HTC U12+ Review: A Phone With No Buttons!

HTC U12+ has no notch, flagships specs and a peculiar lack of real buttons. Worth the money?

Intro Track: You Know by 20syl

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Phone provided by HTC for review.

[LJdaentertainer]

The auto-rotate dependent on grip feature is innovative.

[Valhalla.Studio]

It's 2020, still no new phone from HTC, this was the last one :(

[osamaFXX]

From 2011 to 2014 HTC was the coolest phone manufacturer.

[lex_]

Who came here from Cold Fusion to see this phone? 😅 HTC has a special place in my heart as well.

[JuliusBurton]

The auto switching between portrait and landscape mode biased on your grip is sick!

[Altema]

Coming back to this video after taking the risk buying one four months ago, and the U12+ has turned out excellent after some, er, "adjustments". They fixed the buttons and made the haptic response sharper, and it actually feels "cool" now with no delay. I can hand the phone to anyone, including children, and the buttons just work and they don't even ask about them. Battery life was not good out of the box, but they apparently changed something. I now leave work with the phone around 70%, and I'm a lunchtime YouTube junkie.


The dual front cameras are for more than Bokeh. The cameras are used to create a 3 dimensional depth map of your face, and it works well enough that I use it for 80% of my unlocks, and 20% for the FP reader when it's inconvenient to point the phone at my face.


The main camera is nice and fast and does very well. We are mostly an iPhone family and own the 6, 7, 8 Plus, and XS Max (my poor wallet!). The only iPhone we have that can hold a candle to the U12+ is the XS Max. The others are hopelessly outclassed, and my son who is a professional photographer gave up doing comparisons with his 8 Plus. The U12 is that good. I got a shock last night playing with the U12+ camera, and got photos that could rival Google's night sight, bit you have to use pro mode and know what you are doing.


Performance is a plus to the plus. HTC is pretty good at tuning, but I did not expect the 845 in the U12 to be faster than the 855 in the S10. Not benchmarks, but real world use. It's not a shock though, because the U11 was faster than the S9. It's not a deal breaker by any means for someone that wants the S10, but I thought it was interesting. Gaming is one area that the U12+ stands out, and I have a girl that shows up just about every day for phone gaming sessions (which is beginning to annoy my wife!), and her iPhone overheats doing the same thing that the U12 handles with ease. Three times this month she had to let the phone cool down after doing Riptide GP2 or Leo's Fortune.


Oh, forgot to mention sound! USonic earbuds. I'm a recording engineer, and I live with knowing some details and nuances in my work will probably go unnoticed by the general public. Normal headphones cannot reproduce the sound you get standing at a million dollar console in a commercial recording studio. HTC's USonic is the only thing I've heard that can come close, and it was a complete mind job for someone with my experience. The clarity, spatial imaging, crazy bass extension to frequencies that seem impossible. It will take you a week or so to get over the mind bending capabilities of USonic, and probably two weeks to get out of the habit of touching tables and walls to see if they are vibrating to the music.

[YUMN]

Holy shit that smart rotate that keeps it in portrait mode is really cool

[billy]

I really feel that HTC are always so close yet just too far

[davidhunsinger]

I feel like the digital buttons can, and will be fixed with a software update, as with most new "innovations" (I put this in quotes because it's entirely subjective) HTC has made a killer phone in the U12+
However, they priced it as if they're a big player in the market still, which is what will likely hurt it's sales.

[adityaharindar]

Lack of buttons, Dual Cameras, translucent back, HTC has always been ahead of it's time. Looking forward to see HTC returning to the flagship game! :(

[Dwayne]

I remember when HTC were quietly brilliant now they're just quiet. Sad times

[alexanderg]

''I probably wouldn't put a case or skin on it'' *dbrand intensifies*

[lukeeclair]

Watching this in May 2020.
Really hope HTC get back into the smartphone game. Something like a modern One M7 would be great.

[blueshanks]

I really thought you forgot Marques. Thanks

[Maxsim]

Buttonless = better water resistance and no wear and tear so u wont replace button after time.

Good job HTC & waiting to update software for buttons to be much effective

[justrifky]

For me htc always be the most innovative smartphone. Depth sensor, stereo speakers (beats audio before apple bought it), great software and hardware, build quality and attention to detail are the best. There's only one problem with them and that would be marketing strategy

[mhc]

back here for hTC U12+. people will love Squeeze feature when apple use it, trust me. hTC is always ahead its time. kind of sad in a economic world.

[iansummer]

Once upon a time,

Home button is weak.
It then replaced by the virtual ones.
The stronger, virtual home button together with the Taptic Engine and fake speaker grill, killed the headphone jack.

Then,

The screen grew larger and stronger.
The home button gets killed by the screen.
Taptic Engine and fake speaker grill survived.
Headphone jack still hasn’t been revived.

To be continued...

[ClaudiniGod]

I really like the front-panel design, the thin bezels, dual speakers and HTC sense.

[Muhammed.Yaseen]

" *I'll be hanging out in the comment section* "

Never see you though...