It looks like we may have been too quick to dismiss yesterday’s HTC Ocean mishap. According to @LlabTooFeR, there are three new code names which are related to the HTC Ocean – Ocean Master, Ocean Note and Ocean Smart. There’s no other information available in regards to these three devices, but we thought we’d take a closer look at the HTC Ocean “sizzle reel” that made the rounds yesterday to see if there are any interesting details.
The design of the HTC Ocean isn’t anything special. The phone is a metal slab with a glass panel on the front. Overall, it looks similar to the HTC 10 if it had been stripped of any of its recognizable features. There’s no fingerprint sensor, no power or volume buttons, so SIM or microSD card slots and no 3.5mm headphone jack. There is a noticeable speaker grill on the bottom edge of the phone and the USB connection port appears to have the sale bump out at the HTC Bolt (that seems a bit odd to us). And then there’s the duo-camera on the back.
But what’s most intriguing are the four dots which are placed on the left and right sides of the HTC Ocean, near the top and bottom. The video may not be representative of any specific phone, but it does preview a new Sense Touch contextual-based UI control system which uses the metal frame of the phone instead of dedicated buttons. In that context, the four dots are likely sensors which help the phone determine how it is being held and what actions to take when a user swipes up on down on the edge of the phone. As shown in the video, this contextual interaction with the frame of the phone could be used to change the exposure level in the camera with a simple sliding of the finger. The user would then be able to snap the picture by tapping on the edge of the phone, representative of a shutter button click.
Codenames
OCEAN MASTER
OCEAN NOTE
OCEAN SMARThttps://t.co/r4FY9I0Ske— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) September 21, 2016
We’re not sure that relation the Ocean Master, Ocean Note and Ocean Smart code names have with the HTC Ocean concept sizzle reel, but we don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two leaks came back-to-back. If HTC is working on a new Sense Touch contextual UI control system, we don’t think it will be introduced in 2016. Something as significant as Sense Touch would likely make its debut on HTC’s 2017 flagship smartphone. The Ocean Master, Ocean
The Ocean Master, Ocean Note and Ocean Smart names imply to use that HTC if planning three different devices within the same family. The Ocean Master is likely the main flagship while the Note could be a larger sized version of the Master. That leaves the Ocean Smart to fill the “Lifestyle” category with the same design, inferior specs, but a more appealing price point. Naturally, this is all speculation on our part. We’ll have to wait for more details before we have a clearer picture of what the HTC Ocean looks like.
Take a look at HTC Ocean video and the images below and let us know what you think of Sense Touch.
