Gadgetory

the problem with grading or scoring an aggregate score could be based on very different individual metrics across different cameras for example phone one might get a B+ though it's disappointing in low light then readers need to weigh that against the phone which is awarded of B - even if it's better at night than the first phone this is why we don't award scores this is why we tend to only do group rankings twice a year this is why we work so hard to show consistent samples taken from similar locations I don't feel the need to comment on the claims or scores awarded the HTC u 11 by other outlets those numbers will mean something different to every individual who reads those reviews we're here to review a flagship phone camera which arrives with high expectations in a supremely competitive market buckle up folks we have a lot of ground to cover and I'm going to move pretty quick like Samsung this year refinement is the name of the game keeping the same resolution slightly shrinking the sensor size slightly increasing the aperture and speeding up the autofocus the HTC aesthetic processing the app layout they all feel distinctly familiar and this phone shows up with precious few gimmicks starting off with exposure and saturation the disclaimer for this whole review shots from this camera are often too bright in almost all situations left to its own devices the phone will push the exposure higher than it needs to there's a desire in phone photo processing to impress consumers with juicy vibrant images lots of people impressed by good colors on phone screens the u11 takes us to the edge of what we should expect from phone metering that metering by the way is center-weighted out of the box so bright objects on the wrong side of the rule of thirds will likely blow out when you do rain in the exposure images are nicely saturated blues greens and browns are wonderfully represented skies have a minimum of grain and uniformed sections of blue warmer colors are always tricky like the yellows in this dandelion starting to clip detail or my favorite Bougainville blossoms which sizzle pushing into magenta territory brightness plus saturation I'd like to see a bit more color separation between these pink and red flowers too different varieties of these blossoms on the whole white balance performs well if airing slightly on the warm side and this is lush in California daylight and it prevents shaded objects from appearing to I see nighttime photos similarly swing warm like our creepy gait augmenting the ugly security lighting this is a bit thick but I prefer phones which favor lighting information over trying to find the true scientific white of your subject when examining dynamic range we get more evidence of the issue of play with metering normally we show if a raw file can be recovered after purposely over exposing by two stops and here's what the u 11 delivered in manual mode at plus two which seems really bright by comparison here's what an S eight shot also boosting two stops as the phone meters we can't walk this back at all the highlights are beyond repair matching the s8 overexposure were able to recover a lot more information lens performance is upper mid packed nice clarity a minimum of color fringing and high contrast situations and often it's a soft teal fringe which is easy to overlook we see some flaring on street lights at night and the light streaks could be straighter and sharper but this is upper fin track performance we get a nice little piece of glass the u Elevens minimum focusing distance is right in line with the competition in the sensor aperture combo delivers some gorgeous bouquet like how soft the stop sign is in the background or the scene behind this baseball this is a solid macro shooter likewise zoom performance is on point plenty of resolution to crop in on small street signs and the sampling preserves detail well looking at video HTC nicely balances reach against clarity the scene is blown up and there's some sharpening but this is still perfectly usable much noise was made about the improvements to the autofocus and HTC should rightfully be patting themselves on the back this is snappy and fast right in line with the pixel maybe just a step behind the galaxy I rarely faced a misfire or miss focus but I still maintain my gripe with phones that show a positive focus lock when the subject is obviously not in focus I'm too close to this little flower maybe I should have gotten a red circle here justice Estrin with center-weighted metering users aren't likely to see much difference when using the HDR mode happily highlights are kept about the same as standard pics so HDR here really is just another shadow boosting mode many test shots came back were I wouldn't have been able to tell which was a normal shot and which was an HDR had I not taken the photo a precious few Android phones really get this kind of multi exposure processing right and panorama stitching is better than average a quick scan across you're seeing pieces together a bold wide shot but really busy objects like these power lines will often get split up a little patience will clean up most panoramas we'd call this very good but not quite top tiered image stitching and selfies aren't my favorite but we still have to look at this front shooter I guess a higher 16 megapixel resolution than the rear camera but we lose the image stabilization found on the HTC 10 output is fine but I found several shots which were a touch soft for having more pixels in good light of people have joked about the mirror finish on the back of the phone but it is really easy to pull off a rear camera selfie and taking a look at low-light performance this phone is often working harder than it needs to this is unnecessary to capture the feel of a well-lit street scene we've also mentioned how it exacerbates what would otherwise be minor lens flaring so even though we have a large image sensor a fast aperture and image stabilization the phone's metering will often push this hardware to its limit letting the phone decide means you still have to hold still for the longer shutter speed a light breeze can easily blur your subject this isn't a great setup for candid or street photography signs get blown out and you have to hold still enough that it's difficult to be discreet again touch auto exposure makes this shot easier a little patience can lock in a great image and happily when pushed to its limit the image processing does a good job of handling noise looking at some video when shooting UHD the u11 ballparks around a 50 megabit per second bitrate a nice high-quality data rate but oddly there's a six minute restriction on video files which is pretty severe for a flagship phone this you a video processing resembles photo exposure though moving images tend to be a touch more washed out than stills I'm seeing a few more dropped frames than we would prefer but generally we're getting a high quality video photos get a full manual mode but video is pretty much on the rails the only adjustment you can make is this exposure slider and all of this stays true for night video a touch warmer on the white balance brighter than it needs to be so expect the phone to compensate by pushing the ISO to the limit it's in video that we can also check out stabilization the degree of Correction is restrained over some competitors so there's a bit less of the jello wobble when walking around still even when trying to hold steady we found a few samples which were oddly twitchy there are no options to control stabilization shooting 1080p software auto magically kicks in for a hybrid stabilization I'm rarely a fan of this dual stabilization effect for warping the frame and shifting while cropping but HTC handles this better than most still I can't give up on that tasty tasty UHD resolution HTC has always been a leader in audio and that includes microphone design new for the U 11 is a 3d audio effect on by default which is pretty stellar excellent wind and noise reduction great stereo separation and terrific detail one small issue in terms of phone design HTC warns you not to block the mics and literally show someone holding the phone in the most gingerly fingertip way possible so at least use the clip-on case as this is a scary phone to hold on to while over a freeway overpass no settings in slow motion mode either but it is 1080p you get a good one port a real-time speed with solid detail it's plenty fun to play with when warping time and we need to talk about HTC's app and camera performance this shooter is lean and mean there's a singular focus on the most used photography features and settings and very little fluff no fireworks mode no snapchat filters no software depth of field you take pictures you take videos and you get a few core fun options like panorama and slo-mo this app launches fast and keeps you looking through your viewfinder at all times it's terrifically well laid out and will never remove the user from their composition window never no matter what you adjust you can always keep your subject in sight this is extremely well honed from the stack menus of HTC past yet we feel precious few omissions for being so streamlined folks who want more control to still get an excellent manual mode there are a few concerns and oddities however I previously mentioned UHD video is limited to 6 minutes that's a bit of a bummer on such a powerful tip set a most photo performance is screaming fast even HDR but there is just a bit of a processing delay when capturing RAW files the manual mode is perfectly stocked with options but these sliders are fiddly and can be tough to read in sunlight so within that removing your finger from a slider will often change the value you're trying to dial in obnoxious when trying to make fast adjustments and tricky to use on the fly all this space and the range of movement from a 30 second exposure to a 2 second exposure is tiny in three steps we get a blown-out long exposure to way too short of a shutter speed to really streak some taillights and lastly we'd probably recommend against using the squeezed gesture for the camera introducing any kind of grip change is likely to move the camera at the last moment before a photo fires take a lowlight rear camera selfie easy enough using the volume rocker not so much with the squeeze so let's wrap this up where's that leave us with the camera on the HTC u 11 this is a damn fine shooter with one small flaw I constantly felt like I was fighting the metering this brightness gremlin affecting nearly every other aspect of the camera pretty much every shot taken felt like it needed an adjustment until I switched this mode over otherwise this is great hardware with fast consistent performance and an app free of distractions folks looking to focus on getting a photo or video efficiently will be well served it does lack a little pizzazz though we're not dodging gimmicks but a little razzle-dazzle never hurt anybody those looking for a bit more flavor or a little more fun might find this setup dry turning out great hardware has never been an issue for this company but sometimes consistently good hardware isn't enough of a story to spark consumer interest the shooter on the u11 is very good maybe even great with a bit of polish on a future software update but it doesn't take any risks as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel and hit that Bell for our full u 11 coverage including hi mates fun review and our in-depth look at each TCS audio these camera reviews still need your support sharing on your favorite social networks is greatly appreciated for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos bag now author of take better photos smartphone photography for noobs available on Amazon Kindle aka some gadget guy on Twitter and Instagram and I will catch you all on the next review