 Hey, this is Dan with The Verge, and this is the new HTC U12 Plus. It's the successor to last year's U11 and U11 Plus that were available in other parts of the world, and it's the company's 2018 flagship smartphone. Now, a lot of things are very similar to the U11 in terms of design and features, but there's definitely some more modern upgrades here. Starting with the screen, you can see it's a bigger screen than before. It's now a six-inch panel. It's a very high-resolution QHD+, and it's a Super LCD 6 panel instead of AMOLED that we're seeing on other devices, but it does have HDR10 support. Now, in the process of adding that bigger screen, HTC did make the bezels on the U12 Plus smaller above and below, and then also on the sides, so the U12 Plus is actually a little bit narrower than last year's U11, which makes it a little bit easier to hold. And the obvious change here is that the fingerprint sensor is now on the back. It's just below the camera, but it's right under where your finger would land as opposed to on the front. In terms of design, it's very similar to last year's phone. It still has HTC's liquid metal type of design, which uses curved glass and these very reflective finishes with a metal frame. It's available in three different colors. There's a translucent blue and a black available in the US, and then there's this flame red color that will be coming to other markets across the world. All of them are very premium, very pretty. They really feel nice and well-built, as you kind of would've expected from a HTC phone at this point. A couple other different features on the hardware as well. Now, there's still HTC's Edge Sense technology, which means that you can squeeze the phone to do different things. I can squeeze to turn on the flashlight here. You can set it to whatever things you want. You can set it to launch the assistant or launch a camera or launch an app or anything like that. That hasn't changed too much from last year's phone, but one new feature is ability to double tap. So you can double tap it to set different things. Right now, this brings up some buttons on the screen, but you can set it to open an app or change the screen size and things like that. And then the buttons here on the side, the power and volume rocker, are not actual buttons in the sense that you're used to. They don't really depress when you press them. Instead, you get a little buzz when you click the button, which feels weird at first, but it's kind of neat. It uses the same kind of underlying technology. That's the pressure sensitivity on the sides, but it's applied to the buttons here, so that's a little different. On the bottom, you've got a USB-C charger. There's no headphone jack. Not a huge surprise there. There wasn't a headphone jack last year, so unfortunately, there's not one this year, but HTC does bundle its Usonic headphones in the box, so you get those with the phone when you buy it. And it does have dual speakers, so there's speaker on the bottom, as well as speaker on the top for pretty loud and vibrant sound. Inside, the U12 Plus has a Snapdragon 845 processor, six gigabytes of RAM, and it comes in 64 or 128 gigabytes of storage. Both of them support micro SD card expansion as well. And then, of course, like last year, it is IP68 water resistant. Now, the other big new thing here is that it's got dual cameras, and not just on the back like we've seen on a lot of phones lately, but also on the front. So on the back, there's two cameras. There's a 12 megapixel sensor on the wide angle camera, and then a 16 megapixel sensor on the telephoto camera, and that lets you do the standard portrait mode blurring bokeh effect type of things. And then on the front, there's two eight megapixel sensors here that allow you to do those things for your selfies as well. One thing that is unique is HTC's software lets you actually adjust the effect of the bokeh after the fact, and then you can also change the focus point around, which is kind of a unique feature that we haven't seen before. The U12 Plus is launching with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. It will be updated to Android P at some point later this year, but there's no timing yet for that. It's running HTC Sense interface, which if you've been using it for the past couple of years, you know that it's pretty similar to what Google provides on its Pixel phones, but not exactly. It's still, it's a very clean, easy to use version of Android. There's really little to complain about with Android on HTC phones at this point. Now, HTC has been building premium phones for years, and the U12 is really no different. It feels great when you hold it. It's got really nice tight tolerances. The materials are really nice, and it's also, because it's a little bit narrower, it's actually a little easier to hold. It'd be nice if it had wireless charging, but unfortunately that's not available this year, but it does have quick charging over USB through Quick Charge 3 or Quick Charge 4 if you have a compatible charger. Now, with that premium feel comes a premium price, and this is gonna be priced pretty much in the same range as other premium Android smartphones that you can buy right now, and HTC is not gonna be selling this through carriers, but you will be able to get it through htc.com or amazon.com, and it's gonna support Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile. And pre-orders actually start today. It's gonna be shipping in the beginning of next month. For more on the HTC U12, including our forthcoming review, where we'll take a look at all of these features in more detail, please check out theverge.com as well as subscribe at youtube.com slash The Verge.
 Hey, this is Dan with The Verge,
 and this is the new HTC U12 Plus.
 It's the successor to last year's U11 and U11 Plus
 that were available in other parts of the world,
 and it's the company's 2018 flagship smartphone.
 Now, a lot of things are very similar to the U11
 in terms of design and features,
 but there's definitely some more modern upgrades here.
 Starting with the screen,
 you can see it's a bigger screen than before.
 It's now a six-inch panel.
 It's a very high-resolution QHD+,
 and it's a Super LCD 6 panel instead of AMOLED
 that we're seeing on other devices,
 but it does have HDR10 support.
 Now, in the process of adding that bigger screen,
 HTC did make the bezels on the U12 Plus smaller above
 and below, and then also on the sides,
 so the U12 Plus is actually a little bit narrower
 than last year's U11,
 which makes it a little bit easier to hold.
 And the obvious change here is that the fingerprint sensor
 is now on the back.
 It's just below the camera,
 but it's right under where your finger would land
 as opposed to on the front.
 In terms of design,
 it's very similar to last year's phone.
 It still has HTC's liquid metal type of design,
 which uses curved glass and these very reflective finishes
 with a metal frame.
 It's available in three different colors.
 There's a translucent blue and a black available in the US,
 and then there's this flame red color
 that will be coming to other markets across the world.
 All of them are very premium, very pretty.
 They really feel nice and well-built,
 as you kind of would've expected
 from a HTC phone at this point.
 A couple other different features on the hardware as well.
 Now, there's still HTC's Edge Sense technology,
 which means that you can squeeze the phone
 to do different things.
 I can squeeze to turn on the flashlight here.
 You can set it to whatever things you want.
 You can set it to launch the assistant or launch a camera
 or launch an app or anything like that.
 That hasn't changed too much from last year's phone,
 but one new feature is ability to double tap.
 So you can double tap it to set different things.
 Right now, this brings up some buttons on the screen,
 but you can set it to open an app
 or change the screen size and things like that.
 And then the buttons here on the side,
 the power and volume rocker,
 are not actual buttons in the sense that you're used to.
 They don't really depress when you press them.
 Instead, you get a little buzz when you click the button,
 which feels weird at first, but it's kind of neat.
 It uses the same kind of underlying technology.
 That's the pressure sensitivity on the sides,
 but it's applied to the buttons here,
 so that's a little different.
 On the bottom, you've got a USB-C charger.
 There's no headphone jack.
 Not a huge surprise there.
 There wasn't a headphone jack last year,
 so unfortunately, there's not one this year,
 but HTC does bundle its Usonic headphones in the box,
 so you get those with the phone when you buy it.
 And it does have dual speakers,
 so there's speaker on the bottom,
 as well as speaker on the top
 for pretty loud and vibrant sound.
 Inside, the U12 Plus has a Snapdragon 845 processor,
 six gigabytes of RAM,
 and it comes in 64 or 128 gigabytes of storage.
 Both of them support micro SD card expansion as well.
 And then, of course, like last year,
 it is IP68 water resistant.
 Now, the other big new thing here
 is that it's got dual cameras,
 and not just on the back like we've seen
 on a lot of phones lately, but also on the front.
 So on the back, there's two cameras.
 There's a 12 megapixel sensor on the wide angle camera,
 and then a 16 megapixel sensor on the telephoto camera,
 and that lets you do the standard portrait mode blurring
 bokeh effect type of things.
 And then on the front, there's two eight megapixel sensors
 here that allow you to do those things
 for your selfies as well.
 One thing that is unique is HTC's software
 lets you actually adjust the effect
 of the bokeh after the fact,
 and then you can also change the focus point around,
 which is kind of a unique feature
 that we haven't seen before.
 The U12 Plus is launching with Android 8.0 Oreo
 out of the box.
 It will be updated to Android P
 at some point later this year,
 but there's no timing yet for that.
 It's running HTC Sense interface,
 which if you've been using it for the past couple of years,
 you know that it's pretty similar
 to what Google provides on its Pixel phones,
 but not exactly.
 It's still, it's a very clean,
 easy to use version of Android.
 There's really little to complain about
 with Android on HTC phones at this point.
 Now, HTC has been building premium phones for years,
 and the U12 is really no different.
 It feels great when you hold it.
 It's got really nice tight tolerances.
 The materials are really nice,
 and it's also, because it's a little bit narrower,
 it's actually a little easier to hold.
 It'd be nice if it had wireless charging,
 but unfortunately that's not available this year,
 but it does have quick charging over USB
 through Quick Charge 3 or Quick Charge 4
 if you have a compatible charger.
 Now, with that premium feel comes a premium price,
 and this is gonna be priced pretty much in the same range
 as other premium Android smartphones
 that you can buy right now,
 and HTC is not gonna be selling this through carriers,
 but you will be able to get it through htc.com or amazon.com,
 and it's gonna support Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile.
 And pre-orders actually start today.
 It's gonna be shipping in the beginning of next month.
 For more on the HTC U12, including our forthcoming review,
 where we'll take a look at all of these features
 in more detail, please check out theverge.com
 as well as subscribe at youtube.com slash The Verge.