Reliability/Performance

[jontalk]

After missing out on the Amazon deal due to the initial negative reports and slow sales of this phone, I began researching it while searching on Swappa and Ebay. In the process I learned that early on there were many problems with the phone especially network/carrier issues. Since the device has been updated several times, I'm curious if those who own them here are still experiencing dropped calls and slow WiFi and LTE speeds. Needless to say the launch price was far too high, but at or below the Amazon price of $250, it seems like a lot of phone and one with a more current SoC than others at the price point. Any feedback would be welcome as to build, performance, reliability etc. Thanks.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

Many of the software problems were addressed after months of updates. However, I still had to return 4 Essential phones for various issues like no NFC, bad light bleed, unreliable BT and dropped or missed calls. I didn't even realise the reception was that bad until I switched back to the Pixel 2 for a few days.

 

[jontalk]

@SactoKingsFan...Yikes that's ugly...Believe it or not I have a Galaxy S3 that's yet to let me down I've seen a plethora of both good and bad reviews of the Essential and with the company still looking for $$, I guess I'll be cautious. The other phone I've been looking at is the OnePlus, though I don't want to invest in the latest model

 

[SactoKingsFan]

@SactoKingsFan...Yikes that's ugly...Believe it or not I have a Galaxy S3 that's yet to let me down I've seen a plethora of both good and bad reviews of the Essential and with the company still looking for $$, I guess I'll be cautious. The other phone I've been looking at is the OnePlus, though I don't want to invest in the latest model

Yeah, I think Essential has had some quality control problems. My Halo Gray would have been perfect if it didn't suffer from poor reception.

 

[madlaw1071]

My Halo Gray has better reception in my house than: iPhone 8+, S8+,S9+ and OP6 on AT&T

 

[jontalk]

My Halo Gray has better reception in my house than: iPhone 8+, S8+,S9+ and OP6 on AT&T

Wow..pretty amazing..is the Halo Gray different in some way other than color? Good to know regardless

 

[SactoKingsFan]

Wow..pretty amazing..is the Halo Gray different in some way other than color? Good to know regardless

The matte ceramic on the Halo Gray has a soft grippy texture.

 

[Mdbills484]

Wow..pretty amazing..is the Halo Gray different in some way other than color? Good to know regardless

I had a frost white one which had a horrible signal in the same location. It may not be the color but rather due to a later build.

 

[jontalk]

I had a frost white one which had a horrible signal in the same location. It may not be the color but rather due to a later build.

Sounds like you sold it. What I'm curious about is whether any of the updates solved the connectivity problem. For a phone who's sales were small I'm finding quite a few listed on Ebay, many of which are listed as 'parts not working'. But that's not unusual for any device. Maybe Halo Gray was a newer color and better build?

 

[Slipthejab]

The essential phone has been excellent for me, particularly at the price point.
Build is fantastic and I haven't had any issues with reception, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.
I live in Australia though so am not using it on USA carriers.

I got it later than most so the early bugs were ironed out with updates by the time I got mine.
Camera is also not as bad as most say if you side load the pixel camera. It's actually quite excellent, even at high ISO.

 

[mike104393]

I'm about to get mine today. Definitely excited. Coming from a note 8 but looking for a pure Android experience other than the Google pixel; plus, I got it during prime day so can't complain about the price.

 

[jontalk]

The essential phone has been excellent for me, particularly at the price point.
Build is fantastic and I haven't had any issues with reception, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.
I live in Australia though so am not using it on USA carriers.

I got it later than most so the early bugs were ironed out with updates by the time I got mine.
Camera is also not as bad as most say if you side load the pixel camera. It's actually quite excellent, even at high ISO.

Thanks..most of the complaints posted come from US customers who complained about constant connections being dropped as well as WiFi connection. I understand its hit and miss with displays that suffer from light bleed also. Regardless its a great looking device and seems to perform better now that they've updated the software numerous times. Not a big fan of the ceramic back but a case can solve that issue.

 

[anon(3415124)]

I'm about to get mine today. Definitely excited. Coming from a note 8 but looking for a pure Android experience other than the Google pixel; plus, I got it during prime day so can't complain about the price.

I've got a Note 8 as well. Logically, I should like it better, but I basically use the Essential all the time. I occasionally swap back to the Note, and am so blown away by the gorgeous display, but only manage to use it for a day or two before switching back to the Essential. I prefer the smaller size, the battery life is amazing, and I like the quick and light overall feel to the OS. I've been using a white one since Cyber Monday, and bought a black one on Amazon Prime day. I've never had any real problems or complaints with it. Camera can take good pictures, generally comparable to the Note 8 with the understanding that it's not as forgiving as the Note 8. Meaning that I can whip the Note out and take a pic, and it will look good. The Essential just needs a little more patience, and I sometimes have to discard pics. I don't rely on my cellphone camera for important stuff, anyway. I guess I should try to sell the Note 8 before the 9 comes out.

 

[philesk]

I've got a Note 8 as well. Logically, I should like it better, but I basically use the Essential all the time. I occasionally swap back to the Note, and am so blown away by the gorgeous display, but only manage to use it for a day or two before switching back to the Essential. I prefer the smaller size, the battery life is amazing, and I like the quick and light overall feel to the OS. I've been using a white one since Cyber Monday, and bought a black one on Amazon Prime day. I've never had any real problems or complaints with it. Camera can take good pictures, generally comparable to the Note 8 with the understanding that it's not as forgiving as the Note 8. Meaning that I can whip the Note out and take a pic, and it will look good. The Essential just needs a little more patience, and I sometimes have to discard pics. I don't rely on my cellphone camera for important stuff, anyway. I guess I should try to sell the Note 8 before the 9 comes out.

Noticed a new difference. I bought two more PH-1s on Prime Day for wife & son. After letting them update to Android 8.1, I noticed that the camera app also updated to version 0.1.104.005. I'm running the Android 9.0 beta and it's camera app is at version 1.0.0. 003. The UI appearance of the photo app seems the same, but I wonder if anyone has taken enough photos with both and detected any differences in the resulting photos.

 

[anon(3415124)]

I'm running Oreo 8.1, and I've got the same version of the camera as you do. Perhaps they've missed an update somehow?

 

[bricky23]

I had 2 different original black Essential phones. The reception on TMobile was very bad, compared to other phones, so had to get rid of them. Using a Halo gray on a Verizon mvno, and the reception is as good or better than a Verizon G6 that I have. Haven't tried it on T-Mobile. I also had a Sony Xperia XZ2 that I loved, but had to get rid of for the same reason. I check oil wells out in the country, and need to be able to make and keep phone calls. I would like to use the Halo gray on T-Mobile, to see if it is how the phone works with T-Mobile vs Verizon, or a difference in the 3 phones.

 

[mike104393]

Finally got my essential and been using it for a full day. Coming from a Note 8, here are a few of my pros and cons.

pros:
Love the form factor. I don't feel like I am losing a lot of screen realestate with this phone since it has a baseless design. One thing I do hate is the screen is not as good as I hoped it would be. There is a bit of light bleed, but I got it for $250 so I'm not going to complain about it.

I don't consider myself an average user and have dabbled with rooting. With my Note 8, I've had to disable a lot of apps to get the pure Android feel. It's nice to just yet it out of the box without any bloatware. I do miss advance calling features like wifi calling (verizon). I think after using pure Android, I don't think I can go back. I don't think Samsung is bad in anyway the frequency with updates as well as the phone just working the way it should has won me over.

Camera to me is very good. I ported Google Camera and it's been working great for a day. I love the monochrome len!

Battery life is by far the best. Charging time is amazing. This phone lastest a day easily. Way better than the note 8 in that department.

Con:
With the pure Android version there are a few bugs I've experience. Picking up phone calls for some reason randomly goes straight to speaker.

Note 8 is packed with a bunch of features that I took for granted; such as, wireless charging, s-pen, expandable storage, and even shared WiFi hotspot.

Anyway, for the price point, I'm not complaining. Enjoying using the phone, will plan to root and customize the hell out of this thing. May end up using this as a backup phone later in the future.

 

[ksefan]

Finally got my essential and been using it for a full day. Coming from a Note 8, here are a few of my pros and cons.

pros:
Love the form factor. I don't feel like I am losing a lot of screen realestate with this phone since it has a baseless design. One thing I do hate is the screen is not as good as I hoped it would be. There is a bit of light bleed, but I got it for $250 so I'm not going to complain about it.

I don't consider myself an average user and have dabbled with rooting. With my Note 8, I've had to disable a lot of apps to get the pure Android feel. It's nice to just yet it out of the box without any bloatware. I do miss advance calling features like wifi calling (verizon). I think after using pure Android, I don't think I can go back. I don't think Samsung is bad in anyway the frequency with updates as well as the phone just working the way it should has won me over.

Camera to me is very good. I ported Google Camera and it's been working great for a day. I love the monochrome len!

Battery life is by far the best. Charging time is amazing. This phone lastest a day easily. Way better than the note 8 in that department.

Con:
With the pure Android version there are a few bugs I've experience. Picking up phone calls for some reason randomly goes straight to speaker.

Note 8 is packed with a bunch of features that I took for granted; such as, wireless charging, s-pen, expandable storage, and even shared WiFi hotspot.

Anyway, for the price point, I'm not complaining. Enjoying using the phone, will plan to root and customize the hell out of this thing. May end up using this as a backup phone later in the future.

I like how most of us in this thread are using note 8s. I got the essential on prime day as well and I love it but I have the same pros and cons about it too. I'll tell you what after using the essential phone after a while than going back to my note 8..the note 8 feel like a mammoth. I didnt realize how big it was cause I got so use to it

 

[jontalk]

Great stuff friends, though I'm curious if the bug Mike104393 is having with phones going directly to speaker is widespread; haven't heard it reported elsewhere. I just came across one that's about 6 mos old for cheap, so if it doesn't get sold I may grab it. What I find curious is the reference to certain colors for use on different carriers due to poor reception. I'm with AT&T and use a MicroCell at home though coverage in the Bay areas is pretty great. How does everyone feel about LTE and WiFi speeds they're getting when compared to their other phones?

 

[anon(3415124)]

Great stuff friends, though I'm curious if the bug Mike104393 is having with phones going directly to speaker is widespread; haven't heard it reported elsewhere.

Yeah, that's the first I've heard of it as well.