Essential Phone

Earlier today, Andy Rubin and several executives from Essential hosted an AMA on Reddit to primarily discuss the Essential Phone. Notable highlights from the session include when the Android Oreo update is coming, as well as when the phone will be supported on Verizon, as well as European availability.

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Dropping your phone is no fun, especially if it’s vulnerable to breaking, and today’s bezel-less devices are a bit more prone to this than others. However, Essential has been pretty confident in its titanium frame and use of Gorilla Glass 5, to the point that it offers no options for protecting the PH-1. Today one of the first Essential drop tests has been performed, and the results weren’t all that pretty.

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The Essential Phone is all about keeping true to the company’s name by shipping with only the essentials. This means that the version of Android that ships with the handset is more stock than the build that runs on the Google Pixels.

Do you think Essential should have added more features to the Phone?

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Nine times out of ten, new smartphone startups fail, and there’s a reason for that. Making it in this industry is incredibly difficult, especially when you’re aiming for the higher price points. Essential has pulled out all the stops with its very first product, the Essential Phone, and thanks to that it’s playing directly against phones like the Pixel, Galaxy Note 8, LG G6 and V30, as well as the iPhone.

How does it hold up? That’s a mixed bag. There are a lot of good things about the Essential Phone, but also a lot of bad. So, let’s take a closer look.

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The Essential Phone pre-orders began arriving last week, but not before a snafu on the part of the Andy Rubin startup involving a “verification” email that shared customer data. Listening to Essential and just looking at the phone make it clear that a lot of engineering work went into the device. An iFixit teardown confirms as much, though creating a black monolithic slab also resulted in an incredibly hard phone to repair.

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Starting a new company from the ground up is anything but easy, and Andy Rubin has quickly been learning that with Essential. A recent customer service error revealed personal customer info to other buyers, Verizon compatibility is still shaky, and the dual-cameras leave a lot to be desired. However, despite these woes, the Essential Phone is now arriving on buyers’ doorsteps.

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[Update] 4:31 pm 8/30: Andy Rubin has posted a blog post to explain that the incident was not a phishing scam but was, in fact, a customer service error. The company has apologized to the customers who were affected and have provided them with a year-long subscription to LifeLock.

If you placed an order for the Essential Phone, you might want to check your email. Someone is currently emailing customers asking for further verification before their order is shipped. If you did receive this email, do not respond and delete it…

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Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone is an impressive piece of hardware for a first-generation product built by a startup, but even the father of Android himself hasn’t gotten this device to market without its fair share of issues. Early buyers have been voicing concerns about their pre-orders for several days now, but it seems that orders are finally on their way.

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When the initial Essential Phone reviews were published, there was a consensus that the handset’s weakest point was the camera. Once we got our hands on the phone, we had to agree with others were saying, especially with the camera’s low-light performance.

Do you still plan to purchase the Essential Phone despite its poor camera performance?

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We’ve now had the chance to go hands-on with two of this fall’s latest flagship smartphones: the Essential Phone and Samsung Galaxy Note 8. While one comes from a brand new company backed by Andy Rubin, the other is a part of a long-existing line of smartphones that have a loyal audience. Let’s see how the two compare…

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The Essential Phone is just about to ship to early customers, and there’s a lot that’s good about the first product from Andy Rubin’s startup. Early reviews have been glowing overall, but the camera has been disappointing for most. I’ve spent the past couple of days using the Essential Phone as my daily driver in preparation for my full review, and I’ve been testing out the camera quite a bit. Is it actually as bad as everyone has been saying? Well…

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After months of teasing, I was finally able to spend some quality time with the first product from Andy Rubin’s startup, the Essential Phone. With major releases like the Note 8, LG V30, and Pixel 2 right around the corner, does this phone actually deserve your attention? Even after just spending a few minutes with it, I can confidently say it absolutely does…

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After finally going on sale yesterday, the first reviews have dropped on the first phone from Andy Rubin’s startup, the Essential Phone. The bezel-less device indeed suffered delays (and weathered hype for other devices), but the remaining question is the tried-and-true: Is it actually worth buying? We’ll answer that ourselves soon, but in the meantime, here’s what others are saying…

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As we quickly approach the end of summer, we’re expecting some of the biggest names in the smartphone world to release its latest and greatest. This includes handsets from LG, Samsung, Google, Essential, and Motorola.

Which of this fall’s new Android smartphones are you most interested in buying?

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Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone is still nowhere to be seen, but thanks to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, we have new information confirming that the phone should be here sooner rather than later..

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The Essential Phone was met with hype and excitement (at least in the tech community) following its announcement in late May, but with updates on the phone being few and far between and top executives within the company calling it quits, Essential needs to make a move before it’s too late. Thankfully, it looks like we just got one step closer to the Essential Phone’s imminent launch.

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