HTC U11 Life is available in Canada now for $449

While North America won’t get a chance to use HTC’s new U11 Plus smartphone, the Taiwanese company is bringing a new device to Canadian shores.

HTC says that its intention with the U11 Life was to design a phone that’s a “continuation our liquid surface design philosophy,” and it shows. The phone’s glossy reverse isn’t just reminiscent of acrylic, it is acrylic.

The new phone’s face features a 5.2-inch Full HD 1080p Super LCD display, as well as noticeable top and bottom bezels. The bottom bezels house a fingerprint sensor, as well as capacitive back and multitasking buttons.A Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor powers the U11 Life, a 2,600mAh battery gives the phone life, and it comes in 3GB RAM/32GB storage and 4GB RAM/64GB storage configurations. There’s also support for expandable storage via MicroSD card. Additionally, the device has a USB-C port, no headphone jack, and is IP67 water- and dust-resistant.

The rear-facing camera is a single-lens, 16-megapixel shooter, with an f/2.0 aperture. It can also record slow-motion video, 4K video and has a pro mode with manual controls, as well as support for the RAW image format.

The front-facing camera is also a single-lens, 16-megapixel shooter with an f/2.0 aperture. It can record video in Full HD 1080p.

The U11 Life ships with Android 7.1 with the HTC Sense skin — not Android 8.0 Oreo. Interestingly enough, the U11 Life comes with both the Google Assistant as well as Alexa.

Just like the U11 and the U11 Plus, the HTC U11 Life comes with the company’s trademark EdgeSense hardware. Users can squeeze the phone to activate specific in-app functions. Additionally, Edge Sense can be mapped to launch any app, as well as launch either the Google Assistant or Alexa.

HTC insists that Edge Sense isn’t a gimmick — and MobileSyrup’s Dean Daley would agree — so it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL’s Active Edge feature.

HTC also ships a pair of USonic adaptive earphones that feature active noise cancellation and certified 24-bit Hi-Res Audio.

The U11 Life is available in Sapphire Blue and Brilliant Black and costs $449 CAD unlocked from HTC’s website.

HTC’s website states that the phone is compatible with Telus, Bell, Rogers, Videotron, Freedom Mobile, Koodo, Fido and Virgin Mobile. The U11 Life is also Band 66-compatible, meaning it should be able to access Freedom’s LTE network. Remember, however, that only phones sold by Freedom are guaranteed to be optimized for the carrier’s network.