Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 835 processor is one of the main reasons for the U11's existence. Construction quality seems absolutely top-notch too. The newer model is also a much more comfortable size and has curves in all the right places, making it very easy to hold and use even with one hand.
We criticised the U Ultra for being so slippery that we were constantly anxious about it falling out of our hands and pockets, and we're quite relieved to find that HTC seems to have fixed this problem completely with the U11. On the other hand, the U11 boasts an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, while the U Ultra has no rating at all. We noticed the lack of a laser autofocus sensor, which the U Ultra does have. The camera protrudes just a tiny bit, but we didn't mind that as much as the extremely prominent regulatory text lower down. There's only a single camera at the back, which sets the U11 apart from the majority of its competitors this generation. Oh, and you won't find a 3.5mm audio socket anywhere. We're going to test the efficacy of this design for ourselves, but we're concerned about dust and lint collecting over time. Rather than having two stereo speakers, HTC has decided to go with the earpiece doubling as a tweeter with a separate woofer at the bottom. Also at the bottom is a single open slot instead of the usual speaker grille. There's a hybrid dual-SIM tray at the top and a Type-C port at the bottom. What you can't see are the "squeezable" Edge Sense zones which are on either side of the lower half of the phone. The power and volume buttons are within easy reach on the right, and the left side is completely bare. The sensor doubles as a capacitive Home button, and you have the Back and Overview buttons on either side which light up when they're touched. You can see the front camera and earpiece above the screen, but it would be easy to miss the narrow fingerprint sensor below it. Unlike its competitors, HTC hasn't gotten rid of side borders for its flagship and, in fact, says that this is a good thing because otherwise screen content would be cropped or distorted at the edges - which is true. The front of the HTC U11 is a lot more conventional, with just a black face and the now-obligatory 2.5D curved-edge glass. HTC does throw a clear plastic case in with the retail package, but having it on makes the phone feel cheaper. Even if you wipe it all the time, you cannot avoid messing it up again, so it's never really going to look as good as it does when you first lay eyes on it. The U11 might look great in a showroom, but there is literally no way to handle it without smudging the rear. The finish of the rear is extraordinarily shiny and reflective, which means that every little smudge and fingerprint will be on display. There's also a Brilliant Black version, but this is the one you'll want if you like showing off. The metal band around the sides is a slightly duller shade of blue, which makes the rear really pop. It can also look very different under different types of light.
HTC says that it has developed a new way to bond layers of glass with "highly refractive precious minerals", which gives the material its metallic liquid look. Our U11 review unit has exactly the same ultra-glossy rear, but in an even lighter and brighter shade of blue (which for some reason is called Amazing Silver). With all of this to consider, we spent some time with the brand new U11 to figure out whether HTC has managed to get it right in round two.Įven if we didn't totally love the colour of the U Ultra unit we got, we liked the fact that HTC had done something completely new and different with its design. However, this makes it slightly smaller, which a lot of people would, in fact, consider a good thing. One big thing that the U11 lacks compared to the U Ultra is its secondary screen. It's also got HTC's brand new "squeezable" Edge Sense feature to set it apart. 51,990, the HTC U11 is significantly more appealing than the U Ultra was at Rs. The HTC U11 is already here and not only is it a lot more powerful than the U Ultra, but it also costs less. It seemed obvious that HTC was waiting for a supply of Qualcomm's hot new Snapdragon 835 processor, and so we advised anyone interested in the HTC U Ultra for its looks to hang on for a little while before spending Rs. When we reviewed the HTC U Ultra just over three months ago, we said that it felt like a stopgap device, used to fill space before a true 2017 flagship could be launched and grab at least a little bit of the attention its competitors were getting.