Essential, a smartphone brand formed by Android founder Andy Rubin, shut the shop earlier this year just after launching one smartphone — Essential PH-1. With all the future plans of the company scrapped, its former designer has shared images of devices which could have been PH-2 and PH-3 smartphones.
Kevin Hoffman was working with Essential as a lead designer on the company’s sequel smartphones which never saw the light of day. He has shared images of the company’s new devices via design process and also reveals why they never got launched.
The design of the Essential PH-2 seems like a natural progress for the PH-1 with the company keeping the rear design same, having two cameras, magnetic pin attachments, and a fingerprint sensor. It also would have been IP68 rated in a move of the company listening to its users demand.
The phone was killed off in its second round of EVT testing. Hoffman says that Andy Rubin himself pulled the plug of this PH-2 smartphone in favor of Essential Home product line, which also never made its way to the market.
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The Essential PH-3 smartphone is said to have been in works this year as well. Given that the product was designed with low build-of-material cost, the company was aiming for the budget segment with this phone.
The company would have used bead-blasted machined aluminium for the body, a 2.5D front glass, and an OLED display. The images also show a triple-camera setup on the back and the frame was flat as a “homage to the original PH1 Essential phone design language.”
The smartphone never made it to the market given that it was in the early stages of development when the company closed its doors last month. Although the company struggled with sales and controversies related to Andy Rubin‘s past, Essential has a very strong track record when it comes to Android updates.
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(Source)
