What problems are you experiencing with the Essential Phone

[1901Madison]

Mine went back the other day due to non responsive touch on the screen. A reboot would temporarily solve the issue but it was short lived before the issue reared it's ugly head again. On the fence as to if I will order another or not.

Liked most of what the phone had to offer but had a few concerns.

1. The touch screen issues
2. Even the white is a fingerprint magnet on the back. I had a dbrand skin on the back and that did help with the gooey print and smudge mess from showing but I did not dig the way it felt.
3. It's a very heavy phone. Compared to it, my Pixel 2 feels like a feather.

Agree with all of this. Tried the Essential. Loved a lot of it. Disliked exactly what you mentioned. I like the lightweight feel of the Pixel 2, but it's not nearly as handsome a device.

 

[pchain]

Had the Essential phone on Verizon for two weeks. Clean install.

The first week I fell in love with it. Everything worked great. Then I noticed the phone would drop connection randomly...several times it didn't ring but I got alerted someone left a voice message. Sometimes my push email stopped working randomly and would only sync mail when I unlocked it.

I started to have nightmares about having to relive the Verizon Galaxy Nexus that was plagued by these types of issues. So as much as I really did want to keep the Essential Phone, I had to set it free... lol

Wound up getting Note 8.

 

[estebancam]

only issue I have had has been Sprint related. Otherwise it has been great and reliable.

love the weight and feel. love the design even more.

 

[messypotamia]

I don't know if it's the phone or provisioning from a verizon MVNO ("US Mobile"). The first sim I put in was a Mint (TMobile mvno), when I got a signal I good acceptable mobile data but the only towers/network that works for me is Verizon, so I'm trying US Mobile, and for some reason mobile data never turns on, regardless of WiFi. My Mint sim's default behavior was just as expected, e.g. when WiFi connects it turns off mobile data, and vice versa (and just like my vzw phone, a GS4). Reset everything except a factory reset. They say they checked everything on their end (and I cannot figure out where US Mobile is, but I don't think they're in the U.S.). They want me to do a factory reset, and/or use their sim in a known working verizon phone but my GS4 uses a different sim size.
Anybody here successfully using US Mobile? Thanks.

 

[modifier]

Mine went back the other day due to non responsive touch on the screen. A reboot would temporarily solve the issue but it was short lived before the issue reared it's ugly head again.

Was that with Nougat, Oreo beta or both? Did you try the touch tweak listed here?

 

[raqball]

I was on the stock update of Nougat. Yes I did try that tweak and it made no difference. Oddly right after reboot it would be fine for a little then would start not registering taps. If I tapped a few times it would finally register.

 

[modifier]

That's unfortunate. I've had a few taps not register but they were completely random, never in a long string and never requiring a reboot. I wish I knew what I was doing different. The latest update has been rather solid for me. With any luck, next month might bring the Qualcomm-based touch fix and hopefully put an end to the touch issues for everyone.

 

[Stinger4321]

Im blaming my screen protector for missed taps.. it keeps popping off

 

[rld082982]

I've been having intermittent lockup issues, maybe once every couple days. Sometimes it'll clear itself up if I just let the phone do it's thing for 5 or so minutes, other times I have to do a reboot. I will say though that I've noticed it happening when taking a picture more than anything else, but it's still pretty random.

 

[Stinger4321]

I've been having intermittent lockup issues, maybe once every couple days. Sometimes it'll clear itself up if I just let the phone do it's thing for 5 or so minutes, other times I have to do a reboot. I will say though that I've noticed it happening when taking a picture more than anything else, but it's still pretty random.

Strange.. i have never seen a lockup or restart.. averaging 5 to 6 hrs of sot.. havent had the battery go under 15% yet. Im rooted for adaway,adfree utube, and titanium backup..still want to try los but stock is so stable other than scrolling issues...

 

[msp1518]

SCARY thread. Very scary. And there are similar complaints all over the internet. Unresponsiveness and touch screen issues being the primary culprits. I pre-ordeed the phone and when it arrived ended up returning it due to the terrible customer service and some issues that made me feel it wasn't worth $700 when I was moving to China and needed something reliable.

Well it's now months later and cyber Monday gave us a price of $425 for the phone and camera (after taxes and shipping). Add $75 to ship it fedex to my pilot friend in Seattle who will fly to China next Tuesday and and I am taking a big chance! $500 is better than $700, though I might regret this later since I really want Ocean Depths (green).

Ordered the white phone. Will try to get a case eventually (everything is sold out or crap due to Cyber Monday). But if **** goes wrong in China I will be really really up the creek without a paddle.

 

[Roosterman]

I've been having intermittent lockup issues, maybe once every couple days. Sometimes it'll clear itself up if I just let the phone do it's thing for 5 or so minutes, other times I have to do a reboot. I will say though that I've noticed it happening when taking a picture more than anything else, but it's still pretty random.

Interesting coming across this post today. Yesterday, my phone went completly unresponsive. Screen wouldn't turn on. Power button wouldn't do anything. Couldn't get a reboot going since the power button didn't do anything.

Then maybe about half an hour later the phone rebooted on it's own. When it was back up, I noticed I had no cell network connection. Rebooted again and all was well. No problem this morning.

My thought, I hope, is that an app some how went into a loop causing the problem. Hope it never happens again. :-\

 

[deppi0]

Interesting coming across this post today. Yesterday, my phone went completly unresponsive. Screen wouldn't turn on. Power button wouldn't do anything. Couldn't get a reboot going since the power button didn't do anything.

Then maybe about half an hour later the phone rebooted on it's own. When it was back up, I noticed I had no cell network connection. Rebooted again and all was well. No problem this morning.

My thought, I hope, is that an app some how went into a loop causing the problem. Hope it never happens again. :-\

Happens very rarely to me. You have to hold the power button for at least 10 seconds to reboot.

 

[johnnysd]

I really havent had any issues. Only "issue" is no visual voice mail, but that is a Verizon being a **** thing, not a phone thing. No lag, hanging, touch issues, jitters or anything like that. It is super fast. It has failed to recognize my fingerprint a couple times but that is about it. Getting great battery life. Connectivity seems a little worse than my Note 4 was, but nothing to make me want to return the phone. Might go to T-Mobile and try their service with the phone.

 

[timdav]

Hello I have an unlocked phone with Verizon purchased directly from Essential.

My phone has 3 persistent issues-

1 - Bluetooth
Audio apps have dropouts (insufferable to hardly noticeable) and mostly gets better the longer it has been synched. The issue does not happen with Phone audio (through Bluetooth which would be a deal-breaker). Rebooted, applied all updates and other recommended steps from Essential (uninstalling reinstalling, clearing cache, etc.). Most annoying.

2 - Reboot
Phone enters Recovery Mode and selecting down volume and power is only way to boot into OS (and is tricky to pull off successfully). Somewhat annoying (since I reboot infrequently).

3 - Voicemail indication
Periodically my phone shows that I have a voicemail (when none are present). Having an actual voicemail and deleted the message clears the indication. My workaround is to call the phone leave a message and delete the message. Not too annoying.​

I'm a fan of the clean Android experience (no unwanted apps) and overall design. The texture is super slick and seems frictionless (slips off inclined surfaces).

I'd like these issues fixed.

 

[Jamie Winter]

Try dialing *#*#4636*#*# go into setup. Change thetr

 

[nom17]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post on Android central but I had to say something. I've had my essential since release, there were quite a bit of bugs at first, they replace my phone for me.i was happy for a week before the problems started, nothing major but the phone would occasionally freeze, apps would crash but one thing that I couldn't get over is my notification pulldown randomly coming down without me doing anything (fingerprint sensor swipe for notifications off) I didn't know what to do untill I saw the Android Oreo beta was realised, I downloaded it and ever since my phone has run like butter, not a single hiccup, same with a friend who has one. Imo it runs faster than the pixel that I had. If you are comfortable downloading betas I STRONGLY recommend you do that because my phone not only dosent have any problems but is running faster than before now. good luck all.

 

[Freakster1]

When the "lift to check phone" option is on my phone keeps waking up when driving. It can be very distracting. Not a huge deal but would be nice if the sensitivity could be turned down a little in a future update.
That aside I really love this phone. It is worth every penny I paid for it. I think I have finally found my perfect phone!

 

[1901Madison]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post on Android central but I had to say something. I've had my essential since release, there were quite a bit of bugs at first, they replace my phone for me.i was happy for a week before the problems started, nothing major but the phone would occasionally freeze, apps would crash but one thing that I couldn't get over is my notification pulldown randomly coming down without me doing anything (fingerprint sensor swipe for notifications off) I didn't know what to do untill I saw the Android Oreo beta was realised, I downloaded it and ever since my phone has run like butter, not a single hiccup, same with a friend who has one. Imo it runs faster than the pixel that I had. If you are comfortable downloading betas I STRONGLY recommend you do that because my phone not only dosent have any problems but is running faster than before now. good luck all.

How did Oreo Beta impact your battery life?

 

[messypotamia]

This just started. Suddenly I can't get any sound out of the speaker when playing a YouTube, streaming music through Chrome, or playing music from one of the two (one came stock, one I added) players. I do get the sound out of the headphones if plugged in, but not the speaker when headphones are out. Exception to sound is if I make a call and select the speaker then it works, but that's it.
There are some other anomalies which I have brought to Essential customercare's attention, which they don't have an applicable answer for, plus this one, makes me wonder if I'm starting to hate this phone -- Nah, probably just my bipolar kicking in