The smartphone that you can squeeze to take photos

HTC has launched its latest flagship, the HTC U12 Plus — a smartphone that takes your photo when you give it a squeeze, thanks to its Edge Sense 2 technology.

This HTC is a 6-inch model with a QHD Super LCD6 display that has a 18:9 aspect ratio and is notchless — in other words a large undisturbed screen and very little bezel.

Big phones can be tricky to use with one hand, which is why manufacturers are always coming up with new gestures to simplify navigation, and with this phone HTC has found its edge, literally. With the new HTC U12+ the brand also introduces Edge Sense 2, a system that incorporates the sides of the phone.

Smile and squeeze the phone to take a photo. The phone can also detect which is the user’s dominant hand and adapt accordingly. Simply by holding the phone naturally it will unlock, or press twice to navigate.

The HTC U12+ is designed to offer high-quality selfies with a dual camera setup on the front. While some smartphones feature two cameras on the back for better quality landscape shots, or professional portraits, the HTC U12+ is equipped with four cameras in total: dual-lens 12MP and 16MP rear camera, dual-lens 8MP front facing camera assisted by laser autofocus and PDAF.

As for performance, the device is powered by the Snapdragon 845 processor and comes with 6GB of RAM, so there shouldn’t be problems with multitasking. As for storage, there are two options, 64GB or 128GB.

The 3 500 mAh battery doesn’t wirelessly charge, and there’s no built-in headphone jack port, so an adapter is needed. As for other specs, the phone is IP68 dust/water resistance and comes with Bluetooth 5.0.

HTC U12+ ships with Android Oreo, with three color options:´Translucent Blue’ to shows off the components, a black edition and ‘Flame Red.’

It will sell for a starting price of $799 (R9 950) and will be available starting from June.

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.