HTC U With ‘Unique’ Edge Sense Feature Tipped to Launch Next Month

The HTC Ocean (or Ocean Note) smartphone has been tipped on several occasions in the past, and its main feature is touted to be its unique ‘Edge Sense’ feature that will essentially allow users to perform various actions by tapping on the metal edges. The device was expected to be unveiled at HTC’s ‘For U’ event at CES, but HTC unveiled two other smartphones without the feature instead. Now, a fresh report indicates that HTC is looking to unveil the ‘HTC U’ smartphone with the Edge Sense feature next month.

The Venture Beat reports that the HTC U will be unveiled sometime in mid to late April, and the global release will happen sometime in May. The report adds that the HTC U is the HTC Ocean that has been leaked earlier, and it will come with sensors laden in the metal allowing users to open apps and perform other functions by just swiping, squeezing, and tapping the metal edges on the left and right sides of the smartphone. You can see how this feature will work in this concept video that was shared by @evleaks a months ago.

The report also claims that the HTC U will sport a 5.5-inch WQHD (1440x2560 pixels) display, and run on Android 7.1 Nougat based on HTC’s own skin Sense 9. It is going to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 835 processor, and will sport a 12-megapixel Sony IMX362 sensor at the back. Up front, the HTC U is tipped to sport a 16-megapixel IMX351 sensor. The smartphone is expected to offer 64GB or 128GB of internal storage with the option to expand further using a microSD card slot.

Earlier leaks suggest that the smartphone will sport a 4GB or 6GB of RAM, Daydream support, the Sense Companion, let go of the headphone jack, and support USB Type-C port and dual-SIM (4G + 3G) dual standby card slots.