HTC has announced the almost-immediate availability
of its latest mid-range smartphone, which it lovingly calls U11 life.
Physically resembling the flagship U11, the U11 life aims to bring the
signature features that made the U11 a good smartphone to a more affordable
market. Starting today, the U11 life will be available for purchase via HTC's
own online store in US and Canada, while T-Mobile is promised to have it in
stock on Nov 3. The phone will go for US$ 349, which feels like a competitive
enough price for what's on offer.
The HTC U11 life gives you a 5.2" 1080 x 1920
px LCD display; a modern, high-resolution 16 MP camera with a bunch of bells
and whistles; water-resistant design, Snapdragon 630 chipset; and the feature
you've all been waiting for Edge Sense. What do you mean you don't know what
that is? It's the thing that allows you to "squeeze" the phone with
your hand and get it to open an app or do something for you. According to HTC,
it's a big deal, so there you have it. Also bundled with the U11 life will be
HTC's USonic headphones, which support active noise cancellation, and try to
adjust their sound profile based on the shape of your inner ear.
In the US, the HTC U11 life will start shipping with
Android 7.1 and the latest Sense UI, with an update to Android 8 expected
within 30 days. An interesting detail here is that in Europe, the HTC U11 life
will instead come with Android One, which can be seen as Android 8 Oreo in its
most distilled form, without any secondary stuff that may have even the
smallest chance of coming across as bloatware. HTC says the switch from normal
Android + Sense to just Android One for the European version was needed so they
could bring the phone to market in time for the holiday season. The exact date
of availability in Europe is yet to be specified, but we imagine the phone will
come out sometime this month.
The HTC U11 Life price is set at US$ 350 for the
unlocked phone that will work with T-Mobile and AT&T. You will be able to
buy the phone via HTC's official website in the US, and T-Mobile will have the
phone starting tomorrow, November 3rd. The phone will also be sold in Canada
for US$ 450 CAD. It will be available in the gorgeous looking Sapphire Blue.
Interestingly, outside the US, the U11 Life will be
sold in a slightly different flavor: it will be an Android One phone and will
run stock Android, not the HTC Sense-infused version of it.
