back to article The great phone squeeze wheeze: Getting squidgy with HTC's U11

Thank goodness HTC is still with us, for I haven’t enjoyed using an Android more all year than its flagship U11. This was a surprise. But I used one for three weeks as a primary phone, and this is what I found. From the front the U11 boasts a fairly generic, staid design that doesn’t hint at its two gimmicks. If “this year’s …

  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Tamagochi

    “Phones have become very needy in 2017, like an attention-starved pet”

    The Tamagochi of the 21th century.

  2. Greg D

    Buttons on the side still....

    One thing I HATE about my One M9 is the power and volume buttons all on one side.

    I dont know about the rest of you mere mortals, but when I pick up my phone, I usually grip the phone by the sides. This results in accidental and infuriating button presses where I just want to hold the damn thing. Some people have even managed to turn it off while on a call when I've passed the phone to them! Or reduce the volume to mute. It's just a bad design from an ergonomic perspective.

    I would like to see some better ideas in that area. I dont know why they moved the power button to the side, as it was in a good place on top - not easily pressed/mashed by accident and an easy enough place for a finger to go to when unlocking the thing.

    Volume rockers have always frustrated me being on the side - only LG had any good ideas there with the rocker at the back of the phone! Wish more manufacturers could do that. Shame the phone wasnt that great.

    1. AMBxx Silver badge

      Re: Buttons on the side still....

      Worse in the car - my handsfree grips the sides. Lots of pictures of the dashboard.

  3. David 132 Silver badge
    Headmaster

    "range"?

    EE and O2 range the device.

    I never knew that "range" could be used as a verb. Such abuses of the language irate me.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "range"?

      This is an accepted use of range as a verb, as is say "their ages ranged between 3 and 83" or "the patrol ranged deep behind enemy lines" or ranging as in artillery shells.

      Perhaps you should be more irate about your lack of knowledge of the English language. Just because you haven't encountered it before doesn't make it wrong.

      1. Robert Grant

        Re: "range"?

        Those examples are English. What he quoted isn't.

      2. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: "range"?

        The only way you can understand that sentence to mean that you can get that phone subsidised on a contract from O2 and EE is ignoring the word "range" and replacing it with another, like "subsidise".

        1. Robert Grant

          Re: "range"?

          The only way you can understand that sentence to mean that you can get that phone subsidised on a contract from O2 and EE is ignoring the word "range" and replacing it with another, like "subsidise".

          Yeah, or just "stock". It's an annoying practice of replacing existing words with silly verbised (yeah) nouns. I call it MBAing.

          1. Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

            Re: "range"?

            I totally sympathise but in this case it's the term that the industry uses and has for years.

    2. Len Goddard

      Re: "range"?

      Many many years ago the IBM internal dictionary had the following entry:

      verb: verb-transitive. Any noun can be verbed.

      Unfortunately this is even more true today than it was then.

  4. Flakk
    Joke

    So, No Headphone Jack?

    NO! NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO! NOOOOOO!

    ...

    Oh, have we moved past that? Well done then, HTC.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So, No Headphone Jack?

      I remember when hi-fi was also referred to as 'separates'... partly to cater to consumers' desire to choose individual components, and partly to separate different stages of the audio path from sources of interference. The inverse square law can be your friend.

  5. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Heatwave?

    The display stood up well outdoors in our heatwave too

    What does this statement mean, precisely?

    1. rmason

      Re: Heatwave?

      I read it as "It handled glare or bright light well" rather than the author expecting the phone to either melt or combust.

      "this phone worked outdoors"

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: Heatwave?

        Hmm, must be obtusity week at The Reg.

        Also the idea of low-mid 30s being a "heatwave"; hahaha.

  6. Tim Jenkins

    "The phone performs some dimensioning using sound waves on your skull"

    It does what?

    Really?

    And when you put it in a trouser pocket?

  7. Tired and grumpy

    Presumably the heatwave comment refers to the phone overheating. My Samsung S2 tablet shuts itself down in pleasant English summer weather; I assume it would come over all Dali if used in the Middle East.

    Does anyone have a recommendation for the best Android device for grown-ups? I don't care about the camera, video or speakers (seriously, who watches TV on a 5-inch screen? What is wrong with you people?). I do care about call quality, email, navigation and battery life. I have an S6 which struggles to last a full day and can't properly share Outlook contacts with the phone and SMS apps. I want a tool, not a toy.

    1. Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

      BlackBerry KeyOne

      Huawei Mate 9 (Huaweis have the best call quality, IME)

      You're welcome!

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