HTC U11 review: A powerful Android phone that knows how to have fun

A smaller, easier-to-hold body

While the U11 and U Ultra may share many of the same visual cues, the similarities end when you pick it up. Gone is the U Ultra’s second screen. And where the Ultra was monstrous and cumbersome, the 5.5-inch U11 is downright svelte. Its smooth contours let it rest naturally in your hand with a glass back that somehow feels more luxurious than the glass on the Galaxy S8 or the LG G6.

htc u 11 u ultra — The U11 (left) is much more pocketable than the enormous U Ultra.

One of the many complaints I have with the U Ultra is that its enormous size makes it far too prone to dropping when holding it with one hand. The U11 fixes that with not just smaller dimensions, but also (apparently) a change in materials. I repeatedly rubbed my fingers across the back of each phone, and the U11 felt tackier and more resistant to gliding. The new liquid design phone is still a fingerprint magnet, but the U11 seems to pick up fewer smudges than the U Ultra.

Strong bass response, beautiful pixels

After the LG G6, the Galaxy S8, and now the Essential Phone, we have certain expectations for screen-to-body ratio in new flagship handsets. HTC didn’t get that memo. The U11’s bezels are about as big as the eight-month-old Pixel’s, and its 71 percent screen-to-body ratio makes it look more like a budget phone and less like a premium one.

htc u11 full — The U11 is proud of its bezels and does nothing to hide them.

But just because its Super LCD5 Quad HD screen doesn’t stretch to the edges doesn’t mean you’re getting an inferior product. At 534 ppi, its display has a higher pixel density than the U Ultra’s 513ppi, and despite sticking with an LCD panel, the U11 is just as bright and vibrant as its OLED peers. Elsewhere, you get a Snapdragon 835 chip, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, all of which add up to a phone that can stand shoulder to the shoulder with the G6s and S8s of the world.

htcu11 usb c — The U11 doesn’t have a headphone jack, but its bundled USB-C USonic earbuds sound quite good.

Audio buffs will be bummed to learn that the U11 doesn’t return the headphone jack that was cut from the U Ultra. That said, HTC has included a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter this time around. Also in the box is a pair of noise-canceling USonic earbuds that use the phone’s ear-scanning wizardry to deliver the best possible audio profile for each user. It seems like a bunch of hooey, but as with the U Ultra, HTC’s audio prowess is on point here.

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