Video Confirms HTC U11 Design, Showcases “Edge Sense” Squeezing Features

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As is typically the case with HTC devices, we just received a full “leak” of the phone ahead of the official unveiling — well, the May 16th event anyway. It’s not rare to see accidental embargo breaks, and this time we saw yet another quick upload and takedown of a hands-on video shot in Taiwan, which gives us our best look yet at the HTC U11.

In the video, which has since been taken down from YouTube (though you can find a handy mirror courtesy of u/PoLVieT, which has been embedded above) we get to see the full design of the HTC U11, from all angles. It confirms previous leaks that suggested it’d continue the design language put forth by the HTC U Ultra, with the same hyper-reflective glass back and a similar allocation of features such as the home button, camera and other elements. The design ends up looking flashy if not glossy, with a 5.5 inch display at the front flanked by now-relatively-large bezels, a bottom-firing speaker and no 3.5mm headphone jack (though this time, the device comes with an adapter in the box). The video also confirms a couple of specifications, namely the expected presence of a Snapdragon 835 processor, and 6GB of RAM for the Chinese market (we likely won’t see more than 4GB elsewhere), with a 12MP camera at the back and an 16MP front camera.

The most interesting part of the video is likely the “Edge Sense” features, which HTC is hoping will act as a selling point for this device. The frame of the HTC U11 is pressure sensitive, allowing you to press or squeeze along the sides in order to trigger shortcuts and actions. In the video, it’s demonstrated that you can open applications (like Chrome or the camera) and then also take pictures by squeezing the sides, which should come in handy to make the most out of HTC’s quality front facing camera. The video also shows a calibration screen where one can see how the force is registered on the sides, though throughout the hands-on it did seemed like it wasn’t as seamless as we’d want it to be.

As always, HTC couldn’t keep their device from being plastered on the internet ahead of the official, world-wide unveiling. Par for the course for the company at this point, though there’s no doubt we’ll learn more about the HTC U11 tomorrow at their release event, and in the coming days as well.

Do you like the HTC U11 and its “edge sense” features? What do you think about the hardware and design? Discuss with us below!