The newly announced HTC U11 supports 3D audio zoom recording, the Taoyuan-based consumer electronics manufacturer revealed at the phone’s official launch event held in its home country of Taiwan on Tuesday. While previous reports have already indicated that the company’s latest Android flagship will be capable of recording spatially accurate audio thanks to its four microphones, the announcement of the audio zoom feature was a surprise to many industry watchers. The functionality itself will work just like its name suggests – in addition to recording 3D audio, the HTC U11 will also be capable of focusing on a single audio source and isolate it from the background using highly advanced noise cancellation software that the Taiwanese tech giant has yet to detail.
Much like the Edge Sensors, support for 3D audio zoom recording is not an entirely unprecedented feature, as LG Electronics already commercialized this technology in 2013 with the LG G2 and has later improved upon the functionality and released it with the LG V10 and the LG V20. However, the setup utilized by the South Korean phone maker relied on three microphones, while the one developed by HTC uses four mics that are distributed throughout the device and should be able to isolate particular sounds in a much more efficient manner.
Apart from directional audio recording, pressure-sensitive case edges that can be used for shortcuts, and a number of other unconventional features, the new HTC U11 also boasts high-end specifications that put it on par with virtually every other Android flagship on the market. The device is equipped with a 5.5-inch display panel which supports resolutions of up to 2560 by 1440 pixels and is protected by Corning’s 3D Gorilla Glass 5. Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC) and 4GB of RAM are responsible for powering HTC’s new flagship that ships with 64GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. The HTC U11 will be priced at around $649, depending on the territory, and has already been confirmed as coming to the United States via Sprint and in unlocked variants. No firm release dates have yet been provided by HTC, but the handset is currently scheduled to launch next month.