Gadgetory

we are going to unbox the HTC u12 plus no this is not the box that you're going to get but it is straight from HTC this is the final hardware and software so let's begin all right what do we have here we have the phone which is in this nice bubble wrap pouch put that aside for a second and we have ogen the case this is a clear case that we were promised for the phone this is great because it will protect solute glass backing and you won't have to buy a new case yourself you'll be able to just buy the phone and use the case right away we will put those two together soon but let's see what else we have here all right we've got the charger pack this is for fast charging and we have the USBC cable that will go along with it these are always nice because you can plug it into the charger you can plug it into your laptop or anywhere else that has the USB a charger port and USB see on the other side which is the new standard that almost every phone will use so really not a surprise and we have the you sonic earbuds that come along in the box with a variety of different tips so even though this isn't the typical box that you're gonna get on retail shelves if you go out and buy this phone or have it shipped to you these are the same contents that you're gonna find in your box alright so let's put this together we don't care about this box anymore it's white right so here we go it's not a lot to see in there here we have the phone I have the really cool blue color it looks kind of translucent so if you take a look at the back you can kind of see through to some of the components on the inside it is a really mean effect when you hold it in the light and some light it definitely shows up a little bit more than others but it's definitely cool and that's why you want to have this clear case so you can sort of see inside so let's just snap this on this snaps on pretty easily see if it's easy to come on yeah actually you just kind of tug on these corners and it'll snap right off so I already feel pretty good about that and since most phone companies don't throw in a case this is a nice little value-add there's plenty of room I can tell already to reach the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone so I like that there's a pretty big good window here you're not going to confuse the fingerprint reader for the camera like you might on some other phones and there's a lot of room on the sides also to reach those buttons the buttons are pretty much the most interesting thing about the u12 plus because although they look like buttons and they feel like buttons they don't actually press down you can't suppress them at all and already you know I can kind of feel some haptic feedback when I press them they're touch sensitive and also pressure-sensitive let's turn this on it it is really weird this is a really weird feeling because my body wants to press down I've got that muscle memory but nothing happens so I think it might be one of those things that you just kind of get used to all right let's see the phone's start up there we go there's the chime so on the front one of the first things I notice is that there are two camera modules on the front these are eight megapixel cameras only one of them is for taking most photos the second one adds that portrait mode to cameras on the back too so that makes a total of four cameras again we have a second camera that is there for the portrait mode but it's also a telephoto lens so you can take pictures with it as well a fingerprint reader on the back that we mentioned as well one thing that you will not see anywhere on the phone is a headset Jack we just have that USB C port down below alright so now I've turned on the phone I've gone through most of the setup process and I have one more decision to make and that's how I want the navigation bar brand-new to HTC and I actually haven't seen this on any other phone I can choose to have a navigation bar that I swipe so I have more options pretty simple I'll just swipe to get more controls that's something that's kind of cool you can't tell by looking but the sides are squeezable too so it can squeeze to launch the camera app or another app that I choose I can squeeze and hold to do something like launch Google assistant or maybe even keep the screen from dimming that's what the holding gesture here means as you can keep it from turning and keep it from dimming which is great if you're laying on your bed reading a story and then also I can tap the sides to get it to do whatever I want so I can turn on one handed mode I can use the back button for navigation or any other of these options here so this is pretty great customization and there are a lot of choices and you're able to really do a lot with this so the remaining question is are these new design features any good these buttons that don't press squeezy sides with a lot new features than we've seen in past HTC phones that is what our full review is going to be about so stay tuned for that I will say that HTC has always made very beautiful phones and I'm really liking the look at this