After many teasers, HTC U11 - the flagship smartphone you can squeeze - has been launched at an event in Taiwan. The smartphone comes with the Edge Sense feature bringing a completely new category of interaction with the smartphone. The HTC U11 will be made available in Amazing Silver, Sapphire Blue, Brilliant Black, Ice White, and Solar Red colour options, and will launch worldwide from this month, with some markets getting it next week, and others in June. Pricing in Europe starts from EUR 749 (roughly Rs. 53,000) and in the US it's $749 (roughly Rs. 48,000), where it's up for pre-order.
The key HTC U11 features are the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, its liquid surface design, and multiple AI assistants. Talking about the HTC Edge Sense feature, it lets you launch the camera, and send texts. You can customise the squeeze gesture to open email, and even launch your favourite app or game. When users activate advanced touch mode, they can use a "short squeeze" as well as a "squeeze and hold" for even more functionality at your fingertips. The HTC U11 squeeze feature works while wearing gloves as well, as Edge Sense is based on actual pressure applied to the side of the device.
As for specifications, HTC U11 runs on Android 7.1 Nougat with the company's HTC Sense skin on top, and supports dual-SIM cards (Nano-SIM). It features a 5.5-inch Quad HD (1440x2560 pixels) Super LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. As mentioned, it is powered by the 2.45GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. There are two storage and memory variant - 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage and 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage. Only the latter variant is coming to India. The HTC U11 also offers storage expansion via a microSD card slot (up to 2TB).
As for optics, the HTC U11 sports a 12-megapixel camera with 1.4-micron pixel, ultra spread autofocus, BSI sensor, OIS, f/1.7 aperture, dual-LED flash, slow-motion, and 4K video recording. Camera features include Face Detection, Pro mode with manual control, 32-second long exposure, and RAW format support, HDR Boost, Panorama, and Hyperlapse. The selfie-focused smartphone has a 16-megapixel front camera with BSI sensor, full-HD recording. Front camera features include live make-up, auto selfie, voice selfie, HDR Boost, and Selfie Panorama.
The HTC U11 packs a 3000mAh battery that is rated to offer up to 24.5 hours of talk time, and 14 days of standby time. There's also an extreme power saving mode, and Quick Charge 3.0 support. Connectivity options include GPS/ A-GPS, GLONASS, USB 3.1 Type-C port, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz & 5GHz), and NFC support.
The HTC U11 also sports IP67 water and dust resistance, and supports two AI assistants - Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa (in specific regions only). It also boasts of audio quality with HTC USonic earbuds with active noise cancellation, HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi edition, 3D audio recording with four microphones, and Hi-res audio certified. The fingerprint scanner is housed underneath the Home Button in the front. With respect to design, HTC U11 retains the U Ultra's design language and sports 3D glass both on the front and back of the device. The device has no 3.5mm audio jack, just like the U Ultra, and the company is bundling a 3.5mm audio jack to USB Type-C adapter.
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