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HTC Launches 'U11' Squeezable Smartphone With Snapdragon 835 CPU, No Headphone Jack (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the main-squeeze dept.

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.

4 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Nope. by jddj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  2. Another phone without a headphone jack by jediborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    is just another phone I'm not going to consider buying.

    1. Re:Another phone without a headphone jack by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1, Insightful

      is just another phone I'm not going to consider buying.

      Great! that's the wonder of having choices. Some of us find the headphone jack the most important part of a phone. And a whole lot of us don't. Buy what you like.

      If enough of you jackers vote with your wallets, they'll install a chip in your arm with a quarter inch jack when smartphones go to implants and retinal displays.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  3. I don't want new ways to interact with my phone. by Puls4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.