HTC U11 - the flagship of 2017, worthy of the answer Samsung

Rumors about how the company HTC will be the flagship of 2017, began to appear long before its presentation. There were a lot of versions regarding design and name. They predicted a dual camera, iPhone design, frameless display and other modern trends. As a result, the device was named HTC U11, and the design looks very much like U Play. In more detail about the appearance and stuffing will be discussed later in the review of the HTC U11, but before moving on to it, it should be said that the device turned out to be really interesting. Prior to his official appearance on the market, information appeared that the device was given to the DXOMark team (experts in photo and video evaluation) and received a score of 90 points from it. At the time of the start of sales, this is the only phone in the world that could earn such high praise.

Specifications

HTC has long been trying to return to the positions that it had several years ago. Smartphones of the brand looked promising, sometimes they offered the most interesting design, and at the beginning everything looked gorgeous. But at some point, HTC headed for a loss, and each new flagship of the company is trying to rectify the situation. At least that's what the creators said. The novelty of 2017 is no different from its predecessors, and similar hopes were pinned on it. To be fair, it should be said that there is every reason for this - a top processor, an excellent memory reserve, a high-quality camera and, of course, a lot of interesting technologies that can attract a buyer.

Shortly before the official start of sales in the Russian representation of HTC, they mentioned that the price of the device would surprise the buyer. As it turned out, already at the start of the phone was worth 45 thousandthat for the modern flagship is quite inexpensive. What the buyer will receive for such money can be seen in the table of characteristics of the HTC U11 presented below.

Important! In addition to the interesting stuffing, the device received quite good equipment. In addition to the phone, charger, warranty card and instructions, it includes a bumper cover, an adapter from Type-C to 3.5, as well as headphones. For the modern flagship, such a set is more than pleasant, because in recent years, everything is exhausted only by headphones.

HTC U11 on Yandex Market

The device has IP67 protectionthat is, for half an hour it can be sent to fresh water to a depth of no more than 1 meter.

Materials and appearance

It was mentioned above that the appearance of the new product looks very much like HTC U Play, and the main feature of the device in the back of the glass. The material is made by a special technology, which gives a beautiful overflow, almost a mirror surface and ... make you always carry a napkin with you. In fact, the back cover looks very beautiful, and it is comparable to the wave compared to the glass created by the Honor companies (special manufacturing techniques are also used there).

Important! The device not only shimmers and perfectly reflects the light, but also changes the colors of the phone under different lighting conditions. For example, officially called a gray smartphone sometimes shades in turquoise, and white often gets a red tint.

In total, the phone has 5 colors - black, blue, white, blue, red. The latter appeared on the market later, so at the start of sales it was impossible to buy it.

Glass is always beautiful, but no matter what technology is used to create it, no one has yet managed to get away from the appearance of fingerprints. And in the case of the smartphone HTC U11, the situation is similar. The model turned out to be very branded, so you should either buy a case or choose the color that best hides prints.. According to reviews, such is white. With a case, the device becomes thicker, and the features of the surface are lost.

Element layout and control

The front panel of the device is closed with a protective glass Gorilla Glass 5 with 2.5D technology. Sunset on the sides here is the maximum. By the way the frame around the display turned out to be quite thick. HTC did not keep up with all other manufacturers, where there is a tendency to make maximum use of the front panel,and left the screen in a fairly wide frame. For this, the company immediately received a lot of criticism in the press.

If we ignore this and return directly to the device, then the front surface has an excellent oleophobic layer. The side faces of the phone are made of metal. The build quality of the model is excellent, no squeaks, backlashes and other unpleasant phenomena are observed. Ergonomic the phone may seem a bit wide and heavy, but here everything is subjective, how many people use the device, so many opinions about this parameter.

Regarding the location of elements, everything is pretty standard.

1. On the front side there is a speaker, a peephole of the camera, proximity and illumination sensors. Under the screen is a finger scanner, as well as touch buttons. The latter are backlit.
   

2. At the bottom of the speaker, a connector for power Type-C, microphone hole.
   

3. At the top there is a slot for SIM cards and a memory card. It is combined, so the user has to decide what is more important for him - a lot of memory or two SIM cards. It should be noted that in modern devices with a memory capacity of 64 Gb, the question disappears by itself. This is quite enough to store any data.
   
4. The left end turned out to be empty, on the right you can find the power button and volume control.
   
5. On the back you can see the camera, rather large and slightly convex, as well as a double flash. At the bottom you can see a microphone (the total number of microphones in the device is 4).

Important! The device does not have a 3.5 connector, which is why it comes with a special adapter. Another interesting point is that the headphones in the configuration are connected directly via Type-C, the manufacturer has provided this moment, so the adapter will be needed only for third-party headphones.

Display

The new HTC company received a display with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. The matrix was created using IPS technology, but HTC always comes up with marketing titles for its screens, so in this device it is called SuperLCD 5. The screen resolution is QHD, which gives a density of 534 PPI dots. The quality matrix is ​​slightly inferior to Samsung AMOLED displays. An excellent stock of brightness, rich accurate colors, large viewing angles. The device behaves well in the sun, at night the lowest threshold makes the brightness pleasant for perception. There is an automatic brightness control, more than adequate.About the oleophobic coating mentioned above, there is also a high-quality anti-reflective layer.

At the start of sales, the phone did not have special mode sRGBbut with updates it appeared. When it is turned on, the device becomes faded, which makes the display less contrast and bright. Suitable for those who think that the colors are too much hitting the eyes.

Important! The device has a touch on 10 touches and supports the work in gloves. In addition, the device supports gesture control, has a color temperature adjustment.

In other words, the display and its settings are worthy of a flagship. It is impossible to find cons here, this is a high-quality screen, which is only marginally inferior to the market leaders, and even then it is noticeable only when testing and comparing; in ordinary life, it will be difficult to notice the difference.

Autonomy

The HTC U11 phone is not the most capacious battery on the market, but it is enough for comfortable work. According to official data, 3000 mAh in U11 allows to communicate in 3G / 4G networks for about a day, and the phone may well be waiting for at least two weeks.

Real experience of use suggests that the model with medium loads will work from nine in the morning to one in the morning. This implies that the total time of the screen glow can reach 7 hours. In hard loads, the standard 9 hour working day the device withstands, but immediately upon returning it will have to be put on charge. In games, the phone lasts about 5 hours, watching the video at maximum brightness for about 7 hours.

Important! Pleasantly pleased support fast charging. 30 minutes - 45%, 40 minutes - 60%, 105 minutes - 100%.

Camera overview

At the beginning of this text, it was said that the camera HTC U11 received a very high rating from experts of world renown. Before proceeding to the camera review, let us recall its main characteristics.

1. The main matrix - 12 megapixels, UltraPixel (increased pixel size - 1.4 microns), optical image stabilizer and autofocus.
2. Selfie camera - 16 megapixels.

So, if we go directly to the capabilities of the camera, then the picture here is the following - In the afternoon, the U11 camera shoots perfectly, it has no competitors. Of course, no one undertook to check all the devices, but it makes sense to consider S8 + from Korea as the main competitor, and this device really loses in the picture. In addition to image quality, the model has a higher focus speed, which also means a lot to the camera.But as the light goes down, the S8 + starts to seem more interesting. The fact is that Samsung has more competently configured parameters, and in case of insufficient lighting, the device itself exhibits low ISO values, as a result, the Korean camera does not appear to have noises and artifacts. The HTC ISO automatically exhibited almost three times higher, which gives the worst picture. In other words, the point here is not in the hardware, but only in the settings. How to fix the situation - use manual settings. Photos can be saved in RAW or in JPEG.

U11 video shoots at 4K at 30 frames per second. Stabilization is great, no questions. The sound is written directly to 4 microphones in stereo. You can specify the recording of the sound Hi-Res or 3D. According to reviews, the first option is more pleasant.

Important! The model has a very strong noise reduction when recording audio to video, which carries in itself both a plus and a minus. On the one hand, at a concert or at a holiday, the device will suppress all third-party noises, and on the other hand, recording in the forest or at home will highlight the main sound, and all background sounds that usually create a mood will remove it. For example, video from a sea walk will not convey the singing of seagulls, the splashing of waves, the wind.

Concerning the front camera, nothing can be singled out.She shoots perfectly in the daytime, and At night, the flash of the screen is used as a flash. It is very convenient and gives an excellent effect. It’s best to keep the phone at a distance of 1.5 meters with this method of shooting.

The overall result of the camera - it turned out really good. It may not be the best in the world among smartphones, at least with real use, but it may well be the main argument for a purchase. Like both connoisseurs and amateurs.

Performance and features

Due to the fact that the HTC U11 is the flagship, the processor here is top-end - Snapdragon 835. There is no special meaning about it, it is used not only in this device. In short, the chipset has 8 cores with a maximum frequency of 2.45 GHz. The device copes with any games, for it there are no overwhelming tasks. There is a slight heating of the case under high loads, but it is too insignificant to take into account. In synthetic tests the phone is gaining about 180 thousand pointsthat is comparable to most flagships.

The device has two modifications - 4/64 GB or 6/128 GB. Memory has a very high speed, the manufacturer did not save here. Even the younger version is enough for the next year.However, real geeks have the opportunity to purchase a more productive device - 6/128 GB. Support for memory cards up to 2 terabytes.

The device has two separate speakers, but they were able to configure them to work together, which when listening to music gives stereo. The upper speaker is responsible for the high frequencies, the lower one gives the bass. The device sounds loud and pleasant. In the settings there are two playback modes - “theater” or “music”. According to reviews, the first one sounds more pleasant, here, however, everything is an amateur.

On a note! In headphones, the sound is more than good, but in terms of connecting a headset, the rejection of 3.5 in favor of Type-C is not the best solution. The fact is that the latter is wider and is inserted not so deeply, which means that there is a chance to pull out the plug in case of an unsuccessful set of circumstances.

Another interesting moment HTC - Edge Sensor technology. This mode is interesting, but not everyone will like it. Its essence is that in the settings you can set the phone's response to the degree of pressing on the side faces of the device. For example, you can configure it so that when the case is compressed, the camera turns on, or a screenshot is taken (any other action). In this case, the degree of depression can also be adjusted.On the one hand, it is convenient, on the other hand, in order for the function to work, the phone needs to be intercepted with the whole palm. In general, here is an amateur who likes - use, someone just disables this mode.

Conclusion

The HTC U11 is a really good device, the only competitor of which was the Samsung S8 + at the time the phone entered the market. Only the last unit showed similar parameters for all criteria considered. Interestingly, the official price tag of a Korean was 60 thousand rubles, U11 at the start had a price of 45 thousand. The difference is more than significant.

The minus of the model is design, whatever one may say, but the trend of 2017 is big displays and thin frames. HTC has always been away from the whole world in this matter, and to some extent this has played a cruel joke with the company. However, the brand deserves respect for courage and for the fact that all the time goes its own way.

Today, HTC is not popular, so a device for 45 thousand, even with parameters such as the U11, can cause mistrust. For buyers who are afraid to give such money, it makes sense pay attention to the following devices:

• HTC U11 Eyes (almost the same filling, but slightly simpler, 6-inch display and dual camera);
• HTC U11 Life (5.2 inches, simplified version of Eyes);
• HTC U11 Plus (completely similar device in a large package).

In other words, the U11 line has a fairly wide range of devices for different tastes and budgets.

HTC U11 on Yandex Market