To recall, Android co-founder Andy Rubin had announced his own company’s “Essential Phone PH-1” at a Code Conference in the month of May. At the time of the announcement, the company promised that the new Essential Phone PH-1 Android smartphone would ship to the doorsteps of pre-order customers within 30 days of the announcement. Well, June has come and gone, and we are going to finish July also but where is the Essential phone? Don’t worry, Andy Rubin will now give answers to your queries.
Andy Rubin himself on Friday sent out an email to its potential customers who registered to buy the phone, informing that the delayed Essential Phone will be in customer’s hands “in a few weeks.” Apart from this email, Rubin has also shared this announcement on the company’s official Twitter account. The Tweet reads, “We’ve been working around the clock to get our first device in your hands. See this update from Andy.” According to the email, the Essential Phone is currently now going through certification and testing process with the multiple US and international carriers that are slowing down the release of Essential phone. He also claims that his new company Essential is working hard to complete the certification and testing process, which means the final product along with software is almost done. So now, get ready for pay the money to Essential Phone.
We've been working around the clock to get our first device in your hands. See this update from Andy. pic.twitter.com/bm5xm5XRKS
— Essential (@essential) July 21, 2017
As for pricing, the phone will be available initially in the US at a price tag of $699 (approximately Rs. 45,000). Essential Products is also offering the smartphone with company’s clip-on 360-degree camera for a combo price of $749 (approximately Rs. 48,300). The Essential Phone will be made available in Black Moon and Pure White colour options.
The main USP (unique selling point) of the Essential Phone is its two magnetic pins for modular attachments that Essential promises will “keep your phone cord-free, future-proof, and always up-to-date”. The “Click” cordless connector pins will hook up to the company’s two new accessories – a 360-degree camera and a wireless phone dock. The 360-degree camera receives power from the device via two magnetic connectors (just like Lenovo’s Moto Z2 Play). It features dual 12-megapixel fisheye lenses with f/1.8 aperture, 210-degree field of view and four microphones for 3D audio recording.
Just in case you’d forgotten, the Essential Phone sports a 5.71-inch edge-to-edge QHD display with a screen resolution of 1312×2560 pixels and an unusual 19:10 aspect ratio instead of the regular 16:9 paired with 500nits brightness. The device is powered by a latest 2.45GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor along with Adreno 540 GPU to handle the graphics. In terms of memory, it comes packed with a 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Talking about its software fronts, the Essential Phone runs company’s own Ambient OS custom UI skin, based on Google’s Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system.
For photography, the Essential Phone houses a dual rear camera setup at the rear that comes combined with a 13-megapixel RGB sensor and a 13-megapixel Monochrome sensor. The rear camera features include Hybrid Auto Focus combing Contrast, Phase Detect, f/1.85 aperture, IR Laser Assist Focus, and 4K video recording (30fps) support. On the front, the smartphone features an 8-megapixel front-facing shooter for capturing selfies and making video calls. Front camera features include an f/2.2 aperture, 16:9 aspect ratio, and 4K video recording support.
In terms of connectivity, the Essential Phone offers various connectivity options including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, and a USB Type-C port for super-fast charging and other connectivity. On the battery front, the device is fuelled by a decent 3040mAh battery with fast charging support. The handset measures 141.5 x 71.1 x 7.8 mm and weighs 185 grams.
