HTC has come up with an upgrade of the current flagship U11, which it has appropriately named the U11 Plus. And just as a Plus model should be, the new phone is all about a larger display and a bigger battery while much of everything else has been carried over from the U11.
So the most distinguishing feature of the new U11 Plus is, of course, the 6-inch 2880 x 1440 pixel LCD panel. However, with the company managing to shrink the bezels substantially, the overall size of the phone remains largely the same.
The display also comes with an 18:9 aspect ratio, which puts it in the same league as the Samsung Galaxy S8 duo or the LG V30. The screen to body ratio is also an excellent 82 percent which again is the highest it has been on an HTC device.
Coming over the next biggest upgrade over the base U11, the new U11 Plus now sports a 3,930mAh battery which makes for a generous improvement over the 3,000mAh unit that powers the U11. No run time figures are available as yet, but with the U11 already acclaimed for its long-lasting battery, the same can be expected to improve even further on the U11 Plus.
However, so much for all the good things that the new U11 Plus stands for, all of it comes at a cost; the design. So among everything else that the U11 has come to be known for, the tapered edges was perhaps one of the most likable, which made holding the phone so much endearing.
Unfortunately, the U11 Plus has none of that with the tapered edges likely making way for the inclusion of the bigger battery. As a result, the phone has emerged as a bit boxy even though it manages to retain its overall visual appeal. The weight too has gone up a bit, with the U11 Plus tipping the scales at 188g compared to the 169g of the U11.
Almost everything else about the U11 Plus is nearly identical with the U11, which includes the camera, Snapdragon 835 chip, the 4 GB memory/64 GB storage or 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage configuration and so on. That includes the Edge Sense technology as well with a new circular menu option now on offer as well to launch your most used apps.
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The U11 Plus, however, won’t be making it to the US. In the UK the phone is priced £699 with pre-orders starting Nov. 20.
