HTC U12+ review

Introduction

HTC is back with the next generation of its Liquid Surface phones. The HTC U12+ is this year's flagship from the Taiwanese phone maker and it improves on some of the features first introduced by the U11. Edge Sense 2.0 gets new gestures and there are now double the number of cameras: dual cameras on the front and rear.
HTC decided to give the U12 the "Plus" suffix, even though there won't be a non-Plus model. This is because HTC wants everyone to know that it is comparable to other smartphones that carry the "Plus" moniker like the iPhone 8 Plus or the Galaxy S9+. It's about as large as the latter, but HTC's Liquid Surface glass looks much nicer by comparison.
We're looking at a great feature set for the U12+: a high-performing dual camera system, dual cameras in the front (a first for any HTC flagship coming to the States), Edge Sense 2.0, and a new LCD 6 display which supports HDR 10. Other features like the noise-cancelling USonic earbuds have made a return in the same state as last year.
HTC was reluctant to switch to 18:9 displays for the U11, but ended up releasing the U11+ late-last year in select markets. With the U12, HTC has embraced this new taller display trend. We're also quite thankful there is no notch.

HTC U12+ Specs

• Body: Liquid Surface design; IP68; Aluminum chassis
• Screen: 6-inch QHD+ (2880 x 1440) 18:9 537ppi Super LCD 6 protected by Gorilla Glass 3 on front and rear
• Rear Camera: 12MP Wide (1.4 micron, f/1.75) + 16MP Tele (1.0 micron, f/2.6); Laser + Phase detection autofocus; Optical zoom up to 2X; HDR Boost; OIS + EIS; Dual LED flash; Portrait mode; RAW; 4K @ 60fps; 240fps @ 1080p
• Front Camera: Dual 8MP (1.12 micron, f/2.0) fixed focus; portrait mode; HDR Boost; FHD @ 30fps; 84-degree field of view
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, octa-core CPU (4x2.7GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.7GHz Kryo 385 Silver), Adreno 630 GPU
• Memory: 6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB of storage, microSD slot
• OS: Android 8.0 Oreo with HTC Sense
• Battery: 3,500 mAh non-removable, Quick Charge 3.0 charger included, QC4 compatible
• Connectivity: Single-SIM, Dual-SIM available in certain markets (hybrid slot); LTE-A, 4-Band/5-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.18 (1.2Gbps/150Mbps); USB Type-C (v3.1); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac MU-MIMO; GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo; NFC; Bluetooth 5.0.
• Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, BoomSound dual speakers; pressure sensitive buttons; HTC Edge Sense 2 - customizable squeeze gestures

The U11's camera was pretty killer, and we expect that the U12+ will be even better. Of course, that second camera brings 2X zoom and a proper portrait mode. Also new to HTC's flagship is 60 fps video at 4K resolution. There is no super slo-mo like the other guys, but there is 240fps slow motion at 1080p resolution.
In terms of performance, the U12+ brings Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 845 along with 6GB of RAM and at least 64GB of expandable storage. In terms of a battery, there's a 3,500 mAh one, which is a step up from the U11, but a step down from the U11+.
Of course, HTC how has its Edge Sense 2.0 which lets you "squeeze" out more functionality, so to speak. Strangely, HTC has also made its physical keys digital a-la iPhone 8 Home button. We're not totally sold on these just yet, but we'll let you know how we really feel about them by the end of this review.
Let's take a look at what's inside the box.

HTC U12+ unboxing

The U12+ comes in a flat box with rounded edges and corners. Our Translucent Blue model came in a matte white box with shiny embossed print to write out the phone's name. The back of the box has some of the phone's specifications like internal storage capacity, color, and model information.
The retail packaging of the U12+ opens to the handset sitting atop the cardboard insert. Under this insert are the included accessories with the U12: a clear glossy plastic case, a cleaning cloth, SIM tool, Quick Charge 3.0 adapter, USB cable, and USonic earbuds. If you're in the United States, you won't be getting a 3.5mm headphone jack to USB-C adapter.
Next up, we'll be taking a closer look at the hardware. We're going to check out the U12's Liquid Glass and a closer look at the digital buttons.

Design & hardware

This is the second year since HTC shook up its design style from all-metal to its Liquid Surface glass. The glass comes in three versions: Ceramic Black (not actually ceramic), Translucent Blue (actually translucent), and Flame Red. These colors are a bit more conservative than the bolder Sapphire Blue and Amazing Silver from the U11.
Many argued that the U11 had a very fragile design compared to the HTC 10's rock-solid metal chassis, and they are not wrong. The HTC U12+ brings some design changes to improve the structural integrity of the phone. There's a hard lip in the chassis and you can see this all the way around the perimeter of the display glass. The shape of the rear glass is also flatter and doesn't curve as much.
The U12+ has new pressure sensitive buttons that are more like nubs in the chassis. The positives with this new kind of key are: improved water-proofing and better structural integrity. Depending on how you look at it. Actually using these keys might be a bother to some. We'll go into more detail in the UI section.
This device feels like a taller and boxier version of the U11. The taller display bumped the capacitive buttons out and have been replaced with on-screen navigation controls while the fingerprint scanner has moved to the back. The camera is now flush with the rear glass and the camera comes with a laser sensor to assist with autofocus.
Like the U11, the U12+ has pressure sensors embedded into the phone's frame. In addition to pressure sensitivity, the frame can also detect which points of the frame are in contact with your fingers as part of Edge Sense 2.0. Let's take a closer look at the rest of the hardware.
Starting with the front, we've got a tall 6-inch Super LCD display. The screen's corners are not curved like many other manufacturers have done but we aren't complaining. The upper and lower bezels are certainly a bit larger than the Galaxy S9's and this is to make enough room for the BoomSound speakers.

HTC U12+ in-hand

Above the display is the absence of a notch in the display, and we're definitely thankful for this. To the right of the in-call receiver is a mic hole, the usual light, and proximity sensors, as well as a notification LED behind the glass. Dual 8MP selfie cameras take up the space to the left of the receiver. As mentioned earlier, there's a lip around the entire edge of the glass that joins it to the aluminum frame.

Front (display) • Forehead • Corner

There are no buttons on the left of the device - here is where the SIM/microSD card tray lives. Dual SIM models would have a hybrid slot for either a second SIM card or a microSD card. To the right are the phone's only buttons: power, volume -, and volume +.
The power key has a nice texture for telling it apart from the volume keys, however, these aren't actually buttons, they are pressure-sensitive nubs that simulate buttons and offer haptic feedback. The same pressure sensors used for Edge Sense 2.0 are used to detect which "key" is being applied with pressure. More about these keys in the UI section.

Left • Right

There's a mic at the top, and another on the bottom. Down here is also the BoomSound speaker port, and a USB-C port. There is no headphone jack, so you either have to rely on using an adapter or use the included noise-cancelling USonic Earbuds.

Top • Bottom

The actual frame looks nice on our Translucent Blue model, which has got a black matte finish. Otherwise, this is the only color option that has see-through glass. HTC first did this with the U11+ and we're happy to see something like this. It lets us peer inside and appreciate some of the inner workings of these devices that we entrust our entire digital lives with.
It doesn't quite take us back to the time in the 90s when transparent housings were all the rage, but it does put a new, more subdued twist on the trend.

Aluminum frame • translucent back

Centering the back of the phone is the HTC logo, just above the printed stripes that fade the transparent part of the glass to the non-translucence. HTC didn't make this area translucent because it figured that the battery wasn't all that interesting to look at.

Camera and fingerprint cluster

Above the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is a dual LED flash and HTC's new dual cameras. This setup reminds us of the LG V30's (or V30+, or V30S, or V35) a little bit in the arrangement and position of the cameras and fingerprint scanner.
The U12+ has dual autofocus systems as well, the lasers are here to the left of the camera and another mic right next to the camera. The camera ring is pretty much flush with the rear glass, so no camera hump here.
Overall, a handsome looking device from HTC. Our only concerns lie in durability, particularly if the phone was to be dropped on a corner - since the front glass has that lip that goes around the entire front edge of the display.
This glass might be more likely to become damaged than the rear. Thankfully, HTC offers a glossy plastic clear case in the box that you can use until you can get a proper case - which we highly recommend you invest in.

SuperLCD 6 with HDR support

The U12+ has a 6-inch LCD display with QHD+ resolution - they actually call it Super LCD 6. This is a "glass sandwich" smartphone protected by Gorilla Glass 3 on both the front and rear. You should know that the version of Gorilla Glass doesn't necessarily mean that it is inferior. We find Gorilla Glass 3 to have our preferred balance between shatter- and scratch-resistance.
Unlike a bunch of other smartphone makers, the HTC U12+'s tall display doesn't have rounded corners around the display - they are the standard 90-degree corners. This all comes down to preference, but some believe that rounded corners rob you of pixels, while others find them more modern.
The Super LCD 6 display is HDR 10 compatible and offers a bit of color tuning. For starters, the default color profile is DCI-P3, which produces a wide color gamut. Otherwise, you can go with the less color-intensive sRGB profile. In either case, the default DCI-P3 will produce the brightest image - more on this shortly.
In terms of color accuracy, we saw an average deltaE of 5.7 with a max deltaE of 7.8. Switching to the sRGB profile produces a more accurate average of 4.7 but the max deltaE actually got slightly higher at some of the darker blue tones. The U12+ only offers a single slider for each color profile to fine tune the color temperature. We found the best results when tuning the slider 1/10th of the way towards "cool" in the sRGB setting - average detlaE was 4.4 and the max deltaE was 7.7.
We thought the display's color reproduction was quite good. The default DCI-P3 color profile (HDR 10) made whites look a bit bluer than they should be. The sRGB setting warms the whites closer to accuracy, but they are still not quite there. There are certainly more accurate displays out there, but these numbers are within acceptable deviations.
In our brightness testing, we found the HTC U12+'s max brightness to be lower than the U11's (16:9) Super LCD 5 display. The max brightness reached 366.1 nits, though, the contrast (1,830) was higher than the U11's. In direct sunlight, this display offers an ever so slight brightness boost (just over 20 nits), which likely would go unnoticed.

Display test	100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Max Auto)	0	631	∞
Apple iPhone 8 Plus (Max Auto)	0.471	621	1318
Sony Xperia XZ2	0.431	618	1434
HTC U11 (Max Auto)	0.373	583	1563
Huawei P20 Pro (Max Auto)	0	582	∞
Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)	0.392	530	1352
Apple iPhone 8 Plus (Standard)	0.392	530	1352
HTC U11	0.308	483	1568
OnePlus 6	0	456	∞
Huawei P20 Pro	0	412	∞
HTC U12+ (Max Auto)	0.214	389	1818
Samsung Galaxy S9+	0	376	∞
HTC U12+	0.2	366	1830
HTC U11+ (EU)	0.176	287	1631

The minimum display brightness was pretty good. The display was able to dim down to 2.4 nits for great night-time visibility or having Smart Display active on your nightstand without being too distracting to sleep near.
Sunlight legibility, however, was rather poor. We often struggled to see the U12+'s display in direct sunlight. Overall, quite a disappointing showing, definitely one falling short of the expectations set forth by HTC's lofty "Super LCD6" moniker.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Sort by Label
• Sort by Value
• Expand

• Apple iPhone X 5.013
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ 4.537
• Oppo R15 Pro 4.251
• Huawei P20 Pro 4.087
• LG V30 4.022
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus 3.865
• Nokia 8 Sirocco 3.745
• Sony Xperia XZ2 3.58
• LG G6 3.556
• HTC U Ultra 3.453
• HTC U11 3.089
• HTC U12+ 3.085
• HTC U11+ 2.556
• HTC 10 2.378

Although the U12+'s display is an improvement over the U11+, we find the Super LCD 6 display to be overall dimmer than the Super LCD 5 from the regular U11. It seems that HTC went with an inferior display when it switched to taller 18:9 panels.
Otherwise, it's still a great display for viewing and editing photos. Movies and TV shows are great to watch whether you use the BoomSound speakers and even better when using the included USonic earbuds. Avoiding the sun may be a good idea.

HTC U12+ battery life

The U12+ has a slightly larger 3,500 mAh battery than the U11's 3,000 mAh pack, but smaller than the 3,930 mAh one that the U11+ launched with. It's worth noting: although the U12+ is Quick Charge 4.0 compatible, it includes a Quick Charge 3.0 adapter in the box.
HTC Sense offers a couple of battery saving modes and a power management tool for setting a battery optimization level on a per-app basis. There's a regular power save mode that restricts sync, lowers brightness, and disables vibrations and animations throughout the UI. Extreme power save mode goes even further and limits the number of apps available to the user.

Power monitor and optimization

Our battery endurance results did not fare as well as we expected but still didn't do terrible. We wanted to see battery life that rivaled the phone's predecessor but we got an overall score 10h lower than the U11. Let's take a look at what happened.
The U12+ fared a decent talk score: 21:51h, a couple more hours than the U11. Web browsing was not as good, scoring 7:48h while the U11 did almost ten-and-a-half hours. Video playback took a bit hit as well, yielding an endurance of 8:32h. The U11+ didn't do as well either but did a little better.
Had HTC gone with as big a battery as the U11+ without trying to trim the body's dimensions, it would have a more acceptable battery endurance score for a $799 handset. HTC really had to reduce the maximum brightness of its display to keep battery life in check.
30 minutes from a dead battery on the charger got us up to 41% battery. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to fully charge the U12+ using the included Quick Charge 3.0 adapter.

Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the HTC U12+ for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

BoomSound speakers

HTC has a pretty legendary reputation to uphold when it comes to speakers. The U12+ definitely does not disappoint in this area. It has, at its disposal, one of the better hybrid stereo setups, we've seen lately. The amplified earpiece and bottom-firing units sound nearly identical in terms of loudness and clarity and are very well balanced.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
OnePlus 6	70.2	74.7	70.0	Good
Apple iPhone X	68.9	74.0	76.2	Very Good
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S	68.1	70.1	81.5	Very Good
HTC U11 (Theater)	69.2	72.7	78.4	Very Good
HTC U11 (Music)	68.7	73.0	79.1	Very Good
Samsung Galaxy S9+	68.4	74.0	80.1	Very Good
LG V30	66.9	72.3	84.5	Very Good
Huawei Mate 10 Pro	70.1	73.8	84.2	Excellent
Apple iPhone 8 Plus	76.0	74.6	79.0	Excellent
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus	71.1	72.7	87.7	Excellent
Huawei P20 Pro	71.8	69.2	91.0	Excellent
HTC U12+ (Music)	76.0	73.6	88.5	Excellent
Motorola Moto G6 Plus	82.2	76.1	86.8	Excellent
Huawei Mate 10	90.6	73.7	84.0	Excellent
HTC U12+ (Theatre)	77.0	73.8	91.1	Excellent
Meizu Pro 7 Plus	87.3	72.8	90.8	Excellent
HTC U11+	91.5	75.4	90.5	Excellent

And speaking of volume, the U12+ has plenty of it. It gets Excellent marks in both its default Theatre and Music equalizer modes. As you can probably imagine, the former works better for voices, making for a better movie or series watching experience, by enhancing dialogue. The latter opens the soundstage quite a bit for better instrumental acoustics.

Audio Quality

Like the U11, the U12+ doesn't have a headphone jack. Rather, the included USonic earbuds offer noise-canceling out of the box. The earbuds themselves don't actually have any noise-canceling microphones.
The U12+'s four microphones perform the noise-cancelation in-device without the need for expensive external earbuds. You can always use your own pair of earbuds with a 3.5mm headphone jack, but you won't find an adapter included in the box. Also, bear in mind that the HTC U12+ won't do noise cancellation a non-HTC pair of earbuds.
HTC's USonic earbuds offer a personalization feature. A frequency signal is sent into your ear canal and just a few seconds later, your personal audio profile has been created. The calibration process even lets you hear a sample track with and without the custom tuning applied.
When hooked to an active external amplifier the HTC U12+ produced perfectly accurate output and loud output to rank as one of the better handsets in this test.
Plugging in a pair of headphones did an average amount of damage to the output - while the volume was unaffected the stereo crosstalk increased more than on some competing flagships. It’s a very solid performance still, though.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
HTC U12+	+0.02, -0.15	-94.3	94.3	0.0021	0.0069	-94.3
HTC U12+ (headphones)	+0.18, -0.13	-93.7	93.6	0.0024	0.104	-52.7
HTC U11	+0.05, -0.11	-94.1	94.1	0.0017	0.0067	-94.5
HTC U11 (headphones)	+0.05, -0.02	-93.7	93.8	0.0018	0.105	-53.7
Nokia 8 Sirocco	+0.44, -0.12	-90.1	90.2	0.0056	0.016	-88.7
Nokia 8 Sirocco (headphones)	+0.51, -0.12	-89.8	89.9	0.0097	0.043	-39.9
Samsung Galaxy S9+	+0.01, -0.03	-92.6	92.5	0.0012	0.0076	-93.4
Samsung Galaxy S9+ (headphones)	+0.03, -0.03	-92.2	92.2	0.0017	0.042	-76.3
LG V30	+0.02, -0.01	-93.2	93.1	0.0008	0.0069	-94.2
LG V30 (headphones)	+0.03, -0.02	-92.9	92.9	0.0057	0.051	-68.1

HTC U12+ frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.