HTC joins Android One club with U11 Life

After Xiaomi and Motorola, HTC has joined Google's Android One club to offer pure Android experience with the mid-range HTC U11 Life. The phone was announced alongside the bezel-less flagship HTC U11+. However, HTC will also be offering a version of U11 Life running HTC's Sense software.

The Android One version (rest of the world) will run Android Oreo out of the box from day one, while, the Sense version (North America) will ship with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and will be upgraded to Android Oreo within 30 days. It also come with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant pre-installed.

Speaking of the features, the HTC U11 Life sports a liquid surface design that comes in Sapphire Blue and Brilliant Black color, and has a highly durable acrylic glass that reflects light, and is IP67 water and dust resistance. It has a fingerprint scanner that's embedded into the home button, and includes HTC U11 like Edge Sense function, which lets you squeeze the edge of phone to trigger various actions. You can customize Edge sense to launch the camera, summon Google Assistant/Alexa, open any app and much more.

As for the specs, the HTC U11 Life features 5.2-inch Full HD display with Gorilla Glass protection, and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor. It will be available in two variants: 3GB RAM and 32GB storage for the North American market, and 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage for the rest of the world. The storage is expandable via microSD card.

For photography, it gets 16MP f/2.0 camera with PDAF for fast focus speeds with reduced blur, and HDR Boost for more dynamic exposure range. HDR Boost delivers clearer, more balanced pictures by taking multiple shots that measure the darkest shadows and brightest highlights without slowdown. The main camera is also capable of recording 4K videos. On the front you'll find a 16MP f/2.0 selfie camera with UltraPixel light sensitivity for brilliant selfies day or night. The selfie camera also feature HDR Boost and can record videos at 1080p.

Connectivity duties on the phone will be handled by 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS and USB Type-C. Sadly, like the U11, the U11 Life also ditches the 3.5mm audio jack in favor of audio via USB Type-C. However, HTC will be bundling USonic earbuds. A 2600mAh battery is the show runner.

Coming to the pricing, the HTC U11 Life Sense U.I version (3GB/32GB) is priced at $349 / $449 CAD (Rs. 22,500) and will be available in the U.S and Canada starting November 3. The Android One version pricing and availability details is yet to be revealed.