HTC’s U11 offers a disappointing overall package with a few very bright spots (Review)

We’re celebrating ten years of AndroidGuys with a ton of giveaways!

Display

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of a modern smartphone is the display – in a world of shrinking bezels and 6″ phablets, phone real estate is dominated by the display. As such, OEM’s are striving to find ways to use the display to separate their phones from the competition, often in the form of “innovations” in display technology. These gimmicks are legion: Infinity Screen. Super Retina. Second Screen. Dual Edge. And while these concepts are interesting and certainly striking in their own right, mostly they’re just design quirks and flashy terminology used to justify jacking up the price of a flagship phone.

What is important, however, is that you enjoy looking at – and interacting with – your device’s screen. And in that area, at least the HTC U11 excels. With a 5.5″, 1440×2560 Gorilla Glass 5 LCD display, the U11 offers a no-frills screen that nonetheless delivers crisp, vibrant picture quality. While the brightness leaves something to be desired (when your softkeys put out more light than your primary screen, you know there’s a problem), the resolution and color depth are really great. There are a couple quality-of-life tweaks included in the Display Settings, including both Nightmode (which can be configured manually or automatically at sundown) and Color Temperature (to manually tune the screen to your preference).

Of the U11’s set of features, its display is likely it’s strongest.  If only the rest of the phone was as impressive.

Build

I’ve always been a fan of HTC’s hardware. My first two Android phones (MyTouch 3G, T-Mobile G2) were both HTC-made, and I have fonder memories of those devices than any since. HTC always seemed to have a cleaner, more utilitarian design to its phones, where Samsung and LG always tended toward the more flashy.

And while the U11 has its flaws and gimmicks, that approach remains consistent. It feels solid in-hand, with buttons that are within easy reach that press with a satisfying click. The front-mounted fingerprint scanner is responsive and error-tolerant, allowing you to unlock it from a variety of angles. The phone is rated at IP67, making it dustproof and waterproof up to 3′ – personally, I feel in today’s market this should be the industry standard.

Where the U11 falters, though, is the chassis. The aluminum frame is nice, and the phone feels durable enough, but the chromed, electric blue backplate is an true eyesore in my opinion. Other blogs have commented on the design, calling it a “stunning effect.” This is what the back is supposed to be, according to HTC:

The liquid glass surface is crafted to impress using Optical Spectrum Hybrid Deposition. By layering highly-refractive precious minerals across the phone’s back cover, we’ve created stunningly vivid new colors that transform light with every movement you make.

But all I see is a hideous, fingerprint attracting, plastic-feeling back that reminds me of the early ’00s, when chrome spinners on pickups were all the rage. It’s certainly a distinctive, but then again, so are hot pink legwarmers. It’s striking, but it’s more akin to being punched in the face. Phones lately have been trending toward laser-cut, aluminum unibody exteriors, but HTC appears content to rock a glass back, slap a coat of chrome on it, and call it unique. I suppose, despite the criticism, it should be noted that in addition to the blue, it also comes in red, black, and what can only be described as “powder.”

The U11 also features touch-sense, the ability to squeeze the sides of the frame and have it be detected as an input. This can be configured and personalized to launch various functions, though at launch it was only used to launch the camera and take pictures. I’ll detail this feature in the next section, but I think it’s relevant to state here that I’m really not impressed with the functionality and don’t consider it to be any value added.

Internals

By and large, the internal are about what you’d expect from a higher-end these days. At its core is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, an octa-core processor that’s pretty common among flagships recently. The base model sports 4/64GB RAM/ROM – fairly standard – while the upgraded, dual-sim model has 6/128 – much less common. Both models have a MicroSD slot for expandable storage, though it should be noted than in the dual-sim model, using a MicroSD card takes up your secondary slot.

Its connectivity standards are all top-of-the-line, or close to it: NFC, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, and a USB-C 3.1 port. Sound-wise, the U11 sports something called USonic, which,er…well, I’ll just let HTC tell you:

Immerse yourself in purer audio. HTC U11 introduces the latest version of HTC USonic, which now combines active noise cancellation with the ability to tune audio to your unique hearing. Other headsets focus more on obtaining great sound quality while overlooking the fundamentals – each of our hearing structures are different. Our USonic earbuds map your inner ear with an advanced sonar-like technology and then adapt the sound profile to your unique biology. This creates an incredibly personal and optimized listening experience with vibrant audio shaped specifically for you.

In practice, I didn’t notice all that much difference from other quality wired headsets, though it does seem to be quite an upgrade over the crap that’s usually thrown into phone boxes. While all of this combines to be a very solid set of features, there’s also nothing that truly stands out and sets it apart from other flagships, or even second-tier phones.

In memorium

Since it doesn’t quite fit into any other category in this review, I’ll slip a rant on TouchSense in right here. The ability to squeeze your phone and have it perform a function is no different or unique than placing a dedicated shutter button on the side of the phone, or adding a fourth button on the on-screen Nav Bar. It’s just another button, concealed in the frame of the phone. It’s a gimmick – nothing more.

I prefer that dedicated, two-stage shutter button, personally.

Battery

Call me picky, but I won’t even consider a phone that has less than a 3000mAh battery these days. As hungry and powerful as phones are getting, anything less is not worth buying. Luckily for the U11, it just made the cut. I won’t tell you the battery life is great, because it isn’t. It’s adequate, and it might get you through a day if you’re judicious with your usage, but what fun is that? Life is stressful enough without having anxiety over the battery life of an inanimate object that is, nonetheless, our gateway to socialization in the modern world. With smaller companies like Blu and Oukitel bringing phones to market with 5000 and 10000 mAh batteries, it’s time bigger OEMs got the hint.

Camera

I’ll be frank – for as much as I’ve criticized the U11 thus far, it takes beautiful, beautiful photos. It doesn’t feature the dual-sensor rear camera setup that’s currently en vogue, but the single sensor it does have is really impressive. I took a few casual, real-world style shots on my way into the airport, and I was really satisfied with the level of detail and the color quality in each shot. Even in the extreme-zoom photo of the (super creepy) bird art pieces outside the parking structure, the pictures are in focus and at passable resolution. Even in low-light conditions the camera performs admirably – I have to say, it’s probably the best camera I’ve personally tested.

That praise out of the way, I’m a little concerned with the way the camera performance is being marketed. HTC has constantly shoved the phrase “The #1 smartphone camera on the market” down our throats in reference to the HTC U11, but with a DXOMark of 90 (certainly no slouch), it ranks as the fifth-best camera (tied with the original Pixel) on the market. “Damned good camera” wasn’t good enough for you, LG, you had to stretch the truth by throwing “Best” into the mix? It’s a small thing, perhaps, but lends credence to the growing idea that the concept of Truth is kind of….flexible, these days.

 Value

In a vacuum, HTC‘s U11 is a perfectly adequate phone. But context matters, and the price of that adequacy needs to be considered. A $650 (at minimum!) phone with this set of specifications is ludicrous in a world where OnePlus’ 5 – or even 3T (from a year ago) – can be had for $200 less with largely better specs. For all the praise it got around the web, frankly, I expected better. In the end, the HTC U11 is just another adequate “flagship” with gimmicky features and the bloated price tag we’ve come to expect from the big name OEMs. If you’re a big camera buff, you might be able to justify the price in your own head – it’s a ridiculously well-performing device in that regard – but for people that don’t put a premium on camera performance…there’s better devices out there for cheaper.

The HTC U11 is now available on all major US carriers (or unlocked), starting at $649 – if you just really, really dig that chrome back and gotta have it, I suppose. It should be noted that as of this publishing, the 64GB unlocked version is on sale for $549, and the 128GB unlocked version is $629 – much better values.

‘Harvest’ funds climate research with wind-powered cryptocurrency mining rigs

Why it matters to you

Creative means to fund climate change research may be an art project, but it could work outside of galleries, too.

Given the fact that, for now, Earth’s the only home we’ve got, climate change is a subject well worth researching. But how do you fund this research? If you’re anything like artist-engineer Julian Oliver, the answer is simple: use wind energy to mine for cryptocurrency to pay for it, of course. It’s a nifty idea — not least because it means that the more pronounced the meteorological effects of climate change turn out to be, the more money gets pumped into researching the topic.

The so-called “Harvest” project involves using a small 700W wind turbine that’s attached to a robust tripod and tethered to the ground in a windy location. This charges two large interconnected 12V batteries, each in a case of their own. Drawing from those batteries is the Harvest cryptocurrency mining rig in the form of a water- and insect-proof case complete with thermal exhaust, air intakes and a lot of hardware.

“Connected to the internet via a 4G USB stick, the rig mines the cryptocurrency ZCash using a high-end GPU (Graphical Processing Unit), the rewards of which are paid into a cryptographically secured wallet over a VPN (Virtual Private Network),” Oliver told Digital Trends. “Rather than mining all alone, it does so on a ‘mining pool’, a way for individual miners to share their processing power over a network, the rewards of which are split equally based on the amount of mining work done. As the Harvest rig mines day in and out, a weather sensor and IP camera monitor the site, reporting to a publicly accessible monitoring console and dashboard. If wind speeds drop below a certain minimum, mining is paused so that the batteries aren’t drained faster than they can be charged. Then, once sufficient wind energy is available again, the miner resumes its work.”

Oliver said he first had the idea for the Harvest project back in 2013, when he realized that the costs involved with mining on grid power would soon become so expensive most would barely make ends meet unless operating on a large scale. This led to him considering using alternate sources of energy and, due to his home in Northern Europe not receiving enough regular sun to make solar viable, decided on wind energy instead. Harvest was then commissioned as a work of high tech art (currently on display in Sweden), although Oliver says the idea could also work practically.

“It’s very much my intention to see this scale right up, both as mass-produced inexpensive single nodes for scattering about the windiest parts of the world, and as ‘farms’ of such rigs that feed off pre-existent large 250W+ wind turbines,” Oliver said.

Poll: Windows Phone is finally dead, are you going to miss it?

This week Microsoft put the final nail in the Windows Phone’s coffin, officially conceding the mobile marketplace to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. It’s a big move, and there are sure to be some Windows Phone die-hards out there who will lament the loss of their favored mobile operating system but it wasn’t a total shock.

Microsoft has gradually pivoted away from Windows Phone, leaning hard toward VR and its Surface lineup while once-proud flagships like the Nokia Lumia are left by the wayside, forgotten. The problem Microsoft seemed to face with Windows Phone was one of exposure. Android and iOS are, and were, everywhere. Windows Phone had some cool ideas, but never quite caught on.

Which begs the question, does it really matter that Windows Phone is dead? Was it ever a real competitor to iOS and Android? You tell us.

The #WindowsPhone is dead, but was it ever a real competitor to #iOS and #Android?

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) October 9, 2017

Poll: Windows Phone is finally dead, are you going to miss it?

This week Microsoft put the final nail in the Windows Phone’s coffin, officially conceding the mobile marketplace to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. It’s a big move, and there are sure to be some Windows Phone die-hards out there who will lament the loss of their favored mobile operating system but it wasn’t a total shock.

Microsoft has gradually pivoted away from Windows Phone, leaning hard toward VR and its Surface lineup while once-proud flagships like the Nokia Lumia are left by the wayside, forgotten. The problem Microsoft seemed to face with Windows Phone was one of exposure. Android and iOS are, and were, everywhere. Windows Phone had some cool ideas, but never quite caught on.

Which begs the question, does it really matter that Windows Phone is dead? Was it ever a real competitor to iOS and Android? You tell us.

The #WindowsPhone is dead, but was it ever a real competitor to #iOS and #Android?

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) October 9, 2017

Facebook’s CherryPi loses to indie-developed AI bots in ‘StarCraft: Brood War’

Why it matters to you

Facebook is pushing forward in artificial intelligence development and its recent tournament loss is still a win for its AI division.

Even the brilliant scientists at Facebook can’t seem to defeat the mighty ZZZKBot. The company participated in a recent StarCraft tournament that pits artificial intelligent “bots” against each other instead of humans. Facebook’s “CherryPi” AI bot walked away with a lower lip, having ranked a mere sixth place in the overall tournament with 2,049 wins out of 2,966 games.

The StarCraft AI competition took place during AIIDE (Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment) 2017 at the Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah from October 5 to October 9. The annual conference focuses on artificial intelligence and interactive entertainment, pooling talents from the commercial and research communities. The highlighted topic covered artificial intelligence beyond its use in gaming.

The StarCraft AI competition specifically used the original StarCraft PC game and its expansion, Brood War. Its purpose was to evaluate the state of artificial intelligence, and how it handles real-time strategy games. This genre poses a challenge because the player must scan the field, manage resources, investigate unknown environments, and respond quickly to threats. Chess doesn’t offer that strategic depth.

Although StarCraft: Brood War has an integrated artificial opponent, it has access to the game’s back end. It doesn’t view the screen as a human does — it’s not a detached entity that must think on its own. Thus, for an external “bot” to experience the game like a human, a special interface called BWAPI was created for bots to interact with the PC game.

“BWAPI only reveals the visible parts of the game state to AI modules by default,” the Github notes state. “Information on units that have gone back into the fog of war is denied to the AI. This enables programmers to write competitive non-cheating AIs that must plan and operate under partial information conditions.”

In Facebook’s defense, the ZZZKBot is a mean opponent. It just participated in the 2017 IEEE SIG StarCraft AI competition in August and came out winning 1,790 games out of 2,374. At the end of the local tournament in Utah, the ZZZKBot came out on top again with 2,465 wins out of 2,966 games. Written by Chris Coxe, it first made an appearance during the AIIDE 2015 conference.

But given that Facebook’s CherryPi bot managed sixth place out of 28 opponents in its first swing, the company did not exactly suffer total defeat. Facebook’s AI team behind CherryPi are composed of eight individuals who published a dataset last week drawing on early data collected from CherryPi’s gameplay. The data includes 496 million player actions and millions of captured frames.

All bots were ranked by their final winning percentage of one-on-one games. They could not cheat and could not take advantage of in-game glitches. Each session lasted up to 60 minutes with fog of war enabled, which covers unexplored areas of the field. Bots were penalized for slow computations.

Out of the 28 competing bots, 15 were created and submitted by independent developers. Even more, all five bots ranking higher than CherryPI were created by independent developers. The only other non-independent AI developer to reach the top 10 was Stanford University and its Arrakhammer bot.

Despite all the hate, Bixby is actually pretty great

Samsung’s Bixby hasn’t received the most positive reception since its release, but our forum users actually seem to be quite smitten with what the virtual assistant has to offer.

Following its debut on the Galaxy S8/S8+ at the beginning of the year, the general consensus for Samsung’s Bixby virtual assistant is that it’s a poor man’s version of Google Assistant. Bixby had a rocky release thanks to the delayed launch of Bixby Voice a few months after the S8 line hit the market in the U.S., but now that it’s been out for a hot minute and people are actually getting to use it, opinions seem to be changing.

One user posted a question in our forums asking whether or not people are actually using Bixby since it doesn’t seem to be on the same fluidity level of Google Assistant, and a lot of Bixby users were quick to respond with their thoughts on the AI.

Spoiler alert, most of them are very positive.

A lot of our users agreed that, while Bixby isn’t perfect, it does have certain strengths over Google Assistant with more device-specific actions.

arunma
09-06-2017 10:16 PM

“

Been using it for months with the S8+. Best to think of it as a different tool from Google Assistant, not as a replacement.

Reply

iGalione
09-07-2017 03:12 AM

“

Bixby. although it is somewhat a clone to what the google assistant is, it trumps and does a LOT more than was Google assistant, or even Siri can do. think of it as a bit of Tasker, mixed with an assistant, that doesn’t need full root permissions. From custom commands to full contextual actions. It’s good for what it is, but you just have to talk to your phone a lot… I’m a doer, so i usually do…

Reply

areyes163
09-07-2017 05:10 AM

“

Think of it this way. Bixby can control your entire device. Google Assistant can search everything and provide information. Best of both worlds.

Reply

However, there are still some situations where Google Assistant takes the upper hand

trucksmoveamerica#AC
09-09-2017 06:33 AM

“

The only thing I want to talk to my phone to do is make calls and send text messages. Bixby wants to force me to use the stock messaging app, Google Assistant let’s me use whatever texting app I want to use. So until Samsung gets off their high horse and allows bixby to work with third party texting apps I’ll stick with Google Assistant.

I use a package disabler to disable bixby, specially…

Reply

Now, we want to passs the question on to you – If you’ve used Bixby, what are your thoughts on the assistant at this point in time?

Join the conversation in the forums!

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Essential Phone to get Android Oreo beta in coming weeks, night mode included

It the company’s latest AMA, Essential confirmed the release of an Oreo beta in the next few weeks, an incoming night mode, and performance fixes.

Update 6:25 PM EST – Essential mentioned in the AMA that the kernel source for the PH-1 would be coming soon, and it’s just been released. Check it out here.

Although the Essential Phone is far from perfect, one thing that’s worth commending Essential as a company for is its transparency between customers. The Essential team recently started to host AMAs over on Reddit to answer any questions that its customers have to ask, and in this week’s session, a lot of details were shared regarding Android Oreo for the Essential Phone, a new night mode, and bug fixes galore.

Regarding Android 8.0 Oreo, Essential confirmed that its quality assurance team is currently testing a build of Oreo for the PH-1 and that it hopes to release a public beta for users to download within “several weeks.” Essential says that it will make an announcement once the beta is available, but that’s as specific of a timeline that we have for the time being.

Once Oreo does drop for the Essential Phone, it will also bring a highly-requested night mode that should make using the device in the dark much easier on the eyes. Speaking of new features, the next OTA update that’s released for the PH-1 will bring fingerprint gestures for controlling certain aspects of the UI (similar to what’s found on the Pixel).

An Android 8.0 Oreo beta will be available for the Essential Phone in “several weeks.”

Along with these new features and upgrades, Essential also says that it’s working hard on bug fixes for its phone. The biggest issue that a lot of users are facing at the moment has to do with poor touch responsiveness and jitters when navigating through the user interface, and fixes are in the works.

In one post, an Essential employee said:

Hi everyone. Since multiple people are asking below yes we are aware of the issue related to the display touch scrolling jitteriness and have a patch we are testing internally. I saw the fix in action literally yesterday and the improvement is night and day. I think you guys will be really happy with it. Our plan is to get this out in one of the next upcoming OTA updates releasing a few weeks. Stay tuned!

Essential also addressed the release of system images, delays for the white model of the phone, and plenty more. You can check out the full AMA here if you want to read through the entire thing, and assuming that the company sticks to its schedule, it’ll be hosting its next session on October 18.

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Google launching pop-up stores in New York City and Los Angeles on Oct 19

Similar to last year, Google will be launching Made by Google pop-up stores this fall to show off its latest hardware.

In case you somehow missed it, Google hosted a press event on October 4 to announce its latest batch of hardware releases, including the Pixel 2, Home Mini, Pixelbook, and a ton more. We already got to go hands-on with all of these gadgets, and Google will soon let you do the same with Made by Google pop-up stores that will be opening up in the coming weeks.

These pop-up stores will allow general consumers to get up close and personal with all of Google’s newly announced products, and if they’re anything like last year, they’ll offer all sorts of different activities and demos to show just what the company’s new hardware is truly capable of.

Right now, Google only has plans for two pop-up stores – one in New York City at 110 Fifth Avenue, and another in Los Angeles at 8552 Melrose Avenue. Both will open up on Thursday, October 19, with stores hours of 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. every day. There’s currently no end date for the stores, but they’ll likely be open through the holiday season similar to last year’s single NYC one.

If you don’t happen to live either in or near New York City or Los Angeles, don’t forget about the Google Home Mini Donut Shops that are also touring the country!

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This $25 Anker surge protector with USB ports has enough space for all your gear

This surge protector can keep all your gear safe for a relatively low cost.

Is this deal for me?

This Anker 6-outlet 4-USB surge protector is down to $24.69 on Amazon. It normally sells around $30 and hasn’t had a direct price drop anywhere near this price since 2016.

This power strip has four USB ports in addition to the six outlets. It offers 380 Joule surge protection and shields plugged-in USB devices from short-circuits and surges as well using Anker’s “MultiProtect” technology. The PowerIQ tech built into the USB ports can identify the connected device and provide high-speed charging.

Anker provides an 18-month warranty on all products.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – This is a really low price for a power strip that includes USB ports, high-speed charging, and surge protection.
• Things to know before you buy! – You can’t plug things into this strip without charging cables! Grab a 6-foot lightning cable or this two-pack of USB-C to USB-A cables and get your gear powered up.

See at Amazon

HP’s VR backpack computer starts shipping this week

HP’s latest virtual reality backpack PC has been a long time in coming: the company unveiled it in June and promised a July release that came and went with nothing to show. At last, though, it’s here. HP now expects to ship the Omen X Compact Desktop on October 10th. You’ll have to drop $2,500, but you too can sling a speedy gaming PC (with a 7th-generation Core i7 and GTX 1080 graphics) on your back and avoid tripping over cables while you explore VR worlds. There is, however, a gotcha you’ll need to be aware of before you splurge on this wearable system.

You see, the $500 backpack portion was slated to ship on October 13th but is listed as out of stock as of this writing. If you’re one of the first to buy the PC at this point, you’ll have to either hook up your VR headset the old-fashioned way or (gasp) make do with staring at a conventional screen. It’s far from a hardship — if you can swing a $2,500 PC, a $500 backpack and a VR headset, you can probably afford to wait. Still, it suggests that HP wasn’t quite ready to handle demand.

Via: CNET

Source: HP (1), (2)