HTC U11 review: Squeeze U

09 June 2017
For the past four iterations, HTC had been touting an all metal unibody design in its flagships. This year, HTC's arrives with a fresh, new, and more fragile look. Tuned with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU, top-notch audio experience , and a water resistant glass sandwich design, will the new HTC U11 be able to swoon loyal Samsung or Apple customers to HTC?

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  • D
  • AnonD-676180
  • r$x
  • 10 Jun 2017

Long time HTC fan... still disappointed HTC won't make the complete package. It's almost there.

Behind on screen tech... I wear prescription polarized sunglasses and regular prescription glasses with polarized transition lenses. Its a bummer not to see htc move forward with screen tech.

No 3.5mm connecttion... who cares about ear buds honestly. I want to wire connect my phone to my car to play audio and navigation. I would also like to charge my phone while doing so on my frequent longer road trips. It's ridiculous to have to use a dongle and by multiple dongles for multiple cars or what have you and still by be able to charge. I don't care that Apple did it too... I'm not looking at an apple phone.

Ugh... guess it doesn't matter... I was hoping to finally upgrade to. Newer htc phone. I just don't want to compromise.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • LHj
    • 10 Jun 2017

    AnonD-669570, 10 Jun 2017It has 3000mA battery same with the HTC 10. but the battery... moreit's a beast!!! Thank you!!

      • D
      • AnonD-669570
      • JBH
      • 10 Jun 2017

      goodbuddyhere, 10 Jun 2017How much better my friend do you think it is from 10's batt... moreIt has 3000mA battery same with the HTC 10. but the battery life of this phone is much much better than the 10. Maybe because of the Snapdragon 835 and some UI optimization HTC did on this device. I got a consistent 5-6 hours of SOT on heavy usage.

        • q
        • qwerty
        • mNJ
        • 10 Jun 2017

        AnonD-664474, 10 Jun 2017The smartphone that is worth comparing against the XZ Premi... moretbh sony's speakers while both frony facing are much worse sound quality then those on u11.

          • g
          • goodbuddyhere
          • LHj
          • 10 Jun 2017

          AnonD-669570, 10 Jun 2017No problem man. glad to help. I have both the HTC10 and U11... moreHow much better my friend do you think it is from 10's battery life? if you get 4.30-5 sot on 10, then u11 as much as I have heard must be around 2-3 more hours .. and that must be really incredible!!

            All up a brilliant job HTC. I have had a few handsets ow and totally trust your builds, Htc One S, Htc A9, Htc 10 and now this beauty.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • JT5
              • 10 Jun 2017

              Anonymous, 10 Jun 2017Seems like another crap phone from HTC. DoX completely lose... moreSo...

              A photographer gets the phone and take amazing shots ... You do not believe.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • JT5
                • 10 Jun 2017

                "The HTC U11 was given a DxO score of 90, the highest of any smartphone. Though, we know that this may not mean much since not all smartphones are actually rated by DxO."

                All this because Samsung nor Apple end up the year as #1?

                You forget they test all flagships... Also a few midranges.
                People there are photographers..
                Tests are well done. Not just low ISO + slower SS for low light.

                  • M
                  • Mary Poopins
                  • 2@Q
                  • 10 Jun 2017

                  I'm truly disturbed by this new trend of missing 3.5mm audio jacks :(

                  Perhaps I'm just old and set in my ways, but this is one negative I don't see myself ever coming to peace with !!

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • pkH
                    • 10 Jun 2017

                    htc U11 is the best phone ever made and world has seen.
                    U11 is the best and really the lord of phones.
                    bye.

                      • H
                      • Hoffmann
                      • JE0
                      • 10 Jun 2017

                      That camera though...

                        AnonD-664474, 10 Jun 2017The smartphone that is worth comparing against the XZ Premi... more1 - 960 fps is a real nice thing to have to show your friends or make some cool videos time to time...if you use it all the time..get a proper camera...

                        2 - if you use earphones given by smartphone companies (99% of the people, from what i see in the streets while passing them) the phones provided from htc are the best in class, so not having the 3.5 plug is not an issue.
                        if you use your owns because they are better you have the given converter. to go on the streets the provided earphones are more than enought and with great features like tap to disable the noise cancel effect so you can listen cars when you need. but i can give you a point here, just so you can sleep better at night, even if htc have a better dac and better open the box experience...

                        3 - nougat don't support bt 5.0. android O will be next year on 10% of the smartphones and less in devices that you can use with it. BT 5.0 is usless now and when it will be relavant...you already want the new htc u12 ou 13...or the samsung s9, bla bla bla. how a feature you can't use it for a year is a con point, beats me.

                        4 - HDR display...really? you see movies on the smartphone? i see movies on my 55" TV with my denon avr with B&W setup. i only see movies on the airplay and for that i use my ipad or my nexus tablet.

                        5 - faster speed? micro seconds? really? on updates i can give you a point there..but if that is a concern with you ..go with pixel or iphone.

                        6 - using smartphones to listen music is pathetic (using internal speaks ofc). do you listen yourself? you have 15 years old to listen music loud in the street from your smartphone? to use on conference on louderspeaker any of them are fantastic so not an issue here.

                        7 - htc have the better camera, but like you said..if you want great pictures go for a dslr, so i don't see an issue here or a point to any...

                        8 - greater build? htc always had the best builds besides apple. in fact its the only company i trust on android devices. are you going to use your device without some sort of protection? if not, i will give you that point for the back is gorilla 5

                        you have your mind set already for the sony so i don't get why talking here about it. i give you a point because as a app programmer and using different devices every day. i preffer sony software than samsung software, hardware. i only wish htc had a better update program in europe. they suck in that department, but all others brands other than pixel suck also so i only look for pixel as an alternative to htc right now.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • K@2
                          • 10 Jun 2017

                          Seems like another crap phone from HTC. DoX completely lose their faith when announced HTC 10 and xperia z5 premium is the best camera phone at that time...not to mention the speaker is worse than the crappy one m9...and bad display quality and accuracy....

                            • L
                            • LLL
                            • PA7
                            • 10 Jun 2017

                            Wait a sec, isn't U11 capable of slow-motion 1080p120 video capture?? If yes, GSMArena must test that too.

                              • c
                              • cro
                              • ke6
                              • 10 Jun 2017

                              AnonD-601940, 10 Jun 2017The XZ Premium is far better than this toy, htc's unibody d... morei have the U11, the thing doesn't lag. passes the lag test when downloading 10+ apps and passes the google maps lag test.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-510975
                                • NkH
                                • 10 Jun 2017

                                acemang, 10 Jun 2017well, i looked a few reviews also and i agree with you. rev... moreThanks for feedback i hope htc u11 good in battary life because really htc u11 very good phone

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • XQQ
                                  • 10 Jun 2017

                                  AnonD-664474, 10 Jun 2017Okay, but that's weird, that you suddenly just approached m... moreIt's OK to be a fanboy. But it's impossible to argue with someone whose mind is set on hatred for any brand for no reason and the legion of sheep's who won't look beyond a single brand. Btw no need to be sorry. I know that was weird but it's only way to keep personal bias and salt out of an otherwise excellent device and pretty unbiased review. I have routinely derided Samsung fanboys too but guess it doesn't help much

                                    AnonD-510975, 10 Jun 2017I'm very confused about the battery life because phonearena... morewell, i looked a few reviews also and i agree with you. reviews about htc u11 are giving to much different information.. but most said it have from 1 to 4 hours more with ON screen than htc 10. my htc 10 give me already 1.5 day or more but usually i charge him every day with more than 15-20% of the battery (90% of the times) (the first thing i do is disable all background things i don't need that consume battery) so i will be happy with htc u11. never had a single problem with the battery and quick charge 3 helps. when i think i will need more juice later in the night..15m charge i've more than enough. i'm a app programmer and use my phone to test my apps all the time...and really never had an issue with battery in htc 10. i can only understand how people complain about battery, is because they don't have their phone optimized or have lots of apps on background receiving lots of notifications and msgs, draining battery . i don't use or have facebook or any other social media app, only snapchat that my girlfriend "obligated" me to install so she could send me fun pictures every day. my only real concern is the mics are 24/7 working to work as amazon echo (this is uge plus that most reviews ignore, first smartphone ever to have this feature, not like huawei implementation), but it must be also a battery drain, hope it can be turned off while i'm not at home, if not it's a waste of battery more than 18h a day.

                                    when my htc u11 arrive i can give you a real life feedback, but i'm pretty much confidence will be better than my htc 10, which i'm happy already.

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-669570
                                      • JBH
                                      • 10 Jun 2017

                                      AnonD-510975, 10 Jun 2017Thanks for you for your reply i was worried about the batte... moreNo problem man. glad to help. I have both the HTC10 and U11. U11 battery life is much better than the HTC10, I can confirm that. :)

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-510975
                                        • NkH
                                        • 10 Jun 2017

                                        AnonD-669570, 10 Jun 2017Battery Life is excellent on this device despite the larger... moreThanks for you for your reply i was worried about the battery life in this device because different opinions about battery test