HTC U11 Life

Affordable ; Good design ; Bluetooth 5, NFC ; Solid performance ; IP67 water-resistance

No headphone jack ; Camera has slight shutter lag ; Battery could be better

HTC’s U11 Life will catch your eyes with its sapphire gleam, and your wallet will thank you. It offers great performance and water resistance, though the battery is average and the camera is hindered by shutter lag.

Solid performance. Unique squeeze sensor. Multiple built-in voice assistants. Waterproof. Solid bundled earphones.

Average battery life. No headphone jack.

For $349 unlocked, the U11 Life is a solid midrange phone that offers many of the same features as the flagship U11 for a much more affordable price. It's a good choice for audiophiles and HTC aficionados. But for $50 more, the Motorola Moto X4 has a...

Good price point for the features. ; Excellent audio through the bundled USB-C headphones. ; Edge Sense way more fun than Active Edge on the Pixel 2.

Battery is a bit on the small side. ; No headphone jack. ; Camera can be slow to focus, especially in low-light situations.

Right off the bat, if you’re a Verizon or Sprint customer, you can forget about the U11 Life unless you want to switch carriers. The phone is launching as a T-Mobile exclusive, though HTC told me that unlocked handsets bought through HTC.com will play...

ensured software updates ; great earphones included ; good battery life ; limited power consumption ; hardly warms up ; certified for Hi-Res audio ; IP67 protection ; clean operating system ; NFC and Bluetooth 5.0 ; many LTE bands ; fast mobile Internet

Edge Sense accidentally activated ; susceptible to dust and fingerprints ; quite slow GPS ; very limited speaker ; audio output only via USB-C ; display has a blue tint

There are still a few things about the HTC U11 Life which make the smartphone stand out among the comparison devices. Again and again, we need to point out HTC's inventive spirit and absolute will of innovation, whose actual result are now also...

As handsome as U11 and less fragile ; Performance kept up with a packed day ; Bundled USonic headphones are more than most offer ; Camera is solid if given plenty of light ; T-Mobile's $300 price is highly competitive

Low-light photography isn't much to write home about ; No 3.5mm headphone jack ; No voice-trigger for Alexa

Versatile camera ; Edge Sense fully intact ; Nice-sounding earbuds ; Day-long battery life

Lightweight and plastic-feeling ; No analog headphone (jack nor adapter)

Android One ; Performance ; Good screen ; Battery life ; Edge sense feature

Easily scratched ; Large bezels ; Price ; No headphone jack

The HTC U11 Life is excellent for mid-range phone, and although it’s not perfect, I was impressed by the fact it will have updates for at least two years due to being part of the Android One initiative. Edge Sense is also a cool, and different feature...