Phones

HTC U11 Comes Alive When You Squeeze It

By Mara Anton

Posted on May 16, 2017

If Samsung Galaxy S8′ ace in the sleeve was the Infinity Display (and Bixby, some might say), the winning card for HTC U11 is supposed to be Edge Sense, a feature that allows you to trigger functions by squeezing the sides of the device #mobilemagic

HTC developed a smartphone that comes alive when you squeeze it. HTC U11 has pressure sensors on the sides of the body, just under the volume and power keys. If you squeeze it, it will open different apps or actions. A short squeeze can open the camera, for example, while a longer one can alert Google Assistant. It’s gonna take some time to get used to it, for sure, but it might become your favorite way of interacting with the device, if you prefer handling gadgets with one hand.

This quirky feature isn’t the only reason that will make you consider buying the U11. The 5.5-inch phone comes with the latest Snapdragon processor and offers support for not one, but three voice assistants: Google Assistant, HTC Sense Companion and Alexa. Actually, this is the first phone that lets you trigger Alexa hands-free. You don’t even have to unlock the phone to give it a task. The extended support for voice assistants makes another small feature possible; you can set the device to wake up to both “Alexa” or “Ok Google”.

The other thing you’ll find different about this HTC phone is not an added option, but the lack of one. HTC U11 doesn’t have a headphone jack, only an USB Type-C port… To lessen the blow, they are including suitable headphones in the package, though. Those offer audio tuning and active noise cancellation, so they’re not bad at all.

The general specs are what you’d expect from a premium smartphone. HTC U11 comes with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage with support for microSD cards, a 12MP camera with OIS and dual-pixel autofocus, IP67 water/dust resistance and 3,000 mAh battery. HTC is goning to sell a 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage version too, but not in the US.

You can preorder an unlocked version from htc.com and Amazon for $649 that is going to ship in June.