The squeezable phone is here! HTC has launched its flagship HTC U11 android smartphone in India. Everything the smartphone packs has a super premium standard. You get the squeezable Edge Sense technology, a camera that has the highest DxOMark, 3D liquid glass surface, the most powerful chipset in the market, active noise cancellation and 4G with VoLTE support.
The premium flagship device from HTC comes with a premium price tag competing against the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8 Plus, and Sony Xperia XZ Premium. The mobile gets a price tag of Rs 51,990 and available at all major online and offline stores across India.
The Squeezable Phone
Undoubtedly, the most highlighted and most unique feature of HTC U11 is the Edge Sense technology. While gripping the phone in hand, you can squeeze the edges of the mobile to open up a completely new interaction with your phone. Using the squeeze gesture, you can open apps and take photos. One can easily customise the squeezing pattern to perform different functions. Like with one squeeze you can open the camera app, Facebook or Instagram, whereas with another squeeze gesture you can bring up the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Design, Display and Performance
The super premium phone got a super premium design. The HTC U11 got liquid glass surface which has been crafted using Optical Spectrum Hybrid Deposition. The highly refractive precious minerals layered on the phone’s back cover transforms light that reflects with every movement you make. Both front and back covered in the 3D glass still feels slim and weighs just 169g. On the back, you only have the camera module along with LED flash making a clutter free back surface.
On the front, you are greeted with a 5.5-inch Quad HD Super LCD 5 (2560 x 1440 pixels) display covered in 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It offers a full-framed viewing experience with true-to-life colour reproduction. You also get a home button at the bottom which also embeds the fingerprint sensor.
HTC U11 comes with the fastest mobile processor from Qualcomm. The mobile is powered by a 2.45 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM. To store all your images, videos and other media contents the mobile carries 128GB of onboard storage. You can further expand the storage up to 2TB using microSD card. The company has gone for Hybrid SIM slot, allowing you to either use it for dual SIM or a single SIM with a microSD card.
Camera and Audio
Beating down Google Pixel in the camera department, HTC U11 packs a 12-megapixel UltraPixel 3 rear camera which been rated the highest by DxOMark. The back camera features multi-axis optical and electronic stabilization system, f/1.7 aperture, UltraSpeed Autofocus and dual LED flash support. With Auto HDR Boost that comes without the lag, the company has improved photos and videos for a more dynamic exposure range. Up front for selfie addicts, HTC U11 comes with a 16-megapixel front-facing camera. It features f/2.0 aperture and uses the same HDR Boost and noise reduction in the back camera. Boosting the video recording capabilities the mobile comes with Temporal Noise Reduction technology that removes unwanted electronic noise when you record a video.
For audiophiles out there, the HTC U11 comes with BoomSound Hi-Fi edition speakers. With the mobile, you also get the new HTC USonic headset. According to the company the USonic earbuds can map your inner ear with an advanced sonar-like technology and then adapt the sound profile to your unique biology. Well, one thing is sure you get the clearest audio from the headset. The headset also comes with Active Noise Cancellation that can quickly adjust to any new noises or disturbances. Coming to audio recording, HTC uses four optimally omni-directional microphones along with Acoustic Focus technology. You can record 3D audio from all direction and with Acoustic Focus you can zoom in on the video to target your subject and amplify their specific sounds.
Connectivity
HTC U11 comes with 4G LTE network support that works with all most all Indian 4G bands. It also supports VoLTE for making HD voice and video calls. Other connectivity options include 3G, 2G, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, Type-C and NFC. On the software side, the phone runs on Android Nougat 7.1 with HTC Sense skin over the top. Finally, you will get more than full day usage with the phone, as it carries a 3000 mAh battery on the back, which also comes with Quick Charge 3.0. One more thing, the mobile has IP67 rating making it waterproof.