Somewhere over the years, HTC, after having been at the forefront of pioneering the premium Android smartphone, lost out to other players. Despite having made the Pixel for Google, HTC’s own phones were off the radar.

The company is now seeking to make a comeback to the top-of-the-line segment. The U Ultra, launched earlier in the year and the just-launched U11 being testimony to that. The U11 comes with a very interesting bit of innovation from HTC — the squeeze. The lower part of the phone houses sensors along the edges that become active when you squeeze the phone, triggering functions like opening the camera, taking a screenshot, etc.

While the functionality is limited as of now, there are more innovations and apps coming, which are suited to the squeeze. Adding to that, the squeeze even works underwater, as the phone is IP67 water resistant. The U11 also has not one, but three virtual assistants on it — the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa (not available in India yet) and HTC’s own Sense Companion. To enable these assistants to work the best, there are four low-power always on microphones that are constantly keeping a ear out for commands.

The phone also gets HTC’s U-Sonic headphone technology that creates a unique profile for users to optimise audio experience. The headphones, which ship in the box, also have a mic to listen for ambient noise and adjust volume accordingly. They also are enabled with active-noise cancellation. The price you pay for all these bits of the future? ₹51,990.

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