The Significance of smartphones cannot be overestimated these days: Really always within reach, e.g. in queues or other unpleasant situations, today they serve as mobile companions in all situations - and even replace cameras and laptops.

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Smartphone as the main working device

Anyone who reads my equipment tests regularly knows that for me the cell phone is the most important work tool. It helps me, for example, my eMails e.g. to check on the tram for short distances or simply to briefly research important facts – Tasks, i.e. for whom it is too cumbersome to unpack the laptop. But I have also written and edited blog posts with my smartphone on the go.

Recently, a new functionality has been added: photography and image processing. On the one hand, I want to be able to edit the photos immediately after recording, such as brightness or corrections, then upload them to Instagram and or label them for later use in the blog for illustration.

Which equipment is important

In order to enable this workflow, it is not only important to me that the cell phone performs optimally, a large display and all the important ones Features brings along, but also has an excellent camera. So I was very happy that HTC gave me its top device, the U11, for a long-term test free of charge.

For the U11 was rated positive in several tests, especially for his camera. What is my personal impression of the capabilities of the smartphone?

The equipment of the HTC U11

The HTC U11 comes standard with Android 7.1, but can be upgraded to Android 8 immediately. It is equipped with an Octa-Core Snapdragon 835 CPU, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory, which are further expandable via Micro-SD. The connector is, as with all newer smartpones, USB Type C 3.1. Old micro-USB cables do not fit on the phone, but can be adapted with a simple adapter.

Likewise, HTC does not use an 3,5mm audio connection, but does provide an adapter for headphones. However, I was not very enthusiastic about the built-in noise-canceling feature along with the included headphones - maybe because I'm a little spoiled with my real noise-canceling headphones.

Special Features

In general, the sound is relatively good: This is because the phone has two speakers, a stereo speaker on the front above the display and one at the bottom for the bass.

The display is a little too small with 5,5 inch for my taste, because it is comparatively stable, however, with Gorilla Glass 5. In fact, the phone has already fallen down several times and has not even got a scratch.

As a special feature, the device is equipped with pressure-sensitive housing edges, a so-called squeezing function, ie if you squeeze the device on the sides, the camera takes photos, for example. You can argue about the usefulness of this function, as well as send the spiegelThe back of the case is - as the device is supplied with a transparent protective cover, the reflecting annoys me a little.

The camera function

Ultimately, these are only appearances, but the more important question to me is: How good is the camera function really? The main camera of the U11 is equipped with a 12MP “UltraPixel 3” sensor, which has an f / 1.7 aperture and optical and electronic image stabilization (OIS and EIS).

Everyone can convince themselves of the result on my Instagram account: In contrast to earlier recordings, the images of the U11 are not oversaturated, but at the same time they are extremely sharp and detailed. And you act therefore also with all filters clear more natural and less pixelated than the older recordings.

RAW mode and HDR boosting

Incidentally, the U11 can also save images in RAW mode by selecting the Pro feature. For Instagram, this seems simply exaggerated, even if the color quality is better, the differences after editing with filters are rather low.

The app always starts in the last used mode. Exciting is the HDR Boosting: The camera is constantly active, takes pictures and discards them immediately. Only when the shutter-release button is activated will the unit save the last three shots in HDR and HDR auto modes and calculate a JPEG from them.

Selfie mode

With 16 megapixels, the selfie camera offers more at first glance Performance than the main camera, although the UltraPixelTechnology in action. With the selfie camera, users can take not only normal selfies but also videos and panorama selfies - particularly suitable for group pictures.

There are of course many other camera functions of the HTC U11 that I cannot and would not describe in detail here. And of course the mobile phone does not replace professional photo equipment Spiegelreflex or system camera. The mobile phone will hardly be able to convince real photographers, especially those from the print sector.

Conclusion

But personally I came to the following conclusion: The U11 with its great camera can replace my much heavier and larger system camera very well, it is due to the direct connectivity to instagram and many editing and Filterapps- and functions even superior.

For me, however, the HTC U11 significantly improves my workflow, since I need in the future a device less in the bag to do my job effectively and the narrow cell phone, in contrast to the camera still saves significantly in weight and size.