Virtual or smart assistants, AI, or whatever you want to call them, these services have taken off in a big way this year, with virtually every new flagship smartphone touting their inclusion. We have universal players in Alexa and Google Assistant, and smaller propriety options from the likes of Samsung, HTC, and now even Andy Rubin's new Essential Phone. Better search results, personalized responses, and contextual information right at your fingertips. Not to mention that interacting with voice is a faster, more convenient, and a more human way to ask questions and be told certain pieces of information. Certainly, smart assistants have their uses and I'm sure that they're going to be a helpful tool for many.

HTC has revealed its newest smartphone, which can be squeezed in order to take selfies and launch other apps. The tech giant's new U11 device houses technology called Edge Sense, based around sensors built into the side of the device that respond to being squeezed. The Taiwanese manufacturer has also become the first to include support for both the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa smart virtual assistants. The tech giant's new U11 device houses technology called Edge Sense, based around sensors built into the side of the device that respond to being squeezed The HTC U11, which will cost £649 / $649, was unveiled during a live event in Taiwan and is the tech giant's challenger to the new Samsung Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 7. The Edge Sense technology can be used to open the camera and take selfies, as well as launch certain apps and trigger voice control features. It also works when the phone is wet and if the user if wearing gloves, HTC said, and it will also support voice dictation for messages.

The good: Sharp screen, Excellent front-facing camera, Great audio The bad: Too large to hold comfortably, Battery life could be better, Second screen doesn't improve the experience, Expensive Who should buy: Android fans who want an exceptionally large phone with a nice screen -- but those who prioritize portability and battery life should look elsewhere. A little more than four years ago in 2013, HTC made my favorite Android smartphone: the One. Its sleek metal design set it apart from competing Android phones at the time, many of which felt like they were made of chintzy plastic. The One also had an excellent screen and the best speakers of its class. But while the One's successors brought mild improvements, they have largely felt like the same phone repackaged with upgraded internals and slightly altered looks. That's why I was excited to get my hands on the $749 U Ultra, which HTC began shipping in March.

The HTC U Ultra may be the new smartphone from HTC that's gathering a lot of attention right now, but it isn't the only new smartphone that HTC announced this week. The Taiwanese company also introduced the smaller mid-range HTC U Play. The exterior of the HTC U Play uses the same glass material that's also wrapped around the U Ultra. This is one of the most significant design changes from HTC as the company is mostly known for using an aluminum body design. Although the materials used are the same, the overall look of the U Play is distinct from its bigger brother.

HTC may have taken a bolder approach in the smartphone world with its new U Ultra and U Play, but it's decided to play it safe with its roadmap for the rest of the year. After today's launch event in Taipei, I caught up with President of Smartphone and Connected Devices Business, Chialin Chang, who confirmed that HTC will only be releasing six to seven smartphones this year. While that's a drastic cut from last year's eleven to twelve models, he claims this has so far allowed the company to focus on its smartphones' core features, in a bid to put up a better fight against other brands. In the case of the two newest phones, Chang sees machine learning as their main selling point. The exec described the so-called Sense Companion virtual assistant as a combination of Google's Awareness API, device information and third-party data.

This may be the year when an artificial intelligence-based voice assistant becomes a regular smartphone feature, like front-facing cameras already are. While 2016 saw Pixel's Google Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa, 2017 has started with HTC Sense Companion, and we are still waiting for the impending Samsung Bixby launch. Along with its new phones -- the U Ultra and U Play -- HTC introduced Thursday a new voice assistant called the Sense Companion. The voice-controlled assistant will let you issue commands to your phone, open apps, set reminders and more, all without physically touching the device. The Sense Companion will utilize the secondary screen on the U Ultra, rather than blocking your view of the main screen, in case you want to use it for doing something else.

HTC has unveiled two new smartphones with artificial intelligence that can learn a user's phone habits and support them. The firm revealed the HTC U Play and U Ultra, both of which house AI software called HTC Sense Companion. The U Ultra features a small second screen at the top of the display that is designed to stay on, offering a faster window to important notifications. Like Apple, HTC has controversially ditched the headphone jack, meaning users will need to rely on wireless headphones or use an adapter. HTC's new smartphones contain artificial intelligence that can learn a user's phone habits and support them, the technology giant said.

Just when you thought HTC might be ready to hang up on its smartphone efforts, the Android underdog is turning up the volume and announcing what it describes as a "new direction" -- in the form of a series of smartphones preloaded with its own AI assistant. While mobile phones were originally a device for talking to other humans, before smartphones plus touchscreens turned devices (and people) into texting machines, analysts are spying signs of a renaissance for voice -- as a control mechanism to speed up interacting with increasingly complex devices. Every major smartphone device and OS maker has their own AI these days, from Apple's Siri, to Microsoft's Cortana, to Samsung's Viv, to Amazon's Alexa, to Google's Assistant. HTC is finally following suit, unveiling what it's calling the "HTC Sense companion" at a launch event today. The company teased the launch of the new U series smartphones last month, hinting at the "For U" personalization it had in the pipeline.