14 DAY TRIAL // HTC announced the new U series today and introduced the Sense Companion on its two new smartphones. The voice-activated AI has similar features on the U Ultra and U Play, but offers more tools on the premium phone thanks to its secondary display.
Today’s announcement marked the introduction of HTC’s Sense Companion virtual assistant, similar to Samsung’s S Voice, Siri, Google Assistant and others that are currently found on premium smartphones on the market.
Sense Companion “learns from U, becoming a companion that evolves to get to know you better over time,” as HTC puts it. The personal assistant provides users with suggestions based on the weather forecast and can be used to make appointments or mark events in the calendar.
As such, if you’re going away on a trip, it might remind you to take a power bank or book flights for your trip. It can also recommend nearby restaurants or remind you to charge the phone when the battery is low.
Sense Companion notifications are displayed on the 2-inch screen
Sense Companion was created to evolve over time, it remembers which messages you react to and which you disregard, thus learning your behavior and only showing relevant information. You can also rank cards with information so that the learning process would be easier and faster.
Sense Companion is certainly more convenient on the HTC U Ultra, thanks to its 2-inch secondary display, very similar to LG’s V20. The AI assistant would show information on the secondary display, thus not disrupting any apps that you might be working on on the main screen.
Moreover, HTC U phones come with 4 always-on microphones ready for your voice input. HTC U Ultra comes with voice recognition, so that it can react to your voice input even when the phone is in stand-by mode. The device can reject calls, snooze or dismiss alarms, send messages and commence hands-free navigation following your voice commands.