The Essential Phone - Yay or Nay?

[James Falconer]

Anyone read the news about the upcoming Essential Phone from Andy Rubin? Looks pretty intriguing, with an edge-to-edge display, Snapdragon 835, dual cameras, and a modular system that lets you attach accessories. Looks like it'll run Android (although the version is still unknown), and priced at $699 - it could be a good choice for many.

What do you think? Would you be interested? Would you buy? Yay or Nay?

 

[belodion]

The price is a bit steep for me, but a certain degree of hardware choice would be welcome in phones. For example, you could opt for a thicker version of a phone, allowing a larger camera sensor to be fitted....which would also make room for a larger battery.

 

[dpham00]

Is it coming to Verizon? I would consider it if it was.

 

[Ejjba]

Nay
Very hard to buy first phone from company.
Seems expensive .

 

[anon(238680)]

As another poster there said, "No wireless charging no headphone jack no expandable storage and is it IP 60 nothing too?". Don't care about headphone jack but the others are gotta do for me. Also, the titanium sounds great, but ceramic not so much. Also, I'd rather have more RAM and less storage. I'd have to pass.

 

[anon(9072051)]

Nay for me since the display's gonna be smaller than the S8's (and I doubt a couple silly mms of extra width will make a difference), and, re. the specs, it looks like Rubin's not interested in audio components. Makes me wonder if there's a stereo module in the works. Looks nice, though. Some cool materials choices--titanium & ceramics.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Big Nay from me!

Why on earth did they decide to put the Front Facing camera in the Display!? It will be very distracting when trying to watch videos:

 

[DulyNoted]

I think if they wanted a bezel-free design, they should have gotten rid of the front facing camera altogether, put a 3.5" LCD on the rear of the phone below the fingerprint sensor. Then they could set up the software such that when you hold the phone up and spin it around, the front screen turns off, the rear screen turns on and the camera goes into selfie mode. The challenge I guess would be to have circuitry for two screens without making the phone absurdly thick. It shouldn't make the battery life worse at least because only one screen needs to be on at a time...

 

[pkcable]

I signed up! I even pre-ordered the 360 camera for 50 bucks, 50 dollars!!!!!!!! I figure I can always decline IF I don't like what I see once we know more. BUT it looks so cool I HAD to be on the list!

 

[Ejjba]

One more point
Is this just an unlocked phone? Or is this going on any ones network?
Seems like hard sell without one of the big three.
Unless large quantityou not issue first time around

 

[libra89]

Nah.
It's beautiful but as said, that camera "eye" would bother me and it seems like it would be a pain to try to use this phone one handed.

I am amazed that they fit that much screen and body into a phone of this size that isn't huge or crazy tall.

 

[Ry]

One more point
Is this just an unlocked phone? Or is this going on any ones network?
Seems like hard sell without one of the big three.
Unless large quantityou not issue first time around

As far as I know, no US carriers will have it.

 

[Ejjba]

One more thing . Is it true only in U.S.?
If so how is it going to be sold?
Just curious

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

Nah.
It's beautiful but as said, that camera "eye" would bother me and it seems like it would be a pain to try to use this phone one handed.

I am amazed that they fit that much screen and body into a phone of this size that isn't huge or crazy tall.

How would it be a pain one handed? It's basically the same size as the S7. Unless you only use phones like the iPhone SE or Xperia X Compact, I don't see how this would be bad for one handed use. It's not S8+ tall or U11 wide.

 

[quadtronix]

Looks good to me... If it comes to Verizon I'm in!

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I signed up! I even pre-ordered the 360 camera for 50 bucks, 50 dollars!!!!!!!! I figure I can always decline IF I don't like what I see once we know more. BUT it looks so cool I HAD to be on the list!

I just signed up as well. Figure I could do the same and decline the purchase if it looks bad after they get some units in to reviewers hands.

 

[cert15z]

I just signed up for the phone and camera. Can't​ wait for more info to come out.

 

[libra89]

How would it be a pain one handed? It's basically the same size as the S7. Unless you only use phones like the iPhone SE or Xperia X Compact, I don't see how this would be bad for one handed use. It's not S8+ tall or U11 wide.

Since the whole phone is screen (basically), I can see accidental touches in my future. A lot of people have/had things to say about the Pixel's bezels but with them, it's very easy to use that one handed. I'm not shuffling my thumb or the phone in my hand to make that happen. The same goes with another phone I own with similar dimensions but less screen of course. The bezels work nicely.

I prefer those phones (in size) and I have owned both at one point in time.

 

[Ry]

Looks good to me... If it comes to Verizon I'm in!

Sold by Verizon or works on Verizon?

 

[quadtronix]

Sold by Verizon or works on Verizon?

Preferably sold by Verizon, I like to buy my phones from the store, but this one looks really appealing to me so I might be willing to be a little bit flexible this time, in that regard, and buy from Essential directly as long as it works on Verizon...

I'm really hyped about this phone partly because of who's making it and partly because it looks really slick to me with that true-bezzelless display and what's basically stock Android! I read somewhere this morning that its 7.1.1 too!!!