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HTC Launches 'U11' Squeezable Smartphone With Snapdragon 835 CPU, No Headphone Jack (theverge.com)
HTC has officially launched its newest flagship smartphone today, the U11. While it has competitive specifications for a flagship smartphone of 2017, such as a 5.5-inch, Quad HD display, and Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB RAM, it has some unique features of its own. HTC is introducing a new way to interact with the U11 by letting you squeeze the sides of the device to perform different functions. The Verge reports: This new feature is called "Edge Sense," and it can be configured to do a variety of tasks with either short or long squeezes. You can set a short squeeze to open the camera and then take a picture when the camera app is open. A long squeeze can be configured to launch the Google voice assistant or toggle the flashlight on and off. In addition to Edge Sense, the U11 has a similar design to the U Ultra from earlier this year. That means it's metal and glass -- a departure from the all-aluminum unibody designs of past HTC phones -- with curved panels that blend into the metal frame and vibrant, pearlescent colors. That also means it lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, instead relying on its USB Type-C port for charging, data transfer, and audio function. HTC says removing the headphone jack has a number of advantages, including allowing the company more room inside the phone for other components and making the design of the bottom edge smoother. It also allows for a better audio experience, as the included headphones have both audio tuning and active noise cancellation, without having to rely on a secondary battery. In addition to the headphones, HTC is including a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter for use with other headphones, which it didn't for the U Ultra.
So... every time I pull the phone out of my pocket, it's going to activate some feature? No thanks. P.S. Frist!
This new feature is called "Edge Sense," and it can be configured to do a variety of tasks with either short or long squeezes.
Are they talking about a phone or a fleshlight?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
COURAGE! AND KARMA TO BURN!
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Yet another phone to do away with the audio jack.
LG seems to be the only one committed to supporting headphones right now, and I have to wonder how long that'll last.
How long until some bodybuilder squeezes one to death and wants his money back?
After one great (M8) and one good (M10) flagship HTC smartphone, no headphone jack kills the relationship.
a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack is basic equipment. Take a little note.
Deal breaker.
lemon squeezy. or something like that.
COURAGE
O
U
R
A
G
E
is just another phone I'm not going to consider buying.
Dear phone designers - stop. You're getting as bad as the programming UI guys. I don't WANT to have to learn a whole new way to interact with phone. I don't want to have to learn long presses versus short presses, hard versus soft. I don't want to learn all the different swiping. Palm swipe. Two finger swipe. 3 finger zig zag backward swipes.
Just, NO.
99% of the folks buying phones don't know how to take a screen shot, don't know swiping different directions on contacts does different things, and don't give a shit.
Simple is beautiful, and a good phone with a great camera and good battery life is going to sell. I don't want modular, I don't want "no sd card", I don't want magical levitation with eye-following hands-free masturbation. Just stop. Please.
Also note that I saw no mention of an FM tuner on this thing either. Generally, phones with tuners use headphone cords as antennas.
Yeah, why bother getting local music and information free over the air when you can stream it and burn through your monthly data in a few days?
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
My phone can already do that using its cutting edge button technology.
Was anyone else waiting for the corner of the falling phone in the animation to break the screen of the phone below, only to be disappointed when it stopped?
So you can press on the the edges of the phone to have it do things. Hmm. I can do that with my current phone. They're called side buttons.
Mmpph!
No headphone jeck, another bad idea out of many copied from Apple. Having to use a dongle which *will* get broken/lost, and possibly no being able to charge and use a wired headset at the same time? No thanks. Its time to put Apole to pasture. Maybe they were cool and cutting edge in 2007, but now its like the annoying grandfather who tries to be hip by doing rap very poorly and generating groans, and has now degenerated into doing stupid Jackass-style shit
This shit is making me want to go back to the clunky old WM Treo 650. As bad as that interface was, at least there were no secret handshakes and other stupid weird bullshit just to perform basic functions.
It would be possible and decent to use a random USB-C cable in the same way. Much doable if the phone supports the analog audio profile. Only sucky thing is the lack of another connector to get power in, eventually you could see just because it can be done a phone with two USB-C and a largish battery 3000mAh and up.
"it can be configured to do a variety of tasks with either short or long squeezes." -- Something tells me the designers of this phone haven't read Of Mice and Men. I wonder how good the accidental damage warranties will be?
Yep, those sound like very "courageous" design choices to me, if you get my drift.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I'm still using my BlackBerry Classic, I'm quite happy with it. Keyboard, headphone jack, sd card, fm radio, file system that isn't fucked up, everything is well integrated. When my phone rings I get to push a real button - woohoo!
Oh, and it actually fits in my pocket.
Dear marketing: Nobody believes you when you call 720p "HD," so can you cut the bullshit and just call "Full HD" 1080p and "Quad HD" 1440p? It's fewer characters, and it's a lot more descriptive. Don't make me Google to find out what buzzword you're using for something when you could just use a number.
If HTC with their puny marketshare and absence of a hysteric horde of fans, think they can "SQUEEZE" extra money from their make believe customers by removing the headphone jack, then they need to think again... and think hard... maybe also do a market survey...
Manufacturers seem deperate to throw silly new phone ideas at us.
But the REFUSE to make phones that use GOOD, OLD ideas.
Make me a slider like the fantastic Palm Pre.
Or a thick, solid phone that fits in my back jeans pocket, won't break there and isn't shit. You know, like every phone was, 10 years ago.
Or even just a 4" phone that is isn't shit.
THAT would be innovation we do want.
i just want buttons. s6 is fine except capacitive menu and back buttons.. they interfere with holding the phone.
No sale.
Eat the rich.
...I don't want magical levitation with eye-following hands-free masturbation.
Dear Phone designers,
I want that! please ignore him.
Thanks
Thousands of amazing pictures... of the inside of your pocket.
When can I have a phone without any connectors whatsoever? Bluethooth, wlan and wireless charging should be enough. Such a phone could be 100% waterproof and very shock-resistant. And rubber coating, please.
FM band antennae are somewhat more challenging to fabricate in the available space. The horrors of real life.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
If someone comes up with a nice thick, rugged phone with great battery life and they market it properly, they will sweep the whole industry. I'd even buy from Apple for the first time since the 1980s if they could pull that off.
And if you REALLY are so hung up on coming up with an innovation, I sure wouldn't mind if someone would figure out a touch-screen that works well in a rainstorm; get the lab boys on that instead.
Apple should sue for design infringement...
YEEEESSSS !
You posted my post for me :-D
Small and thick !
WHY WON'T ANYONE MAKE THAT ?!