From the Android Founder: Essential Phone!

swatkats

swatkats

Skilled
Essential_PH_1.jpg


The Essential Phone, brought to us by the person who created Android, is finally ready for the spotlight. It’s an incredibly audacious and ambitious project, with an outlandish screen and the beginnings of a modular ecosystem.

First, the Android phone basics: the Essential Phone costs $699 with top-of-the-line specs and features. As you can see above, it prominently features an edge-to-edge display that one-ups even the Samsung Galaxy S8 by bringing it all the way to the the top of the phone, wrapping around the front-facing selfie camera.

It’s a unique take on a big screen that makes the phone stand out — and it’s smart, too. Often, the status bar at the top of an Android phone doesn’t fill that middle space with icons, so it’s efficient. The screen does leave some bezel at the bottom of the phone, but nevertheless it’s as close to the whole front of a phone being display as I’ve seen.


Essential is launching the phone in the US to start, and it’s filled the phone with radios that should make it work on all major carriers, alongside usual Android flagship internals like a Qualcomm 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. And because Essential seems to be hanging its hat on the idea of shipping phones without extraneous junk (the designers don’t even put a logo on the exterior), chances seem good that there won’t be a ton of extraneous software laded on to slow the phone down.


Essential Phone key specifications

  • 5.7-inch (2560 x 1312 QHD) with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 cover glass
  • 2.45GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa core processor (Quad + 1.9GHz Quad)
  • 4GB RAM, 128GB storage
  • Android OS
  • Fingerprint Sensor
  • 13MP Dual RGB + Mono camera with image fusion technology, 13MP True Monochrome mode f/1.85 lens, Video recording at 4K 30fps, 1080p 60fps or 720p 120fps
  • 8MP resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio f/2.20 fixed hyperfocal lens, Video recording at 4K 30fps, 1080p 60fps or 720p 120fps
  • 4x microphones with noise cancellation and beam forming
  • Dimensions: 141.5mm x 71.1mm x 7.8mm; Weight: 185 grams
  • USB Type C, Bluetooth 5.0,WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO, NFC, GPS and GLONASS
  • 3,040 mAh battery with fast charging
The Essential Phone is priced at $699 and comes in four colors: Black Moon, Stellar Grey, Pure White and Ocean Depths.

Website: https://www.essential.com/

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/30/15711170/essential-phone-announcement-price-android-andy-rubin
 
The add on things are gimmicky at best as they are proprietary and are bound to that particular model.
But no headphone jack is a really serious issue for me. I have used a phone (Le2) without a 3.5 mm jack and it's really a pain since I always have to carry that type C to 3.5 mm connector.
Last week I misplaced that and now I just cannot connect any headphone.
Anyway on topic, this seems a very high price for a device from a new company.
 
Watching videos on that would be irritating. They'll probably have black bars on the sides to compensate for that camera at the top of the display.
 
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