HTC Squeeze Live Blog (Starts 2am ET)

01:41AM EDT - We're here in Taiwan for the launch of HTC's newest Flagship smartphone.

01:42AM EDT - Press are getting seated. HTC flew about 150 journalists for this event

01:44AM EDT - It's just Ian today, taking care of pictures and text

01:44AM EDT - I've been in Taiwan a couple of days already - yesterday HTC gave us a factory and labs tour

01:44AM EDT - I've done factory and lab tours before - either building the devices or compliance/consistency testing

01:45AM EDT - most companies have similar processes for both

01:45AM EDT - However if you're ever invited to a lab tour, I highly suggested trying to get some time in the anechoic chamber/room. Always fun when I go in one :)

01:46AM EDT - So for this event, HTC is launching their new flagship smartphone

01:46AM EDT - It feels somewhat of an odd time to launch one, well after MWC, basically on top of Google IO (but not in the US), and only a couple of weeks away from Computex

01:47AM EDT - (yes, that means I'm flying back home to the UK and then flying back to Taiwan for Computex)

01:47AM EDT - Nonetheless, as Aicha Evans of Intel always says: Time to Market matters

01:47AM EDT - and today this launch is the extension of the HTC U smartphone line

01:48AM EDT - earlier in the year, HTC launched the U Play and U Ultra

01:48AM EDT - This device should be big pluses on both

01:48AM EDT - A little insight into our world for readers:

01:49AM EDT - we typically get prebriefings for these events, and this is no exception, but we're not allowed to talk about the device until the NDA lifts

01:49AM EDT - sometimes the NDA lifts at the beginning of the press event, making most of the press event somewhat redundant (hey, just read our news post)

01:49AM EDT - Or the embargo lifts part of the way through

01:49AM EDT - Or the embargo lifts at the end of the event

01:50AM EDT - This is that last one: I know what's coming, but I can't tell you

01:50AM EDT - So we're going to have to wait as HTC announces the new device, and the features

01:50AM EDT - Welcome to the internet, I'll be your guide

01:50AM EDT - (If the WiFi works properly)

01:50AM EDT - We just got a 10 minute warning, with the name of the new device flashed on the screen: HTC U11

01:51AM EDT - The main thing for this device is the Squeeze

01:52AM EDT - more info to come, but the video consists of squeezing sponges, honey, oranges, avocados, play-doh

01:54AM EDT - Squeezy

01:56AM EDT - Apparently the event WiFi is down already

01:56AM EDT - I'm running off of a WiFi hotspot. Taiwan is crazy cheap for data for visitors

01:56AM EDT - $20 gets you a SIM card with unlimited 4G for 10 or 14 days

01:56AM EDT - and coverage is everywhere

01:57AM EDT - Compared to US carriers, I end up paying $20/GB or something crazy when I visit SF with a visitor SIM

01:58AM EDT - This squeeze video is on repeat. Every. 30. Seconds.

01:58AM EDT - Well on the name, HTC U11

01:59AM EDT - It's designed to be the successor from the M7, M8, M9 and HTC 10

01:59AM EDT - one minute warning

02:00AM EDT - Here we go

02:00AM EDT - MC on stage

02:01AM EDT - 'Where HTC is from, what inspires us, and what has happened over the last 20 years'

02:01AM EDT - Chialin Chuang to the stage, president of smartphone and connected devices

02:02AM EDT - 'HTC celebrated 20 anniversary yesterday'

02:02AM EDT - 'Today marks the start of the next 20 years'

02:02AM EDT - Going through some innovations: Boomsound, dual Ultrapixel

02:03AM EDT - 'These have all been widely copied'

02:03AM EDT - 'In 1997, we started working on personal mobility devices'

02:03AM EDT - '2007: first HTC Touch phone'

02:04AM EDT - '2017: we see 5G coming in 2/3 years'

02:04AM EDT - 'The next generation of smartphone must have:'

02:04AM EDT - 'New ways to interact'

02:05AM EDT - 'Voice and PLatform based on natural language across multiple platforms'

02:05AM EDT - 'Next gen multimedia'

02:05AM EDT - Introducing HTC U11

02:06AM EDT - Apparently the leaked video was an internal 2015 video

02:06AM EDT - 'Thinking about something as intuitive as squeeze'

02:07AM EDT - 'A new baby will reach out and squeeze the mother's finger'

02:07AM EDT - 'Squeeze shows your feelings'

02:08AM EDT - 'Each media will get a U11 to test'

02:08AM EDT - 'The first thing you do is grip the side'

02:08AM EDT - 'Now imagine applying a little squeeze - and all sorts of interesting things will come out'

02:08AM EDT - Film time - it's that 30 second squeeze film again

02:08AM EDT - No it's a different one

02:09AM EDT - Squeeze for photo, squeeze for Google

02:09AM EDT - 'With a little squeeze you can turn on all sorts of applications'

02:09AM EDT - 'Simple squeeze to open camera'

02:09AM EDT - Squeeze to selfie

02:10AM EDT - Long squeeze to change camera from front to back

02:10AM EDT - 'As simple as squeeze'

02:10AM EDT - Action Squeeze: while skateboarding, hold phone and squeeze to selfie mid-air

02:11AM EDT - 'Squeeze becomes the only way to capture the moment'

02:11AM EDT - 'How do we combine squeeze with the next generation trend'

02:11AM EDT - 'We see the voice commands'

02:11AM EDT - 'A little squeeze for OK Google Assistant'

02:12AM EDT - Squeeze to enable OK Google, then say 'OK Google' to activate

02:12AM EDT - Or use a different wake word

02:12AM EDT - 'Alexa'

02:13AM EDT - The wifi in the room is bad, having some issues with the demo... but it is just about working

02:13AM EDT - 'You can set up a short or long squeeze then followed by a voice command'

02:14AM EDT - 'In China HTC is working with Baidu to power the voice commands

02:14AM EDT - 'Becase we have 4 microphone arrays detecting voice at distance, we can hear the signal very well and filter out the noise'

02:15AM EDT - 'Because of this, we can enable a 3D recording with AdioZoom'

02:15AM EDT - When recording music on a video, the microphones will 'zoom' to give the music better SNR

02:15AM EDT - HTC Camera has been ranked with DXOMark 90

02:16AM EDT - Highest rank ever in DXOMark

02:16AM EDT - 'Next generation of HDR+ give us really good contrast'

02:16AM EDT - 'Super fast on photo and video'

02:17AM EDT - 'Lot of reduced noise in low light'

02:17AM EDT - Now audio

02:17AM EDT - HTC USonic

02:17AM EDT - 'Why did you take out the 3.5mm audio jack'

02:18AM EDT - 'USonic with Type-C combined with two microphone, detects the ear canal reflection to beef up the frequencies were needed'

02:19AM EDT - Because the microphone will detect the noise inside your ear, we can send the counter noise to provide Active Noise Cancellation

02:19AM EDT - Next gen HTC Boomsound

02:19AM EDT - One speaker uses the internal of the device as a resonance chamber

02:20AM EDT - Now industrial design

02:20AM EDT - VIdeo time

02:20AM EDT - 'Squeeze to show the best you'

02:20AM EDT - 'Music adapted to each user'

02:20AM EDT - 'Squeeze for the adventurous you' 'Squeeze for Selfies'

02:21AM EDT - Squeeze works with gloves btw

02:21AM EDT - We sort of understand how it works according to a vague explantion, but that's under embargo for a bit

02:22AM EDT - 'We pioneered the metal unibody design for a couple of years'

02:22AM EDT - 'So what's right for the next couple of years?'

02:22AM EDT - 'Ergonomics, aesthetics, color'

02:22AM EDT - 'This is all needed in a flagship'

02:23AM EDT - 'Between the user and the display is the cover glass'

02:23AM EDT - 'Need to fit inside your hand, so we started bending the glass from the front'

02:23AM EDT - 'Not just bent 2 ways, but 4-ways

02:24AM EDT - 'How do we make sure the color is right?'

02:24AM EDT - 'Glass has been used for hundreds of years, but how to make it stunning? We try to do things differently'

02:24AM EDT - 'We evaporate minerals onto the inside of the glass, along witha couple of other ingredients I can't say'

02:24AM EDT - I suspect binding agents

02:25AM EDT - first color: Amazing Silver

02:25AM EDT - It's silver with a blue ocean tint from different angles

02:25AM EDT - 5 different colors

02:25AM EDT - Sapphire blue, brilliant black, ice white, solar red

02:25AM EDT - 'Solar red is not just red - it's bronze too'

02:26AM EDT - Technically he said gold

02:26AM EDT - Film from the industrial design team now

02:27AM EDT - Liquid design

02:27AM EDT - Video made by group of 25-yr old employees. 'HTC is young'

02:28AM EDT - Nigel Newby-House, VP Product to the stage

02:28AM EDT - 'Liquid Surface is a new step in HTC's new aesthetic'

02:28AM EDT - 'Pushing the limits of aluminium and glass'

02:28AM EDT - 'Durability of Alu with the feel of glass'

02:29AM EDT - 5.5-inch, QHD

02:29AM EDT - 'Glass takes a lot of skill'

02:29AM EDT - 'We had to shift glass from ART to science'

02:30AM EDT - 500C+ temps

02:30AM EDT - 'Had to fine tune the tolerances'

02:31AM EDT - 'By applying the color to the back, it floods the back of the glass to have a durable effect in a vibrant color'

02:31AM EDT - 'You've never seen black like it... with hues of green'

02:31AM EDT - IP67 rated

02:31AM EDT - Squeeze is called Edge Sense

02:32AM EDT - Uses eight strain gauges

02:32AM EDT - tune sensitivity

02:33AM EDT - Users can customize

02:33AM EDT - 'You can choose any app to the two base functions from the lock screen'

02:33AM EDT - 'The force you apply can be personal to the user'

02:33AM EDT - 'Pocket Mode with a proximity sensor, so you don't get false presses'

02:34AM EDT - Works in the rain and with gloves on

02:34AM EDT - Voice control

02:34AM EDT - One always on low power mic

02:34AM EDT - Wake words

02:35AM EDT - Snapdragon 835 supports dual wake words

02:35AM EDT - So HTC U11 supports two wake words

02:35AM EDT - Google Assistant is one, Alexa is the second

02:35AM EDT - 'Helps Amazon expand the ecosystem of Alexa devices'

02:35AM EDT - (I'm not a fan of Alexa, see my twitter feed)

02:36AM EDT - (I'm not a fan of Alexa, see my twitter feed)

02:36AM EDT - Alexa will be supported in US, UK and Germany in the next 30 days

02:36AM EDT - HTC Sense Companion

02:37AM EDT - Look at the user behaviour, tailors alerts to how you work

02:37AM EDT - 'Most comprehensive suite of personal assistants'

02:38AM EDT - Now imaging and video

02:38AM EDT - Again, DXOMark of 90

02:38AM EDT - For both video and images

02:38AM EDT - 12MP Ultrapixel 3, OIS, EIS, f/1.7

02:38AM EDT - 'Ultraspeed Auto Fous'

02:38AM EDT - *focus

02:39AM EDT - 'Fastest HDR Ever'

02:39AM EDT - 5-axis OIS+EIS for video

02:39AM EDT - 'most stable smartphone for video ever'

02:39AM EDT - 'all the high end basics for audio'

02:39AM EDT - 4 mics for multi-directional sound

02:40AM EDT - 'Acoustic Focus: audio responds with image zoom feels like you're there'

02:40AM EDT - demo video of a violinist getting clearer as you zoom in (wind gets louder too)

02:41AM EDT - Front camera: f/2.0, 16MP, 'Ultrapixel type experience', 150 wide angle lends

02:41AM EDT - *lens

02:41AM EDT - USonic takes 2-3 seconds to set up

02:42AM EDT - 'Expect to see more innovations with Audio via USB-C'

02:42AM EDT - Note, Audio over USB-C is meant to now have more features as people develop them. Good to see HTC moving forward withit

02:43AM EDT - USonic headphones come in the box, as well as a C-to-3.5mm headset and a clear case

02:43AM EDT - More BoomSound

02:43AM EDT - 'In order to drive volume, you need bigger audio, but smartphones always want to be small'

02:44AM EDT - 'So one speaker gets to use most of the internal space as a resonance chamber'

02:44AM EDT - Sound rooms for demos later

02:44AM EDT - Now performance

02:44AM EDT - 'Spend weeks to tune performance'

02:45AM EDT - UFS 2.1 memory confirmed

02:45AM EDT - He just said it as 8-core

02:45AM EDT - 'Region Specific availability next week, full distribution early June'

02:47AM EDT - Looks like that's a wrap. News embargo is still in place for 10 minutes or so. Time to pick up a sample :)