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Introduction
The Android One partnership has been keeping us busy lately. It was Xiaomi that kicked off the midrange One devices, Moto joined with the X4 and now the HTC U11 Life is hot on their heels. Trendy design, a big and high-res screen, a reliable processor and a promising camera setup - all coated in vanilla Android Oreo.
Just like Xiaomi gave up its MIUI on the Mi A1 for pure Android, HTC has axed Sense on the U11 Life. Well, most of it anyway. With Google in charge of everything related to software, HTC had to only bring its audio drivers and squeeze gestures.
The U11 Life is coming from the maker of the Pixel 2, but unlike the U11+ which was once tipped to be a Pixel, the U11 Life has nothing to do with the Google series. Every U-series entry has the Liquid Surface design though, and the affordable Life model is keeping the stunning glass build and chameleon paint jobs.
The 5.2" LCD screen is quite comfortable for one-handed use, while the fresh Snapdragon 630 is here to replace the popular 625 with faster processor and graphics. The U11 Life also comes with the cool USonic noise-cancelling headphones and native support for hi-res audio. Last but not least, the phone may be booting on vanilla Oreo, but the entire Edge Sense functionality is available on the U11 Life.
HTC U11 Life Key Features
- Body: Liquid Surface design with Gorilla Glass 3 front and rear, polycarbonate frame. It's IP68 water-resistant.
- Display: 5.2" Super LCD, 1,080 x 1,920px resolution, 424ppi, 16:9 aspect
- Rear camera: 16MP f/2.0, phase-detect autofocus, OIS, LED flash, HDR Boost; 4K @ 30fps, hi-res audio recording
- Front camera: 16MP, f/2.0, HDR Boost, 1080p video
- OS/Software: Android 8.0 Oreo
- Chipset: 14nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 CPU: Octa-core A53 @2.2GHz; Adreno 508 GPU
- Memory: 3GB RAM/32GB of storage in base model (4GB/64GB in select markets), expandable via microSD slot (or SIM2 slot on dual SIM model)
- Battery: 2,600 mAh battery
- Connectivity: Single or Dual SIM; LTE-A Cat 11: 600/75 Mbps, USB Type-C 3.1, 3.5mm to USB-C adapter included
- Audio: Noise-cancelling U Sonic earbuds (via USB-C) included, three on-board mics for Hi-Res audio
- Misc: Squeeze actions via sensors embedded into frame, front-mounted fingerprint scanner
Main shortcomings
- No 3.5mm headphone jack (ships with an adapter)
- No fast charging
- No Boom Speakers
The HTC U11 Life omits one prominent feature available on the other U11 phones, the BoomSound speakers. It comes with just a single speaker at the bottom and there is no proper audio jack either - the unwelcome trend is hitting the midrange now too. We have to finally accept defeat we guess.
We saw the Snapdragon 630 chip do a fine job in the Moto X4, so we have high hopes for the U11 Life's performance and battery backup. But before we put the U11 Life to the test, let's see what it's made of.
Unboxing the HTC U11 Life
The HTC U11 Life comes with more goodies in the box than some of the more expensive flagship bundles in the market. Some of the review packages had Premium Device, Half The Price slogan printed across and we are willing to trust HTC on this one.
Inside the cardboard box, you will find the must-have 10W charger and a USB Type-C cable. HTC has also included its high-end USonic noise-cancelling headset, a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter and a transparent case.
HTC U11 Life retail package
HTC U11 Life 360-degree spin
The HTC U11 Life measures 149.1 x 72.9 x 8.1mm, which is some 4mm taller and wider than the Pixel 2. The Life weighs 142g, about the same as the Pixel.
Design
If you have seen the HTC U11 or U11+, then you've seen the U11 Life too. The signature Liquid Surface continues to impress on the Life with just a few subtle changes. The chameleon paint has a bluish hue this time around, Sapphire Blue, the alternative being the greenish Brilliant Black.
Though the overall shape remains similar to the U11 and U11+, the Life has a different finish but still a solid enough build. For starters, the frame is now made of plastic. It's still glossy and matches the rest of the body perfectly, so we have no complaints.
HTC chose to protect the 5.2" screen with a sheet of Gorilla Glass 3, which ends on a pleasant 2.5D curve. Unlike the rest of the U11 gang, this one gets to keep the hardware Android keys and puts the fingerprint scanner at the front too. We don't mind as the Life still has slimmer bezels than the Pixel and we are not giving up any screen real estate.
The back is where the U11 Life is looking just as stunning as the U11 and U11+. The rear panel is made of acrylic glass with a 3-axis symmetric curve and the paint you see was laid on the inside to prevent chipping. The extra layers of highly reflective minerals applied on the outside produce the unique brilliance and color-shifting effect.
According to HTC, the back is made of acrylic glass, also known as plexiglass. But if you visit Corning's website, it says that both the front and back of the U11 Life are made of Gorilla Glass 3. While handling the Life its back felt more like plastic rather than glass - that's really subjective and debatable. One thing is sure though, the U11 Life looks nothing short of premium and if you don't focus too much on its plastic build, you'll never doubt its flagship pedigree.
Handling the HTC U11 Life is a very pleasant experience, comfortable and reassuring. Yes, the Life is slippery but not as much as we feared. It's a smudge magnet, no two ways about it, but that's the price to pay for the dazzling looks. The build is solid, water-proof, and pretty scratch resistant as per our time with the U11 Life. The phone is definitely one of the better-looking devices in its class even though it quickly gets covered in grease.
Handling the HTC U11 Life
Device overview
The U11 Life is an Android smartphone by the book. Above the screen is the earpiece next to the notification LED, a couple of sensors, and the 16MP selfie cam. Below the display is the set of capacitive keys and the always-on fingerprint sensor.
HTC U11 Life
The volume and power keys are on the right side of the U11 Life. The top has one of the mics for the hi-res audio recording and the card slot. The bottom is where you'll find the centered loudspeaker, which has pushed the USB Type-C port to the side. The mouthpiece and the second mic for hi-res recording are around too.
The keys on the right • the nano-SIM and microSD slot • the bottom • the off-centered USB port
The 16MP main camera is on the back and a single LED flash is keeping it company.
The back of the HTC U11 Life
Display
The HTC U11 Life employs a 5.2" Super LCD screen of 1080p resolution with 424ppi. There is a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to keep it safe, and a standard RGB pixel layout.
The maximum screen brightness is great at about 550 nits as is the contrast of 1529:1. This puts the U11 Life's screen on par with the best in its price bracket.
The color accuracy is fine - we measured an average deltaE of 4.8 and maximum deviation of 8.2 at point white. Because of the bluish whites there is a noticeable colder look to the interface, and it can't be fixed as the U11 Life doesn't come with color calibration options.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.357 | 546 | 1529 | |
| 0.297 | 431 | 1451 | |
| 0.351 | 551 | 1570 | |
| 0.512 | 537 | 1049 | |
| 0 | 413 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 559 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 348 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 482 | ∞ | |
| 0.351 | 560 | 1595 | |
| 0.376 | 591 | 1572 | |
| 0 | 432 | ∞ | |
| 0.192 | 422 | 2198 | |
| 0.214 | 462 | 2159 | |
| 0.289 | 515 | 1782 | |
The sunlight legibility is okay for the class and above average for an LCD. It's no match for any AMOLED but the good score means you will be able to comfortably read the screen as long as you can live with some loss of contrast and washed-out colors.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Sony Xperia Z1
2.95 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Apple iPhone 4S
2.269 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
1.772 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Battery life
The HTC U11 Life is powered by a rather unimpressive 2,600mAh battery. The phone doesn't support Quick Charge, but it ships with a 10W charger that fills up 35% of the battery in half an hour.
We hoped for the new 14nm Snapdragon 630 to make up for the small capacity and it delivered. The HTC U11 Life scored a very good endurance rating of 73 hours and posted 10+ hours on the web browsing (screen-on) test, which is great.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the HTC U11 Life for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Connectivity
The Snapdragon 630 in charge of the HTC U11 Life comes with an improved modem compared to the 625/626 models and supports 3-carrier aggregation and Cat. 11 LTE for up to 600Mbps of download and 75Mbps of upload (though these numbers may vary by region and network).
Another perk of the newer chip is Wi-Fi ac, the 62x models had a/b/g/n, but no ac. The U11 Life supports NFC too but there's no FM radio. The phone supports the latest Bluetooth 5.0. Positioning is handled by GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo satellites.
The U11 Life uses a USB-C interface (USB 2.0) for charging and wired connectivity. No audio jack on the U11 Life, though an adapter is provided inside the retail box.
Android Oreo with customizable squeeze gestures
The HTC U11 Life runs vanilla Android Oreo. Google has promised at least two major updates for the Android One phone, so the U11 Life should enjoy Android P and R, plus regular security patches. Everything but the camera and the squeeze gestures is handled by the stock Google app suite and while this approach may not be everyone's favorite, it does come with two indisputable benefits: fast-track updates and a lighter, nimbler UI.
The lockscreen displays the standard notification cards, complete with grouping, expanded view and direct reply. There's a camera shortcut too.
The Ambient display is available on the U11 Life. It lights up whenever you get a new notification or when you pick up your phone, provided that you have enabled one or both of those functions in Settings. It shows the clock and events that might require your attention.
Lockscreen
The Pixel-like app drawer that you pull up from the dock is your only option. Of course, since there is folder support on the homescreen as well, you can organize everything there and simply forget that the Pixel-like swipe-up even exists.
Home screen • Folder • Extra functions • App drawer
The homescreen setting menu only has a couple of options but both are interesting. The Google App toggle is used to enable or disable the Google Now interface, accessible via a swipe to the right form the homescreen. There's Google Assistant too - the customary long press on the Home button summons it.
Homescreen settings • Google Now
A single pull on U11 Life's notification shade gets you six small toggles. Pull a second time and you get a total of 9 large ones per screen, with multiple panes supported. There's also a brightness slider, but Auto brightness is only accessible through the settings menu.
Notification shade
The task switcher is business as usual, the Android rolodex layout. The 'clear all' button only appears when you scroll all the way to the top - a bit of a nuisance. There is multi-window multitasking, but the screen is always split 50/50 - you can't adjust the window size.
Task switcher • Multi-window • Multi-window
Edge Sense
The Android OS might be vanilla but has the same Edge Sense support as the rest of the U11 series. The sides of the phone are lined with pressure sensors and this lets you program two gestures to open whatever app you'd like. One that may be particularly useful is the Camera app, though, you can achieve the same result by double-pressing the power key and using the volume rocker to take the picture.
The first time you squeeze the phone, you'll be prompted to set up the Edge Sense feature. You'll follow a tutorial that shows you how long and how hard you're squeezing with on-screen visuals to guide you. Note that your ability to squeeze may be affected by the kind of case you use, so keep that in mind if shopping for one.
Setting force level • Testing force level
Advanced mode is where you can program two gestures. The default gestures are: short squeeze opens camera, a second squeeze takes the photo. It's worth noting the UI purposely has a delay built into it as to wait for you to stabilize the camera before taking a shot. That way, the phone isn't shaking mid-shot.
The other default action is a squeeze and hold that will activate the phone's default assistant - Google's or Amazon Alexa. Doing the same thing while the keyboard is open will activate voice-to-text typing.
Edge Sense in Settings • More settings • Programming a squeeze gesture • Long squeeze options
And here comes the best part - you can configure the gesture behavior for the UI, and in-app for each installed app. Globally, you can set a long or short squeeze to launch the Edge Launcher, which is a two-step dialer popping on the screen, which can replace your entire app drawer. There is also a calendar around, which is nice.
You can set the gestures to work differently for each of your apps. For example, you can set a short squeeze to take a screenshot in your favorite game.
There are so many different configurations you can opt for with the squeeze detection unlike the Pixel 2 XL. HTC gave you the freedom to make the U11+ yours and the tools to do it.
Benchmarks and performance
The HTC U11 Life is among the first smartphones to use the new mid-range chipset by Qualcomm - the Snapdragon 630. It is replacing the widespread and very efficient Snapdragon 625 that was the heart of a lot of smartphones throughout 2017.
The Snapdragon 630 chip offers a classic octa-core Cortex-A53 processor now clocked at 2.2GHz (up from 2.0GHz in S625). The GPU in charge of graphics is Adreno 508 and should improve on the average gaming performance of its predecessor.
Finally, the U11 Life may come with either 4GB or 3GB of RAM, depending on the region and base storage.
GeekBench is where we go first, and the U11 Life scored some odd results here. They are not bad, just on the contrary, but the scores are on par with the slower 2.0GHz CPU available on the Snapdragon 625 inside the Xiaomi Mi A1.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
916 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
901 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
888 - Xiaomi Mi A1
877 - HTC U11 Life
873 - Motorola Moto X4
866 - Moto G5 Plus
847 - Huawei P10 lite
834
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi A1
4292 - Moto G5 Plus
4255 - HTC U11 Life
4140 - Motorola Moto X4
4136 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
3783 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
3509 - Huawei P10 lite
3344 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
3251
We mentioned the GPU upgrade and the benchmarks this time around show the boost. Looking at some GFXBench offscreen fps scores, the Adreno 508 inside the U11 Life is on par with or better than the Mali-T830MP3 that's in charge of the graphics department in the Galaxy A5 (2017). Those two GPUs are on top of the charts in this selection.
Since all phones we picked have 1080p screens, the onscreen benchmarks scores are the same as the offscreen ones.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
15 - HTC U11 Life
14 - Motorola Moto X4
14 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
9.9 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.8 - Moto G5 Plus
9.7 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
9.6 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
9 - Huawei P10 lite
7.8 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
6.5
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Motorola Moto X4
9.8 - HTC U11 Life
9.6 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
9.1 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.4 - Moto G5 Plus
6.4 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
6.2 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
6.2 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
5.8 - Huawei P10 lite
4.6 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
3.8
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- HTC U11 Life
5.4 - Motorola Moto X4
5.3 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
5.2 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
4 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
3.7 - Xiaomi Mi A1
3.5 - Moto G5 Plus
3.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
3.4 - Huawei P10 lite
2.8 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
2.6
The HTC U11 Life shows a 40% improvement over S62x phones in the BaseMark X test - quite a significant increase.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Motorola Moto X4
14479 - HTC U11 Life
14286 - Xiaomi Mi A1
10472 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
10446 - Moto G5 Plus
10406 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
9543 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
9034 - Huawei P10 lite
7588 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
7004
With comparable CPU performance and superior graphics results, it's no wonder the U11 Life excels in compound benchmarks as well. In AnTuTu test, for example, the U11 Life is comfortably ahead of the competition and it's doing great in BaseMark OS 2.0, too.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- HTC U11 Life
72854 - Motorola Moto X4
71224 - Moto G5 Plus
63390 - Xiaomi Mi A1
61762 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
61616 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
61020 - Huawei P10 lite
60895 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
58068 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
57996 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
55657
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Motorola Moto X4
1532 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
1417 - HTC U11 Life
1342 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
1309 - Huawei P10 lite
1284 - Xiaomi Mi A1
1262 - Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
1198 - Moto G5 Plus
1089 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
1050 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
379
The HTC U11 Life delivers performance to be expected from its class, but punches above its weight when it comes to 3D graphics. Or rather, the Snapdragon 630's GPU has taken the lower tier of the 600 series (65x and 66x excluded here) a notch higher, and the U11 Life is reaping the benefits.
Telephony
The HTC U11 Life has the generic phonebook/dialer app with the list of favorites, the call log and the contacts are all tabs within the same app. The dialer is summoned with a tap on a button. Smart dial is supported too.
Favorites • Call log • Contacts • Dialer
Loudspeaker test
The HTC U11 Life, unlike the rest of the U11 phones, has just one speaker positioned at the bottom. It scored an Excellent mark in our loudness test, though, which shows HTC's dedication to the entire U11 series. Its sound quality is very good, but not as impressive as on the U11+. The sound is a bit shallow, but we've heard a lot worse, so for the mid-range class we'd say the U11 Life does just great.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 65.0 | 64.9 | 67.2 | Below Average | |
| 63.5 | 70.8 | 71.5 | Average | |
| 66.4 | 66.2 | 78.0 | Good | |
| 67.2 | 71.1 | 80.7 | Good | |
| 67.3 | 70.3 | 81.5 | Very Good | |
| 68.0 | 69.9 | 82.3 | Very Good | |
| 68.7 | 73.0 | 79.1 | Very Good | |
| 70.9 | 75.3 | 88.0 | Excellent | |
| 74.0 | 73.9 | 90.4 | Excellent | |
| 88.9 | 77.8 | 84.6 | Excellent | |
| 91.5 | 75.4 | 90.5 | Excellent |
Apps
HTC has retired its app suite and now it's up to Google's default apps to handle everything. Those are more than capable, of course. You get Photos for pictures and videos, Play Music for your audio files, YouTube for online streaming, and Chrome for web browsing.
Photos • Photos • Play Music • Play Music Equalizers
USonic earbuds
HTC first introduced its USonic headphones on the HTC 10 evo (a.k.a. Bolt), which was coincidentally the first HTC device without a headphone jack. With the U11 series, HTC is debuting a new feature to its USonic earbuds: active noise cancellation. The included earbuds can actively cancel background noise thanks to all the processing of extraneous noise taking place on the phone rather than in the earbuds.
Toggling active noise cancellation
In addition to ANC, the USonic earbuds can be tailored to any person wearing them. Sonar sensors in the earbuds detect the echo in your ear canals and create an optimal profile. The calibration process involves a short static noise emitted through the earbuds. The whole process takes about 5 seconds.
Creating a custom audio profile
The sound quality coming from these earbuds is stellar.
Audio quality
Unfortunately, our review unit did not come bundled with a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter. This means we couldn't test the audio quality properly because it very much depends on what kind of headphones or adapter you have - each has its own DAC and has to be tested individually.
A 16MP main camera and 16MP selfie snapper
HTC equipped the U11 Life with two 16MP cameras, both with regular f/2.0 apertures. The sensors are virtually identical, but the rear camera is more advanced. It features Phase Detection AF and can record 4K video. The camera makes use of image stacking and supports the so-called HDR Boost - where it fully utilizes that image stacking. There is no OIS though.
The selfie cam is fixed focus and tops out at 1080p (same as the U11).
The camera app interface is quite simple. Everything is organized into a drawer of modes and settings on the left. If it doesn't make sense at first, imagine that this drawer is the hamburger menu of any other app.
There's a Pro mode for those who want more control over the camera. It comes with adjustment sliders for white balance, exposure compensation, ISO, shutter speed (up to 2s), and focus.
The U11 Life camera snaps detailed 16MP photos albeit a bit noisy. The colors sometimes came washed out and warmer than they should look due to poor white balance, while the contrast is rather low. Still, we found those to be okay for the class though we've seen phones like the Xiaomi Mi A1 do much better.
HTC U11 Life 16MP camera samples
Just like the Google Pixel, the U11 Life uses an HDR algorithm called "HDR Boost". Whenever you have HDR or HDR Auto mode enabled, the camera constantly snaps images in its buffer and analyzes them even before you press the shutter button. If the scene needs any correction in light, these frames will be stacked up to produce an image which has noise reduced, shadows filled, and highlights recovered, all while keeping a natural look.
The day we took the U11 Life for a spin outside was sunny, but the HDR Boost (in Auto HDR) still felt the need to brighten the shadows. The results are good - while the colors and contrast remained the same, the dynamic range improved, and the processing got rid of most of the noise.
HTC U11 Life 16MP HDR Boost camera samples
Speaking of noise, low-light photos shot with the HTC U11 Life have plenty of it. They came out very noisy, grainy, and thus lack detail. They might do for sharing on messengers and social networks, but nothing more ambitious.
HTC U11 Life 16MP low-light samples
While the HDR Boost wasn't that obvious in daylight, it's a game changer for the low-light shots. The photos shot without HDR were quite bad and very noisy, while the HDR Boost successfully got rid of the noise and the grainy effect and thus brought out more detail. Sure, the HDR shots are not flagship-worthy, but the U11 Life is not a flagship after all.
And here are the full-res shots.
HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on
For further pixel-peeping, here are a few links to our photo compare tool and its extensive library of devices. The samples we used for our tool were shot with Auto HDR as intended by HTC, but you can select from the dropdown menu the same U11 Life photos with HDR turned off.
HTC U11 Life vs. Xiaomi Mi A1 vs. Moto X4 in our photo compare tool
We also snapped a few 16MP selfies with the U11 Life. The images came out average in detail and a little noisy, but with good contrast, and pleasant colors. The dynamic range is about average, too. Thanks to the high pixel count those would do a marvelous job once downscaled for the social networks.
HTC U11 Life 16MP selfie samples
Video camera
Video mode gives you a choice of 2160p@30fps and 1080p@30fps for common shooting. The 2160p videos are captured at a bitrate of 55Mbps, while the 1080p - at 20Mbps and both modes offer rock solid 30fps. The audio is stereo captured at 96KBps bitrate.
You can opt for high-res audio capturing for your videos - then the HTC U11 Life would use FLAC codec and save the clips in MKV containers. As you can imagine, the FLAC codec increases the file size, so you should use it only when high-res audio is of utmost importance.
Both the 4K and 1080p videos came out just about average- there is enough resolved detail, the dynamic range is average, while the contrast is rather low as it was on the still images. The audio quality is very good, too, even when you are not using hi-res capturing.
You can also download the 4K@30fps (10s, 69MB), 1080p@30fps (10s, 25MB), and a 4K@30fps (11s, 80MB) with FLAC audio samples taken straight off the HTC U11 Life.
Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the U11 Life stacks against the Mi 6 and Mi Max 2 when it comes to video capturing.
HTC U11 Life vs. Xiaomi Mi A1 vs. Moto X4 in our 4K video compare tool
Wrapping it up
Android One seems like the best place for the HTC U11 Life to be. Google and HTC have come a long way together, having teamed up on a few Nexus and Pixel devices, including the Pixel 2, and Google now having acquired HTC's top smartphone talent.
So, yes, people know how good an HTC can be when booting vanilla Android OS. We are not saying Sense is bad, but untouched Android by Google with on-time updates and seamless app compatibility is hard to ignore.
And the HTC U11 Life is good at getting the best from both worlds without breaking the bank. The Liquid design, the squeeze gestures, and the powerful speaker are some of the highlights of the U11-series, while vanilla Android with on-time updates and Android One's global reach are some of the other solid points in its favor.
The U11 Life also managed to impress with good battery life, consistently good performance and quality low-light photos. Here goes the rundown.
HTC U11+ key test findings
- The Liquid Design is as stunning as we first saw it, regardless of the less premium finish. Sure, it's slippery and easily smudged but the phone looks are great.
- The 5.2-inch Super LCD display has enough resolution, with superb brightness and contrast. The colors a lively, the sunlight legibility is above average.
- The fingerprint scanner is lightning fast.
- Battery life is excellent at 73h endurance given the small battery capacity. The U11 Life did consistently well in all tests.
- The latest Android Oreo is a great start and HTC's rich squeeze gestures are a real treat.
- The Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 is the next big thing in the midrange for sure - it has a very capable processor and has got a welcome boost in graphics.
- The speaker at the bottom scored an excellent mark in loudness, while its sound quality is about average.
- Still images froom the camera are detailed enough. The contrast is low, but the dynamic range is above average. HDR Boost really helps at night though the photos remain noisy.
- The 16MP selfie cam does reasonably well despite the noise levels.
- The 4K and 1080p videos are sharp, detailed but also noisy. The contrast is as low as on the photos, while the dynamic range is average. The hi-res FLAC audio is a treat but it takes a toll on storage.
Competition
The Xiaomi Mi A1 is an obvious rival. You will be exchanging water-proofed glass for metal but you will be gaining a dual camera setup. You'll be losing in the looks department and some night shot quality. It's a trade-off we are fine with, so it's up to you to decide what's more important.
Xiaomi Mi A1
The Moto X4 has a similar screen and chipset but offers a dual-camera on the back. While the image quality isn't particularly impressive, the videos turned out better and you can even capture 1080p at 60fps. The X4 is water-proof just like the U11 Life, so if it comes down to those two the choice will be hard.
Motorola Moto X4
The Sony Xperia XA1 Plus may lack water-proofing but it excels in performance, camera, and battery life. The bigger 5.5" screen is great for multimedia too. Although the XA1 Plus isn't as skilled in gesture control, it's well equipped to thrive in the midrange and is always a good match for any BRAVIA TV and PlayStation.
Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) matches the U11 Life on screen size and resolution but raises the bar with an AMOLED panel. The chipset is nothing to write home about but the rear and front 16MP wide-angle cams are quite good. Topping this all-round package is the IP68 water-proofing and some amazing battery life, though Android Oreo is nowhere to be seen and the 2018 model is already around the corner.
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
Finally, the Nokia 7 deserves your attention for matching the U11 Life's screen and chipset while offering a high-end 16MP main camera with a bright aperture and ZEISS optics. All the recent Nokias run rather clean Android, so it's worth giving the 7 a shot.
Nokia 7
The verdict
The HTC U11 Life combines some of the best features of the U11 and Android One series. It has a standout design, unmatched squeeze gestures and great battery life on top of a great screen and reasonably good performance. Not least, the two cameras, front and rear, are well above average too.
It may not be the ultimate midrange phone but is safely among our top picks for the holiday shopping.
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