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Not Many People Are Buying Andy Rubin's iPhone-Killer Essential Phone, It Seems (fiercewireless.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Essential Products has sold an estimated 5,000 phones through Sprint since the gadget made its big retail debut in the United States earlier this month, according to estimates from BayStreet Research. That figure would put Essential, whose maker became a unicorn without shipping handset, well below market heavyweights like Apple and Samsung, which typically sell tens of millions of phones per quarter in the United States. BayStreet tracks shipments of phones and other devices across the United States. Essential representatives didn't respond to requests for comment on the BayStreet estimates. BayStreet also clarified that its 5,000 figure is an estimate of Essential's sell-through (when a customer buys a product from a retailer) rather than its sell-in (when a retailer buys something from a manufacturer). Sprint is the exclusive carrier for the phone; most phones in the United States are sold through carriers. However, Essential also offers an unlocked version of its gadget. Essential, the first major startup from Android founder Andy Rubin's venture capital firm Playground, currently sells the $699 Android-powered Essential Phone through Sprint and promises to release the Essential Home smart-home hub later this year. Essential was named as one of FierceWireless' top 15 startups to watch in 2017.
Personally, the Essential seems like an acceptable phone, but it's also not very compelling compared to the other phones in that price range.
If the Essential is still around when it comes time for me to replace my phone (I'm guessing that's probably 2 or 3 years away), I will certainly consider it as an option.
releasing an expensive device without a reputation seems like a bad idea.
Especially with a name like "essential" which is usually reserved for the basic version of items.
I wouldn't want to be a beta tester for a 1st gen device with no pedigree. Maybe after a few iterations, sure.
... of things that are supposed to be an {X}-killer, but flame out. I've lost track of the number of MMOs, for example, that were supposed to be a WoW-killer.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
If I had a dollar for every "iPhone Killer" that have come and gone, I'd have enough to buy a couple iPhone X's
I really haven't understood all the hype around the Essential phone. How is it fundamentally different than all the other smart phones on the market?
Oh, and the iPhone has a pretty small market share, so calling something an iPhone killer seem to be setting a pretty low bar...
Get outta here! I have trouble spending $119!
And with Apple charging $1,000 for the 8, it's just gotten retarded.
I tell ya, some people are just stupid with their money.
* User-replaceable battery * SD card support * Non-giant (5") screen
A phone maker that talks about lofty ideals but really does not even hold up to them.
I want a head jack built it, not some extra DLC add on crap!
The Sprint exclusive pisses me off, I will not buy it on that principle alone.
Apparently, it's not that.. well.. Essential.
No? Then it's not glitzy high-tech enough for me.
As technically interesting as the phone might be, it's difficult to trust a small manufacturer and ecosystem to secure my private information on my devices against apps, 3rd parties, and hackers doing things that I don't know are being done. Essential phone -- what do you want to bet that they take any of that shit seriously, or have the resources to do so? Cmon, even Google doesn't police its apps and infrastructure well, what are the chances that a down-the-rung OEM does?
To be a serious player in the consumer phone market, with the functionality and support that you need to do a good job with security, features, apps, etc. you need a big team. And a big team is only supportable by selling millions and millions of phones. Anything less and they'll start to cheap out on these things.
As much as you may hate Google, Apple, Samsung, etc, they have the people they need to do the necessary jobs. A small player like this -- what odds do you put on that being true? Do you want to be the early adopter for them who is their beta tester?
I checked their website and advertises $699 (Canadian? USD? Doesn't say, but it seems to know I am in Canada and directs me to buy it from Telus). I visited Telus online and it advertises for CDN$1050 with no contract. Even if I made the wrong assumption and it is supposed to be in USD (~CAD$870), I am paying a 20% foreign exchange rate? Even my credit card doesn't charge that high.
One of "top 15 startups to watch in 2017"? Why was this company chosen so? I guess because of Andy Rubin.
People put too much faith on famous names. Some people can consistently make a difference but most can't. Also success most of the time depends both on capacity and luck/being in the right place at the right time.
So instead of positing a link or some information on WHAT the essential phone is, what its specs are, what makes it special. We throw up one link that says nothing else about the phone then the summary, and then two links to old Slashdot articles.
I vote we start a petition to have /. force msmash to take some journalism classes.
Similar pricing as the Galaxy S8. Weaker distribution channels. Unknown brand. Releases months later.
It could compete with One Plus and other cheap brands but it's too expensive for that.
Its main advantage is the 128 GB storage but the market for that amount of storage is too small. Especially outside of the Apple world.
If it weren't for Andy Rubin, we wouldn't even have heard of this phone. And those who don't know who Rubin is definitely never heard about this phone to begin with.
Why not one of the other three big carriers which may have better quality services or plans? Maybe I'm ignorant, but if the phones are capable, like Google, sell direct with all US frequencies and bands, carrier unlocked, then customers can get a SIM from the carrier or MVNO of their choice.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
It's an unrepairable atrocity. If I wanted such a piece of shit, I'd already be buying one of the other epoxied-shut phones. Or an iBendOver iPhone.
Sorry... screens break, USB ports wear out and batteries need to be replaced long before I feel like being extorted out the cost of a whole new phone. If I can't easily do those two things, I'm not buying your shit.
Sprint phones are all CDMA, while GSM is the better standard used by more carriers, hmm? i wonder if Essential Products thought of that?
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Here is my "Essential' phone :
- Phone service (duh!)
- Replaceable battery
- Audio jack
- SD card support
- Basic camera (doesn't need 9 Gazillon Pixels resolution)
- Wifi
That's it.
What I don't need: ...
- GPS (if need one, I'll buy one)
- High quality camera (if need one, I'll buy one)
- Finger scanner
- Face recognition
- Bluetooth (I prefer cable)
- Too thin phone
- 4K resolution on a 5" screen!
- "3D Touch"
- and any other "cool features"
-
Remove all this and you will have freakin long battery life and better security/privacy!
Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
It's just a shittier version of the iPhone.
If people wanted a phone with a lack of features they'd buy an iPhone; not an android phone.
Mine fell between the sections of my couch, about a foot, and it totally destroyed the screen. Waiting on a insurance replacement so that I can possibly change my lease with Sprint.
Nobody sells a proper case (the only things I can find were holsters), and all the screen protectors have miserable reviews because they lift at the edges.
The super smooth back needs a little bit of grip to prevent it sliding, and I'll probably laser cut a Talon grip sheet into something useful if Sprint won't let me change.
1 star - would not recommend...
When you can get a 399$ Blackberry Priv or a Asus Zenfone 3, both with 64gb/4gb with a sliding keyboard or a dual sim ! Where is the deal?
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
....the only people idiotic enough to pay a boutique phone price like an Apple, are people deeply invested in brand-identification.
There's a reason the Volkswagen W8 bombed so spectacularly: people dumping piles of $ on anything need other people to constantly RECOGNIZE that they've done so.
-Styopa
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It's missing a standard 3.5mm audio jack, so I'm GLAD it's not selling as well. If you can't include basic functionality you deserve to fail.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I think he meant a Gnu/Linux phone.
If it's failing, maybe there should be a qualifier around "iPhone-Killer" in the headline. Or, leave it out, because "...-killer" was played out five years ago.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
well for that price i get an descent i laptop with an i7 proc , and my current exenyos international unlocked sim unlocked phone was purchased for 170$ 3 years ago (new) , when i'll be able to run a few VM's including a mysql db , wich i do on a 35$ raspberry pi (with an older generation ARM chip ) , then maybe i'll be interested in shellign 650 USD for a handset , until then not giving in that apple-isation of mobile devices , rubins and essential is not followed by brain dead apple fans who are ready to give a kidney to flash the next fashion device , most of us can pretty much give you a rough BOM for such devices and no it's not worth that price , at least not with a descent profit margin .
They said Ambient OS would be "open source, like android," but there's nothing about that on their web site. Give me a phone on which I can run software I built from source, and that would be worth dropping some cash on. As it is, I have a perfectly nice Google phone that is sort-of open source-ish. I realize that this is a bit of a niche, but it astonishes me that nobody has attempted to suck in developers by doing this. An open source phone ecosystem would really enable some out-of-the-box innovation. But no, this is just Yet Another Brick.
'nuff said.
Anyone not the /. crowd would probably think that essential means bare minimum. Therefore no one wants it...
After reading this story I realized I had been in my local Sprint shop just 3 days ago and did not see a single poster/mention of this 'special' device. If no one knows about it, how can they be expected to purchase one?
I needed to replace my ancient s5. Looked at the s8, the essential.
Went to Amazon, picked up a Moto 5 for $170.
Echo what others have said, I've got headphone, sd card, and almost replaceable battery.
Linux is just a kernel. It's never been more than a kernel. What is the spirit of Linux? Is it something I can buy at the liquor store?
If you mean, you wish he had developed a phone based on X11 then you're nuts.
Android is nothing but a Linux distribution that doesn't include GNU or X11. So what if most of the GUI and software is written in Java or whatever? The software running on top of the Linux kernel doesn't somehow make it not Linux....
So yes, I'm pulling out that damn card. Linux != GNU.
After about three months it will stop getting security updates, and you'll have to throw it in the trash and buy a new one.
Stop with the thin, fragile, enormoslabs !
Make us a thick, solid, powerful, small phone that fits and is safe in our back trouser pockets.
WE DON'T CARE HOW THIN OUR PHONES ARE.
https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
It's another case of jewish privilege gone wrong. Instead of throwing all that venture capital behind another one of "the chosen people" maybe these judaic investors could look for people with talent instead of certain dna strains.
It's just too fucking expensive. Yes, it's a cool phone, but fuck all if I'm going to pay $700 or more for one of them.
There are LOADS of perfectly acceptable feature-loaded phones you can buy for $200 to $300. No one has managed to explain why this phone is a good deal for $700.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
> Linux is just a kernel. It's never been more than a kernel.
At work, when customers call me and ask about Linux, they aren't talking about the kernel, but an entire OS. Every person I've met in person who uses Linux is talking about an entire OS. You have to ask what TYPE of Linux (meaning distro), but it's generally called Linux. It's the common usage, and trying to retroactively turn it into "just the kernel" because of pedantry or even a legitimate desire to provide brand awareness of GNU is not helpful to any fucking conversation anyone has ever had. It has never helped a single fucking person.
When he says he wants a phone that uses Linux, you know EXACTLY what he means. He's not expressing a preference about macro or micro or whatever kernels. You know this.
Housing its main distinguishing feature , while hi-end it is lower priority to very capable less costly aluminum & gorilla glass standard. Also, Does not offer water proof or headphone jack or memory card expansion. iPhone 7 offers waterproof so a tradeoff for headphone and mem card. Likewise other non water proof phones offer head phone and or mem card. Mediocre camera but offers a nifty magnetic accessory. Folks essentially want the base product features first with accessories as the name implies secondary. Essential was supposed to offer plain Android along with other compatible products soon to be announced. There could still be room for Essential device but should prioritize price and features better. They really goofed on the housing trade offs. They positioned the device poorly against iPhone 8 and Galaxy S8. Sprint is discounting to a high mid tier level but that limits TAM to Sprint subs ok with a contract lock-in. However, Essential seems to be more of a Pixel type device. Anyway expect the prices to come down if significant stocks built. Hopefully they were wise to run a small launch batch. Cut their losses on the PH1 model and reconfigure. Sprint can help firesale excess stocks overseas thru sister co Brightstar.
My favorite reason for people not wanting to buy a phone
SDCard slot: no
Because not all OEM's want to pay M$ for having a SDCard
M$ owns FAT, any phone that uses a SDCard slot has to pay M$ a license fee
Why would any company want to go to bed with M$ is beyond me, I'm just glad there is a choice, I always choose no sdcard, I backup everything to either my own cloud or ftp server
Haven't used any M$ since 1997 and very proud of it.
Linux is a kernel. If you want a GNU phone, say a GNU phone. If you want a Ubuntu Phone, say you want a Ubuntu phone.
Language does matter. Telling us you want "Linux" really literally tells us nothing, not simply because we're pedants over here at Slashdot and know Android has a Linux kernel, but also because when people use Linux the way you're using, to refer to the kernel plus some of the userland, you're not really giving us clues as to what exactly you're incorporating into that userland.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
For the Moto/Lenovo G3, G4 Plus, E4 SDCard slot: YES Headphone jack: YES User replaceable battery: E4 does Stock Android: YES The Moto/Lenovo phones offer great value compared to Samsung and others. I'm very happy with the four we've bought. Hopefully the other manufacturers start using stock Android apps rather than the poorly written garbage they write themselves. Some of the Google stuff is poor too (music upload has bugs reported since 2011), but at least my data is backed up reliably.
running kitkat the only concern i'm starting to have is security ? ... runs wechat, line and one or two more and prevents me from installing 200 others i dont need
even if had the money to spare
id pass, thanks, unless you get phones with replacable parts like i mean
pico-itx boards and stuff with a simcardslot ?
... well .. fun
it has a little light, a recorder and it can send messages
no ?
cos that would be like
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?