HTC U11 is official with 3D Glass Screen, Edge Sense and Snapdragon 835

HTC has finally taken the wraps of its latest flagship smartphone offering, the HTC U11. HTC U11 is the successor to the HTC 10 device, and upgrades heavily in every department.

The HTC U11 is powered by the flagship Snapdragon 835 chipset. This means blazing fast performance and a longer battery life. You also get 25% faster graphics than the HTC 10, with 35% or 3 hours more video playback, 30% or 8 hours more music playback and 43% or 3.5 hours longer web browsing time via LTE network.

Read on as we dig deeper in to the details.

Design

The HTC U11 boasts a 5.5″ 3D glass screen that is designed to produce true-to-life colors. HTC believes that it is their best display to date which provides a purer full-framed viewing experience, all thanks to a curved screen.

The new seamless curved look of HTC U11 is achieved through heating and then bending the glass using extreme pressure. It’s a tricky process to master, but the resulting unique all-around 3-axis symmetry produces a phone that is slim no matter which way you hold it. With 3D glass on both front and back, it’s not only beautiful but more secure and comfortable to hold.

The phone’s back is highly reflective because of the precious minerals layered all around. This adds to the process called Optical Spectrum Hybrid Deposition, which creates stunningly vivid colors.

Edge Sense

This one is the coolest and revolutionary feature of the bunch. The Edge Sense lets you take quick actions by squeezing the edge of the phone in a particular fashion. With a simple squeeze, it lets you capture photos, launch your favorite apps, send text on the go and more. Of course, you can configure it to perform a wide range of functions or access specific applications.

Since the HTC U11 is water resistant, the Edge Sense technology will also let you take photos underwater, with just a squeeze. (HTC U11 has an IP67 rating and is dust, splash and water resistant up to 1 meter of freshwater for up to 30 minutes).

USONIC

The HTC U11 ships with the most advanced headset ever built for personal audio, with the introduction of latest version of HTC USonic. It uses Active Noise Cancellation which fine tunes the audio to your unique hearing.

Other headsets focus more on obtaining great sound quality while overlooking the fundamentals – each of our hearing structures are different. Our USonic earbuds map your inner ear with an advanced sonar-like technology and then adapt the sound profile to your unique biology.

So, when you put the headsets on, the sounds will feel incredibly personal and optimized for a purer listening experience.

The BoomSound™ Hi-Fi edition speakers also got an upgrade. According to HTC, the improved speaker design delivers 100% more loudness and 150% improvement in Dynamic Range Audio. The earpiece at the top also acts as a tweeter for the highs and mids to sound richer. While at the bottom, the woofer sports a new speaker and improved magnetic circuit design for louder, clearer and appreciably deeper bass tones.

Camera

According to HTC, the U11 scores an incredible 90 on DxOMark camera test, making it the highest rated smartphone ever in DxOMark history.

The camera is capable of clicking sharp pictures and smooth videos, backed by the multi-axis optical and electronic stabilization system and super-fast autofocus in all lighting conditions.

We improved our camera and video for a more dynamic exposure range with HDR Boost without the lag, new white balance enhancement, a major reduction in noise, and excellent detail preservation.

With the award-winning HTC U11 camera, you will be impressed with each and every shot.

Moreover, the 16MP front camera now features UltraPixel light sensitivity for brilliant selfies day or night. Like the rear camera, you also get the advantage of powerful HDR Boost and noise reduction, too.

The HTC U11 now also supports real-life 3D audio recording using omni-directional microphones together. HTC brings you our best 3D audio recording quality yet. With 360 Real-life Recording, you can zoom in on the video to target your subject and amplify their specific sounds.

HTC also announced the new Temporal Noise Reduction technology. This tech analyzes information from the previous and next frames, and then automatically removes unwanted electronic noise to produce clearest motion picture quality.

HTC Sense Companion

Consider the HTC Sense Companion an AI assistant which keeps a track of your daily patterns over time in order to offer you more convenience with each and every day. The more you use your device, the smarter it gets with time. Some of the common suggestive areas include Battery Saver, Performance, Weather, Fitness, POI (Place of Interest), Restaurant, ETA.

HTC U11 Full Specifications

Dimensions and Weight: 153.9 x 75.9 x 7.9, 169g
Platform: Android™ 7.1 with HTC Sense™
Main Camera: 12MP (HTC UltraPixel™ 3 with 1.4μm pixel)
UltraSpeed Autofocus
BSI sensor
Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
ƒ/1.7 aperture
Dual LED flash
Self timer up to 10 seconds
Face detection
Pro mode with manual control, 32 sec. long exposure, and RAW format support
HDR Boost
Panorama
Hyperlapse
Slow motion video (1080P@120 fps)
4K video recording with 3D Audio, Hi-Res audio, Acoustic Focus
Video Pic
Location
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
Sound
HTC USonic with Active Noise Cancellation
HTC BoomSound™ Hi-Fi edition
3D Audio recording with 4 microphones
Hi-Res audio stereo recording
Hi-Res audio certified
Gesture and Others
Always on voice commands
Motion Launch
Sensor Hub for activity tracking
HTC Connect
Quiet ring on pick up
Pocket mode
Flip to Mute
Water Protection
IP67
Display
5.5 inch, Quad HD  (2560 x 1440 pixels)
Super LCD 5
3D Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5
Display color personalization
SIM Card Type
Nano SIM
Front Camera
16MP
BSI sensor
ƒ/2.0 aperture
Live make-up
Auto Selfie (keep still or smile)
Voice Selfie
Self timer up to 10 seconds
HDR Boost
Selfie Panorama
Full HD 1080p video recording
Sensors
Ambient light sensor
Proximity sensor
Motion G-sensor
Compass sensor
Gyro sensor
Magnetic sensor
Fingerprint sensor
Sensor Hub
Edge Sensor
Battery and Charging Speed
Capacity: 3000 mAh
Talk time on 3G/4G network: up to 24.5 Hours
Standby time on 3G/4G network: up to 14 Days
Power saving mode
Extreme power saving mode
Quick Charge 3.0
Multimedia
Audio supported formats:
Playback: .3gp, .mp4, .m4a, .aac, .ts, .flac, .mp3, .mid, .ogg,  .mkv, .wav
Recording: .3gp, .aac, .flac

Price and Where to Buy

The HTC U11 color options include Amazing Silver, Sapphire Blue, Brilliant Black, Ice White, and Solar Red.

• Available worldwide from May 2017 onward. Global pricing is set at €749/£649/$828 USD.
• In US, available via Sprint in Sapphire Blue and Brilliant Black. Pre-orders begin today and shipments begin June 9. Early pre-orders will also get two Amazon Echo Dots for free (worth $100).
• Additionally, an unlocked version in Sapphire Blue, Brilliant Black, and Amazing Silver will be available for presale beginning today via HTC itself and Amazon.