Last Month, HTC introduced its new flagship – the HTC U11 to the world. The device, which will rival the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6 and iPhone 7 Plus, comes with a number of interesting features and specs. It improves on last year’s HTC 10, uses the same mirror-like design like the HTC U Play and U Ultra, and features the AI based ‘HTC Sense Companion’.
The HTC Sense Companion could be said to be HTC’s version of Google Now. It basically learns from the user, makes both recommendations as well as suggestions, and alerts the user when to go out with an umbrella due to weather conditions and more. With time, the Sense Companion gets better.
One of the highlight of the HTC U11 is the sensor-based ‘Edge Sense’ technology incorporated. This allows the user interact with various features on the smartphone and open up different shortcuts or apps. The sensors are on either side of the U11 and needs to be configured by the user.
Available in Amazing Silver, Brilliant Black, Ice White, Sapphire Blue and Solar Red colours, the flagship sports a 5.5-inch QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) display with curved 2.5D Gorilla Glass 5, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4GB/6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB built-in storage (UFS 2.1) and 3,000mAh battery (non-removable) with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
Photography is handled by a rear 12MP camera (HDR Boost, f/1.7 aperture, BSI sensor, UltraPixel 3, 1.4um pixel size) with dual-LED, dual-tone flash. The front selfie camera is a 16MP snapper with f/2.0 aperture and 120-degree wide angle lens. The rest of the specs include – 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, Dual Band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and USB 3.1 Type-C Port.
The HTC U11 is IP67 certified (water & dust resistant) and runs Android 7.1 Nougat OS with HTC’ Sense UI. It measures 153.9 x 75.9 x 7.9mm in dimensions, weighs 169 grams and has a front facing fingerprint scanner. It also includes support for rival virtual assistants – Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Pricing and Availability
The HTC U11 has a RRP of €749/£649 and will start shipping by June. In the US, it will be available via Sprint on a 24-month contract for $29 per month. Also, unlocked versions of the device are listed up for pre-order on Amazon and HTC’s online store, though the pricing is unknown.
