HTC’s Ocean concept only leaked a few days back, but other than its design and a few features, not much was known about it or even if the device would ever be released. Thanks to a tweet by @LlabTooFeR, it appears HTC has plans for three devices, the Ocean Master, Ocean Note and the Ocean Smart.
Now there is no way of telling if the three devices with Ocean codenames will actually have anything to do with the leaked HTC Ocean concept in terms of design and features, but they do imply that the company is working on a family of devices. The Ocean Master is likely to be the flagship device, with the Ocean Smart being a similar device with perhaps more mid-range specs. On the other hand, the Ocean Note is likely to be a high-end phablet-like device, that will most likely compete directly with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 or LG’s V20.
Looking at the concept’s design, the devices will most likely take a number of design cues from the HTC 10, with an aluminium body and a 2.5D front glass panel. The interesting part is the fact that the concept doesn’t appear to feature any kind of physical buttons, hinting at a new kind of control setup dubbed Sense Touch that may utilize the metal frame instead of dedicated buttons, with the phone tracking hand placement in order to determine what type of action the user is performing, be it a swipe or a tap. In addition to this, the absence of buttons also hints at the possibility of an integrated fingerprint scanner underneath the display. Also absent are SIM and microSD slots, though these will likely be featured on a final production model and the USB port which will also be a necessity. Regarding the camera’s it appears HTC has revived its dual camera setup, which may also be controlled through the new UI which utilizes the device frame. As these devices are only codenames and rumors as of now, there’s no certainty that HTC will launch any of these devices, but they will surely raise some eyebrows and tick the uniqueness box with the new innovative Sense Touch concept. Finally, regarding any possible release, it’s most likely that these devices would debut as HTC’s 2017 flagship lineup.
