HTC have announced a pair of follow-ups to its excellent U11 flagship that debuted earlier this year. The U11 Life brings some of the best elements of the U11 to a cheaper price point, while the U11 Plus goes in the opposite direction, with a modern 18:9 screen, a much bigger battery and Android 8.0 Oreo on board. Here’s what you need to know about each phone.
Design
Image credit: Vlad Savov @ The Verge
The U11 Plus follows the example of the Galaxy S8 and other Android handsets, with a tall 6-inch screen and smaller bezels on all sides for a screen-to-body ratio of more than 82%. The 2880 x 1440 screen is the same resolution as that of the Pixel 2 XL, but as it is LCD instead of OLED it should hopefully avoid that phone’s numerous display issues. The U11 Plus is a little less rounded than the U11, but it should be available in an interesting translucent colour scheme, perhaps available early next year. With the larger screen, the fingerprint reader has been relocated to the back of the screen. Happily, the water resistance has been upgraded from IP67 on the U11 to IP68 on the U11 Plus.
The U11 Life is a more compact phone, with a 5.2-inch screen at 1080p. It retains the ‘liquid surface’ design language that debuted on the U11 proper, and comes in a lovely Sapphire Blue colourway. There’s a fingerprint scanner on the front and capacitive buttons, in the old Android style. The phone also has IP67 water resistance, a rarity at this price point. Sadly, there’s no headphone jack, but you do get some decent USB-C headphones in the box.
Hardware
Just like the Galaxy S8 and the Note 8, or the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, the U11 and U11 Plus share nearly every hardware detail. They are both powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor, backed with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. On the back, there’s the same camera setup as the original U11, with a 12-megapixel main shooter and an 8-megapixel front-facer. The biggest upgrade is the battery, which moves from 3000mAh to 3930mAh — a sizeable 31% increase.
Image credit: Android Authority
The U11 Life is more mid-range, with a Snapdragon 630 processor, backed with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage expandable via Micro SD. Both of the cameras, front and rear, have 16-megapixel sensors but no image stabilisation. The Life is powered by a 2600mAh battery. Just like the U11 and U11 Plus, you can squeeze the edges of the U11 Life to speak to a digital assistant, launch an app or perform other helpful tasks.
Image credit: Android Authority
Software
In the UK, both the U11 Plus and U11 Life will come with Android 8.0 Oreo — a welcome sign. The Life will actually be an Android One device, so it will ship with a stock version of Android; the Plus comes with HTC’s Sense UI.
Accessories
We have a wide range of cases and accessories for each of the U11 Plus and U11 Life. We’ll highlight some of these in the days to come in their own blogs, but for now you can check out our full selection via the links below!
- Shop HTC U11 Plus accessories
- Shop HTC U11 Life accessories
- Shop HTC U11 Plus cases
- Shop HTC U11 Life cases
UK Price & Release Date
The HTC U11 Plus will debut in the UK for £700 on November 20th. Meanwhile, the U11 Life costs literally half as much at £350, and is already available on pre-order. It should ship in a few weeks’ time.
Wrapping up
Thanks for checking out the article! Be sure to let us know what you think of the new phones in the comments below, and stay tuned for more news, guides and accessories for these two new HTC handsets!