OSOM is a new smartphone brand formed by some of the former members of the Essential company. It is gearing up to launch its first smartphone in the market, dubbed as OSOM OV1, and ahead of the launch, some details about the device have surfaced online.

During the Mobile World Congress, the company’s founder and CEO Jason Keats shared some details with Android Police about the upcoming smartphone.

The OSOM OV1 will be made using high-quality materials that aren’t found in many smartphones, including stainless steel, titanium, and ceramic. It has also been revealed that the camera module and the power and volume keys will make use of titanium, while the mid-frame of the device will use stainless steel. The back of the smartphone will be made of zirconium ceramic.

Under the hood, the device is said to come powered by a chipset that is “based on the Snapdragon 8 series” but the exact processor model has not been confirmed yet. We expect it to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the upcoming “Plus” variant of it.

On the backside, the camera module on the device will include a dual-camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixel primary sensor and a 12-megapixel secondary lens. On the front side, there will be a 16-megapixel snapper for taking selfies and video calling.

The smartphone will feature an OLED display but details about the screen resolution, refresh rate, and others still remain unknown. It is known that the device will be running the Android operating system out-of-the-box. The Dual SIM smartphone will have support for 5G ultra-wideband connectivity.

As for the pricing, the OSOM OV1 is said to cost less than $1,000 when it goes official sometime in the second half of this year. It will come in four color options —  Solar Yellow, Borealis Green, Twilight Blue, and Dusk Purple. Earlier, the device was expected to launch at MWC but it is now said to launch in Summer.

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OSOM, a new smartphone company formed by some of the former members of the Essential company, is reportedly gearing up to launch a new smartphone named OSOM OV1 in the coming months.

The OSOM OV1 smartphone was supposed to go official during Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona, Spain at the end of this year but the launch has been postponed. It is now expected to go official sometime in Summer.

As of now, nothing is known about the smartphone apart from the fact that the OSOM OV1 is focusing more on privacy. A poll by the company on LinkedIn a few weeks ago hinted at four new colors — Solar Yellow, Borealis Green, Twilight Blue, and Dusk Purple.

It is not known how many colors from those fours will eventually make it to the device. The company had also shown the smartphone in Black and White colors last year.

For those who are unaware, OSOM is an acronym for “Out of sight, Out of mind” and the OV1 stands for OSOM Vault 1. As stated above, the company, founded by Jason Keats and Wolfgang W. Muller, has team members that worked on the Essential PH-1 or Phone 1.

Essential, a company created by Android founder Andy Rubin, had launched its first smartphone dubbed as Essential One in 2017. The company was eventually shut down, just a couple of years after the launch of its first phone. Last year, Essential was acquired by Nothing, a company founded by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei.

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• OSOM OV1 has the potential to be an awesome sequel of sorts to the Essential Phone
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• Throwback Tech Thursday: Revisiting Nokia Lumia 1020 – The DSLR Camera Smartphone

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Essential’s first smartphone dubbed Essential PH-1 wasn’t that successful in the market, and soon after its release, the company shut its operations. Now, the brains behind Essential are back, this time as OSOM, to launch its privacy-centric phone called the OSOM OV1.

Previously, the company teased the OSOM OV1 and revealed the plans for the company. Now, the brand took it Twitter asking the audience about its color variants.

We need your (colorful) opinion. Let us know below #osom2022 #ownyourprivacy #Android #ov1 pic.twitter.com/k7UqbbSKXo

— OSOMPrivacy (@OsomPrivacy) January 27, 2022

In a tweet, the company shared the OV1 in four colorways – Solar Yellow, Borealis Green, Twilight Blue, and Dusk Purple. The company wants netizens to choose between four of these colors. We might end up seeing all of these colors once the phone arrives.

Regarding its specifications, there’s very little that we have learned so far. The smartphone will feature a triangular camera module at the rear holding two lenses. It also has a big LED flash alongside the lenses. It will be powered by a Qualcomm chipset, however, there’s no detail on the exact chipset.

Furthermore, we’ll see the phone focusing on privacy and security. Having said that, it will have a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and will run on stock Android OS.

Apart from this, the phone will debut in Summer 2022, but we’ll see the device getting showcased at the Mobile World Congress(MWC) event next month. We are also hopeful to get to learn all of its specs and design as we come closer to the event.

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This month is an important one for Carl Pei, the former OnePlus co-founder who left to start his own company last year. The new startup will unveil its first product by the end of the month and it will arrive as the Nothing ear (1). Ahead of the launch, the entrepreneur has granted an interview that reveals key details about the earbuds as well as the company.

Nothing ear (1) design

Speaking to Techcrunch, Carl Pei revealed that the delay with the release of the ear (1) had nothing to do with supply issues but the transparent design. He disclosed that making a high-quality transparent product is extremely difficult as they had to consider certain parameters (magnets and glue type) that wouldn’t have mattered if the product was opaque.

Nothing ear (1) features

The Nothing ear (1) will have three high-definition microphones and active noise cancellation alongside other features found on the AirPods Pro. However, it will sell for a much affordable price than the $249 Apple charges for its earbuds. You don’t have to wait until the launch date to find out how much it will cost as the CEO has let the cat out of the bag.

Nothing ear (1) price and availability

The Nothing ear (1) will be priced at $99 in the U.S., €99 in Europe, and £99 in the U.K. That makes it a direct competitor to the new Pixel Buds A series. Pei revealed that they are able to keep the price tag fair because they will be primarily sold online. The manufacturer revealed a few weeks ago that the earbuds will be sold by Flipkart in India.

The earbuds will launch first in the U.K., India, Europe, and North America before making their way to Japan, Korea, and other regions later.  The Nothing ear (1) will be announced on July 27.

Plans for Essential

Shortly after Nothing was formed, the company acquired Essential. In the interview, Carl Pei revealed that they acquired the company for its trademark as it was one of the names they wanted to call the company before settling for Nothing. He added that not only will Essential IP not appear in its first product but they “don’t have any plans to do anything with Essential”!

So if you have had your hopes up about Essential being resurrected by Nothing, they have just been dashed. However, that isn’t to say Nothing can’t change its mind in the future.

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Last week was packed full of announcements and new developments in the mobile tech industry. If you missed out, here is your chance to get brought up to speed.

Essential is now a part of Nothing; you too can own (a part of )Nothing

Carl Pei’s Nothing has acquired the trademarks of Andy Rubin’s dead company, Essential Inc. Details of the acquisition first surfaced on Monday before Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing confirmed the news later in the week.

Nothing also opened up investment into the company to the general public. The new startup is offering $1.5 million worth of shares to interested community members, allowing them to own a part of the company before it goes public. In just 24 hours after its announcement, the company had recorded registered interest valued at over $18 million from over 14,000 individuals.

POCO India goes Mad with its rebranding

POCO India has announced it is rebranding barely more than a year since the Xiaomi-owned brand became an “independent company”. The company unveiled a new logo alongside a mascot last week that it says is “Made of Mad”.

A little over a Year Ago, Poco and Mi became two different entities.

On This Day, we’re letting you in on the real reason.
 
POCO is #TooMadForMi pic.twitter.com/AdEzBE4zlS

— Madder By the Minute (@IndiaPOCO) February 15, 2021

The POCO India Twitter account is packed full of short videos for the rebranding campaign.

First look at Android 12

Several devices eligible for the Android 11 update are yet to get it but that is not Google’s concern. The tech giant has released the first developer preview (DP1) of the next version which will be released later this year as Android 12.

Those who have gotten have shared some of the new features that we should expect when the stable version is released later this year. If your device won’t be getting Android 12, that is a bummer, but you can download one of the new wallpapers here.

GSMA wants you to attend MWC Barcelona 2021

The GSMA says this year’s edition of MWC Barcelona will be an in-person event and not an all-digital one like CES 2021. Last year, the association had to cancel the event as several manufacturers pulled out due to the pandemic.

Rather than settle for an all-digital event, the plan is to have an in-person event with several safety measures put in place. What’s our advice? Stay at home!!!

Motorola unveils a handful of budget phones

Motorola announced three new phones last week. First, it announced the Moto G10 and Moto G30 in Europe. Both phones have support for 4G, are powered by Snapdragon processors, have 5000mAh batteries, and are priced under 200 Euros.

It also announced the Moto G7 Power in India. An Helio G25-powered phone with dual rear cameras, a 5000mAh battery, and a starting price of ₹7,499 (~$103).

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Carl Pei’s Nothing is yet to announce its first product but the company has been in the news a lot lately. Just last week, it reported it had secured a $15 million investment from Alphabet’s GV. Now, the latest news is that the UK-based company has acquired Essential Inc. or what’s left of it. Yes, that Essential.

First reported by 9to5Google, filings found at the UK Intellectual Property Office now show that Essential is now owned by Carl Pei’s Nothing Technologies Ltd. The source reports that the application was filed back in November 2020 before it was completed in the first week of January 2021. Based on this, all that is left of Essential including its trademark and logo (no info on patents) are now owned by Nothing.

1 of 2

This is definitely exciting news as it presents the possibility of us seeing the return of the Essential brand. The company which was formed by Andy Rubin was one of the shortest lives smartphone brands to ever exist. It launched only one smartphone, the Essential PH-1 but went under before it could launch a successor or any of the other cool products it was developing.

Now that Essential is now owned by Nothing, we hope this is a sign that the Essential brand will rise from the ashes. We don’t expect a phone yet as that doesn’t seem to be in Nothing’s plan as far as we know.

Nothing is yet to officially announce the acquisition but we expect a statement to surface soon.

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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.

EDITOR’S PICK: Nokia 8.3 5G announced: packs Snapdragon 765G, four rear cameras, and more 5G bands than any other phone

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.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi says its 2000 employees in Wuhan did not contract Coronavirus, Output Capacity restored to 80 percent

(Source)

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Essential is dead! Many may have seen it coming but a few of us held on to a tiny string of hope that the company founded by Andy Rubin will launch a new smartphone.

In a post released on its website, Essential announced that Project GEM, the colorful and interesting phone that showed up in images on the web last October will not be launching. “Given this, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations and shutdown Essential,” the blog post said.

Essential said in the post that the February 3 security update rolled out to the Essential PH-1 is the final update for the device. The phone will continue to work but there will be no more updates or customer support. However, they will host a prebuilt vendor image as well as everything else needed by developers for the PH-1 on their GitHub. So expect custom ROMs and the likes to continue to be available for the PH-1.

They also announced that Newton Mail, the paid cross-platform email app it owns, will continue to work until April 30, 2020.

Essential has also shared some videos that show Project GEM in action. While they give us a look at the features of a phone that will never launch, they are actually quite interesting. You can check out the videos in the source link.

Essential may have had a very short stint in the mobile phone industry but it will always be remembered as a company that tried to do things differently.

(Source)

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Next year may be the year of the under-display camera seeing as manufacturers have tried all the other possible designs such as pop-up, notch, punch-hole, and flip. OPPO and Xiaomi already showed us working prototypes a few months ago. Now a patent suggests Essential may be joining the list.

The American company has filed a patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office titled Optical Sensors Disposed Beneath The Display Of An Electronic Device. This new patent for the under-display camera technology confirms the drawings that surfaced on the web back in February that the Essential PH-2 may have its selfie camera under the screen.

The patent was published on October 17 and it states that the upper portion of the display will have a variable transparency area. This should be for the camera and should be active when the camera needs to be used. We don’t know how Essential intends to pull it off but it sounds interesting.

There are speculations that the in-display camera tech may show up in the long-awaited successor to the Essential PH-1. However, Essential is focused on another device for the time being and this one has a punch-hole display for the front-facing camera.

UP NEXT: Samsung patents display design with reverse notch

(Source, Via)

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Essential Inc. slowed down things following the launch of its first smartphone, the Essential PH-1. Two years after it announced the PH-1, it is yet to announce another phone.

The company seems to be back on track as it already shared photos of its upcoming new device codenamed Project GEM which is quite different from what we are used to seeing.

Prior to releasing details about its new smartphone, the official Essential Twitter account tweeted earlier this week that the company is recruiting for a number of positions in Bangalore, India. Yes, Essential has an office in India and its hiring.

We're looking for talented engineers and designers based in Bangalore, India to join our team.

View open positions here: https://t.co/EQI1o9ozNF pic.twitter.com/KWd2x9Cjva

— Essential (@essential) October 8, 2019

Essential says it is recruiting for talent to work on Android and Cloud technology. Those who get hired “will work closely with HQ in Palo Alto” to build and design future products and platforms.

The company says workers will get perks such as flexible time off, catered meals, and fresh fruit, in addition to a competitive salary and health benefits.

Below is a list of the openings at the Indian office:

• CloudOps Engineer
• Interaction Designer/UX Designer
• Linux Engineer
• Software Development in Test, Android
• Software Engineer, Android Framework
• Software Engineer, Applications
• Software Engineer, Back-End
• Software Engineer, C++
• Software Engineer, Speech Recognition/Machine Learning

All the positions are full-time and are located in Bangalore. Do check here for full details on the positions and their requirements.

This is the second time this year Essential is recruiting for multiple positions. Back in February, it put up listings for 21 positions, however, some were not full-time jobs unlike the ones in India.

UP NEXT: Essential PH-2 could be in works as Essential confirms working on a new device

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Essential Products, the manufacturer of the impressive Essential PH-1 smartphone, is back in the headlines after announcing a new smartphone to the guys at XDA. The Essential PH-1 that was announced in August 2017 is no longer available for purchase in the market. Now that the company has confirmed that its next product is in early stages of testing, it may launch a new smartphone in the next few months.

According to the Essential spokesperson, “the Essential team is working on a new product, which is currently in the early stages of testing”. The statement came after XDA conducted an independent investigation by gathering evidence hinting at the new device. The smartphone was spotted testing with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 SoC. It is running on the July build of Android Q, with an open source alternative to Google Play Services.

It is possible that the hardware is currently being used only for testing purposes and the production variant might feature an entirely different powerhouse. In a post last year, Bloomberg claimed that the next smartphone from Essential would be ‘AI-powered’. The device was rumored to be able to answer messages automatically. It was expected to feature a smaller display while most interactions would be over voice commands. Essential has neither confirmed nor denied those rumors as of now.

Editor’s Pick:Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha 5G Concept launched with a mind-blowing 360° Surround Display & 108MP Ceramic Camera Strip

The company has created quite a benchmark for themselves with the Essential PH-1. In the past two years the PH-1 has received monthly security patches and every major OS upgrade on the same day that Google released them. Essential drew heavy criticism for the high price tag and the weak camera setup on the PH-1. The device launched at $699 and even the $200 price reduction later on did not help pickup sales.

The Essential PH-1 is a unique smartphone, built with premium materials like ceramic and titanium. Two materials that no other mass-produced smartphone manufacturer bothers using. The device offered virtually near-stock Android experience devoid of bloatware and is among the handful of devices currently running on Android 10. Rumors of the second-generation PH-2 was quashed in December 2018 when Essential confirmed plans to shelve the device due to disappointing sales figures.

UP NEXT: Latest Android Q Beta update bricked several Essential Phones

(source)

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The first Essential Phone may not have been a commercial success, but the brand managed to garner a decent fan following. It was said that the company had canceled the development of its second generation model last year owing to weak sales. Despite these reports, it looks like the Essential PH-2 may meet us after all.

Recently, Essential founder Andy Rubin, who has been reclusive on Twitter since late last year replied to a tweet asking a fellow Essential fan to ‘Hang Tight’. He further said that the company ‘Will make an announcement’. Given that this reply from the Android co-founder was to a discussion about the Essential 2, it could be a big hint that there’s a new phone incoming.

Last year, Andy Rubin had to face several sexual harassment allegations during his time at Google. Ever since the scandal, he has been very reclusive and has tweeted just four times this year. So when he decided to reply to a nine-month-old tweet all of a sudden, it has to mean there’s something big coming our way. Unfortunately, we can’t be sure whether it’s the Essential PH-2 or some other consumer product.

Despite the criticism received by the first Essential PH-1 model for its sub-par camera and expensive price tag, it is still loved by a lot of fans because of its prompt updates. Even the phone’s design was ahead of its time. So, the second generation could finally hit the sweet spot especially if it comes with powerful camera setup. However, there still isn’t any conclusive evidence that Andy Rubin’s comments were for a new smartphone. So, we’ll have to wait for more details.

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(Source, Via)

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A new update has started rolling out to the Essential PH-1. Unlike previous updates that have mostly just been security patches, this new one brings a new feature – support for Digital Wellbeing.

Digital Wellbeing was exclusive to the Pixels and Android One phones for a while but it has now started arriving on other Android devices.

The Essential PH-1 is the latest phone to get the new feature which lets you track the time spent on each app, the number of notifications you get per day and the number of times you unlock your device.

Digital Wellbeing also lets you set timers for your apps. When the timer ends, the app is paused for the rest of the day. There is also a “Wind Down” mode which when activated turns the screen to grayscale, so you can fall asleep easily.

The update also brings March 2019′ security patch to the 2017 device. It is less than 100MB in size and is already rolling out globally.

READ MORE: Essential wants to expand, puts up listings for 21 positions

Now that Digital Wellbeing is out of the way, we hope the next update brings support for ARCore.

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Last year, Essential laid off 30% of its workers. Some key executives also left, leading to the rumor that the company was probably going to shut down. Now, the company is planning to increase its workforce and has listed 21 vacancies. Some of these positions hint at what Essential might be planning for the future.

Part of the positions are for interns and are contract based but some are for full-time employees. Some of these full-time jobs hint at Essential developing its imaging technology. There are vacancies for a camera hardware engineer, a computational imaging lead, a computer vision software engineer, and an image quality engineer.

The Essential PH-1 wasn’t a great camera phone when it launched and although Essential tried to improve the camera performance via software updates, it still couldn’t measure up to other flagships released the same year. These positions might be an indication that it’s working on getting things right for its future releases.

Essential is also recruiting for software engineers that will handle projects such as building the backend for powering Essential’s online services and building new apps. There are also vacancies for supervisors that will oversee mass production and launch of new products. Based on all these, one can conclude that Essential is still very much in the phone business and is working on new products.

READ MORE: Essential is reportedly working on an AI phone that automatically responds to messages

Essential last product was the Audio Adapter HD released last year. It is a mod for the PH-1 that attaches to the back of the phone. It has a hi-res DAC and a 3.5mm audio jack. A few months ago, there was a report the company was working on a new mobile product and earlier this month, patents of what is believed to be the Essential PH-2 surfaced online.

(Via)

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Essential Phone, which was well talked but didn’t fare well in terms of sales, is reportedly working on its successor, dubbed Essential PH-2. Now, new details have surfaced online, revealing the phone’s display information and design.

According to the latest report, a new set of drawings have surfaced online, which suggests that the smartphone will come with a display that can go transparent, getting rid of all the notches and moving parts on the device.

The patent design further suggests that the Essential Phone PH-2 will have at least one camera sensor and one light sensor placed under the display. The report suggests that device will come with an OLED panel and become semitransparent on command when selfie camera is opened.

There’s also a second set of drawings which reveals that the handset will have an under-display fingerprint sensor, something which most of the flagship smartphones are now offering. It’s noteworthy that the name PH-2 was earlier spotted in a document of a US smartphone carrier but no other details related to the device are known at this time.

We are also expecting the smartphone to come with a near stock version of the latest Android operating system, which in this case could be the Android 9 Pie. We also expect the phone to come powered by Qualcomm’s flagship chipset.

Recently, it was reported that the company is working on a second device, which the company labeled as a “mobile product”. However, this second device might possibly be the leaked tiny phone that employs AI (artificial intelligence) to answer text messages and e-mails.

Currently, there is no word regarding the launch timeline of the smartphone. However, it’s highly unlikely that the patented device is the same device that was recently reported to have an AI-powered system to answer messages.

Read More: Essential is reportedly working on an AI phone that automatically responds to messages

Essential launched its first phone, the PH-1 more than a year ago, which didn’t do well due to a number of issues. Earlier reports indicated that the company canceled plans of a successor and even suspended some other hardware devices it had in development. However, it seems that the situation has changed and the company has now kicked-off development.

(Source)

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After more than a year since the release of the Essential PH-1, Essential has released the Audio Adapter HD, its second mod for the phone. The first is the Essential 360 Camera, which is the world’s smallest 4K 360° camera.

To put it simply, the Audio Adapter HD adds an audio jack to the phone. A feature believed to be essential but which is missing from the phone. However, the Audio Adapter HD does more than just add an audio jack to your phone.

The adapter has a “high-resolution ESS Sabre DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) with hardware MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) rendering for high-res audio on the PH-1“. This means that audio sounds exactly the way it was recorded with no loss of quality whatsoever. Essential says it is the first DAC to have this feature.

The adapter which is built of titanium just like the frame of the phone supports 24-bit, 96kHz and MQA rendering up to 32-bit, 384kHZ. Essential says it also has an audiophile-grade amp for audiophile-grade headphones. The Audio Adapter HD has a multi-color LED that indicates if you are playing master quality, non-MQA, or standard content.

The Audio Adapter HD has an IP55 rating, measures 29 x 30 x 11.5 mm and weighs 15.5 grams. It draws power from the phone and since it doesn’t connect to the Type-C port, you can charge your phone while using it. Do note that it will only work on an Essential Phone running Android P (build number PPR1.181005.076 or later).

READ MORE: Essential is reportedly working on an AI phone that automatically responds to messages

Essential has put a $149 price tag on the adapter. It ships to Canada and the United States only and is available for purchase on the Essential online shop.

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After taking a break from the negative spotlight for a couple of months, Essential is back in the news. Reports have surfaced saying the company has laid off about 30 percent of its workforce.

Essential has a staff strength of about 120, that means about 36 people were laid off. According to Bloomberg, the affected members of staff were from the sales, marketing, and hardware departments.

A spokeswoman for the company said in an e-mail that it was a tough decision to make and they are sorry about the impact. The mail also says “we are confident that our sharpened product focus will help us deliver a truly game changing consumer product.”

Essential launched its first phone, the PH-1 more than a year ago. Due to a number of issues the phone didn’t do well. It canceled plans of a successor this year and even suspended some other hardware devices it had in development. Other than the 360° VR camera, Essential has not released a new modular product for the PH-1. An audio attachment for the phone has been in development for months but still doesn’t have a release date.

READ MORE: Essential Phone update brings October security patch and notch settings

There was a report last week that the Andy Rubin-led company is working on an AI phone that will learn the owner’s habits and be able to respond to emails and messages. It will also have a small screen. We don’t know if Essential is still going forward with this plan.

(Source)

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Essential, a smartphone manufacturing brand from Android creator Andy Rubin, has so far launched only one device — Essential Phone PH-1. After launching its first phone last year, the company has not yet announced its plan for the next device.

Previously there were reports about the company working on its second smartphone as well as a smart home speaker. However, both were reportedly slashed because of the poor sales performance of the Essential PH-1.

Now, a report from Bloomberg suggests that the company is putting most of its projects aside and is instead focusing on developing a new kind of phone based on the artificial intelligence technology. The report adds that the phone will be able to mimic the user and will automatically respond to messages on behalf of the user.

According to the report, the design of the upcoming smartphone is not like the standard phone that we’ve seen seeing. Instead, there will be a small screen and the users will be required to interact mainly using voice commands, which will work on the company’s own AI-powered software.

It appears that the major aim for the said upcoming device from Essential is to offer work-related features like book appointments and respond to emails and text messages. However, the report adds that the users would also be able to make phone calls using this device.

While the idea may sound unique and interesting, it remains to be seen how practical this upcoming devcie from Essential is, based on the current limitations of the AI-backed voice assistants. This could also be the company’s last attempt to break into the consumer electronics market.

Essential is aiming to have the prototype of the phone finished by the end of the year so that it can be showcased to industry partners as soon as January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The news about the development of this AI-backed phone by Essential comes at a time when there’s no certainty about the company’s future. It has been clouded by workplace misconduct allegations involving Rubin’s time at Google. He also took a brief leave of absence from Essential last November. Earlier this year, the company was also up for sale.

Read More: Essential Phone update brings October security patch and notch settings

Essential is backed by around $300 million, which makes it Silicon Valley’s most ambitious consumer-electronics startup in years. Essentials’s first phone — PH-1 pioneered an edge-to-edge design before the Apple iPhone X. However, the phone’s sales were disappointing due to its relatively high price and buggy software.

(Source)

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Essential Phone, which received the Android 9.0 Pie update the same day it was released, has now received a new update with the October security patch. Interestingly, the new for the phone started rolling out minutes after Google released the same for its own devices.

Apart from the October security patch, the new update also brings back the notch settings, which enables users to hide the notch on top of the display. The notch settings, which enables customisation of app uses the notch area disappeared after the update from Android 8.1 Oreo to Android 9.0 Pie, when Google introduced new notch logic.

The reintroduced notch settings allows users to set their default notch preference for all applications from three options —  “Controlled by application,” “Always use notch area,” or “Never use notch area.” The October patches fixes a “critical vulnerability” that could allow a remote attacker some pretty high-level access.

Essential is doing something that no one other phone manufacturer has been able to do — providing Android updates on the same day it gets released. Recently, the company confirmed that it’ll also provide the next major Android update as well, i.e. Android Q, for the Essential Phone PH-1.

Read More: What’s new in Android 9 Pie update for the Essential PH-1?

It’s noteworthy that the company has stopped the development processor of its Essential Phone successor due to the poor sales of the company’s first smartphone. While it has promised Android Q update, the company’s future is still uncertain.

(Source)

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Amid the cancellation rumors of Essential Phone 2, Essential has confirmed Android Q update for PH-1. Due to poor sales of the Essential Phone, the company has decided to put a hold on the development of its successor. After the early rollout of the Android 9.0 Pie on the Essential Phone, now, the company is getting ready for the Android Q update, release slated for the next year.

Today, from Essential’s latest AMA on Reddit we have assembled some of the crucial details. Essential Phone is the only smartphone of the company that is available in the market. Essential was scheduled to launch the Essential Phone 2 this year, but as per the rumors, it has canceled for unknown reasons. Now, Essential is focusing on the development and support for its first smartphone, Essential Phone (PH-01).

After the Android 9.0 Pie update last month, it has lost custom notch settings. Now, on the users’ demand, Essential is all set to bring back the notch custom settings via the upcoming October security patch update. Here’s what they said:

We sure are! It’s in for our October security patch release and we’ll be working to get it out to you as quickly as possible. P.S. So much fun for PUBG (and I guess Fortnite, if they ever let me in the beta lol)

Similarly, on asking about the Android Q update, Essential replied to the user saying, “We’ll provide platform updates for 2 years (until August 2019) and security updates for 3 years (until August 2020).

Read More: Essential Phone Gets Another Camera Update, Brings Portrait Mode

Essential denied the availability of Panorama view feature in the camera app of the device. Further, it answered all the queries related to the upcoming features, bugs, and fixes. It’s a good going from the Essential to bring the latest software update for the Essential phone.

(Source, Via)

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Citing people familiar with the matter, a fresh report on Bloomberg states that Essential Phone has not only canceled the development of its second-generation flagship phone, but also it has hired Credit Suisse Group AG’s advisors for finding potential buyers to sell the brand.

Bloomberg’s report had claimed that Essential has considered selling off everything from devices to patent profile. Also, one of the suitors is already interested in acquiring Essential. Soon after the report came out in the public, Andy Rubin released a new tweet that neither denies that the company is up for sale, nor confirms that the successor of the Essential Phone will not be coming.

Ruin has said that the company has been working on multiple product simultaneously and have canceled some in favor of those products that may good reception from audience. He added that company is putting more efforts in its upcoming mobile and home products.

Bloomberg’s report has clearly stated that the company has canceled its next smartphone. Its sources have revealed the firm is now workin on a smart home device. This product is expected to debut by 2019.

Read More: The Next Essential Phone Will Boast A Better Camera

According to the publication, Essential may reenter into phone business later and the company has even approached another manufacturer other than Foxconn to build an Essential branded device. This will not only let it overcome developmental process difficulties, but also give them a presence in the market

Bloomberg has claimed that the Essential Phone PH-1 did not sell well mainly because of the various issues it encountered at the beginning such as high starting price of $699, weak camera hardware, touchscreen problems and difficulties in making phone calls. The company has reportedly sold over 150,000 Essential Phone PH-1 units and in the process, it has rolled out a number software updates, introduced new color variants and reduced the pricing to as low as $399.

Apart from lukewarm towards its first smartphone, the internal issues within the company has caused many hardware and software engineers to leave the firm. Also, many top executives such as Brian Wallace who worked as the vice president of marketing and Joe Tate who served as the head of hardware engineering have left the company.

(source 1, 2)

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In March, Google had released the first developer preview of Android 9.0 P. Through the Google I/O 2018 event that began yesterday, Google confirmed the arrival of beta edition of Android P for smartphones from various brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Nokia (HMD Global, Essential and Sony.

In the previous years, Google used to release the beta builds of new Android version first to its Pixel/Nexus devices. However, starting with this year, the latest Android P beta build will be not only available for the existing Pixel phones, but also for devices from popular smartphone OEMs. Well, all these phones are Project Treble compatible devices because of which they are entitled to receive the Android P beta along with the Pixel phones.

Here is the list of smartphones for which the Android P beta is now available for download:

• Google Pixel
• Google Pixel XL
• Google Pixel 2
• Google Pixel 2 XL
• OnePlus 6
• Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S
• OPPO R15 Pro
• Vivo X21
• Vivo X21 UD
• Essential Phone
• Sony Xperia XZ2

In order to download the Android P beta, owners of the above phones are required to enroll in the respective beta program first. This can be done by visiting the following link. Yes, the above list contains the unreleased OnePlus 6. More details on Android P for OP6 is expected to surface on its launch date.

Android P is packed with plenty of new features such as Adaptive Battery that prioritizes battery consumption for frequently used apps and services; Adaptive Brightness that can remember the manually set brightness setting for specific lighting environment; Digital wellbeing features that shows how the device is being used by the user by providing a Dashboard to see the time spent in apps, unlocking of phone, checking notifications and so on. Some of the other features of the Android 9.0 P include manual screen rotation, gesture-based navigation, predicted actions and more.

As of this writing, there is no information on the release date of the final build of Android P. Also, the official name of Android 9.0 is yet to be disclosed. Like last year, the Android P may debut in August this year.

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The Essential Phone is almost a year old but its availability has been limited to just North America alone. A few days ago, the manufacturer opened its online shop to a few more countries.

If you reside in the UK, France, Germany, and Japan, you can now order the Essential PH-1 and have it delivered to you. Canadians can also order an unlocked version instead of purchasing from Telus.

Essential is practically just shipping the phone to you from the US. You also have to check out in US dollars.

The price starts at $499 for the Black Moon and Pure White and jumps to $599 for the Stellar Gray and Copper Black variants. Delivery to these regions is already included in the price.

The Essential Phone is still a great buy nonetheless. Its tri-bezel-less display, ceramic back, and titanium frame make it one of the best looking and durable smartphones money can buy. It also has a Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a whopping 128GB of storage.

READ MORE: The Next Essential Phone Will Boast A Better Camera

The Essential Phone already has an update that takes it to Android 8.1 Oreo right from Android Nougat. Essential is also committed to pushing out updates as quickly as possible.

(Source)

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The Essential PH-1 received an update to Android 8.1 Oreo last month. Before then it was still on Android Nougat. Yesterday, it got a new update which brings April’s security patch and Bluetooth 5.0.

The update is 127MB in size and updates your security patch to that of April. There are other changes and fixes too but the biggest is that Bluetooth 5.0 has now been certified.

Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest version of the wireless technology and it comes with a number of new features. First, it lets you pair your phone to more than one speaker or wireless headphone at a time. So you can stream audio to two speakers or even stream different audio sources (music and video) to two speakers/headphones. However, they must be Bluetooth 5.0 devices too for you to get the feature.

Another update to Bluetooth 5.0 is the support for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for audio devices. BLE was only available to smartwatches, fitness trackers and other low-power devices. Bluetooth 5.0 also has an increased range and speed. Supported distance is now 240 meters and speed is now 2Mbps.

READ MORE: Patent Reveals The Next Essential Phone May Come With A Pop-up Camera

Essential also says the update brings modem stability fixes, improves performance, and also proper handling of external game controllers.

(Source)

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After months of waiting for a stable update to Android 8.0 Oreo, Essential announced that it had cancelled the update. Its reason for doing so had to do with stability issues present in Android 8.0 that would be addressed in Android 8.1 Oreo. So instead of an update to 8.0 Oreo, the Essential PH-1 would get an update to 8.1 Oreo.

After a few weeks of extra waiting, Essential has today announced that the Android 8.1 Oreo stable update has begun rolling out to devices. The announcement was made on Twitter a short while ago.

We're excited to announce the full release of Android Oreo 8.1 on Essential Phone! Check your phone now for the update. pic.twitter.com/0PwPBMj6h1

— Essential (@essential) March 13, 2018

Screenshots provided by some users who have received the OTA shows the update is 1015.1 MB in size. Below is the complete changelog:

1. Smart Text selection, instant apps, picture-in-picture
2. Faster startup and app sign-in
3. Google Play Protect security scans
4. Google Security Patches 2018-03
5. Dynamic Calendar and Clock Icons
6. Slow Scrolling Jitter Fix

READ MORE: Patent Reveals The Next Essential Phone May Come With A Pop-up Camera

Its interesting to see that it also brings March security patch and a fix for the scrolling jitter users have complained about.

Do you own an Essential PH-1? Have you received the update? Let us know what you think.

(Source)

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The Vivo APEX has been getting lots of attention following its surprise MWC reveal. The phone’s unique feature is its over 90% screen-to-body ratio. To achieve that, Vivo decided to remove the camera from its usual position and make it pop up from the top, thereby providing more space for the display. It turns out that Essential already owns a patent with the same pop-up camera design.

https://twitter.com/RitterRav/status/969419186417016834

Yes Rafael, I saw it. Check this: https://t.co/v5DuJxP0qI https://t.co/HvbWEmwjYm

— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) March 3, 2018

The public reveal of the patent was done in an unusual way. A fan had called Andy Rubin’s attention to an article of the Vivo APEX and the CEO of Essential replied with a link to their patent with the same design.

The patent reveals it was filed back in May 2016 before we knew about the company’s existence, and it was granted in August of 2017.

One version shows the camera will pop-up from the right hand side of the top of the phone. It will protrude when the camera needs to be used and retract when inactive. In the image above, we can see the phone doesn’t have a notch and the screen reaches to the top. We can also see the outline for two rear cameras. The patent also says the retractable camera can be a front facing camera, a back facing camera, or even a 360° camera.

READ MORE: Essential Phone Could Soon Launch In India As Amazon-Exclusive For Rs. 24,999

In another version, the patent says the camera is integrated into the display as a camera icon at the top left corner. The camera serves two functions in this case – as a camera icon which when selected activates the camera, and also as the camera for taking pictures and recording videos.

While there is no confirmation, there is a chance we may see any of the two designs surface in the next Essential Phone.

Which of the two designs you prefer? Pop-up camera or integrated camera?

(Sources: 1, 2 |Via)

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Essential Phone has received several updates improving the camera performance and functionality and now, the company has released yet another update pertaining camera features. The new camera update for the Essential PH-1 brings selfie flash, stability fixes, and a beta version of a ‘Tiny Planet’ mode.

The Tiny Planet is one of the most exciting features coming to the phone. If you have the Essential 360 Camera accessory, Tiny Planet allows you to capture 360-degree photos and videos, which it displays as if on its own planet.

The Tiny Planet creations can be edited directly within the Essential Camera application and everything making the changes, users can share it on the social media platform of their choice.

The other feature that comes with this update is selfie flash. It works by turning the screen bright white as the selfie is taken in order to illuminate the faces of the people in the picture. While it’s not as powerful as a dedicated hardware flash, it can still be useful for lighting up a dark environment.

The camera updates for the Essential Phone have become a regular thing. It’s good to see that the company is focusing on improving the camera performance after it was heavily criticized upon the phone’s release, with several issues, including poor processing and slow speeds.

Read More: Essential Reportedly Shipped Phones With Refurbished Parts

Previous camera update from the company, which was released a few weeks ago, introduced features such as Auto-HDR, along with stability fixes, and boosted capture speeds.

Recently, reports emerged suggesting that the company could soon launch its Essential Phone Halo Gray variant in India, which is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world, for a price of about Rs. 24,999 (approximately $388). This has led many to believe that the company is looking to clear stocks before it starts working on the successor of Essential PH-1.

(Source)

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Last year, Andy Rubin — the father of Android, launched a smartphone company named Essential. Ever since the company launched its first device — Essential PH-1, popularly known as Essential Phone, it has been facing troubles.

In latest development, a new report suggests that Essential has notified Sprint that a small number of units of the Essential Phone are shipped with refurbished parts. According to the source, the affected users will receive notification which will redirect them to the Sprint website for resolution. However, it is not yet clear what the resolution will be.

The report comes from a Reddit user who claims to be working at Sprint. Neither Sprint nor Essential has given any official statement regarding this. At this moment, we couldn’t verify the authenticity of this report.

As the reports says that the affected users will get notifications, it seems that the company is aware which units are affected. The possible solution for this problem could be offering replacement, but there is no such confirmation from the company yet.

According to a report from International Data Corporation (IDC), Essential sold less than 90,000 units units of its PH-1 last year. However, the company seems to be hoping to have better numbers this year and has recently announced three new color variants.

Recent report also suggests that the company could launch the Essential Phone Halo Grey variant in India in April for about Rs. 24,999 ($386), exclusively through Amazon India. The suggested Indian pricing is considerably low given that the phone is currently available in the United States at $449.

The Essential PH-1 features a 5.71-inch IPS LCD display with 1312 x 2560 pixels resolution and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top. It is powered by a Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB RAM, coupled with 128GB of internal storage.

The phone comes with a 13-megapixel dual rear camera with f/1.9 aperture lens, an LED flash, PDAF (phase detection autofocus) and LDAF. There’s an 8-megapixel front facing camera sensor with f/2.20 fixed hyperfocal lens.

Read More: Essential PH-1 Gets New Halo Gray Variant With Alexa Built-in, Amazon Lowers Prices to $449

It is running on Android 7.1 Nougat with a planned upgrade to Android 8.1 Oreo operating system. The device, which is IP54 rated for water and dust resistance, packs a fingerprint sensor mounted on the back panel and is powered by a 3,040mAh battery with fast charging support.

(Source)

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Essential Phone, the first smartphone from Andy Rubin’s new brand was launched last year. The phone, which falls under affordable premium category, is now reportedly launching in India soon.

The Essential PH-1, which is popular called Essential Phone, is expected to launch in India later this year — in late March or in early April. As per the report, the phone could be an Amazon-exclusive device.

It seems that the phone will be launched in India to clear out the stock before the company starts working on its successor. Because of this, the phone is expected to come with a very competitive price tag. As per the report, it could be priced at around Rs. 24,999 (approximately $388) in India.

The company is expected to list the recently announced “Halo Gray” variant of the phone in India, which comes pre-installed with the Alexa application. However, the company has not yet officially commented regarding the phone’s launch in the Indian market. In the United States, the Halo Gray variant currently costs $499.

The Essential Phone features features a 5.71-inch IPS LCD display with 1312 x 2560 pixels resolution and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top for protection from minor scratches. There’s a notch on top of display which houses the front-facing camera.

Under the hood, the device is powered by a Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB RAM, coupled with 128GB of internal storage. It features a 13-megapixel dual rear camera with f/1.9 aperture lens, an LED flash and PDAF (phase detection autofocus) and LDAF. There’s an 8-megapixel front facing camera sensor with f/2.20 fixed hyperfocal lens.

Read More: Essential Rolls Out Android Oreo Beta 8.1, Includes February’s Security Patch, Bug Fix, and New Features

The phone runs on Android 7.1 Nougat with a planned upgrade to Android 8.1 Oreo operating system. The device, which is IP54 rated for water and dust resistance, packs a fingerprint sensor mounted on the back panel. Along with USB Type-C port, other connectivity options on the device include Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS and LTE. The Essential Phone is powered by a 3,040mAh battery with fast charging support.

(Source)

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On February 15, Essential announced three new color variants for the PH-1. The three colors – Ocean Depths, Stellar Gray, and Copper Black are $100 more expensive than the first two colors but they do look really nice. Yesterday, Essential announced a 4th new color variant that comes with an additional feature.

The new color variant is called Halo Gray but looks like the Stellar Gray version. It has the same matte finish which hides fingerprint smudges but its frame is silver like that of the Pure White variant.

That is not the only exciting about the Halo Gray variant. Unlike the other colors, it comes with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant built-in.

This version is an Amazon-exclusive and will be available for purchase on February 21, though you can pre-order it now. However, unlike the other three released this week, the Halo Gray variant sells for $449 and $499 with the 360° Camera and a free pill case.

The pill case is a new addition used for carrying the 360 camera instead of the small cloth sack that used to come with it.

READ MORE: Essential Rolls Out Android Oreo Beta 8.1, Includes February’s Security Patch, Bug Fix, and New Features

Don’t want the new Halo Gray variant? Fine. Amazon is also selling the Black Moon and Pure White variants at $449 without the camera and $499 with the camera and pill case. This is way cheaper than the $499 price for the phone and $678 with the camera (excluding pill case) on the online Essential Shop.

Fact: Amazon is also an investor in Essential.

(Source)

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A few days ago, Essential announced that it had a launch scheduled for today, February 15. While the teaser image did point to a “new” color variant of the Essential PH-1, Essential has actually announced three new colors for the phone.

The three new colors are Ocean Depths, Stellar Gray, and Copper Black. The first two are actually not new as they were announced back when the phone launched. Essential says all three colors will be limited edition variants.

Surprisingly, Essential is charging an extra $100 for these new color variants, bringing the price to $599 instead of $499. This is unusual as other manufacturers usually keep the price uniform irrespective of color.

In an official blog post, Essential said its engineers spent months designing these custom ceramic colors as it is more difficult to change colors of ceramic compared to other materials like plastic. It also mentioned the difficulty associated with production, hence the reason for it being available in limited quantities.

READ MORE: Essential Rolls Out Android Oreo Beta 8.1, Includes February’s Security Patch, Bug Fix, and New Features

Starting today at 12PM (PST), users will be able to purchase the Essential PH-1 Ocean Depths variant. The Stellar Gray variant will go on sale at the same time on February 20, while the Copper Black variant will be sold on February 22 at 12PM (PST).

All variants will be available on the official online store.

(Source)

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Keeping to its promise, Essential has begun rolling out a beta version of Android 8.1 Oreo for the Essential PH-1. Two weeks ago, it had announced that it would skip the Android 8.0 stable update as there are multiple issues with it. These issues are believed to have been fixed in Android 8.1, hence the reason for skipping 8.0.

The Oreo 8.1 beta update brings a number of new features such as dynamic calendar and clock icons. What this means is that the clock and calendar icons will show the time and date as the homescreen or notification bar.

The update also brings a beta fix for the slow-scrolling jitter that plagues the phone. Although Essential already released February’s security patch last week for those on the stable version, the beta update still includes it.

READ MORE: Report Reveals Less Than 90,000 Essential PH-1 Units Were Shipped In 2017

Ever since the Essential PH-1 launched, it has received several updates which brings fixes, new features, and security patches. We can’t think of a phone that has received as much updates as the Essential PH-1.

(Source)

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When the Essential PH-1 was unveiled, it was announced in four color variants – Black Moon, Pure White, Ocean Depths, and Stellar Gray. Surprisingly, only the Black Moon variant was available for purchase for the first two months before it was joined by the Pure White variant in October. Four months later, Essential will launch the third color variant – Ocean Depths (green).

Essential didn’t explicitly announce that we are getting a new color variant but take a look at the tweet below and tell me that’s not what it is. Not only is the image the same color but the text also hints at the new color variant. Wave = Ocean!

A new wave is coming. #EssentialPhone pic.twitter.com/YPFgzusFhb

— Essential (@essential) February 13, 2018

READ MORE: You Can Now Purchase Accessories For The Essential Phone On The Official Site

Personally, the Ocean Depth Essential PH-1 is easily the most beautiful of all. It has copper accents around the titanium frame, fingerprint scanner, and even the connectors for the accessories. Other than that, the specs are the same as the other two variants. It should also retain the $499 price tag when it launches.

Do you think the new color variant will help Essential sell more units?

(Source)

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Essential is a company founded by Andy Rubin, one of the co-founders of Android. Last year, they released their first phone – the Essential PH-1, which is also one of the most durable smartphones of the year.

Unfortunately, Andy Rubin’s popularity and the Essential Phone’s build quality didn’t help the phone make much sales. An IDC research director has revealed that the company shipped just 88,000 units of the PH-1 in 2017.

. @Arubin's @essential smartphone is still a long way from becoming a successful venture. In 2017, it shipped less than 90K units (first six months after launch) pic.twitter.com/NHVlA2Gjzr

— Francisco Jeronimo (@fjeronimo) February 12, 2018

To be honest, you can’t blame people for not buying the Essential Phone. First, it went on sale later than scheduled and when it did, its $700 price tag didn’t justify the experience users got from it. There were complaints about the camera performance as well as the overall system software.

Essential cut the price to $500 and released a bunch of software updates afterwards. While it made the phone more attractive to purchase, the report shows it didn’t do much to boost sales.

Apart from that, the Essential Phone also had to compete against like the OnePlus 5 and later OnePlus 5T, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and phones from Huawei, Apple and Google.

READ MORE: You Can Now Purchase Accessories For The Essential Phone On The Official Site

Essential is still pushing out more updates for the phone and is working on updating it from Nougat to Android 8.1 Oreo. We are also optimistic that Essential will not make the same mistakes when it launches a successor later this year.

(Source, Via)

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The Essential PH-1 has been on Android 8.0 Oreo beta for over a month. For a device that runs close to stock Android, one would think it should have received a stable update instead. Unfortunately that update hasn’t come and will never come.

In a tweet via its official account, Essential has announced that the PH-1 will not get a stable Android 8.0 Oreo update. The reason is said to be due to several stability issues in Android 8.0 Oreo which they believe will be addressed in Android 8.1.

So rather than releasing Android 8.0 riddled with bugs, the Essential PH-1 will instead receive Android 8.1 Oreo. However, this will add a couple of weeks to when the device finally gets updated to Oreo.

An update on the public release of Oreo: pic.twitter.com/fPJRtX7kvY

— Essential (@essential) January 30, 2018

Essential says it will release the Android 8.1 beta update in the meantime while they work on the build.

While this may be a bit disappointing for those who have been waiting endlessly for the update, we can all agree that waiting for a stable version that is bug free isn’t all that bad. You wouldn’t want to end up in the same boat as users of a certain Android One device, right?

READ MORE: You Can Now Purchase Accessories For The Essential Phone On The Official Site

There is no specific date as to when the beta version of Android 8.1 will be available but trust us to let you know once Essential make it available.

(Source)

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Yesterday, Essential took to Twitter to announce that it now sells accessories for its phone. Prior to the announcement, if you wanted to purchase a replacement accessory for your phone, you had to settle for those made by third parties.

The inventory on the online shop not only includes standard accessories like the $39 27W fast charger with braided USB cable and the $15 USB-C to 3.5mm audio jack connector, but also some new accessories.

There are two USB-C earphones – the Earphones|HD with high-res audio for $99 and the Earphones|Mini for $49. Both earphones support USB Audio Class 2, work with a Mac or PC, and have a multi-function button for controlling music playback, answering calls, and activating Google Assistant. They are also tangle free and come with a custom-built hard shell case.

READ MORE: Essential Phone Gets New update: No Oreo, But Brings January Security Patch & Spectre and Meltdown Fixes

Essential also lists a few other accessories as coming soon such as a carrying case for the 360° camera which comes in black and red, and a fast charge phone dock.

(Sources: 1, 2)

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Essential is pushing out a new update but sadly it is not the stable update for Android 8.0 Oreo. We know most people are expecting that update but this new one is pretty important too.

The new update (build NMJ88C) not only brings January’s security patch but also fixes the latest security flaws – Spectre and Meltdown. If you have been following the news lately, you must have come across those two words.

Both are the names of two security flaws found within computer processors which affect nearly all devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. It is also said to affect cloud computing systems.

Meltdown can grant an attacker access to read kernel memory and affects processors made by Intel and Qualcomm and a certain type of ARM chip.

Spectre on the other hand may grant attackers access to private data by tricking error-free applications into giving it up. It is harder to exploit but also harder to fix. It affects processors from Qualcomm, Intel, ARM, and AMD.

READ MORE: Essential To Focus On Reparability For Its Next-Generation Smartphone

Essential is one of the first phone manufacturers to fix the flaws. We hope other manufacturers follow suit in the coming days. However, there is a high-chance that smaller companies won’t release a patch and even bigger companies won’t release a patch for all their devices.

In a response to when the stable Oreo update will be available, Essential says they are getting close to the full release.

(Source)

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We can’t help but agree that the cut in the price of the Essential Phone from $700 to $500 has made it one of the most affordable flagships. While the phone isn’t perfect – it sure has gotten a lot better since its launch.

If you are on the lookout for a new phone to begin the new year, you can purchase the Essential Phone for $449 on Amazon. Or better still, throw in an extra $50 and get the world’s smallest 360° camera too. The price cut applies to both the Black Moon and Pure White variants.

Essential has continued to push out more updates  to improve the performance of the cameras which is the issue people had with it when it launched. While it is still far from the Pixel 2 or iPhone X‘ camera level, the Essential PH-1’s cameras have drastically improved. If you still are not satisfied, you can side-load modified versions of the Pixel’s camera app too.

READ MORE: Essential Phone Users Receive Second Android 8.0 Oreo Beta, Final Stable Version Arriving Soon

Apart from the camera (and its lack of  an audio jack), the Essential Phone is one the best built phones in the market right now. You get a phone with a titanium frame and a ceramic back which is stronger and more scratch resistant than most if not all of the flagships released this year.

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Essential Phone was launched in May 2017 with a price tag of $699. Even though the company had promised that the shipping of the phone would begin at June end, but it could manage to begin the shipments in mid-August. In September, it was reported that only 5,000 units of the Essential Phone were sold in the U.S. Since then the smartphone has been available with a significantly low price of $499 along with a $200 friends and family code that can be used by Essential Phone owners to avail discount on 360-degree camera module or another Essential Phone. Fresh information suggests that according to camera app download numbers from the Google Play Store, the company may have sold 50,000 units of Essential Phone.

The sales number of the Essential Phone calculated on the basis of camera app downloads may not be 100 percent accurate. However, it suggests that Essential Phone has met with increased sales in the past six weeks. Compared to the sales report of September, the company has managed to achieve impressive sales with the recent price cut on the Essential Phone.

 
Read More: Essential To Focus On Reparability For Its Next-Generation Smartphone

Apart from $399 pricing and friends and family code, the Essential Phone and the 360 Camera were available with a bundled pricing of $399 during the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. These offers may have certainly boosted the sales of Essential Phone to achieve a mild success.

The company has previously claimed that it wants to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung in the U.S. The bezel-less Essential Phone may not be a major rival for the Apple iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy Note 8, but the company seems to be determined to rival the top tier smartphone brands. In the previous month, the company had confirmed that it has already started working on Essential Phone PH-2. It had also said that it is working on improving display/glass durability on the PH-2 phone.

(source)

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Essential Products, the newest entrant in the premium flagship smartphones category, has confirmed in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) that the company is working on its next-generation smartphone.

It’s good to see that the company has not been affected by the absence of Andy Rubin, the company’s founder and CEO, who is also the face of the company.

In the Reddit AMA, while the company said that it’s working on its next-generation smartphone, it has not revealed anything related to the phone. However, the company said that they are “focusing on reparability” of the smartphone. The Essential Phone (PH-1) is very hard to repair, as concluded by the iFixit team.

The company said, “We will make sure that your phone can be repaired at a reasonable and competitive price if the consumables, like batteries need to be replaced.”

Currently, there is no information available related to the upcoming smartphone’s features and specification. It is not known when the company is planning to launch the device, but we expect the phone to get launched in the first half of next year.

Essential PH-1 was launched in May this year, with an aim to make its mark in the premium flagship smartphone category. However, it seems that the company is struggling to sell the smartphone.

Recently, the smartphone received a price cut of $200, bringing down the phone’s price to just $499 from $699. The smartphone features a 5.7-inch bezel-less display that comes with a screen resolution of 2560 x 1312 pixels and an unusual aspect ratio of 19:10.

Under the hood, the device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, along with 4GB of RAM 128GB of internal storage. It has dual camera system at the back, which includes a pair of f/1.85 aperture 13-megapixel sensors — one is monochrome lens while the other one is RGB lens. It also has a f/2.2 aperture 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

The smartphone is fueled by a 3,040mAh battery. On the back of the phone, there is a set of magnetic pins that hold Essential modules just like Motorola’s Moto Mods. It recently received the latest Android Oreo update.

Read More: Essential Phone Gets Another Camera Update, Brings Portrait Mode

At the time of launch, Essential promised that the smartphone will receive guaranteed updates for two years. The smartphone is also slated get monthly security updates for the next 3 years.

(Source)

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