It’s only been a few months since HTC unveiled the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play to the world, an event that happened here in Dubai. However, in the smartphone business, a few months is more than enough padding for the next generation of smartphones to come along and that’s exactly what happened today. Earlier today, HTC unveiled the company’s latest flagship smartphone, the HTC U11.
Measuring 153.9 x 75.9 x 7.9 mm, it’s run by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 chip, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage in the U.S. and UK (some other regions will also carry a 6GB/128GB model). Consumers will also get the chance to work with three different AI assistants that the smartphone comes with: HTC Sense Companion, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa. Meanwhile, the battery for the HTC U11 has a whopping capacity of 3000mAh, which according to HTC is good enough for 24.5 hours talk time on 3G/4G.
According to HTC, the U11 is “made for “U” with design, materials, and experiences that reflect your inner drive, passion, creativity, and individuality,” but its premiere feature is the smartphone’s Edge Sense capabilities. Edge Sense is a new hardware feature that the HTC U11 comes equipped with and as can be discerned involves haptic feedback relating to the smartphone’s frame. With Edge Sense, consumers will be able to simply squeeze their HTC U11 to open their camera app, or to activate voice-to-text when on the move. Furthermore, HTC is giving users a modicum of customizability regarding Edge Sense; users will be able to program different types of squeezes (based on length) to activate different functions or open different apps.
The HTC U11’s display is the next big feature that the Taiwanese company is highlighting. The U11 has a 5.5” Quad HD Super LCD display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels (giving a pixel density of 534 ppi). The display is protected by a sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and has HTC Sense UI.
Meanwhile, HTC have utilised a method called “Optical Spectrum Hybrid Deposition” in manufacturing the device’s body. The method layers highly-refractive precious minerals across the phone’s back cover. The new seamless, curved look of HTC U11 is achieved with 3D glass on both front and back. Heating and then bending the glass using extreme pressure results in unique, 3-axis symmetry for a phone that is slim no matter which way you hold it. The HTC U11 isn’t just pretty, it’s tough too; it has a IP67 rating meaning it’s fully protected from dust and it can remain underwater for up to thirty minutes at a depth of one metre.
When it comes to the camera, the HTC U11 doesn’t fail to impress. The U11 is equipped with a 12MP HTC UltraPixel™ 3 with 1.4μm pixel lens, that has a pro mode with manual control, 32-second long exposure, and RAW format support. Currently, the U11’s camera is the leader of the DxOMark Mobile leaderboard, scoring 90, ahead of the Google Pixel, which was the previous DxOMark Mobile leaderboard leader.
This is due to the HTC U11’s dual-pixel Phase-Detect Autofocus (PDAF) sensor, which produces some of the best autofocus performances of any mobile device tested, in both low and bright lighting conditions. Furthermore and according to DxOMark, HTC has leveraged the U11’s excellent Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to automatically produce multi-image captures with low noise and very few artefacts. That, plus a slightly larger 1 / 2.55-inch sensor, help the HTC U11 produce excellent results in low light.
The rear camera can also shoot slow motion video (1080p at 120fps), can record video at 4K with 3D audio, Hi-Res stereo recording and acoustic focus. Meanwhile, the front-facing selfie camera has 16 megapixels to its name and can shoot video in 1080p.
