OYSTER BAY, NY – The recently released HTC U12+ with Edge Sense 2 reportedly brings more ways to interact with the phone by squeezing its lower sides or edges. However, The Edge Sense 2 does not deliver a positive user experience, according to the Teardowns service of ABI Research.

What impressed the Teardowns team, though, is how HTC embedded the Edge Sense 2 technology, said Jim Mielke, vice president of Teardowns at ABI Research. HTC has embedded 10 ultrasonic sensors and nine ceramic resonators into the sides of the smartphone. The ceramic resonators create the ultrasonic wave throughout the smartphone, which is then received by one of the Sentons’ ultrasonic sensors under the buttons or grip area.

“Although we have seen a few attempts of bringing vibration technology into smartphones, we have not seen a compelling experience to make the technology a mainstay,” said Mielke.

Acoustical ceramic resonator vibration has been attempted to replace the smartphone’s speakers but has suffered from poor audio, the firm says. Ultrasonic ceramic vibration is used for fingerprint identification, but it is a minor player compared to capacitive sensing techniques. HTC is now on the forefront of ultrasonic ceramic vibration for grip sensing.

While the ultrasonic ceramic vibration technology may be impressive, the UX needs improvement, says ABI Research. There is a learning curve to use the squeeze function for the desired result.

“The user receives no feedback as to how soft or hard to squeeze for the intended response,” said Mielke. “The Edge Sense 2 activation indicators will cause frustration. These issues could be overcome with software updates, and as the technology evolves, it could find some very interesting applications.”

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