Exclusive: HTC'Ocean Life' will launch as HTCU11 Life later this year

After launching the well-received U11, HTC looks to add one more device to its U-branded lineup before the end of 2017. One of our sources has confirmed that the HTC Ocean Life, which has been subject to a handful of leaks in recent months, will come to market as the HTCU11 Life later this year.

As you can see in the image attached above, the U11 Life will sport a similar front panel to that of the HTCU11 or HTC 10. Below the phone’s 5.2-inch Full HD display sits the front-mounted fingerprint sensor, and above the screen you’ll find the earpiece and 16 MP Panorama Selfie camera. That’s right — the HTCU11 Life will feature a 16 MP front camera sensor just like its big brother. It’ll also come with a 16 MP rear-facing camera with phase-detection auto-focus.

Moreover, the U11 Life will come with HTC’s Edge Sense, signaling the company’s efforts to bring this unique feature to non-flagship devices. We’re glad to see Edge Sense spread to more phones, since we found it to be useful and intriguing on the U11.

Elsewhere, the U11 Life is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform, which differs from the Snapdragon 660 that the phone was reported to feature in July. RAM amount is unknown at this time, though the phone sports 32 GB of storage that can be bumped up by an additional 2 TB through the microSD card slot.

Finally, the U11 Life features IP67 certification and included HTCUSonic earbuds with active noise cancellation. This leads us to believe the phone does not feature a headphone jack, though we can’t be sure.

As for availability, we have confirmation that the U11 Life will be sold through T-Mobile. We’re expecting it to be sold unlocked through HTC.com as well, though we unfortunately don’t have further availability details at this time.

What do you think of the HTCU11 Life and would you buy a cheaper version of HTC’s flagship? Let us know your views in the comments below!