Not the most exciting or innovative new smartphone, but decent sound and video performance mean it’s one of the best of In a market as competitive as smartphones, manufacturers have long been searching for ways to stand out.

HTC U11 review: Squeeze U: Conclusion

But a ‘squeezable’ phone? That’s a new one on us.

It comes in black or silver, but the color you really want is the deep, automotive-paint blue. Asus Mobile Phones Price List in India However, this makes it slightly smaller, which a lot of people would, in fact, consider a good thing.

That’s the HTC U11’s big selling point, which might sound a little underwhelming. But spend some time with the U11, and you’ll find there’s much more to this phone than meets the eye.

Compared with some other smartphone designs this year, the U11 feels familiar.

For a start, it’s got bezels – and the 5. That’s not to say it’s lacking in flourishes. This bakes layers of colour into the glass itself, so it looks different depending on the angle you view it from.

It’s a chrome finish, so it’s a fingerprint nightmare, but when polished looks very nice indeed. There are five colours to choose from — black, white, blue, silver or red.

Our sample is silver, but can look ice blue in the right light.

And HTC is promising camera software upgrades to fix the image issues we saw during testing. Motion is smooth, and videos were just as impressive as stills overall. Htc u11 most recent camera tests and reviews The active noise cancelling USonic earbuds that can tune to anyone’s ear canals should please anyone who loves their music in full and rich sound. Apple iPhone 7 Plus.

HTC has largely stuck to what it knows when it comes to the rest of the design. The home button doubles as a snappy fingerprint scanner; the lock button and volume rocker sit within reaching distance on the right hand side.

It contains touch-sensitive panels built into the lower half of the phone, so it’s able to tell when you apply pressure to the sides.

You can set how hard you have to squeeze for it to register but, even on the lowest setting, you have to make a definite squeeze motion.

It’s not something you could activate by mistake. The idea is that you can use it as a shortcut to access certain functions.

Out of the box, the default is to launch the camera. Once in the camera, squeeze again to take a photo. You can change it so a squeeze gives you quick access to a specific app, or turns on the torch.

There’s also an advanced mode for adding a secondary shortcut, for a squeeze and hold motion.

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Is it gimmicky? Actually, yes it is — we find ourselves using it more than we thought we would. It works from the lock screen so, once you get in the habit, it can save some time.

07.03.2020 – Sony has something up its sleeve and has announced it will be live-streaming its latest announcement on its Alpha Universe website. LG G6. Apple iPhone 7 Plus You’ll get a very comparable camera with the S8, not to mention the S8’s gorgeous infinity display with brighter sunlight performance and Samsungs bells and whistles crammed in.

HTC has opened up the functionality for developers to build into third-party apps too, so — a little like Apple’s Force Touch — it could be we don’t see the true benefit for a while.

Our only bugbear is the squeezy section is just a touch too close to the lock button, so sometimes we lock the phone with our thumb mid-squeeze.

The U11’s 5. It uses a Super LCD 5 screen, which removes the air gap between the outer glass and display so text is sharper, colours richer and outside visibility vastly improved.

Video looks superb. The colour balance is fantastic, nailing skin-tones and putting just the right amount of punch behind brighter colours.

Contrast is good enough to challenge AMOLED too — blacks won’t go quite as deep, but they come close, and highlights are filled with enough oomph to push through dark scenes with authority.

Xiaomi Mi 6. Htc u11 most recent camera tests and reviews Hands-on with new Sigma 35mm F1.

Detail levels are also top-notch, boasting crisp outlines and finely drawn textures. Pictures have a real sense of depth and we don’t struggle with any processing or motion niggles.

It’s not just great for video though — browsing is a breeze thanks to clean, crisp text, and 3D games look stunning too.

HTC U11 boasts best mobile camera of all time in benchmarking tests | Recombu

The U11 might not be particularly groundbreaking with its screen, but it doesn’t matter. This is one of the best we’ve seen from a phone this year.

Like Apple, HTC has decided to ditch the headphone jack. It’s replaced by a USB-C port which it also uses for charging. Whether it’s the future or not, it’s hard to not find it annoying right now.

Even if an adapter is included in the box, it’s rarely there when you need it. A pair of USB-C in-ears is included, with active noise cancellation. They’re better than a lot of bundled buds, but have a tendency to be a little bass-heavy for our tastes, and the noise-cancelling is subtle at best.

If you use them, you’ll be prompted to set up a sound profile, which is calibrated to your ears. It’s a quick process — the U11 fires a test-tone and automatically adjusts the sound based on what it receives back.

MORE: Best smartphones The adjusted sound is cleaner and louder, but sounds processed, and the added bite it gives to the treble verges on harsh.

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Listen through better headphones using the adapter, and the sound is much improved. It’s well balanced and plentifully detailed – but could be more dynamic.

As it is, it’s a touch laid-back — an easy listen, but not the most engaging. The amp in the adapter struggles to drive less sensitive headphones, and the volume doesn’t go as loud as we’d like.

HTC uses its front-facing Boomsound speakers to handle headphone-free sound. As usual it’s one of the better options out there, sounding clear and going loud enough to watch video at home.

MORE: High-resolution audio – everything you need to know.

We’re testing the 64GB option. You get a few HTC additions, but it largely uses Google’s apps as its default instead of unnecessarily doubling up.

One place it does double up is voice assistants.

Google’s own Assistant is ready to help you straight out of the box, but Alexa integration is coming soon too. It’ll be the first time Alexa has been fully integrated into a phone — expect it in a firmware update around July.

HTC has built a mAh battery into the U11 — not the biggest, but it doesn’t do a bad job. It won’t give Sony’s two-day battery life a run for its money, but it manages to make it through a whole day with some to spare – as long as you aren’t doing a significant amount of video streaming.

That’s where we find it falls down. An hour-long video at half brightness loses 12 per cent. That’s not great — we’re more used to seeing phones dropping around 8 per cent in the same test.

Thankfully, audio streaming proves to be less battery sapping and general browsing doesn’t deliver the same hit either.

HTC’s cameras have often been the chink in its smartphone armour, but the U11 finally bucks that trend. The 12MP main camera takes some stunning photos.

The dual pixel autofocus ensures quick and accurate focusing, while hybrid image stabilisation helps to keep photos looking sharp.

In good light, images look vibrant and colours are spot on. The shutter isn’t the fastest and this slows further as light gets lower but that’s negligible when it produces the quality of image that it does.

It could easily take on the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S8which is one of our favourites this year. And the 16MP front-facing camera is also pretty talented.

Despite the higher pixel count, it’s not as detailed with a touch too much processing for our tastebut it’ll take a good enough snap for uploading to Facebook.

How can you get it? It’s well built and fast in use, with a great camera and video performance that’s among the best we’ve seen this year. And despite sounding like a gimmick, the squeezable sides are actually quite useful.

It’s up against some strong competition though, all of which have a stronger tale to tell than the U11’s squeezable sides. That might make them more interesting, but it doesn’t make them more talented.

There’s just something effortless in the way the U11 goes about its business, and there are very few missteps. We’d like the audio to be a touch more engaging and the battery life to be a little more convincing, but they’re observations more than definite criticisms.

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What Hi-Fi? Our Verdict Not the most exciting or innovative new smartphone, but decent sound and video performance mean it’s one of the best of For Solid build Stunning screen Fast performance Great camera.

Against No headphone jack Music could be more engaging Battery life ok at best. Screen The U11’s 5. You can then listen to the before and after, and choose which you prefer.

MORE: Best smartphones The adjusted sound is cleaner and louder, but sounds processed, and the added bite it gives to the treble verges on harsh.

It’s not hugely detailed though, and could do with a touch more weight. It runs smoothly with whatever we throw at it — we don’t notice a single delay or hiccup.

Mini htc u11 most recent camera tests and reviews lite

If you are caught short, Qualcomm QuickCharge 3. Camera HTC’s cameras have often been the chink in its smartphone armour, but the U11 finally bucks that trend.

It might not be the most exciting phone ofbut it’s still one of the best. See all our HTC reviews. Input Devices Input Method Touchscreen.

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