the look of the phone just to get a lil bit faster, camera advanced, brighter htc10. I'm going back to the 10 and rocking it until I find a brand that is not trying to sell me a 10 version that needs a safe to be saved from anything other than baby wiping it. The u11 is a samsung/apple quality little toothpick that's just waiting to pop like a popcorn unless you watch it more than you would a child.
With a 300$ replacement screen this phone has sunk to apple like advertisment and a good camera...
HTC fan that has bought over 11000$ of HTC flagships over the years turned into a never again customer leaving a real experience everywhere he can in hopes that HTC builds the phone their fans loved, a metal case tank that doesn't need a 0.5cm case just to give you hope that it won't break
Had every flagship since HTC Athena x7500, never had any damage on any phone, all were built like tanks. U11 broke on it's second fall from like 20cm on a wood floor.
It is slippery, it is fragile, it is beautiful if you don't mind braking it in the first couple of weeks.if you do get a case basically you are throwing away all the look of the phone just to get a lil bit faster, camera advanced, brighter htc10. I'm going back to the 10 and rocking it until I find a brand that is not trying to sell me a 10 version that needs a safe to be saved from anything other than baby wiping it. The u11 is a samsung/apple quality little toothpick that's just waiting to pop like a popcorn unless you watch it more than you would a child.
With a 300$ replacement screen this phone has sunk to apple like advertisment and a good camera...
HTC fan that has bought over 11000$ of HTC flagships over the years turned into a never again customer leaving a real experience everywhere he can in hopes that HTC builds the phone their fans loved, a metal case tank that doesn't need a 0.5cm case just to give you hope that it won't break
BigDinCA
Well-known member
- Jun 7, 2011
- 1,100
- 70
- 0
I'm assuming you knew what the phone was made out of before you bought it. As a matter of fact, I'd bet a month's pay on it. You don't buy a new flagship every year w/o being at least a little nerdy, which means you research these phones. So being glass, and not aluminum, shouldn't have surprised you. And sometimes glass breaks. Even when you don't think it should have. I once had an old Samsung screen shatter after it slid off my couch cushion down to the plush carpet beneath. Sorry you didn't like yours. I love mine. And I dropped it from a second floor railing down to a patch of gravel and it didn't even have a scratch. Glass is finicky sometimes.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram