HTC U11

Ignoring the gimmick of its squeezy sides, this is a fast phone with a superb camera – but it’s too expensive.

- Alan Martin

When HTC teased the U11, it declared a squeezy revolution. The truth is more prosaic: the HTC U11 is a great phone, but that’s nothing to do with the fact you can squeeze it.

Here’s how it works. Squeeze both edges of the bottom half of the phone, exactly where you’d usually be holding it, and an action will occur. By default, one squeeze launches the camera app, even when the phone is locked; the second captures a photograph. That may sound useful, but squeezing the phone makes it hard to keep the camera lens still. Fortunately, you can change the behaviour. For example, it could be a shortcut for the voice-recording app, settings or activating the torch. It’s also possible to launch apps with a long squeeze if you want to set up two different shortcuts.

Not that the squeeziness is obvious to the naked eye, as the U11 looks like a normal smartphone. The most eye-catching thing about it is the backplate, which dazzles with a mirror-finish rear panel topped with glass. This shininess comes at a cost: I’ve never come across a phone this prone to fingerprints.

Elsewhere, most things are as you’d expect. The fingerprint scanner sits below the screen, while both the power button and volume rocker are on the right-hand side, and the memory card slot is built into the same tray as the SIM card holder.