HTC U11 Is A Beautiful Smartphone Designed To Be Squeezed

Who would have thought that the simple gesture of gripping a smartphone could be turned into something so much more? Well, that certainly is the case with HTC’s newest smartphone, U11. This Android 7.1-powered (with HTC Sense, naturally) 5.5-inch device comes with an innovative feature called Edge Sense that lets you take photos, launch your favorite apps, text on-the-go, access to voice assistants like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa (yes, that too), and more, simply by squeezing the device. What you want the squeeze to trigger is really up to you configure. So, move over, knock-to-wake, cos’ squeezing sounds like a lot more fun.

In addition, U11 also gets a 3D liquid glass surface, “the highest DxOMark ever awarded to a smartphone camera with an UltraSpeed Autofocus, and of course, water resistance. And oh, it is perfect ok with taking photos underwater too because, squeezing, and for those with the ears for good audio, you will be glad that U11 comes with the latest incarnation of the HTC USonic that touts active noise cancellation and the ability to map your inner ear and then adapting the sound profile to your soundholes’ unique inner structure. For those who love to spread the audio around, there’s a louder BoomSound Hi-Fi edition speakers with improved Dynamic Range Audio.

HTC is also particularly proud of the design which has a seamless curved look, achieved “through heating and then bending the glass using extreme pressure.” The result is a gorgeous all-around 3-axis symmetry device that feels slim however you way you hold it. Not surprisingly, U11 gets the best processor the market has to offer today and that’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC with 64-bit octacore (up to 2.45 GHz clock speed), backed by a 4GB RAM and 64GB UFS 2.1 onboard storage, expandable via microSD slot, of course.

Fronting the device is the obvious (and dare we say, gorgeous) 5.5-inch QHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) Super LCD 5 display, shielded by a tough 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The back is, needless to say, glass too – 3D glass to be exact, the pride and glory of HTC. As you can see, HTC has pretty thrown in everything possible, but much consumers will appreciate remains to be seen. HTC U11 smartphone is open for pre-order, unlocked or with Sprint or Verizon contract, priced at $649. Shipping is expected to happen sometime in June. Skip ahead for the full specifications.

Images courtesy of HTC.