After a series of many leaks and revelations, the Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC on Tuesday launched its latest flagship Android smartphone, “the U11” at a global launch event in Taiwan. The HTC U11 will be made available in 5 attractive body colour options– Sapphire Blue, Ice White, Solar Red, Amazing Silver, and Brilliant Black. Pre-orders/ Registration for the HTC U11 begin from yesterday in the US at $749 (approximately Rs. 48,000) via HTC’s online store, as well as Amazon and Sprint. In other global markets, the HTC U11 will be available starting from this month and others markets getting it by June 9. In Europe, the smartphone will carry a price tag of EUR 749 (approximately Rs. 53,000).
The HTC U11 smartphone comes with the HTC’s Edge Sense technology that allows the users to squeeze the phone to give voice commands. The technology called Edge Sense, based around sensors built into the side of the device that respond to being squeezed. Unlike other touch-based smartphones, HTC Edge Sense technology works well when the phone is wet and if the user if wearing gloves and also supports voice dictation for messages. The Taiwanese tech giant has also become the first to include support for both the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa smart virtual assistants. The another highlight of the HTC’s new addition of U series smartphones is Sense Companion, a company’s own AI personal assistant based system that learns the user’s daily patterns to provide usage recommendations and friendly advice. The HTC Sense Companion also uses machine learning (similar to the Google Assistant) to make the device more personal by adapting to user’s behaviour over the time.
HTC U11 specifications and features:
In terms of specifications, HTC U 11 comes packed with a 5.5-inch Quad HD Super LCD display with a screen resolution of 1440×2560 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 coating on top. The new seamless, curved look of HTC U11 is achieved with 3D glass on both front and back. 3D glass screen designed for crisp, vivid images and text in any lighting condition – even in direct sunlight. The HTC U 11 is powered by a Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit Snapdragon 835 quad-core processor clocked at 2.45GHz along with Adreno 540 GPU to handle the graphics. In terms of memory, the HTC U 11 is backed by 4GB/6GB of RAM and comes in two internal storage variants namely 64GB and 128 GB, that are further expandable by up to 2TB via a hybrid microSD card slot. Talking about its software fronts, the dual-SIM (Nano-SIM) HTC U 11 runs Google’s latest Android 7.1 Nougat operating system with company’s HTC Sense 9.0 custom skin running on top.
For photography enthusiasts, the HTC U 11 sports a 12-megapixel UltraPixel 3 rear-facing camera with 1.4-micron pixels, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), an f/1.7 aperture, a BSI sensor, ultra-fast laser focus and new Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF), a dual-tone LED flash and slow-motion. The UltraPixel mode is four times more light sensitive than standard mode (best for low-light photos). Camera features also include Pro mode with manual control, Face Detection, RAW format support, 32-second long exposure, Panorama, HDR Boost, and Hyperlapse. The rear camera is capable of shooting videos in 4K resolution with 3D Audio support. On the front, HTC U 11 features a 16-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens and BSI sensor. Selfie camera features include Live make-up, Auto Selfie, Selfie Panorama, Voice Selfie, HDR Boost, and full HD 1080p video recording support.
In terms of Connectivity, the device supports dual SIM dual standby using the (nano-SIM + nano-SIM) slot. The HTC U11 also sports IP67 water and dust resistance and a fingerprint scanner is housed underneath the Home Button in the front. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Bluetooth v4.2, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS/A-GPS with GLONASS, Beidou, DLNA, AirPlay, Miracast, DisplayPort, HTC Connect, NFC and USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port for superfast charging and data transfer. HTC U 11 also comes with HTC U-Sonic feature, which allows it to analyse the shape of user’s inner ear with a “sonar-like pulse”. HTC USonic earbuds support HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi edition, active noise cancellation, 3D audio recording with four microphones, and Hi-res audio certified.
Being a Type-C USB port based smartphone, HTC U Ultra doesn’t feature the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. With all these high-end specifications, the device is fuelled by a 3,000mAh non-removable battery and supports Quick Charge 3.0 for fast charging. The battery is rated to deliver up to 24.5 hours of talk time and lasts up to 14 days in standby mode. Sensors on the device include Proximity, Compass, Accelerometer, G-sensor, Magnetic, Gyro, Ambient light sensors and Fingerprint (front-mounted). The handset measures 153.9 x 75.9 x 7.9 mm and weighs 169 grams.
