Before the launch of Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone, the smartphone was expected to come with flagship specs to take on the leading smartphones from the likes of Apple and Samsung. The Essential Phone managed to impress the audience with its full-screen design and its modular capability. However, the company has failed to meet a couple deadlines in making the Essential Phone to the buyers. Customers are reluctant on whether to purchase it or not. iFixit has revealed that it is almost impossible to repair the Essential Phone. This can be another reason that may cause the customers to not to buy the Essential Phone.

iFixit is known for performing teardown on newly smartphones to reveal the internal components used by the phone makers and also to check how easy it is to repair. It provides a repairability score of 1 to 10 where the latter means easiest to repair. How much did Essential Phone score? It scored 1 which indicates it is almost impossible to repair. Here is what iFixit found after performing Essential Phone teardown on its titanium and ceramic build.

An attempt to repair the smartphone can damage it because of the seams and huge amount of adhesive in building it. Since it is very difficult to open the smartphone, trying to repair it can damage its chassis. In order to open the Essential Phone, iFixit had to freeze the device and then access the internals from the rear. This led to breaking of the display.

The Essential Phone does not feature a 3.5mm audio jack. The USB-C is the only port available for charging the handset as well as for connecting headphones. Hence, the USB-C port can wear out faster. Since it is soldered to the motherboard, it is difficult to repair or replace.

Read More: Essential Phone Goes On Sale Starts At $699, Promises Updates For 2 Years

The identification marks of the smartphone are placed on a small tag that resides under the SIM card tray. Few things that make it repair-friendly is the usage of standard screws and stretch-release adhesive for the battery. Still, reaching the battery of the smartphone is a difficult task.

It seems that if the users of the Essential Phone encounter come across a hardware issue on it, they may end up replacing it instead of repairing it. To checkout the entire teardown of the Essential Phone, users can visit the source link.

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The Essential Phone has been officially announced. It is an impressive flagship smartphone that can take on the likes of Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Mi 6. Through a post-launch interview Andy Rubin, the founder of Essential firm has given out information on when the Essential Phone will be available in the U.S.

The Essential smartphone is already available for reservation in the U.S. However, the company has not disclosed the exact release of the Essential Phone. In the interview at Code Conference 2017, Rubin revealed that the Essential Phone would be available for purchase in the next 30 days which indicates that the company would start shipping the phone by the end of the next month

Apart from the official website, the Essential Phone would be available through channels such as carriers and retailers. As far as the international launch of the Essential Phone is concerned, the support page of the smartphone states that it be would announced later. Currently, the company is receiving registrations for the Essential Phone only in the U.S.

Read More:Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone Makes Its First Official Outing

Even though the Essential Phone would be available through the U.S. carriers later on, the company would will be trying its best to make the phone available free from bloatware that are added by the carrier. Rubin has also said that the company will also be not adding much customizations to the stock edition of Android. He added that the Essential would be introducing its very own digital assistant on the Essential Phone.

The Essential Phone is priced at $699 for its unlocked version. It comes with a 5.7-inch LTPS LCD edge-to-edge screen that offers a resolution of 1,312 x 2,560 pixels. Its specs include Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB native storage, a pair of 13-megapixel RGB + monochrome sensors. 8-megapixel selfie snapper, fingerprint reader, USB-C port, and 3,040mAh battery

The Essential Phone carries support for modular accessories such as the 360-degree camera that can be attached to the magnetic connector at the rear side. By paying $50 more, the 360-degree camera will come bundled with the phone.

(source)

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The elusive Essential Android smartphone has been allegedly spotted in a new ad from Michelin. A mysterious phone pops up in the ad at 0:07 and is visible only for a second.

The still shot that we have here shows the mysterious phone with a huge display. Some may speculate that it may be the Xiaomi Mi MIX concept phone. The smartphone in the Michelin ad has only top corners rounded. However, Mi MIX concept phone has all the four corners rounded.

Also, it is not the Sharp Aquos Crystal or the Doogee Mix because the chin of the mysterious device does not feature any button. The Aquos Crystal as well as the Doogee Mix feature large-sized chin with a Home key on it. Hence, it is speculated that it may be the Essential Android phone from Andy Rubin.

The frontside of the phone is mainly occupied by its display and it has a slim button-less chin. The phone sports ultra-slim bezels. The protective case that the phone is wearing has three cutouts which could be for a USB Type-C port, a headphone jack and an external speaker.

Andy Rubin who is known as the father of Android is heavily rumored to be working on a flagship smartphone that is speculated to come with modular capabilities. Rubin has already released a teaser image that only shows a small part of the phone. However, the image does reveal that it features very slim bezels and it probably suggests that the screen occupies major portion of the frontside of the phone. Rumors have it that the phone features a pressure-sensitive display like the one present on recent iPhones.

Read More: Android Co-Founder Andy Rubin Has a New Company Working on a Modular Smartphone

Recently, the Essential FIH-PM1 smartphone was found listed on GFXBench benchmarks. The listing revealed that the Essential Android smartphone has a 5.5-inch screen that supports a resolution of 2,560 x 1,312 pixels and it is powered by Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB of RAM. The native storage of the phone is 16 GB. Its rear-facing camera is of 12-megapixel and its selfie shooter is of 8-megapixel. On Geekbench, the Essential FIH-PM1 phone has recorded 1,844 on single-core test and 5,426 on multi-core test.

Rubin is expected to launch the smartphone through his company called Essential Products, Inc. It is expected to debut in the second half of 2017. Here is the Michelin ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqOMV3W-xVc&app=desktop

(source|via)

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One of the most awaited smartphones of this year is the flagship Android smartphone from Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android OS before Google acquired it. The flagship phone would be released through his company named Essential Products, Inc. Rubin has already teased the first look of the phone and now its specifications have appeared on GFXBench benchmarking platform. In January, the Geekbench benchmarks had also appeared.

The smartphone has appeared with a model number of Essential FIH-PM1. FIH stands for Foxconn International Holdings which indicates that Foxconn could be manufacturing the phone.

It bears a screen size of 5.5 inches and it offers a resolution of 1,312 x 2,560 pixels. The display provides an aspect ratio 80:41 which is similar to 18:9 on the LG G6. The Snapdragon 835 SoC that is present under the hood of the device features a 2.2 GHz octa-core processor and Adreno 540 graphics. The SoC is supported by 4 GB of RAM. The native storage provided on the phone is 16 GB.

Read More: Android Founder, Andy Rubin Teases Essential Phone: First Look at Bezel-less Display

It has a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and a frontal shooter of 8-megapixel. The GFXBench listing suggests that the back camera does not feature autofocus. The phone is preloaded with Android 7.0 Nougat. On Geekbench, the phone has scored 1,844 points on single-core test and 5,426 on multi-core test.

I'm really excited about how this is shaping up. Eager to get it in more people's hands… pic.twitter.com/LRzQCFSKTm

— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) March 27, 2017

According to Essential, its upcoming smartphone has “the ability to gain new hardware feature over time.” Speculations have it that the Essential phone would arriving with some modular capabilities and the already teased bezel-less display is expected to carry support for a function similar to 3D Touch on Apple iPhones. One of the rumored modules will allow users to snap high resolution 360-degree photos with the Essential phone. Speculations have it that the Essential flagship smartphone may get announced in the second half of this year.

(source|via)

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Andy Rubin, the co-creator Android who is known as ”the father of Android” was rumored to launch his own high-end flagship smartphone as early as the oncoming spring to take on the likes of iPhone and Google Pixel smartphones. Fresh reports reveal that the Japan-based SoftBank that was supposed to fund the launch of Rubin’s smartphone has decided not to invest $100 million in Essential Products Inc, a startup company led by Rubin.

Rubin was supposed to launch his smartphone through Essential Products Inc, a new firm consisting of around 40 people that were previous employees of Google, Apple, or Samsung. SoftBank and Essential were reportedly working on the final stages of the contract, but the financing firm has decided to scrap the deal. Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal has reported that it was because of a conflict in interest that made SoftBank decide to not to provide funds to Essential.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has plans to launch a tech-based investment group called vision Fund later this year with $100 billion in capital. Apple will be investing $1 billion in this fund. Son apparently felt that investing in Essential for Rubin’s smartphone could disturb SoftBank’s relationship with Apple.

Related: Android Co-Founder Andy Rubin Has a New Company Working on a Modular Smartphone

SoftBank had acquired ARM chipmaker in September. The ARM-based processers are used in devices manufactured by Samsung, LG and other companies. Investing in a probable competitor like Essential could lead to restrained relationship with partnering companies. This is also considered to be another reason why SoftBank has withdrawn its investment decision on Essential.

Another report has revealed that Essential would be getting $100 million from unnamed investors instead of SoftBank. Essential is likely to close this deal soon which could possibly help Rubin to launch his smartphone by spring.

Rubin’s smartphone is expected to sport a 5.5-inch pressure-sensitive bezel-less display. It also speculated to carry support for modular accessories like the Moto Mods available for Moto Z series smartphones.

The smartphone was allegedly spotted with Essential FIH-PM1 moniker on Geekbench benchmarks with specs like Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4 GB of RAM and Android 7.0 Nougat OS. In single-core test, it recorded a score of 1,844 whereas it scored 5,426 on multi-core test. Speculations indicate that it is being assembled by Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) which can be seen in the moniker that appeared on Geekbench.

(Source)

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Remember the Snapdragon 835 Geekbench results we posted a few weeks ago? Chances are that the device used for the test is the upcoming Essential phone. Currently going by the name Essential FIH-PM1, the device has 4GB of RAM, runs Android 7.0 Nougat, and has a Snapdragon 835 SoC clocked at 1.90GHz.

If it turns out that it is indeed the phone, then one of our questions from yesterday is already answered: the Essential phone will run Android OS. Though some folks are expecting a different OS entirely from the company, we think the decision to go with Android is better.

First, we already know the world is not ready for a new mobile operating system. Some of the popular ones are dead like Blackberry OS and Firefox OS or nearly dead already like Windows Phone, leaving us with just Android and iOS.

Second, it is going to be hard work building a new OS from the scratch and finding developers to create apps for it. The best bet will be to use a sort of emulator that lets you install Android apps, and we all know how that went with Blackberry OS 10.

So why not just stick to Android from the onset and save yourself the fate of a failed OS or a great device killed by a failed OS.

READ MORE: Meizu M5S with 2GB RAM, Octa-core Chip Spotted on Geekbench

The Essential phone is expected to be released later this year and is said to be modular in some way, have a bezell-less front and probably feature a 3D touch display. Taiwanese company Foxconn is mentioned as the contractor assembling the device and the ‘FIH’ in the phone’s name is said to stand for Foxconn International Holdings.

(Source)

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