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Andy Rubin's Essential Phone Considered Anything But (theregister.co.uk)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Andy Rubin's ambitions to create a new consumer electronics ecosystem are floundering at base camp. Sales of Essential's phone, which forms a key part of the strategy, are tepid. Google Play reports a mere 50,000 download of Essential's Camera app so far, the Android Police blog notes. This doesn't paint the full picture, but it can be assumed a fairly complete one, barring a few brush strokes. Essential launched in the US with support from Sprint, at a recommended SIM-free retail price of $699. After reported sales of just five thousand in the first month, this was slashed to $499 and could be grabbed for $399 in the post-Thanksgiving sales. As devices from different manufacturers proliferate in the home, Rubin has alluded to "a new operating system so it can speak all those protocols and it can do it securely and privately." But rather than launching a new software platform he's had to launch hardware.
Costly niche product doesn't sell in large numbers, news at 11!
(If they ever want money, just build a modern smartphone in landscape slider form)
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Technically and ethically the Essential phone is a fine phone... However I don't think they understand the Cell phone market.
Because for a few hundred dollars less, you can get a good budget phone, or a few hundred dollars more you can get a premium phone.
Cell phones are not like cars. Where there is a need for a large range of different models. Even the expensive iPhone X at over $1k wouldn't be a painful expense to most middle class people, unlike getting a top end luxury or sports car, where such payments for a middle class person may mean the difference between home mortgage or having the car. So with cell phones a good portion of people can afford to get arguably "the best" phone that money can buy. For those who do not want the best, they are actually happy getting a lower end model. Cars have a middle ground which is popular because they are so much more expensive, that if you are middle class you may want more then a budget car, but not as much as a high end car, because there is variances in your budget to purchase more then the minimum.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I don't understand how a person can come to wield financial power of the scale required to launch something like new smartphone hardware, and yet be so clueless as to the market. The fact that Microsoft could not survive in this market, with their experience creating software, purchase of Nokia, and the ability to tie the software / user experience in with their world-dominating desktop OS, should be a huge, huge hint as to their likelihood to succeed.
Better known as 318230.
Just make the damn thing as thick as the phone+case everyone carries now, but robust enough that the case isn't necessary. Then use the extra space for batteries (and not removing the headphone jack).
Seriously, the problem is that everyone tries so hard to make the phone look as "shiny" as possible on a store shelf, without giving a damn about what its *actually* like to the *actual* user a month later.
I guess he was too busy harassing women and not paying attention to the fact that no one wants a $700 phone that isn't an iPhone.
I've had it now for two weeks, and it's pretty darn sweet:
* same basic specs as the Galaxy S8. Same SOC, memory and 128GB storage. Phone is a little shorter, but with less bezel, there's not much difference in pixels
* fantastic battery life
* sturdy construction
* can't beat the price at those specs -- it's a high-end phone at mid-range prices
* pure Android, no carrier or manufacturer cruft
Downsides
* camera is not top-notch (but it's getting better in software)
* accessories are minimal
* there may be some touchscreen glitches, hard to pin down (could be software, as alternate firmware doesn't have the problem)
This is the android phone for people who want the pure experience, unlocked bootloader, and don't want to pay Pixel prices.
Their marketing is not top-notch. I would barely have heard of it if I didn't fish in the android forum waters.
My biggest worry is if Andy Rubin decides he's bored with it, and it loses support for upgrades in the future. However, if they deliver on the Project Treble version of Oreo, maintaining upgraded firmware gets a lot easier.
Design for Use, not Construction!