HTC U11+ review: It's a fully loaded smartphone

Ashish Narsale gives us a peek inside the new HTC flagship phone.

Photographs: Courtesy htc.com

Keeping pace with the fast-changing world of smartphones -- iPhone launched iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X together; OnePlus introduced the OnePlus 5T within four months of the OnePlus 5 -- HTC has introduced the HTC U11+ within five months of the release of HTC U11.

The Taiwanese electronics major has attempted to up the ante with the new flagship. But does the HTC U11+, which is expected to cost about ₹60,000 in India, deliver?

Design

With everyone opting for the 18:9 aspect ratio display resolution, HTC's latest flagship has added 7 percent more screen to body ratio than its predecessor with a 6-inch display.

The fingerprint scanner moves to the back, giving way to edge-to-edge display.

The aluminium frame is sandwiched between the front and back Gorilla Glass 5 in what the company calls a liquid surface design.

However, the all-glass design and a fingerprint scanner at the back necessitates the use of a back protective case.

HTC has also added a new translucent back panel to one of its variants, giving you a sleek peek at the phones innards.

The HTC U11+ will be available in three variants: ceramic black, translucent black and amazing silver.

Display

The HTC U11+ has a 6-inch quad HD display (2880 x 1440 pixel) with 537ppi (pixel per inch) and 18:9 aspect ratio.

The phone uses the latest Super LCD 6 with a wider colour gamut of DCI-P3 (the colour range used for digital movie projection).

Hardware

The HTC U11+ runs on the latest Snapdragon 835 Oct-core CPU, keeping at par with most android flagship devices.

It is available in two variants: a 4GB RAM/64 GB ROM and a 6GB RAM/128 GB ROM.

The HTC U11+ skips the 3.5mm jack, and instead has USB C-Type for audio and charging. A USB C-Type to 3.5mm audio adapter is included in the box.

It has 24bit Qualcomm aptX HD, LDAC for high-resolution audio over Bluetooth headsets.

The inbuilt speaker has HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi edition technology; according to HTC the whole body of the phone acts as an acoustic chamber to give a louder and richer sound.

It is IP68 certified, which indicates it is protected from dust and water.

Photographs: Courtesy htc.com

Camera

Unlike the competitors, HTC U11+ has only one 12 MP f1.7 aperture primary camera with UltraPixel 3 sensor. The company says, its UltraPixel technology has each pixel enlarged to capture 300 per cent more light for better continuous auto focus and noise reduction in stills and video.

The camera also boasts OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) to reduce shakes and blur in video and low-light photography.

The front camera is a 8MP with f/2.0 aperture. It supports features like live make-up, auto selfie, voice selfie, self timer, HDR boost, Selfie Panorama and full HD 1080p video recording.

Video recording using the primary camera supports modes like Hyperlapse, slow motion 1080P@120 fps and 4K video recording with hi-res audio.

You can use HTC's 3D Audio and Acoustic Focus technology during video capture, using the 4 built-in microphones.

The Acoustic Focus feature allows you to zoom in on an subject and amplify their sound.

The primary camera also supports -- with manual control -- 32 sec long exposure and RAW format for stills.

Sensors and OS

The HTC U11+ comes with Android Oreo 8.0 with HTC sense overlay out of the box.

In addition to its pool of sensors, the HTC U11+ has the edge sensor. The edge sensor is accessed by squeezing the phone's edges.

The squeezing gesture invokes preset and customized functions. It can be used to trigger the Google voice assistant or Amazon's Alexa. The squeeze gesture can also be customised for other apps.

The phone's microphone is always on, so you can trigger the Google voice assistant even when the phone screen is off.

Battery

The HTC U11+ comes with a bigger 3,930 mAh Battery, and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support for fast charging.

It doesn't have a wireless charging option.

Verdict

The HTC U11+ is a fully loaded smartphone that ticks all the boxes of being a true flagship phone.