the HTC you 12-plus looks like an
ordinary phone but don't be fooled
you'll know the second you press on the
buttons squeeze it or tap the sides that
HTC is trying to do something different
the first clue might be the back of the
blue version which lets you take a peek
into its innards but the second you try
to turn the phone on or off or raise the
volume
you know something isn't quite right the
buttons you see on the side don't
actually press in they sense your
pressure and buzz with haptic feedback
to let you know that the volume has been
adjusted or that the phone is powering
on to me this is a heavy-handed touch
that frankly it feels weird enough to
send chills up and down my spine however
HTC says it's going to update the
software in a couple weeks to make the
haptic feedback feel more natural
luckily some of the phones other
features are more successful like Google
pixels two phones and last year's HTC
u11 this phone has squeezable sides that
you can customize in any number of ways
to launch apps like google assistant or
Amazon Alexa or perform tasks within an
app like your camera or a game a new
feature keeps the screen from dimming or
rotating when you hold the device which
is useful when you're reading laying
down or reclined and a double tap on the
pressure-sensitive sides can shrink the
screen for one-handed use pull out the
shortcuts menu go back and so on as for
the rest this is a flagship model that
has qualcomm snapdragon 845 processor
inside it runs the current version of
android with HTC software on top I'm not
a fan of the outdated look and feel of
the HTC Sense software and battery life
is on the leaner side like most phones
you'll need to charge it once a day the
12 and 16 megapixel dual camera more
than holds its own against the top tier
players colors couldn't come out a
little bit darker with fewer distinct
details but you can adjust the lighting
in the shot and edit after the fact to
improve the picture on the front to
eight megapixel cameras left more of my
hair in tact
when taking a portrait selfie with its
six inch Super LCD screen the u12 plus
is a larger device just about the size
of the samsung galaxy s 9 plus it's
water-resistant but it has no headphone
jack and doesn't support wireless
charging the u 12th plus does come with
you sonic earbuds that have a USBC
connection but you will need to get
yourself a dongle if you want to use
your own wired earbuds there's also a
clear case that comes with the phone I
like the creativity that HTC is bringing
to its phones but I think it takes a
certain type of person to make the most
out of tapping and squeezing the u12
plus in everyday life
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