By Will Goodbody, Science & Technology Correspondent
There are so many good premium smartphones available in the market right now, it is hard for the smaller players to keep up with the pace.
Nevertheless, HTC continues to and has just released the U11, a handset more than capable of holding its own in the big league.
DESIGN
The first thing that’s really obvious when you unpack the HTC U11 is that it looks an awful lot like its mid-range sister, the U Play, released earlier this year.
It has the same 3D liquid glass design which looks stunning, with a two tone colour finish that changes as you tilt it against the light.
But the effect is to an extent undone when you pick it up and inevitably leave finger smudges all over it.
Once again to counteract this, the handset comes with a see-through cover in the box – a move that in some ways undermines the whole point of the shiny finish in the first place.
The smooth, curved edges of the screen and rear plate make it comfortable to hold and grip.
The fingerprint sensor is embedded in the non-click home button on the front and is very accurate.
The right side hosts the well placed power button and volume rocker, the top edge is home to the SIM and SD card tray and the bottom is where you will find the USB Type-C charging socket.
Something missing?
Yes, HTC has followed the growing trend and dumped the 3.5mm audio socket from the U11, a move which won’t be to everyone’s taste.
It does, however, include an adaptor in the box for those who want to use their own 3.5mm plug headphones , rather than the ones that are provided with the phone.
SCREEN
The U11 has a 5.5inch Quad HD screen.
There’s nothing wrong with – it is very good in fact, with strong colour replication, deep blacks and bright whites.
But given what the competition including Samsung and Sony are now up to with smartphone screens, it’s hard not to think that HTC is beginning to lose ground in this area.
The U11 does have quite a chunky bezel too and the brightness levels could be a tad higher, especially for outdoor use.
All told though, the screen will keep all but the most serious screen connoisseurs more than happy.
HARDWARE
On paper at least, the HTC U11 is a powerful smartphone.
It boasts the latest Snapdragon 835 processor and a very credible 4GB of RAM.
In reality it is powerful too, handling most tasks with smooth speed.
Intensive graphics don’t trouble it at all and HTC claims the handset has seen a 25% improvement in processing speed versus the HTC10.
It has a 3,000mAh battery and supports Quick Charge 3.0.
Luckily, you probably won’t need to charge in a hurry half way through the day, as the battery lasts pretty well under normal conditions.
Some power optimisation improvements coupled with the HTC Sense Companion and Boost+ technology seem to have done the trick.
You will have to charge it at night though – it’s unlikely to make it through a second day.
CAMERA
The main camera on the U11 is a 12MP HTC UltraPixel 3 sensor with UltraSpeed Autofocus and Optical Image Stabilisation.
It doesn’t have a double camera unit though, which is beginning to become the norm in smartphone camera technology.
But if the benchmark tests are to be believed, this shouldn’t matter.
HTC put the camera through the DxOMark test and it scored 90, the highest mark ever achieved by a smartphone.
The pictures it takes, on the whole, bear out this claim.
It has a new Auto HDR Boost feature that gives high dynamic range but without a time lag and full sensor auto-focus that HTC says can be found on top DSLRs.
I found it very quick and accurate with mostly high quality images produced, even in low light.
It records 4k video, now more or less standard for most decent smartphone cameras, and 3D audio.
The front facing camera has a 16MP sensor featuring Selfie Panorama mode, HDR Boost and lots of silly but fun masks and other picture editing features.
All new smartphones have to have a gimmick, and the HTC U11 has Edge Sense.
Squeeze the side of the smartphone once and camera opens automatically.
Squeeze it again and it captures an image.
It’s a nice idea, but it is a gimmick.
Occasionally it will be useful if you want to open the camera in a hurry or wish to avoid taking off gloves etc but unfortunately squeezing can lead to wobble which isn’t good for taking pictures.
It also needs to be squeezed quite firmly to work.
Fortunately, you can also customise the feature to make it do other jobs instead – like launch Google Voice Assistant, turn the flashlight on or off or start a voice recording.
OTHER
The HTC U11 carries an IP67 rating, meaning it is dust, splash and water resistant up to a metre for 30 minutes – a useful addition.
In the audio department the handset is Hi-Res certified for playback and recording.
It comes with a set of USonic ear buds with Active Noise Cancellation.
The quality from these is really good, a cut above the normal in box offerings, although the noise cancellation bit requires a bit more finessing.
It also comes with two decent sounding built in BoomSound speakers and can record 3D spatial audio via its four microphones.
The U11 runs on the latest Android 7.1 Nougat operating system, with HTC Sense laid on top - a relatively straightforward, intuitive and streamlined skin.
Thankfully there isn’t too much unnecessary bloatware installed out of the box to take up the 64GB of on board memory.
There is a microSD slot for expanding that though should you need more.
The BlinkFeed feature, which appears when you swipe left from the home screen, is becoming a less and less valuable hotch potch of data.
But instead, HTC seems to be focusing on developing its Sense Companion Artificial Intelligence based system.
It gradually learns your behaviour, reads your calendar and monitors your battery, serving up a useful mixture of reminders and information based on what it discovers about you.
It is not perfect by any measure, but you can begin to see what HTC and other manufacturers are trying to achieve through the use of such software.
And if you are looking for a little more intelligence, Amazon’s Alexa assistant will be coming to the U11 later in the summer.
CONCLUSION
The HTC U11 is a great phone and is certainly right up there with the best available.
It has a sharp design apart from the fingerprints, the camera is really solid, audio features are excellent and it is fast and powerful.
There are some drawbacks though, like the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack, Sense Companion needs more work and many will consider the big selling point, Edge Sense, to be a gimmick of limited value.
It certainly isn’t the cheapest flagship available and will cost you €749 if you were to buy it SIM free from HTC’s online shop.
For that price, you are in the range of the other market leaders like the Apple iPhone 7 and the Samsung Galaxy S8, which some buyers might deem more attractive.
You are also above the price point of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium and OnePlus 5, both of which will give the U11 a run for its money.
So while it is good, really good in fact, for non-HTC diehards, it may or may not be good enough.
Comments welcome via Twitter to @willgoodbody
