HTC’s U11 fails the bend test in a new durability video from JerryRigEverything, a popular YouTube creator who puts just about every device under the sun through their paces to see how they’ll hold up during every day wear and tear or should they be dropped. The HTC U11 does a fine job standing up to scratches and scuffs, and this is because HTC has used Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 for the glass that covers the display. Thanks to the use of Gorilla Glass 5, people shouldn’t have issues with coins, keys or other metal objects in their pockets damaging the glass screen.
The frame of the phone is made of metal and easily scratches, though this is to be expected. While this wouldn’t normally be a major issue for most phone owners, the HTC U11 has the Edge Sense feature with sensors located on both the left and the right sides of the device that allow users to squeeze the phone in order to launch apps or phone functions, so it would be understandable if HTC U11 owners were worried about this being damaged. After the sides were scratched up though the Edge Sense feature continued to work as intended and didn’t seem to show any signs of error or malfunction.
Up next was the burn test, and while it isn’t likely that you’ll drop your phone in a fire or burn it yourself for any reason whatsoever, in the unfortunate event that something along these lines did happen, you might want to know that the phone is safe from damage. After eight seconds of holding a lighter flame to the display, the screen begins to go black from pixels shutting down, but it also doesn’t take long for the screen to go back to normal and everything functions just fine afterward. Where the HTC U11 fails is with the bend test. Being referred as structurally unsound, bending the device from the back doesn’t do much to the glass back but it does bend the frame of the phone. Bending the phone from the front is another story as it cracks under pressure, literally, quite quickly after attempting to bend it. Suffice it to say it didn’t survive after this particular test and the screen was completely damaged. It also shows that it might not take all that much pressure to crack the screen even if it isn’t being bent, so HTC U11 owners will definitely want to be careful with their devices. You can check out the full video below if you’re interested.