Essential Phone Now Supported By All Four Major Carriers (Including Verizon) (theverge.com)

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Essential Phone Now Supported By All Four Major Carriers (Including Verizon) (theverge.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday September 17, 2017 @09:04AM from the Android-approvals dept.

An anonymous reader quotes the Verge: Essential's debut smartphone has received approval to run on Verizon, meaning it's now supported by all four major US carriers. Sprint was the device's launch partner, so it of course had support, and both AT&T and T-Mobile gave tacit support ahead of the phone's launch. But Verizon, for some reason, said it couldn't guarantee that the Essential Phone would work and that the phone still had to clear a certification process. Evidently it's now done that, with Essential tweeting out this morning that the phone is now compatible with Verizon.

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I wanted to get an essential phone by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 09:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

But among other things apparently a headphone jack wasn't essential.
1. Re:I wanted to get an essential phone by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:10 · Score: 0
  
  neither was a realistic price point.
2. Re:I wanted to get an essential phone by bferrell · 2017-09-17 10:26 · Score: 1
  
  Nor apparently is a micro sd slot. Nice otherwise. I'll give it pass
3. Re:I wanted to get an essential phone by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 13:32 · Score: 1
  
  The Essential Phone will get a clip-on headphone jack
  https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/9/14/16309196/essential-phone-headphone-jack-module-announced
4. Re:I wanted to get an essential phone by LaughingRadish · 2017-09-18 11:56 · Score: 1
  
  Also missing a removable battery, SD slot, and IR-blaster. What the hell is the deal with removing useful hardware features from high end phones but leaving some of them in lower end phones?
Trump likes this phone too! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 09:15 · Score: 1

Oof, tough break! Now if you have this phone, you are a sexist racist xenophobic Trump supporter! Ouch!!!
1. Re:Trump likes this phone too! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 09:30 · Score: 1
  
  Trump supports it? Well then, I'm NOT buying.
2. Re:Trump likes this phone too! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 03:15 · Score: 0
  
  It's not so much his views that make his support for it a bad thing, and more that pretty much every business venture he's ever been involved in has ended up declaring bankruptcy. Dude's really bad at picking winning investments, if he's involved, stay away or you'll lose your money.
page design all about trick clicks now by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 09:22 · Score: 0

last gasper desperadoes still betting on inflated phony digits... how annoying opposite effect included..
The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:00 · Score: 0

Is there something super special about this device that I should know about, or is it something special? If it isn't something really special, why should I care?
1. Re:The What Phone? by unixisc · 2017-09-17 10:35 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Checking out their FAQ, they are a slight improvement on Android phones in that their mission is supposedly to 'play well w/ others' and actually belong to you. However, they do lack expandable storage (although their main storage of 128GB may well be adequate), dual SIMs and replaceable batteries. However, their bootloader can be unlocked.
  One major beef I have w/ Android phones is that since Marshmallow, I haven't seen a single Android phone that comes w/ SD card - precisely b'cos Marshmallow allows one to get around a limited storage by putting in, say, a 128GB or more SD card and defining it as the primary storage.
2. Re:The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:42 · Score: 0
  
  One major beef I have w/ Android phones is that since Marshmallow, I haven't seen a single Android phone that comes w/ SD card
  The Samsung S8 supports up to 256GB on an SD card. It runs Nougat (and will soon have an Oreo update).
3. Re:The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:48 · Score: 0
  
  LG G6
  Nougat, flagshipy, SD slot. Maybe not on the dual sims, but otherwise there. Still waterproof too.
4. Re:The What Phone? by unixisc · 2017-09-17 10:49 · Score: 1
  
  It's means 'it is'. Possessive of it is its! While we're on the pedantic exercise, and talking of annoying
5. Re:The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 14:56 · Score: 0
  
  It's what we call a Slashvertisement.
  No, it's just another Android phone, there's nothing special about it.
  There's no reason to care, other than to be annoyed that you've been advertised at in the guise of a news article.
6. Re:The What Phone? by gl4ss · 2017-09-17 15:43 · Score: 1
  
  no.
  really. no.
  whats funny though is that us carriers still "clear" the phones.. ?? come on. if they're conforming to the standards there is no need for that.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
7. Re: The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 19:24 · Score: 0
  
  It's a US thing. I don't think it exists anywhere else.
8. Re:The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 00:07 · Score: 0
  
  One major beef I have w/ Android phones is that since Marshmallow, I haven't seen a single Android phone that comes w/ SD card
  Since this is slashdot, you should probably have enough technical knowledge to understand why microsd cards are going away, and with good reason.
  On top of that, it's easy to get a good phone with 64G or 128G of storage now, so even if you keep lots of video and pictures and music on your phone, you're fine.
9. Re:The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 02:51 · Score: 0
  
  Samsung Galaxy S8.... every heard of that one? Moron.
  Hugs and kisses,
  Juan Epstein
10. Re:The What Phone? by TheCastro1689 · 2017-09-18 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  I've got the biggest iphone and it runs out of space because of videos all of the time.
11. Re:The What Phone? by amiga3D · 2017-09-18 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  My wife's phone got destroyed. I pulled the 128GB micro SD card and popped it in her new phone. Instant and painless. Sure she could have backed it up but the two phones before somehow she lost most of her stuff when they choked. This time she was happy.
12. Re:The What Phone? by unixisc · 2017-09-18 06:36 · Score: 1
  
  The above 2 responses describe why SD cards are useful, even if your phone has 256GB. In case something happens to it, it's easier to move it to another phone and just reconfigure it from there. While there may be phones w/ 128GB of storage, the free cloud storage one gets is usually limited: 15GB for Google, and 5GB for Apple. With the latter, one has to regularly back up on a PC or Mac if the content exceeds 5GB.
  There is a lot to be said for not having to reconfigure a phone from scratch just b'cos one gets a new one, and particularly when the OS is now flexible enough to allow you to run from a SD card. One could buy an entry level Android Marshmallow phone w/ just 16 or 32GB of storage, pop in the 128GB card, define it as the primary storage, and just use it for the life of the phone. Phone dies, pop out the SD card into a new phone, and lather, rinse, repeat...
13. Re: The What Phone? by unixisc · 2017-09-18 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  More precisely, a CDMA thing.
  Simple reason: all places in the US don't have 4G coverage, so in those areas, a Verizon phone would have to have a fallback to a 3G/2.5G/2G, whichever is available. So if one wants a phone to be passed by Verizon, not only must it work on their 4G band, but it must also work in the previous generation bands. So it goes through its paces in testing, and once Verizon is satisfied, it qualifies it and then offers it in its stores.
  Reason it's not an issue w/ GSM carriers is that it already conforms to GSM fallback standards, and therefore doesn't need a separate qualification
14. Re:The What Phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 06:59 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe not on the dual sims
  That is probably my biggest gripe about recent phones. In an effort to cram more things in limited spaces, cellphone engineers have decided that SIM2 slot should be shared with the microSD slot. Because reasons.
  W.T.F. I need the ability to use both SIM slots AND be able to expand my phone's storage.
Fuck that phone because of that name by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:04 · Score: 0

I don't care what it is and does, that name for a phone is like naming your baby girl "Crystal".
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

Hey 2003 called and wanted its corded headphones back.
Apparently they were all tangled so it needed a new set.
You must be REALLY happy your cassette Walkman still has a wired headphone jack.
You're an idoit...
Essencially meh by XSportSeeker · 2017-09-17 10:56 · Score: 4, Informative

The phone looks good, but let's recap:
- no headphone jack;
- "premium" materials that makes the phone more expensive, harder but more brittle, and heavier without good reason other than aesthetics;
- no SD card reader;
- very bad initial costumer support;
- delays and broken promises;
- "stock" Android that's not really stock - it has almost no difference from vanilla Android (apart from the 360 camera software), but in truth Essencial is still a middleman between Android updates and the non-skin they have there.
- flagship price for the first phone of the brand that, predictably, already had several bumps on release - wonky camera, os/software not customized to deal with the selfie camera bump, some fingerprint reader weirdness...
People should just wait for Essencial Phone 2 or whatever comes next if Andy Rubin keeps going. Unfortunately, there isn't a single thing that makes this phone unique or essencial in any sense. Not the price, not specs, not new features, not camera, not software. The phones that are coming out with Android One deserves far more to be called essencial.
1. Re:Essencially meh by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 13:46 · Score: 0
  
  Will any Android One phones be available in the US? I currently have a Moto G 2 and it serves me well.
2. Re:Essencially meh by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 16:18 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  very bad initial costumer support;
  Hey, if you want to dress as Batman to use your phone that's your call but I don't think support for people wearing costumes is very high on anybody's list...
3. Re:Essencially meh by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 01:05 · Score: 0
  
  The phone looks good, but let's recap:
  - no headphone jack;
  - "premium" materials that makes the phone more expensive, harder but more brittle, and heavier without good reason other than aesthetics;
  - no SD card reader;
  - very bad initial costumer support;
  - delays and broken promises;
  - "stock" Android that's not really stock....
  Until you mentioned Android, I could have sworn you were talking about the new iPhone.
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 10:59 · Score: 0

Hey 2003 called and wanted its corded headphones back.
2003 can wait in line. 2017 asked for its corded headphones back first.
Re: Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 11:12 · Score: 0

Wtf? At least your posts are consistently nonsensical.
Money by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 11:19 · Score: 0

Verizon, for some reason, said it couldn't guarantee that the Essential Phone would work and that the phone still had to clear a certification process.
Does this certification process require the payment of money?
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 11:57 · Score: 0

What a fucking retard.
Been using mine on VZN for a few weeks by Ritz_Just_Ritz · 2017-09-17 12:02 · Score: 1

The "trick" was to feed the VZN sales critter an IMEI number from an already supported phone that had a nanoSIM in it. I've been using ATT and VZN interchangeably since I got it.
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 13:51 · Score: 0

Hey 2003 called and wanted its corded headphones back.
It's past your bedtime little boy. Replacing technology for no gain is objectively stupid. Get some sleep, and some life experience and come back to us when you've matured a little bit.
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 14:53 · Score: 0

It's past yours. Apple took it out, it's never coming back. Get over it.
Carrier aproved phone? by bn-7bc · 2017-09-17 15:46 · Score: 1

Is this a US thing? I though a phone thas was approved by ragulators (fcc and mayby others) did not need any more aproval, just pop in a sim from yout provider of choice and away you go, or is thst a european thing. I’m still surprised that roming fot a us subscriber is stil a thing while in the us, but it seesm that roling out a narion wide cellphone network is a rask beond the us cariers oh well.
1. Re: Carrier aproved phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 16:50 · Score: 0
  
  Someone been messing with your keybiarg?
2. Re:Carrier aproved phone? by Keith_Beef · 2017-09-17 19:26 · Score: 1
  This was my thought, too.
  Why does the phone company get to say "phone X cannot connect to my network; phone Y is welcome"? Surely if both phones are approved by the regulatory body, they should both be permitted to connect.
  I moved away from the US back in 2012, and I seem to remember that while I was there I ran into some weird contracts with conditions like "you can only use a smartphone on our network if you sign up to a $60 a month data contract"...
  I had no problem running my Nokia XM5800 on Cingular, though, with a cheapskate contract. But that was more like a smartphone than what passes for one these days.
  
  On-board maps and route-planning for the GPS (no network needed)
  
  On-board voice recognition (no network needed)
  
  Nowadays, the phone is a camera, phone and display terminal for a load of processing done elsewhere ("in the cloud"), requiring either a WiFi or (more commonly) phone-network data connection.
  The XM5800 was a great phone; it's such a pity that Nokia dropped the ball by not providing a proper app-store eco-system.
3. Re:Carrier aproved phone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 00:15 · Score: 0
  
  This was my thought, too.
  Why does the phone company get to say "phone X cannot connect to my network; phone Y is welcome"?
  I've never worried about that and have used unknown Chinese branded phones in the US on MVNOs. As for the actual carriers themselves, it's possible they don't want you using such a thing as a direct customer of theirs, as I can see how it could be a problem for AT&T if I'm using my Chinese 4G LTE phone that doesn't actually support any LTE frequencies on AT&T.
  They probably don't want everyone calling them and saying "Your network sucks, my LTE phone never gets LTE!".
  And to be fair, most consumers are far to ignorant to actually look up the frequencies supported by a phone and a carrier and make sure they won't have issues.
4. Re:Carrier aproved phone? by karmaflux · 2017-09-18 05:57 · Score: 1
  
  Carriers in the United States are required to support e911 customer-location reporting. With the switch to LTE, this means you cannot do tower-based aGPS location to satisfy this reporting. All VoLTE implementations are VoIP stacks that need external pieces to handle geolocation for emergency services.
  As a result, only phones with a carrier-compatible VoLTE stack are able to function to e911 requirements. Carriers have been using this to lock out "uncertified" devices -- the argument being that "your phone can't do our VoLTE e911 solution, so we can't let you talk on our LTE bandwidth."
  
  --
  REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by LynnwoodRooster · 2017-09-17 16:47 · Score: 1

Wish I could get good quality audio over Bluetooth. Heck, even AptX would be passable - too bad iOS does not support it... It's more important to "look good" than to "sound good" after all!

--
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
4 major carriers? by aglider · 2017-09-17 18:18 · Score: 1

I thought they were: China Mobile, Vodafone (ww), Airtel and América Móvil.

--
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
1. Re:4 major carriers? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 19:06 · Score: 0
  
  I thought they were: China Mobile, Vodafone (ww), Airtel and América Móvil.
  No evidence at all that you are capable of 'thought', idiot.
2. Re:4 major carriers? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 06:48 · Score: 0
  
  we're talking about the US, you insensitive clod!
Support by a mobile phone network? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-17 18:40 · Score: 0

What would a network have to do to support a particular type of mobile phone? Never heard of this before.
You can get good audio on iOS by SuperKendall · 2017-09-18 02:13 · Score: 1

AptX is inferior ro headphones solutions that support AAC directly.
The AirPods of course already support this but if you prefer a different style it's not like there are not a lot of choices.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Re:Welcome to the future Jack by amiga3D · 2017-09-18 05:38 · Score: 1

Decent wireless headphones are expensive. Everything I've tried under 200 dollars is pure shit for music. A 10 dollar set of wired earphones is better and if I lose them I wont cry about it. If you've got money to throw away then sure, go wireless.
Re: Welcome to the future Jack by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-18 07:29 · Score: 0

idoit
Noun, not very intelligent person promoting Apple-think.
Thanks!
aRTee