Peep the Essential Phone by the dude who created Android

[JordanWearinThe45]

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After months of teases and speculation, Android creator Andy Rubin has unveiled the first smartphone by his new company, Essential. As expected, the PH-1 is built to be a no-compromise device with top-of-the-line specs and sophisticated industrial design. Taking center stage is an edge-to-edge display that rises to the top of the phone, stopping only for the front-facing camera in the middle. The device is made of titanium and ceramic, which the company claims will trump most aluminium phones in the durability department. It's a sleek look with no jarring logos or branding in sight.

Inside is the usual flagship Android components: A Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 3040mAh battery and 128GB of internal storage. More intriguing are the two holes on the back which can be used to attach Essential-made accessories. The most exciting is a tiny 360-degree camera, which can shoot a spherical UHD (3840x1920) image at 30 frames per second. There will also be a charging dock, should you prefer a cradle to the normal dangling cable. The general concept is similar to Motorola's Moto Mods, which brought modular customisation to the Moto Z line.

The Essential Phone's built-in camera is, at least on paper, promising too. Rubin's company has opted for a dual-camera setup similar to Huawei's P9 and P10, with a sensor dedicated to monochrome imaging. It can be used standalone for black and white photos, or combined with the color sensor for improved detail and low-light performance. The front-facing camera, meanwhile, is an 8-megapixel snapper capable of shooting 4K video.

As The Verge reports, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack (yep, we're groaning too) on the phone. It'll ship with a dongle, however, so all of your regular buds and cans will work, provided you're ready to embrace the #donglelife. Instead, Essential is banking on USB-C and, like Apple, Bluetooth connectivity. The phone will come in four different colors — Black Moon, Stellar Grey, Pure White and Ocean Depths — and ship for $699, or $749 with a bundled 360-degree camera.

This is Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone

Essential Products | My Phone is Essential

Cant lie that phone looks sexy as fukk

 

[neph27]

Seems nice, but I'm not sure what it's offering compared to other android flagships with similar price points besides more limited customer support and Likely less network compatibility here in the US. That's assuming this won't get a cdma cert

Also, no AMOLED screen should be a deal breaker for anyone serious about a phone for media consumption.

 

[Knowledge]

What's up with people wanting to kill of the aux?

 

[ORDER_66]

phone design looks crispy ASF

 

[Spaceman Piff]

front camera looks awkward..

they couldn't slide that bottom bezel to the top?

 

[Hiphoplives4eva]

No headphone jack? Automatic trash.

 

[Liquid]

Meh

 

[ORDER_66]

No headphone jack? Automatic trash.

Is they serious no headphone jack?!

 

[Dre Space Age]

Why in the fukk is that camera on the screen?

 

[R=G]

Different but passable

 

[joeychizzle]

3 things make this a fail:
1. no headphone jack, suck a dikk. i don't care if you created android that's some fakkit shyt to pull.:fohbirdmayne:
2. that camera position and design looks retarded. who the fukk okayed that shyt in the meetings :trillbunb:
3. what the fukk is up with companies putting fingerprint sensors in the back.:thefukkmayne:

 

[Threnody]

Trash compared to the One Plus 5

 

[Mr210]

Will this work on sprint?

 

[Mr. Manhattan]

looks like a bootleg pixel

 

[Macallik86]

Too expensive for its own good and nothing to differentiate it in a major way imo.

Nowadays, I feel like you cannot enter the market with an expensive flagship phone. Outside of Samsung/Google/Apple, everyone selling +$600 phones are in an uphill battle. There aren't many people will to spend $500 on a phone that they don't see daily commercials about. This is why LG, Huawei, Nokia, OPPO, Lenovo, etc aren't moving units.

Samsung has been around forever so they are tried and true, Google started with inexpensive Nexus phones and raised the prices over the years (and OnePlus are in the midst of doing the same) and Apple fanboys will pay top dollar for anything.