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The Verge's Essential Phone Review: An Arcane Artifact From an Unrealized Future (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader shares Dieter Bohn's review of the Essential Phone: Even though it was announced less than three months ago at the Code Conference, there's already enough mythology surrounding the Essential Phone to fill a book. It comes from a brand-new billion-dollar startup led by the person who helped create Android itself, Andy Rubin. That origin binds it up with the history of all smartphones in a way that doesn't usually apply to your run-of-the-mill device. The phone was also delayed a bit, a sign that this tiny company hasn't yet quite figured out how to punch above its weight class -- which it's certainly trying to do. Although it runs standard Android, it's meant to act as a vanguard for Essential's new ecosystem of smart home devices and services connected by the mysterious Ambient OS. Even if we trust that Rubin's futuristic vision for a connected home will come to pass, it's not going to happen overnight. Instead, all we really have right now is that future's harbinger, a well-designed Android phone that I've been testing for the past week. Available unlocked or at Sprint, the $699 Essential Phone is an ambitious device. It has a unique way to connect modular accessories, starting with a 360-degree camera. It has a bold take on how to make a big, edge-to-edge screen paired with top-flight materials such as ceramic and titanium. And it has a dual camera system that is meant to compete with other flagship devices without adding any thickness to the phone. That would be a lot for even a massive company like Samsung or Apple to try to do with a single phone. For a tiny company like Essential, the question is simply this: is it trying to do too much? In conclusion, Bohn writes: "The Essential Phone is doing so much right: elegant design, big screen, long battery life, and clean software. And on top of all that, it has ambitions to do even more with those modules. If you asked Android users what they wanted in the abstract, I suspect a great many of them would describe this exact device. But while the camera is pretty good, it doesn't live up to the high bar the rest of the phone market has set. Sometimes artifacts are better to behold than they are to use."
No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
The imperative is to justify an exorbitant cost. There are too many Android phones that are excellent for a reasonable price. To charge ridiculous money you need to be better in every way, not a few.
If the underlying sensor, optics and image processor hardware is good, then the camera quality can be improved from where it is at today with future software updates. I don't see them having cut corners elsewhere and I doubt that they did with camera hardware. They were probably in a rush to ship the device and camera software was shipped when it got to the good enough point.
I did work as a camera software engineer in a previous life. So I have a rough idea of how these things go.
religion is so quirky we need magical thinking to even guess.. a milestone of success is being fed to wild animals? cease fire stand down.. in the moms we trust...
... the genius who decided that running Java on a mobile device was a good idea.
Oh, but at least this thing runs stock lagdroid so it'll be totally cool, right?
The high-end is dominated by known brands. A cheaper phone with decent parts and software could make a big splash. Maybe include one gimmick (a 360 camera) to attract customers.
With a name like "Essential", I'd assume it'd be barebones and inexpensive, but, nope, it's another phone aiming for that coveted iPhone status.
With the same chips. There's not going to be anything too amazing on the hardware front. I'm less interested in what a $700 phone can do and more interested in how much performance they can squeeze one the sub $200 range. Now if 5g ever gets here I'll be interested in the high end again, especially if that's paired with better radios and new bandwidth so I don't keep going in and out of service
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But while the camera is pretty good, it doesn't live up to the high bar the rest of the phone market has set.
Absence of a 3.5 mm headphone jack is a non-starter for me.
I think I could get by with that these days, though I'd prefer to have one. The deal killer for me is the use of a screen that is not OLED.
William George
But not for me. I don't care one bit about the camera, but the lack of a headphone jack is a fairly major problem. I don't think the battery is changeable, and that's a point in the minus column.
The real problem for me, though, is the memory. 128Gb is unacceptably small for a device that you can't slip an SD card into. That's a showstopper right there.
Cameras are typically improved in software by either having a 500 strong team work on it for a while (Apple, Google, Qualcomm, Sony), or buy buying software from someone whose already done it.
Missing a headphone jack is a pretty huge problem. However, I would be willing to engage in the required shenanigans to work around it if the rest of the phone were somehow exceptional. This one isn't. It looks OK, but nowhere near exceptional.
Apple eliminated std head phone jack but offered water proof. So a give get. As for wireless charging. I sometimes need to use my phone while charging. Video calls zap battery. The Essential seems decent on specs/price, regular Android and potentially a more trustworthy Co.(hopefully no spyware) but if camera a little below par then will hurt especially if affects the neat attachments-which are pluses for the device.
I think there's been too much hype on this phone and based on the share price, that's quite clear.
There will likely be supply chain problems which are common among companies who hope to scale but are too small to demand devote resources to them.
The company will probably play Elon Musk's game of trying to get more money to manufacture while spending it all faster than he can get it. The difference is, Elon had a big fat bank account to begin with from prior victories. He was selling visions... not phones. And frankly, every feature on this phone will be less than novelty in a month.
Or there will be manufacturing problems because this is a lot of custom parts which almost certainly will have minor glitches. This will certainly cause a very expensive recall, and without a proper distributed service chain to manage that, this can be a disaster.
Or there will be problems with the battery because, as we've seen, packing the biggest battery you can find into the tightest air-tight spaces possible has become quite an issue.
Or there will be thermal issues which will become obvious from the choice of using titanium which while SUPER AWESOME sounds like a really bad idea. It's extremely similar to aluminum, but if I recall correctly, titanium is not an optimal sink as it stores too much heat. (don't shoot me if I'm wrong here)
There will be support issues because even with a billion dollar market cap, a mass marketed device to be successful needs users. Users have problems. End of story.
After market parts will be an issue. Without a clear supply of aftermarket screens that can be replaced for $100 at a mall on short notice, these phones will break and be replaced with something else in short order.
I love the phone. I think the advertisement for it was exciting enough that I was like "I might want to try that" and I've never once said that about a telephone from an advertisement. The power of suggestion in the advertisement effected me and I intentionally refuse to buy anything that tries to pick those nerves on me. So... these guys are absolutely spectacular... until you realize that this is likely the only phone they'll ever make and it will never be able to be repaired when it breaks.
I congratulate them on a fabulous job. It was amazing. But other than making the stock market boys have another high volume share with lots of buzz surrounding it, it was a dead project before it started. To make a successful phone today requires a company with a billion dollars in the bank and a clear international support infrastructure and parts distribution channel to succeed. It also requires a crazy insurance company/creditor willing to take the risk on a large scale recall from a somewhat unknown entity. Otherwise it's just a waste time and money.
Get a grip on your English, Dieter.
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Top-flight. RIght. Not when it comes to actual flight from the height of 4 feet to a pavement.
I am done with this thread. Bye-bye
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... provided by the maker.
Nuff said.
#$%^ this advertisement piece and #$% you, Slashdot.
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