A few weeks ago, HTC confirmed that today will be the day its 2016 flagship will be launched. Well, the HTC U11 is the flagship in question and it has now been confirmed.
The HTC U11 is the third device that the Taiwanese company has released this year, coming after the HTC U Play and HTC U Ultra that were released earlier this year. According to the company, the HTC U11 is the first phone to come with Edge Sense technology that allows users to access certain activities or actions by simply squeezing the edges of the phone. Things like opening the camera and any other app or even sending a voice-commanded SMS, among others, can be done via this Edge Sense technology. The best part is that you can customize the actions of this sensitive edge to fit your own needs.
As far as the overall design is concerned, the new HTC U11 has a 3D glass on either face and like the iPhone 7, this entire body is IP67-certified for dust and water resistance. Interestingly, the U11 comes with a preinstalled Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa as well as the new HTC Sense Companion that debuted with the HTC U Ultra. All of these software tweaks have been made in line with Android 7.1 Nougat, which powers the phone out of the box.
Under the hood, the HTC U11 ships with a Snapdragon 835 processor that is clocked at 2.45GHz. You can get the phone in two configurations of 4GB RAM and 64GB storage or go for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant. Both units have a microSD card slot that can house a massive 2TB. To keep the lights on is a 3000mAh battery unit that is equipped with support for Quick Charge 3.0 technology. Like before, the fingerprint scanner is embedded in the home button on the front panel.
In terms of photography, the HTC U11 has just been crowned the new king by industry experts DxOMark, managing a score of 90. This is the highest ever score by a smartphone camera and it surpasses last year’s 89 achieved by the Google Pixel. This impressive performance comes from a 12MP UltraPixel 2 lens that boasts an UltraSpeed AF, OIS and an impressive f/1.7 aperture. The main camera also gets features such as HDR Boost, dual-tone LED flash, Hyperlapse shooting and 4K video recording support.
As for the front-facing camera, you get a 16MP lens that boasts a BSI sensor alongside HRD Boost. Unlike the main shooter, you only get support of up to 1080p video recording. Like many other flagships, the HTC U11 supports all the latest connectivity standards, including 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C, NFC, single and dual-SIM as well as DisplayPort and HTC Connect. Inside the package, you’ll get the latest version of HTC USonic earphones and to enhance your audio listening, the HTC U11 has the BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition speakers.
HTC U11 will be available in a number of markets as from next week, but global availability will begin in June. As for the price, the phone will start at €749 in Europe and possibly $749 in the U.S. It’ll be available in Amazon Silver, Brilliant Black, Ice White, Sapphire Blue and Solar Red color variants.