Gadgetory

the HTC u 11 is one of the most unique looking phones so far here in 2017 HTC has been pushing the boundaries a bit with this phone with new features like ip67 water resistance dual stereo speakers and something new called edge sense where you can interact with your phone fifthly by squeezing it I'll try that feature out here in a second I'm here to test the durability of this brilliant black version of view 11 I tested the previous HTC u ultra a few months ago and while it passed my test and it's technically still alive it's not going to win any durability Awards the special sapphire Edition though was pretty impressive it uses real sapphire crystals in the display making it essentially scratch proof HTC has done some pretty cool stuff lately let's see what happens to this you 11 when setting the brilliant black HTC u11 next to my midnight black Galaxy s8 both of them look pretty fantastic you can clearly see the coin reflecting in each of the back panels the psychedelic colors achieved with HTC's optical spectrum hybrid deposition we've no one questioning what phone you are holding it is incredibly unique and eye catching so let's start with the scratch test my most picks allow us to see what the screen is made out of HTC is advertising Gorilla Glass 5 so we shouldn't see any marks below a level 6 pick HTC has proven that it's capable of producing sapphire screens like on the HTC u ultra that I showed earlier sapphire wouldn't scratch till level 8 and even though sapphire isn't being used here on the u 11 hopefully we get to see more of the Sapphire in the future as expected the U 11 scored a respectable level 6 on a scratch test right up there with the iPhone 7 and the Galaxy S 8 keys and coins will have no effect on the glass but pockets and and other common minerals will still scratch it so a screen protector is never a bad idea the fingerprint touch pad has the same glossy feel at the screen does it is definitely scratch Abul it is slightly recessed below the glass so this level of scratching would never happen during normal use but it's still good to know that even with excessive damage the fingerprint scanner can still sense and read my finger every single time the earpiece is also recessed way below the front glass it has the same fabric material that HTC has used in the past and while it won't fall out on its own be careful not to damage it if you ever have to clean it out unless you want one of these strands tickling the inside of your ear for the next ever normally I prefer having a metal grille for the earpiece the front camera is hidden below the Gorilla Glass 5 so it is very well protected against scratching the last time HTC used a plastic camera lens was on the HTC 9 that I tested a few years ago there is no plastic on the rear camera lens so it's always good the flash is still plastic Samsung managed to tuck their flash onto the glass panel which I think looks and feels a little bit better but a plastic flash is not a big issue there is a metal lip around the camera lens so hopefully that will keep it scratch free far into the future and now the side pure metal the volume button is also metal and the easy to find in your pocket textured power button is also metal up here by the sin tray and the pink car tray is metal but there is no headphone jack which is disappointing one good thing to know is that the Bigsby button doesn't exist here either down at the bottom we have one of the two loudspeakers and the USB charging port one feature along the sides that is completely unique to this phone and no other device is the ability to squeeze the phone and have something happen we're going to find out if it still works after all my scratching apparently the squeeze feature can be set to work with any function or app so I'm going to try this with the audible app I kind of wish Samsung's dedicated Bigsby button was programmable like this one it would make it more useful with just a few clicks I had the edge sense linked up to my audible app and now any time that I squeeze the phone like a magic wand audible will pop up while we're on the subject of magic audible has every single Harry Potter book in its library and I can get you a free book and a free month of audible if you head to my link in the description audible.com slash jerry-rigged all lowercase and sign up for the free trial it's way easy if you already have an Amazon account which most people do you get to keep the free book even if you don't continue the subscription so it's a win-win either way audible works with any phone Android iPhone iPad and even works for all three of you Windows Phone users out there if Harry Potter isn't your thing audible literally has an unmatched selection of audio books to choose from audible also has something called whisper sync which can have the book read itself to you on your phone or computer and you won't lose your spot when you switch between devices it doesn't get much more magical than that I grew up with the Harry Potter series as it was being released so it'll always be one of my favorites and I'm glad I get to offer you a free copy the Burgess lasted only eight seconds before the pixels went black and turned off the 5.5 inch LCD display did completely recover though and now the bin tests you 11 almost have the same basic build and design a view ultra with one fatal difference when applying pressure from the back the flexible and squeezable metal frame allows the device to bend more than it should and that becomes a real problem when it flexes from the front and it's dead this means that the HTC u11 will join its friends on my shelf of shame the back glass appears to be totally fine the back glass is resting on top of the frame so it's adding no structural support and was not under any stress during the Flex the front glass however is shattered along with the LCD right below it and since my channel is all about cell phone durability and repair ability let's analyze and figure out why this phone didn't survive personally I enjoy it way more when phones survive my test so I'm glad that most phones do when the u ultra visited my channel a few months ago it survived the bin test this is because the U ultra uses a flat glass panel on the screen inside of a plastic frame the U 11 implemented a new 3d curved glass screen that is more rigid and also left off the plastic buffer between the glass and the metal so when pressure is applied to the phone there is no err for the stress to go and the glass shatters this would not be a problem if the U 11 had a more rigid frame Samsung had a rigid frame and curved glass and that phone survives just fine but the combination of curved glass and a flexible frame is a disaster in an accident or drop which does happen to everyone the glass and the LCD of the U 11 will fail before the frame does rendering the phone inoperable as you see here curved glass is much less flexible than flat glass a rigid case would solve this issue but since the phone is designed to be squeezed you would lose the squeeze function if you keep this phone in your front pocket you'll probably find just don't sit down with it in your back pocket or you might have glass stuck in unimaginable places if you really want a durable HTC phone go with last year's HTC 10 that was my overall top pick for the most durable phone of 2016 I really do think it's awesome that HTC is pushing the limits of design and creativity with u xi but on a structural and durability level I'm giving this one a fail the flexi frame and the no headphone jack is a step backwards in my opinion but let me know what you think in the comments would you take a beautiful design over durability and some loss of functionality it's a tough decision I will be performing a teardown on this thing I want to see what kind of pressure sensors I can find inside the frame and since the back panel is still intact I'll also try to make a transparent the phone may be dead but the autopsy should be interesting don't forget to grab your free book from audible I'll have the link down in the description and thanks for watching I'll see you around Oh