HTC U12

Supersnake

Supersnake

[H]ard|Gawd
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At this point this is solely a leak but it is from someone with a good track record.
 
The HTC 10 sitting on my desk is the last HTC phone I'll buy. No 3.5mm jack = no purchase. HTC sent me a survey not too long ago asking what it would take to make me buy a new HTC product (I've had just about every flagship of theirs since the G2 which had the best hardware keyboard EVER) and I gave them the same response. My phone is a Pandora streamer/MP3 player, and occasionally used for web surfing or texting/making calls.
 
Jeremy C said:
The HTC 10 sitting on my desk is the last HTC phone I'll buy. No 3.5mm jack = no purchase. HTC sent me a survey not too long ago asking what it would take to make me buy a new HTC product (I've had just about every flagship of theirs since the G2 which had the best hardware keyboard EVER) and I gave them the same response. My phone is a Pandora streamer/MP3 player, and occasionally used for web surfing or texting/making calls.
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You're eventually going to have to accept the fact that the 3.5mm jack is going away; every generation we see less of them. Each year you'll have less and less options and I'm pretty sure we won't see a new flagship phone with one in 2020.
 
exlink said:
You're eventually going to have to accept the fact that the 3.5mm jack is going away; every generation we see less of them. Each year you'll have less and less options and I'm pretty sure we won't see a new flagship phone with one in 2020.
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Yup, looks like Samsung is keeping the headphone jack this year on the S9 at least. But I fully expect them to drop it next year.

I'm not too annoyed by it, but wish they would just drop their lame excuses for dropping it and admit to just following the trend because they can. Also, it would be cool if they started putting an extra USB-C port on their phones too for charging while using headphones or transferring data or whatever. But I don't see that happening either.

Phone design in general is regressing across the board though, IMO. I hate the 2:1 screen ratios, the rounded glass edges, the sealed batteries, and crappy bottom/mono speaker in most phones nowadays. I really don't care about water resistance and wish more phones had kept the IR blaster that was somewhat common for a couple years. It's like most OEMs are putting form over function now, which is the total opposite of what I look for in a phone, as aesthetics are the absolute last thing I care about on a phone that will most likely go into a case anyways.

My old One M8 was pretty much perfect for me in terms of design and features, as it seems to be the last phone to have both front facing stereo speakers and an IR blaster (and receiver for learning more codes), both of which I used and enjoyed every day. If only HTC had kept those things in their current phones, I would surely buy one on the spot today. Huawei seems to be the next best thing now since they're putting IR blasters on the Mate phones and they have stereo speakers, just one of them is on the bottom of the phone instead of the front and I'm not sure if the bottom one is meant to be more of a "sub" for lower freqs like HTC has been doing since the 10.
 
T4rd said:
Phone design in general is regressing across the board though, IMO. I hate the 2:1 screen ratios, the rounded glass edges, the sealed batteries, and crappy bottom/mono speaker in most phones nowadays. I really don't care about water resistance and wish more phones had kept the IR blaster that was somewhat common for a couple years. It's like most OEMs are putting form over function now, which is the total opposite of what I look for in a phone, as aesthetics are the absolute last thing I care about on a phone that will most likely go into a case anyways.
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I wish what you wrote would be promulgated and delivered to every phone reviewer and reader to take an active stance to reverse this trend.
 
Supersnake said:
I wish what you wrote would be promulgated and delivered to every phone reviewer and reader to take an active stance to reverse this trend.
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Unfortunately his opinion most likely doesn't reflect the opinion of the mass target audience. 2:1 screen ratios are the new rave now - companies wouldn't all be implementing it if it weren't (I do hate rounded edges though like on the Galaxy S8). Also, sealed batteries is another thing the vast majority of people don't care about. Hardly anyone ever carried an extra battery, and would swap out their phones anyway by the time the battery went to shit after a couple of years. People would rather have sealed batteries with water resistance and wireless charging over removable batteries. I agree with the crappy mono speakers, but that seems to be a trend that is going away.
 
exlink said:
Unfortunately his opinion most likely doesn't reflect the opinion of the mass target audience. 2:1 screen ratios are the new rave now - companies wouldn't all be implementing it if it weren't (I do hate rounded edges though like on the Galaxy S8). Also, sealed batteries is another thing the vast majority of people don't care about. Hardly anyone ever carried an extra battery, and would swap out their phones anyway by the time the battery went to shit after a couple of years. People would rather have sealed batteries with water resistance and wireless charging over removable batteries. I agree with the crappy mono speakers, but that seems to be a trend that is going away.
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You may be right, but it's really hard to say. I don't think most people really care about aesthetics though, at least just from what I've observed in my personal realm of non-tech enthusiasts where typically price and carrier promotions dictate what they buy over anything else if they're not an iPhone user. But it's not like people really have a choice to vote with their wallet about what design elements go into phones either; at least in the US where at least 90% of phone sales are through the carriers (solely because of the available financing and promotions they offer), which only really carry 3-4 different flagship phones from Apple, Samsung, LG, and maybe Moto, all of which (besides Moto, which their Z2 Force was a design fail for other reasons like small battery and plastic display cover) came out with similar 2:1 (19.5:9 on the iPhone X) display phones with minimal bezels. So customers don't really have much choice but to take what they're offered and drink the cool-aid. Voting with their wallet isn't really an option unless they want to go drop $600+ on an unlocked phone that they most likely don't even know exists as an option in the first place, or maybe it truly isn't an option if they're on Verizon or Sprint. So OEMs pretty much dictate what's "new rave" now since they all seem to jump on the same trends together at the same time and we don't really have much choice but to buy their phones regardless of how we feel about it. That means we can never tell what consumers really think about these new design trends of if they really approve of them when it means removing features they may have really liked in previous phones.

As far as the removable battery argument goes; I really don't care about having the ability to hot-swap a battery on the go and that's not the reason I liked having them. I really don't care if the battery is hot-swappable either, just serviceable by any amateur phone tech, which the water-proofing trend really gets in the way of due to all the seals and adhesives it requires. I keep my phones for around 2 years and always end up replacing my battery about 18 months into ownership just due to the battery wear and lost capacity over that time, even on my last two phones with sealed batteries (One M8 and current 6P). The One M8 was kind of a pain to replace because HTC put it between the mobo and display, but my 6P wasn't too hard at all because it doesn't have a glass back or water resistance. I know most people don't care as much for this too since the thought of opening up a phone is pretty foreign or scary to most consumers, but regardless it does factor into my decision to buy a phone so I look up tear-downs of it before I buy (typically from JerryRigEverything) just to see how difficult it is to repair.
 
If you don't feel like waiting for the 12, HTC dropped the price of the 11 by $100 and since they sent out the wrong email they just sent a $35 off coupon.

I don't plan on using it so feel free.

Code is:

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Update
1. The HTC 2018 flagship phone will be marketed and branded as the HTC U12+ (an HTC U12 may never exist).
2. There will be two front mounted 8-megapixel selfie cameras in addition to the rear mounted 16-megapixel and 12-megapixel cameras.
3. Current expected release date is early May.

For expanded information please refer to Evan Blass: This is the HTC U12+
 
Vengance_01 said:
Looks nice but at 700 to 800$ no thank you. Cell phones are out of control
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I won't pay that price, but when you consider how they have basically become high-powered computers in handheld form, it's not that high.
 
braamer said:
I won't pay that price, but when you consider how they have basically become high-powered computers in handheld form, it's not that high.
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I'm always baffled when people say those prices are "out of control." Your smartphone is arguably the most important device in your life. It's nearly always with you; it's your lifeline to others, it's your primary camera, it keeps you informed about the world, it plays music when you're on the go, it frequently serves as a remote control... I won't begrudge you if you keep the cost down, but why would you fault someone for investing $700-plus into a device if they find it useful?
 
Aurelius said:
I'm always baffled when people say those prices are "out of control." Your smartphone is arguably the most important device in your life. It's nearly always with you; it's your lifeline to others, it's your primary camera, it keeps you informed about the world, it plays music when you're on the go, it frequently serves as a remote control... I won't begrudge you if you keep the cost down, but why would you fault someone for investing $700-plus into a device if they find it useful?
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But you know if you avoid the "standard" phones (top end Samsung, top end Apple), you can get almost the same thing for less than half the price.
 
cjcox said:
But you know if you avoid the "standard" phones (top end Samsung, top end Apple), you can get almost the same thing for less than half the price.
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Yes and no. There are clearly some areas where the gain is minimal, but you can frequently tell where the money went if you look closely.

Let's say you're comparing a OnePlus 6 (we already know many of the specs) to a Galaxy S9+. Yeah, both phones have large screens, fast processors and dual cameras, but the S9+ has a better screen, better photography (especially in low light), more biometric sign-in options, expandable storage, water resistance, fast wireless charging... you get the idea. It may cost nearly twice as much, but you're definitely getting more phone.

Think of it like the difference between an everyday PC and an expensive gaming PC. Most people won't get anything out of a gaming PC, but for those people who care about gaming, every extra dollar spent on that rig will be considered worthwhile. If I depend on my phone around the clock for work, if I'm an avid mobile photographer, if I'm just a mobile enthusiast, I will get more value out of a high-end phone.
 
Aurelius said:
Yes and no. There are clearly some areas where the gain is minimal, but you can frequently tell where the money went if you look closely.

Let's say you're comparing a OnePlus 6 (we already know many of the specs) to a Galaxy S9+. Yeah, both phones have large screens, fast processors and dual cameras, but the S9+ has a better screen, better photography (especially in low light), more biometric sign-in options, expandable storage, water resistance, fast wireless charging... you get the idea. It may cost nearly twice as much, but you're definitely getting more phone.

Think of it like the difference between an everyday PC and an expensive gaming PC. Most people won't get anything out of a gaming PC, but for those people who care about gaming, every extra dollar spent on that rig will be considered worthwhile. If I depend on my phone around the clock for work, if I'm an avid mobile photographer, if I'm just a mobile enthusiast, I will get more value out of a high-end phone.
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While I agree with your argument, the details are questionable. The OnePlus 6 isn't even out yet. You don't know if OP6 will have a better or worse camera. Like if Huawei can do it, so can Oppo/OnePlus. As for biometric sign in options, OnePlus is rumored to have a on screen fingerprint reader. Due to the location of the fingerprint reader on the S9/S9+, I would say that OnePlus 6 will have a better biometric sign in option; so what if Samsung has a fingerprint reader in a shitty location, so what if this Iris scanner is gimmicky and nearly useless (I wear glasses), and no one should use that unsecure 2d face unlock.
 
Companies will always price their goods and services as high as they think the market will bear. Isn't that how the market is supposed to work? You think it's too high? Don't buy. If there are enough people who don't buy, the companies will adjust their prices. It's not like there aren't enough options when it comes to smartphones nowadays.
 
Now this is the phone I am waiting for, and what Pixel 2 XL should have been.

Preordered....
 
If I upgrade in 2018, it'll be to this or the Pixel 3 XL. Looking forward to your reviews!
 
Pantalaimon said:
Companies will always price their goods and services as high as they think the market will bear. Isn't that how the market is supposed to work? You think it's too high? Don't buy. If there are enough people who don't buy, the companies will adjust their prices. It's not like there aren't enough options when it comes to smartphones nowadays.
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See also, Essential Phone. Great phone (for the most part). Nobody bought it, and the price dropped until people started buying it.

This surely looks like a nice phone though. Too bad you can't get an Android One edition or something like that.
 
I pre-ordered my HTC U12+ directly from HTC themselves without financing and got it on Friday, June 22nd.

I had seen all the videos and reviews and write-ups saying the phone was amazing...except the buttons killed the whole thing. I was worried...

Thank GOD I didn't let any of that bullshit sway me. The phone is just simply amazing. Buttons work just fine. So either all the reviewers got pre-production broken units (huge fail HTC if so) or there is some sweeping anti-HTC thing going on.

The phone is good.
 
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xkilla101 said:
I pre-ordered my HTC U12+ directly from HTC themselves without financing and got it on Friday, June 22nd.

I had seen all the videos and reviews and write-ups saying the phone was amazing...except the buttons killed the whole thing. I was worried...

Thank GOD I didn't let any of that bullshit sway me. The phone is just simply amazing. Buttons work just fine. So either all the reviewers got pre-production broken units (huge fail HTC if so) or there is some sweeping anti-HTC thing going on.

The phone is good.
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How's battery been? That's another thing I've been constantly seeing reviewers complain about; not saying it's bad, just not as good as other flagships with similar sized batteries.

I would consider it if I needed a phone at the moment, but my Pixel 2 XL is still pretty men to me and doing great, esp on battery life (getting 5-7 hours SoT consistently over 24-36 hours).
 
I pre-ordered from Amazon and they pushed the delivery date all the way to August-Sept.

End up ordering directly from HTC.

Since I don't know which one is gonna ship first, so I kept both order running...

Now I just received shipment notification from both HTC and Amazon at the same time.....

Ouch.......:grumpy:
 
That's just literally what my current charge looks like. However I have been pretty pleased with the battery. I used to charge my previous phone, a HTC One M9, literally every night.

I've only charged this phone twice since setting it up last Friday night. So, two charges in 5 days. It was fully charged when I received the phone, even though the sticker on it says to charge the device before first powering it on lol.

I've used the phone just as much, if not moreso, than the M9 I had. Played a few games on this too just to test it out.
 
The battery for standby mode is pretty darn good from my usage, but the screen on time does indeed lower than I expected.

Display seems to be a bit of lottery, getting slight weird yellow / shadow on the bottom of the screen. Thinking about exchange another one from Amazon.

Digital button is a bit inconsistent at first, but after getting used to it, it's not bad without casing. But with case that covers it, it couldn't sense it a lot of time, and edge sense will malfunction.

The reviews bashing this phone seriously concern me if Samsung or others is on their payroll again, because I have used many flagship phone this years, and pretty much all of them are below what HTC gave yet still getting praise for some reason.

S9, that touchwiz slow my phone dramatically and constant reset my app is a total crap to use.
P20 Pro, that CPU is a lack luster horse shit, not to mention the software is buggy as hell to use, constantly getting "waiting for app or close it" message.
LG ThinQ, pretty much same as S9, a piece of heavily skin crap that constantly require restart.
One Plus 6, Play games like Lineage 2R, took a few minutes then starting to throttle like mad, phone become too hot to touch. The battery drain on standby mode is insane as well...

U12+ is the Android to keep for me this round. It's not perfect, but definitely near it.

So far this phone is fantastic, it's my favorite android phone of the year. Including a active noise cancelling headphone is definitely a big surprise for me.
 
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