Considering a mate 10 pro

The hardware of the mate 10 is excellent and I think it goes toe to toe with Samsung in a lot of areas. I love my note excellent hardware but I am thinking about going the other way towards the next pixel. Really I think the mate and note occupy the same space in my mind great hardware with ok software.
 
I'm considering anything BUT a Note 8 to replace my Note 3. I cannot stand the Edge display. And I'm not crazy about spending the equivalent of decent laptop money on a cell phone. I'm looking at the Mate 10, but also the Essential.

In my opinion, the Mate 10 and Essential are great choices.