The Essential Phone (officially Phone or PH-1) is an Android smartphone designed by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, and manufactured, developed and marketed by Essential Products. The phone was officially unveiled on May 30, 2017.
The Essential Phone has a titanium and ceramic body, an edge-to-edge display protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and dual-lens camera--one lens of which has a sensor dedicated to black-and-white photography. Accompanying the phone is a 360-degree camera that can be attached to the top of the device.
Video Essential Phone
History
Pre-release
Bloomberg reported in January 2017 that Andy Rubin, co-founder of the Android operating system acquired by Google in 2005, was preparing to announce a new hardware company called Essential, whose first hardware product would be the "Essential" Phone.
The phone first appeared in a tweet by Rubin, posted on March 27, 2017. In a quote of the tweet, Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed the phone would run Android. A few days prior to the official announcement, Essential tweeted an image of what appeared to be a 360-degree camera attached to the smartphone. The Verge exclusively announced the device on 30 May 2017, hours ahead of Rubin's onstage announcement at a technology conference.
Maps Essential Phone
Specifications
Hardware
The Essential Phone has a titanium and ceramic chassis, an edge-to-edge display with an unusual 19:10 aspect ratio protected with Gorilla Glass 5,, a Snapdragon 835 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage. The phone has two 13 MP cameras with f/1.85 lenses, one of which acts as a dedicated monochrome sensor for black-and-white photography. Its front-facing camera has an 8 MP sensor with an f/2.2 lens. It was made available in black, gray, white and "Ocean Depths" color options. Accompanying the phone is a 360-degree camera that can be attached to its top, and a charging dock accessory is also available. It has a USB-C connector but no 3.5 mm headphone jack.
A second Click Connector device will be a charging dock. As of January 2018, an accessory with a headphone jack was being developed, and more accessories were due to be released.
Network compatibility
The Essential Phone is compatible with the four largest wireless carriers in the United States, but the exclusive carrier partner is Sprint. In Canada, Telus is the exclusive carrier partner.
In July 2017, it was reported Essential was planning to sell the Essential Phone in other markets, including the United Kingdom, with a possible partnership with EE, Japan, and Europe.
Software
Essential Phone runs Android, without modifications. It has an unlocked bootloader, potentially allowing for a significant developer community wanting to further customize its software. Rubin published a blog post on August 16, 2017, promising two years of Android updates and three years of monthly security patches.
Special editions
In February 2018, three new colors of the phone were announced for sale on the Essential website, Ocean Depths (teal back with bronze sides), Stellar Gray, and Copper Black.
An Amazon-exclusive version of the Essential Phone was also launched that month with a "halo grey" color and Alexa built-in.
Issues
Meltdown and Spectre
In January 2018, the phone quickly received a patch to fix the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities after they were revealed. Until this time, only phones by Google had these vulnerabilities patched.
Availability delay
Rubin announced on May 30, 2017, that the Essential Phone would ship in approximately 30 days, i.e. June 2017. This estimated timetable was not met, however, without Essential responding to media queries. In mid-July, Rubin sent an email to potential customers saying carrier certification and testing were underway, and that he expected the device to be shipped "in a few weeks". After a series of delays and the lack of an exact release date, Best Buy put up listings for the Essential Phone, which went live on August 17. On August 9, 2017, Rubin announced the phone was in mass production, and that a release date would be announced in the next week. The Essential Phone was then confirmed to start shipping by the fourth week of August, according to an email sent by Rubin to customers. It began shipping in batches by August 25.
Customer data leak
On August 29, 2017, reports emerged that hundreds of customers who ordered the Essential Phone started receiving e-mails from an @essential address. The e-mail contained an official-looking request for a "photo ID" of the customer to "verify information to complete the processing of the recent order". Essential later tweeted that they were aware of the recent e-mails received by some customers and that they were investigating them and had taken steps to mitigate problems. Rubin personally apologized and one year of LifeLock was offered to affected customers; around 70 people were affected. Some customers' drivers' licenses were leaked over e-mail as well. Customers affected by the data leak got the phone for free.
Touch issues
In October 2017, some handsets had a display touch scrolling "jitteriness" issue. Essential said they were working on the problem and a software patch would be released.
Trade secret lawsuit
Keyssa, a startup company owned by Nest co-founder Tony Fadell and specializing in wireless data transmission, filed a lawsuit accusing Essential of trade secret theft in October 2017. Keyssa said it was in talks with Essential for roughly 10 months to help provide the technology behind connecting Essential's new Android phone and their planned future products. Essential wanted to incorporate a Keyssa-developed microchip in the Essential Phone to provide functionality to their modular accessories, but turned to a similar company, SiBeam, to produce the microchip. Keyssa says Essential stole its proprietary technology because the non-disclosure agreements it signed protected the two companies' meetings and prevented Essential from using those trade secrets to make commercial products.
Keyssa has not been compensated for Essential's use of this guidance and know-how. We are pursuing this action because our attempts to resolve this matter through discussions with Essential have not been successful.
Reception
Critical reception
The Essential Phone received generally positive reviews. Much of the criticism was directed towards the camera performance, and the omission of a headphone jack.
- Wired positively noted its design, battery life, performance and stock Android OS, but disliked the camera and built-in speaker. They gave it a score of 8/10.
- Engadget praised its build quality, edge-to-edge display, performance, battery life and clean build of Android 7.1.1, but criticized the screen's brightness, and the lack of a headphone jack and water resistance.
- iFixit gave the phone a 1 out of 10 in terms of repairability because it is almost impossible to open without freezing and ultimately breaking it.
- CNET noted that despite Essential's claims about the device's toughness, it can still suffer from dents during normal use, and the screen may crack if dropped from a height.
- This Week in Tech praised the design, specs, and OS, but noted the phone's screen cracked during normal use without being dropped, and criticized the performance of the cameras and a camera accessory.
Sales
In its first month of release, shipments of the Essential Phone were very low, with sales of around 5,000 units estimated being sold through Sprint. Due to low demand, Essential reduced the price of the phone from an initial US$699 to a more "reasonable" US$499. Customers who purchased the phone at the original price could claim a US$200 "friends and family" code that could be used to purchase the 360-degree camera module or another Essential Phone.
They claim six figure sales numbers.
Successor
According to designers at Essential, the PH-2 is in the works.
See also
- Comparison of smartphones
- Motorola Moto Z, another modular phone with a 360-degree camera accessory
References
Further reading
- Android Central -- Essential offers a sneak peek at its camera capabilities
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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