With all the hype that the new Samsung Galaxy S8 has been getting, and with MWC last month, a lot of people seemed to have forgotten we still have another player yet to announce their new flagship this year (no it’s not Apple). HTC, and they don’t seem like they’re not going to roll over and die after their last 2 flagships have been major flops.

Starting over

To be fair, with the quality of phones and innovation we have been getting the passed couple of years, it’s easy to see why HTC have fallen behind the pack. But this year might be different. HTC seem to be pulling out all the stops. They released their high end phablets, the HTC U Ultra and the U Play. But they still have something else up their sleeve.

What’s inside

Codenamed Ocean, the new HTC is said to have 5.5″ QHD screen. Straight away this tells us HTC probably won’t be entering the smartphone VR market anytime soon as UHD seems to be the standard for a high quality VR experience. But they still have their own awesome VR set up, so we won’t begrudge them for it. Even if it does cost a scandalous amount of cash.

Moving on, it’ll be available in black, white, red, blue and silver. It is meant to have a 12MP camera which seems to be the sweet spot most manufacturers have on their phones these days. And the front snapper will be 16MP. This does not mean the front camera is better than the standard camera. With cameras, it’s all about the sensors and the amount of aperture the lens’ allow in. Hopefully this year their front camera is a bit better than their previous attempts.

The new HTC will have expandable storage up to 256GB and will come in 64GB and 128GB. And all this will be run on the new Snapdragon 835. We have only seen the 835 on the new Galaxy S8 so far so this is definitely a plus they’ll have a ver other rivals such as LG, who only have the 821.

There has been no word on whether or not it’ll have a headphone jack but odds are it’ll probably go down the same route as the Ultra and ditch it.

A new toy

But the most impressive thing about the new HTC is a pretty new technology similar to Samsung’s Edge. HTC aren’t going down the curved screen route. But if they’re going to have bezels, they might as well do something. It’s rumoured to be called the Edge Sense. They have inserted sensors into the sides of the phone which, when squeezed, they will do different functions on screen. It’s definitely something new.

The leaked trailer below shows the Edge Sense in action as it brings up a list of short cuts.

https://youtu.be/-fSPvl8UMy4

Whether it’s groundbreaking like the Edge or Apples 3D Touch is yet to be seen. And how useful it will be and how app developers will jump on board with it is another story in itself. But it should be interesting to see how it plays out. It’s definitely something fresh their phones have needed for awhile now. And it’s something most of they’re rivals don’t have.

And lastly, what the phone will be called has yet to be officially announced . Although it looks like they’re keeping it in line with their ‘U’ series and are going ahead with the HTC U 11.

As a previous HTC owner I can appreciate their phones. They’re honest and don’t try to sell you on gimmicks like an Edge or like LG’s Friends range from last year. But they definitely needed something fresh, and hopefully this new Squeeze is what can push them back up the ranks as an industry giant again.

The HTC U 11 will be unveiled on the 16th of next month.