The man behind the Android, Andy Rubin was working on an ambitious new smartphone ” Essential Smartphone ” which is now launched. The device is based on the recent trends of the edgeless display and is try its hands on the modular smartphone.
The $699 Essential Phone is expected to be on market by the last week of the June, pre-booking already started for the US.
The Essential is a high-end Smartphone which has a 5.71-inch display with a 19:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2560 x 1312 pixels. The edge to edge display even look better than that of the Samsung Galaxy S8, with display all to way to the top like Xiaomi Mi Mix but wrapping around the front facing selfie camera. It is clever placement of the camera, the space on the status bar is not filled with icons, so it’s efficient. You’ll find the latest Snapdragon 835 chipset under the hood along with 4 GB of RAM and storage of 128 GB.
The company is working build
ing an ecosystem of accessories for modular function on the device. It starts with a magnetic connector and wireless data transfer. Essential will ship a 360-degree camera that can click into the top of the phone, and the company will also offer a charging dock. Both connect to the phone with small metal pins. They won’t entirely replace USB-C for most people, but Essential is clearly hoping that they could someday.
Speaking of ports, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack which seems to be standard on the future phones, with USB Type-C replacing the headphone jack. The phone will ship with a headphone dongle in the box. It’s possible that other audio accessories could be made that could clip onto the magnetic accessory port.
The Essential Phone also has a good take on the dual-camera systems we’ve seen on other phones. Rather than use the second lens for telephoto or bokeh, it’s using it for a monochrome sensor, just like Huawei has been doing with the P9 and P10. That second sensor will be able to take in more light than a traditional color camera, meaning it can be combined with the regular 13-megapixel for better low-light shots. The front-facing camera is in line with current expectations, too: an 8-megapixel sensor that can also capture 4K video.
The smartphone is made from a combination of titanium and ceramic. Other features worth mentioning are a fingerprint scanner, a 3040mAh battery, and stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
Along with the Essential Phone, Andy Rubin is also planning to launch Essential Home, which is expected to compete with the Google Home and Amazon Echo. Unlike the Google Home or Amazon Echo, the Essential Home will come in smaller size form and will be able to perform multiple functions.
Discussion about this post