Today might be all about the Samsung Galaxy S8, with the phone’s formal unveiling just hours away, but that hasn’t stopped new speculation around HTC’s next flagship phone cropping up.
According to new reports, HTC will launch a new high-end handset later this spring, with the phone, reportedly dubbed the HTC U, tipped to adopt an unusual means of control.
It’s been suggested that the phone, which will replace the HTC 10 as the Taiwanese firm’s top-end device, will completely do away with physical buttons and manual controls such as the traditional volume rocker.
Instead, you’ll need to give the phone a series of squeezes and finger slides along its sides in order to control it.
No, this isn’t some cruel joke to make you look all sorts of weird stroking your phone on the bus. Instead, it’s been claimed that the handset will have an innovative new input method called Edge Sense.
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This will see a touch-sensitive frame made contextually aware of the pressure you’re applying, and the specific areas in which you’re applying it.
Having previously done the rounds under the guise of the HTC Ocean codename, according to VentureBeat, the upcoming device will sit above the recent HTC U Play and HTC U Ultra offerings on the firm’s device roster.
As well as its unusual, touch-aware frame, it’s been claimed that the flagship HTC U will play host to a mass of high-end internals.
This includes a 5.5-inch QHD display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor, a 12-megapixel primary camera and HTC’s latest Sense 9 UI.
For the self addicts out there, a massive 16-megapixel front-facing camera will also reportedly be included. HTC has yet to comment on the claims, however.
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Would you want a phone without physical buttons? Let us know in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
