After a brief but very intense period of rumours and leaks, the HTC U11 Plus has been announced alongside the HTC U11 Life. As per usual, all the leaks and rumours proved pretty much spot on accurate, so there aren't many surprises here.

The HTC U11 Plus is a bigger version of the existing HTC U11, with a larger 6in 18:9 aspect ratio edge-to-edge display and a number of upgrades and tweaks to its spec line-up. The display is a Super LCD6 (1440x2880p) with Gorilla Glass 5.

Broadly, the design is very similar to the existing HTC U11, as you might expect, although there are some changes to make way for the enlarged display. There are no keys on the front fascia whatsoever, with the fingerprint scanner being moved to the back panel. Towards the longer sides the screen is virtually bezel-less, however, the HTC U11 Plus doesn't push up so much at top and bottom in order to keep room for HTC's front-facing BoomSound speakers. More on those later.

As a result, it's got a little chin and forehead, a bit like the Pixel XL 2. Personally I still think it looks pretty good. The handset is fashioned from metal and glasss, and the body is IP68 water and dust proof too. Measurements are 158.5 x 74.9 x 8.5mm, and the weight is 188g.

What I don't like about the original HTC U11 has returned on the HTC U11 Plus - HTC's glossy "Liquid Surface" finish with a mirror shine. The phone has silver or black options, as well as that rumoured translucent colour, which is a semi-transparent black (or greyish) hue with some interesting detailing visible under the glass; this looks really cool, I just wish it wasn't mirror finish still.

A good chunk of the internal specs remain more or less the same - the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor still runs the show, and depending on where you live you can either get 4GB of RAM with 64GB of onboard storage, or 6GB of RAM with 128GB. Either option nets you microSD support as well. The battery is rated at 3,930mAh and supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0.

The camera is a 12MP UltraPixel 3 sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS) an f/1.7 aperture, 1.4µm pixel size, UltraSpeed autofocus, and a dual-LED flash. Video capture is 1080p at 120fps, or 4K recording with Hi-Res audio. It's essentially the same as the HTC U11, but that's no bad thing as that's easily one of the best cameras we've seen this year. On the front there's also an 8 MP sensor with an 85-degree wide angle FOV and an f/2.0 aperture; it supports 1080p video recording.

All of this runs on Android 8.0 Oreo with the HTC Sense UI on top, it also has the Edge Sense feature on the lower surround which allows you to squeeze the phone to launch certain apps or features, and HTC has made this more customisable than before.

HTC has now released a couple of promo videos for the HTC U11 Plus showcasing the features of the phone. The HTC U11 Life also comes along for the ride.

In the EU you're looking at an RRP of €799. HTC has said the phone won't come to the North American market. We'll update with more pricing and availability as we hear it.

Head over to page two for the pre-launch rumours

The HTC U11 Plus is launching on November 2, so there's not long left to wait, but that hasn't stopped the leaks coming thick and fast in the last remaining hours.

Today we're seeing a video hands-on of the HTC U11 Plus (as well as the HTC U11 Life, which will apparently launch alongside). Swiss publication Blick allegedly put the video live by mistake on Facebook; it has since been taken down, but has been re-hosted on EventView - you'll have to follow the link as embedding doesn't work for this format. In the event the video gets taken down, screenshots have made their way onto Slashleaks too.

Edit: We found a version of the vid on Youtube and will embed it below, but it may not stay up forever!

We get a good look at the 18:9 6in display spanning the majority of the front fascia, and the fingerprint scanner on the back panel. The overall design is very similar to the HTC U11, as you'd expect, but crucially the showcased model appears to be the rumoured "translucent" colour option which partially shows some of the phones interior components.

Also shown is the returning Edge Sense feature with the lower portion of the handset being squeezable to perform various functions, such as launching the camera or Google Assistant; this is a more fleshed out iteration than on the HTC U11, offering more user customisation.

On top of all that, the official product renders have leaked online as well, first via PhoneArena, and then via product listings on Dutch retailer Belsimpel, where the handset is listed in both black and translucent colour options.

The listings confirm the EU RRP of €799, as well as the spec line-up and appear to show there is only a 6GB RAM with 128GB storage option, despite earlier rumours of a 4GB RAM with 64GB storage option. The listing renders also show the proper Sense UI.