HTC U 11 With 'Edge Sensor' Expected to Launch Today

HTC U 11 is expected to be launched by the Taiwanese company at its Tuesday launch event, scheduled to begin at 11:30am IST. The event will be live streamed on the company site.

The HTC U 11 has been leaked several times ahead of its launch on Tuesday, and the company itself has teased the Edge Sensor feature, what appears to be an interface powered by pressure-sensitive sensors alongside the smartphone's metal edge. These sensors will respond to squeezing, and perform multiple functions.

The latest leak HTC was an accidental listing of the HTC Edge Sense app on Google Play, revealing what functions the Edge Sense feature will be able to perform. Another report also tipped pricing and a release date as soon as May 19.

As for the HTC Edge Sense app listing, a screenshot accompanying it asked you to test it by pressing the edges to 'fill up a balloon' and release it to launch the balloon. This is essentially to test the feature on the upcoming HTC U 11, and get a sense of how it works. The other screenshots suggest that Edge Sense could work for taking photos, videos, firing up Google Assistant and much more.

Another leak tips the HTC U 11 will go on sale soon after its big reveal. The report claims that the smartphone will go on sale in Taiwan from May 19 for TWD 19,900 (roughly Rs. 42,400). This is really close to the reveal date, and it could also be when HTC kicks-off pre-orders, and not the actual sale.

The smartphone has been tipped to run Android 7.1.1 Nougat, sport a 5.5-inch QHD display, and to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. In terms of optics, the HTC U 11 is expected to sport a 12-megapixel rear sensor, and a 16-megapixel front camera. It has been tipped to offer 64GB of internal storage as well. There is also a 6GB of RAM/ 128GB built-in storage variant expected to be launched by the company.

The HTC U 11 is also expected to house a 3000mAh non-removable battery with support for Quick Charge 3.0. In terms of connectivity, the phone offers options including 4G LTE (dual-SIM in some markets), dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS with GLONASS, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and USB 3.1 Type-C.

The fingerprint scanner on the HTC U 11 is embedded into the home button and the phone is expected to come with water and dust resistance rating of IP57. In terms of audio features, the HTC U 11 is expected to offer HTC BoomSound, Hi-Res Audio, HTC Usonic (Active Noise Cancellation), and 3D Audio Recording.