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- HTC's US site is now stating that it "will ship in 2-4 weeks'. So it's back to pre-ordering and waiting, unfortunately.
HTC announced its latest flagship phone last month. The impossibly shiny HTC U11 with its strange, squeezable Edge Sense sides seems like it might be an improvement on its recent offerings. After recent failures such as the U Ultra (a close relative of the new U11), the Taiwanese firm is in need of a win. After going up for pre-order a few weeks ago, the HTC U11 should be now available to purchase from HTC's US ($649) and Canadian ($899) sites. Some pre-ordered devices have already arrived with customers.
HTC's first 2017 flagship was the HTC U Ultra, which put simply, was not a good phone. However, the company is planning another high-end device, which is expected to be called the 'HTC U 11.' We already knew that the phone would have pressure-sensitive bezels to detect squeezing, but now we know a little more about how it will work.
We've been hearing about the "HTC Ocean" for months, and just the other day HTC finally teased it as part of the U line. We believed at the time it would simply be called the HTC U, but our old friend Evan Blass says the final name will be "HTC U 11." It's apparently HTC's way of bridging its old and new naming scheme.
HTC has lost its way, and we all hoped the HTC 10 would see it back on the path to prosperity. That didn't work out, and this year's U Ultra wasn't a good enough phone to lead HTC anyplace it wants to go. That leaves this leaky new flagship phone, previously known only as the HTC Ocean. Now it's being teased as (probably) the HTC U. It doesn't have the ticker display of the U Ultra, but the U has a trick of its own—it's a more huggable smartphone.
The HTC U Ultra was released earlier this year, and reviews of the device were mixed at best. However, the company's second 2017 flagship, code-named 'Ocean,' is yet to be released. But now we know what it will look like.
The HTC U, codenamed Ocean, is the hottest item in the rumor mill now that the Galaxy S8 has been announced. The last we heard about the U, it was supposed to launch in April with a Snapdragon 835, 5.5" WQHD display, 12MP back cam and 16MP front cam, and Android 7.1. The headline feature though is the sensors around the frame that can detect your squeezes and swipes across the edges.
Watching HTC release phones is almost as frustrating as Google's current messenger app situation. After two years of incremental releases to the company's 'HTC One' lineup, many considered last year's HTC 10 to be a great phone (besides being rather expensive at launch). The company followed up this year with the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play, neither of which has received positive reviews.
We got our first look at the HTC U Ultra back in January, but it has only been (officially) available in Europe until now. If you've been waiting to purchase one on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, you're in luck - the unlocked U Ultra is now available from HTC's US website.
What was wrong with 3.5mm audio jacks? They have been standard for many years, they worked reliably, and you could find tons of headphones that supported them. But no, companies have to sometimes invent reasons to change things around and here we are with the 3.5mm jack mysteriously disappearing from modern smartphones to be replaced by USB-C digital audio. Yes, I know that size constraints matter, but so far, the released phones with no jack don't make a good case for that argument and don't provide any new hardware that uses the additional empty space favorably. And for the record, I am ranting even though I use Bluetooth headsets 99% of the time; I just like having the 3.5mm plug option for that 1%.
HTC has been lagging behind its competitors for years, despite some fantastic hardware and critical acclaim. So for 2017 the company is going in a completely new design direction, dumping the aluminum unibody phones it's become known for and shifting to a more generic glass front and back. The first products displaying this new direction are the HTC U Ultra, the new flagship phone, and the U Play, a mid-range model. They'll both go on sale later this year.