The U11 as a replacement for the "10"

[markdoc]

First, I didn't buy the U11. HTC loaned me one for 3 days. (They have a promotion for HTC owners)
I just got it this morning on Aug 3. I have to admit the phone is even prettier in person, it IS gorgeous. I also have to admit it feels very solid with the glass. I immediately ran the update. It has Android 7.1.1 which is different than 7.0. Some different settings; some with added control, some less. The case it comes with is worthless, so the reports of the phone cracking in the case are also worthless. The camera also has additional settings, but still no preview.(It has "selfie-panorama", but I have no idea how.) The squeezing is cute but no big deal to me. It does give you a way to blindly open the camera and take a picture or open an app, which could come in handy. The automatic adjusting of the sound through the earphones does do something. However, I couldn't figure out how to adjust the sound with my earphones using their dongle. The sound was good with their earphones and mine, but not as good as my "10". I had to use my earphones with the automatic setting for the HTC earphones. Since it didn't come with instructions, this review was by trial & error. I will look up a manual and see if it has information on the earphones setup. Would I buy the U11, maybe. I feel better about the glass now that I've held it, but because I'm hard on phones, probably not. If the U12 is real and metal, I'll definitely wait. But who knows?
I just downloaded the manual, no info on using other earphones. Then I called HTC support, according to the tech, "There is no way to adjust the sound profile to your own earphones." The only adjustments are made automatically by the U11 and their provided earphones. That is a killer for me. The "10" when adjusted, sounds way better than the U11, no matter which earphones I used. :-(

 

[Hadron]

To me the size is the thing that's really stopped me buying the U11. But yeah, I've heard from others that the earphone sound does not match the 10 (admittedly few phones do, but nobody likes regression).

 

[markdoc]

The size is visually much bigger. And I agree with you, the size does matter. I can reach across the screen with my thumb on the "10". I can't on the U11. It's still hard to believe that on a phone, none of the reviews mention the sound difference. I will never understand why, in a phone, that the camera is more important than the sound. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I will wait for the 12 and hope.

 

[markdoc]

Update: I was so concerned about the earphones, I forgot to check the speakers.(if that's what you call them) Talking about regression! On the Thunderbolt, the speaker was on the back under the kickstand. Finally, the M7 had dual front facing real speakers. What a breakthrough. Now, the U11, a front facing slit on top and a bottom facing slot on bottom. It took so long to get it so right, but so little to screw it up. Sad, very sad.

 

[Hadron]

It's the same speaker setup as the 10 though (only louder from all reports).

It sounds like there will be one HTC-made device with dual front-facing speakers this year. However that will be going out under the Pixel branding, and we'll have to see about the quality (last year's Pixels weren't close to the 10 in headphone output, so I don't think we can assume these will match the dual speakers of yore until they are tested).