A wonky digital button setup spoils what is otherwise a decent Android flagship.
It's rare to come across a flagship smartphone with a single fatal flaw. That, however, is where we are with the HTC U12+. The new all-digital button setup, which replaces traditional micro-switches with pressure-sensitive wizardry, just doesn't work well. Until it's fixed, little else about this phone matters.
HTC U12+
Price: $799
Bottom line: HTC's new high-end offering is speedy, with impressive glass-backed designs and very capable cameras, but it's undone by a busted digital button setup.
Pros:
HTC U12+ Prelude
The HTC U12+ is a fast, beautiful smartphone with relatively clean software, capable of taking fantastic photos using an impressive twin-camera setup.
When something as basic as a button doesn't work reliably, any other critique is redundant.
But such high praise is immaterial when you can't reliably press the power button. Or when the level of pressure to trigger each button isn't consistent or predictable, or seems to change depending on battery charge level or ambient temperature, or when buttons randomly trigger by themselves, or when the phone spontaneously reboots itself because of ghost presses of several seconds on the power key.
It's not like this happens every single time you pick up the device. Often, the U12+ can go for hours at a time without any pressure-sensitive hiccups. But problems occur often enough that any other critique around the usual things like battery life, display quality and photo performance is academic.
Nevertheless, we do owe you a full review of the HTC U12+, so read on to learn about a pretty great phone that you shouldn't buy until they fix the buttons.
About this review
We're publishing this review after two weeks with the HTC U12+. I (Alex Dobie) have been using a European U12+ in the UK on EE, and in Taipei, Taiwan on Chunghwa Telecom. Shortly after picking up my first U12+ unit, I noticed multiple issues with the phone's new, all-digital volume and power keys, as well as the pressure-sensitive Edge Sense feature. HTC replaced the phone with a different unit, which performed better than the first, but exhibited the same problems after around 24 hours.
My review device was running software version 1.15.401.4, based on Android 8.0 Oreo, with the March 1, 2018 Android security patch. HTC tells us this is final retail-ready software, but that a firmware update will be arriving in future to refine button sensitivity and fine-tune Edge Sense based on the feedback received so far, along with other bug fixes and improvements.
Hayato Huseman, who produced our video review, has been using a U.S. unlocked variant of the U12+ running software version 1.15.617.4. He has experienced many of the same issues around the phone's digital buttons.
HTC U12+ Full Review
If you're familiar with the , the under-appreciated extra-large cousin of the U11 that launched in late 2017, then the design of the U12+ will be very familiar.
For everyone else, this is a pretty standard 18:9 Android slab from the front, with a few pleasing design cues to set it apart. There's no display notch, for what that's worth. Instead, the U12+ sports a slightly asymmetrical forehead and chin. And the surface of the display is raised up from the metal frame by a near right-angle curve of the glass itself. At first, I mistook this for a plastic rim, but nope: it's curved, angled glass going straight into metal, which is an impressive manufacturing feat.
It's rare to come across a flagship smartphone with a single fatal flaw. That, however, is where we are with the HTC U12+. The new all-digital button setup, which replaces traditional micro-switches with pressure-sensitive wizardry, just doesn't work well. Until it's fixed, little else about this phone matters.
HTC U12+
Price: $799
Bottom line: HTC's new high-end offering is speedy, with impressive glass-backed designs and very capable cameras, but it's undone by a busted digital button setup.
Pros:
- Speedy performance and minimal software bloat
- Stunning photo quality across the board
- Beautiful colored glass back panels
- Pressure-sensitive volume/power buttons don't work well
- Edge Sense unreliable, also prone to ghost input
- Mediocre battery life
- Dated HTC Sense UI design
HTC U12+ Prelude
The HTC U12+ is a fast, beautiful smartphone with relatively clean software, capable of taking fantastic photos using an impressive twin-camera setup.
When something as basic as a button doesn't work reliably, any other critique is redundant.
But such high praise is immaterial when you can't reliably press the power button. Or when the level of pressure to trigger each button isn't consistent or predictable, or seems to change depending on battery charge level or ambient temperature, or when buttons randomly trigger by themselves, or when the phone spontaneously reboots itself because of ghost presses of several seconds on the power key.
It's not like this happens every single time you pick up the device. Often, the U12+ can go for hours at a time without any pressure-sensitive hiccups. But problems occur often enough that any other critique around the usual things like battery life, display quality and photo performance is academic.
Nevertheless, we do owe you a full review of the HTC U12+, so read on to learn about a pretty great phone that you shouldn't buy until they fix the buttons.
About this review
We're publishing this review after two weeks with the HTC U12+. I (Alex Dobie) have been using a European U12+ in the UK on EE, and in Taipei, Taiwan on Chunghwa Telecom. Shortly after picking up my first U12+ unit, I noticed multiple issues with the phone's new, all-digital volume and power keys, as well as the pressure-sensitive Edge Sense feature. HTC replaced the phone with a different unit, which performed better than the first, but exhibited the same problems after around 24 hours.
My review device was running software version 1.15.401.4, based on Android 8.0 Oreo, with the March 1, 2018 Android security patch. HTC tells us this is final retail-ready software, but that a firmware update will be arriving in future to refine button sensitivity and fine-tune Edge Sense based on the feedback received so far, along with other bug fixes and improvements.
Hayato Huseman, who produced our video review, has been using a U.S. unlocked variant of the U12+ running software version 1.15.617.4. He has experienced many of the same issues around the phone's digital buttons.
HTC U12+ Full Review
If you're familiar with the , the under-appreciated extra-large cousin of the U11 that launched in late 2017, then the design of the U12+ will be very familiar.
For everyone else, this is a pretty standard 18:9 Android slab from the front, with a few pleasing design cues to set it apart. There's no display notch, for what that's worth. Instead, the U12+ sports a slightly asymmetrical forehead and chin. And the surface of the display is raised up from the metal frame by a near right-angle curve of the glass itself. At first, I mistook this for a plastic rim, but nope: it's curved, angled glass going straight into metal, which is an impressive manufacturing feat.