Smartphone HTC U11 EYEs - advantages and disadvantages

HTC, a once-successful company that introduced the very first Android smartphone on the market back in 2008, has fallen on hard times in recent years. But the deal with the global giant Google, which bought out part of the company, gave NTS a second chance and the opportunity to firmly gain a foothold in the industry again. And so, presented on January 15, 2018, the HTC U11 EYEs smartphone has become a very successful device in its middle price category. The light version of the previous flagship HTC U11 has both an excellent camera and balanced characteristics.

Equipment

When buying a new phone, the first thing that catches your eye is not only its appearance, but also its equipment. In this regard, HTC really tried, because many modern brands often save on components and put only the most necessary things.In the box of the device, you can find almost all the required buns, which frees the average buyer from purchasing additional accessories. The only thing that may be sorely lacking in the kit is an adapter from USB Type-C to 3.5 mm for headphones, but this is solved by either having a wireless replacement or purchasing a wire in a store. So what's inside?

• Telephone;
• Documents with a warranty sheet and instructions;
• Charger adapter;
• USB Type-C cable;
• Tray clip;
• Transparent plastic case;
• Branded headphones;
• Cloth for the screen.

Appearance

The smartphone complies with all modern trends. This is a large convenient screen in a ratio of 18:9, and thin bezels, and the familiar location of the fingerprint scanner on the back cover. The body of the phone is made of glass and is available in three colors: black, red and blue. Despite the material of manufacture, the device practically does not slip in the hand, but it gets very dirty and easily scratched. The layout of buttons and connectors is mostly standard, but with some features.

On the back cover there is an ordinary camera, a flash, a round fingerprint scanner, as well as the HTC logo. In front above the screen are two front camera modules, a speaker grille, proximity and light sensors. At the bottom end there is a USB Type-C connector, a hole for the main microphone and a speaker. At the top are a dual tray (two nano SIM / nano SIM and SD card) and another microphone hole.

The volume rocker and the corrugated power button are located in the upper right corner on the edge of the case. Nothing creaks, assembly of decent quality.Despite the rather large size, the device fits comfortably in the hand because of its elongated shape. The design looks stylish and the glass cover gives the device a flagship look. Beauty, of course, is above all, but for safety, the device is best placed in a case.

Specifications

Screen and sound

The 6-inch display of the phone, considering the price, shows itself perfectly. Pleasant, but not too saturated colors, rounded edges, wide viewing angle, high pixel density per inch. The screen surface is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The color scheme is colder at the factory settings, but it can be easily adjusted to your preferences.

The default color profile is set to RGB, unfortunately you can't change it. One of the main advantages of the phone is the anti-reflective coating of the display and its high maximum brightness, which allow you to comfortably use the device in lit rooms and in the sun. That is why this device is perfect for viewing photos, videos and movies, reading, as well as playing games with colorful graphics.

There are no questions about the sound of the phone either. The main speaker is loud, sometimes wheezing and extra noise slip through, but only at maximum volume. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of this device is the lack of stereo, which makes the sound from the main microphone a bit flat. The speaker is of high quality, has a good volume margin. In headphones, the sound is full and deep.

Software

By default, the old Android 7.1 with HTC's proprietary shell is installed on the phone, but it provides for the possibility of self-updating.The interface is simple and intuitive. Bribing rich opportunities for personalizing the device. The device control buttons are located at the bottom of the screen. They can not only be swapped, but also add a fourth at your discretion. It is convenient to use gesture control. They can also be changed in the phone settings. The company's own development, Edge Sense, deserves special attention. To use it, you just need to squeeze the phone from the bottom. This unusual feature can be configured to perform different actions depending on the strength of the grip and your needs.

Performance and autonomy

The phone has not a new, but a proven eight-core Snapdragon 652 processor. Despite this, the smartphone works smoothly, without freezes. The maximum heating temperature of the device slightly exceeds 41 degrees. For everyday tasks, its performance is enough in full. But modern demanding applications run stably only at medium settings and below. Therefore, if a smartphone is bought specifically for active games, then it is still worth taking a closer look at devices with higher performance, and hence the price.

But with the autonomy of the phone, things are fine. The 3930 mAh battery is enough for almost a day of active use, despite the impressive diagonal and high screen resolution. In standby mode, the phone can last up to 18 days, and in talk mode for about 28 hours. While playing video at maximum brightness, the phone will last about eight hours. In games, autonomy is reduced to four hours. But to charge the battery by half, it will take only a little more than half an hour. It will take almost two hours to fully charge.By the way, the standard charger supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology.

Camera

One of the main advantages of this phone is its camera. The quality of the pictures of the main module is almost in no way inferior to the flagship models. In good light, the rear camera takes great pictures. At night, the phone copes much worse, there is a large amount of noise. But autofocus works quickly even in poor lighting conditions. This is due to the fact that not several sensors are used for focusing, but the pixels themselves. It is also worth noting that the camera works best on an application from Google.

The dynamic range increases, the amount of unnecessary noise in the photo in low light decreases, and in general, the pictures are obtained at the level of top-end Google Pixel smartphones. But the front camera copes, to put it mildly, mediocre. Photos are blurry and not detailed enough. The bokeh effect looks good, but it's far from perfect.

In addition to the fingerprint scanner, the phone also provides face unlock. It works not particularly fast, but stable. Unlocking the screen with your eyes closed and in poor lighting will not work.

As for video, the maximum shooting resolution reaches 4k. Optical stabilization is smooth, the picture comes out beautiful. But in poor lighting conditions, the image on the video is sometimes highlighted and the focus is lost, but this is quite fixable with the additional Pro settings, which, fortunately, are enough in the phone.

And here are examples of photos from the main camera of the phone:

Price

The cost of the phone has dropped significantly at the moment.You can buy the device for a relatively small price of 20-23 thousand rubles.

Smartphone pros and cons

• Excellent camera;
• Quality screen;
• High autonomy.

• Glass case;
• Lack of a second speaker;
• No 3.5mm jack.

Results

HTC U11 EYEs is an excellent camera phone in its price range. If a bright screen, great image quality, and long battery life are more important to you than high performance and a strong body, then this device will be a good choice. Of course, most of all, many buyers are confused by the old processor, the phones based on which they began to appear back in 2016. That said, the Snapdragon 652 is still pretty nimble and competitively capable, so there's no need to worry about performance issues.

Thus, this phone will be an excellent device for performing various daily tasks, running undemanding applications and, of course, taking a lot of photos and videos.