Any Interest In Rubin's Essential Phone?

[Michael Goff]

Question of the day: We know if they fixed the camera?
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I do think some are being alittle harsh towards the company. You have to realize that this is a small startup and they have very limited manpower. That being said, their habit of overpromising and under delivering needs to end if they hope to be successful.

On the camera front, I believe the hardware is there, it is the software and how they are combining the mono photo and color photo that needs work. Again, that being said, there is no guarantee that they will be able to fix the camera issues. For a $699 phone that is something that needs to be addressed.

Being harsh implies it isn't deserved. The company is selling a product for 700$. All negativity is earned at that point.

 

[Fernandez21]

Question of the day: We know if they fixed the camera?

Micheal fisher posted some samples on twitter and they sucked. Supposedly these were after the latest update too which was last night.

However in this review the shots look pretty good, so who knows.

 

[Michael Goff]

Micheal fisher posted some samples on twitter and they sucked. Supposedly these were after the latest update too which was last night.

However in this review the shots look pretty good, so who knows.

But how good of a photographer is the guy in the video? @MRU , for instance, could take pictures with an iPhone 5S and somehow make them look good today.

 

[noobinator]

Valiant effort Essential but you've made way too many errors already and customers don't even have the phone yet. You blew it. Your only chance was releasing it as originally announced and riding the initial hype. It's all but gone now.

 

[widgeteer]

Micheal fisher posted some samples on twitter and they sucked. Supposedly these were after the latest update too which was last night.

However in this review the shots look pretty good, so who knows.

One of the tech bloggers, maybe it was Fisher I don't remember anymore (i watch too many of these damn videos) made a great point: how many times have companies promised that camera imaging can be improved by updates? And how many times were they successful? We're not talking about an okay camera that can be made good, but apparently something that's already starting at the level of "it sucks."

This wasn't necessarily going to be a dealbreaker for me but if you care at all about camera quality (I just take pics of my dogs, so I don't care that much), it seems every review of this phone screams "Do not buy."
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Valiant effort Essential but you've made way too many errors already and customers don't even have the phone yet. You blew it. Your only chance was releasing it as originally announced and riding the initial hype. It's all but gone now.

I agree with everything except the "valiant effort" part. Their efforts sucked.

 

[Fernandez21]

One of the tech bloggers, maybe it was Fisher I don't remember anymore (i watch too many of these damn videos) made a great point: how many times have companies promised that camera imaging can be improved by updates? And how many times were they successful? We're not talking about an okay camera that can be made good, but apparently something that's already starting at the level of "it sucks."

This wasn't necessarily going to be a dealbreaker for me but if you care at all about camera quality (I just take pics of my dogs, so I don't care that much), it seems every review of this phone screams "Do not buy."
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I agree with everything except the "valiant effort" part. Their efforts sucked.

Yeah, if camera quality is important to you, this probably isn't the phone for you, grab a Pixel, iPhone, or Galaxy. I use my iPhone for all my family shots, so anything important is being shot by it. I'm going to use the essential as my work phone and there I just need to take pictures of parts or labels, so as long as those are legible I'm fine.

 

[widgeteer]

Yeah, if camera quality is important to you, this probably isn't the phone for you, grab a Pixel, iPhone, or Galaxy. I use my iPhone for all my family shots, so anything important is being shot by it. I'm going to use the essential as my work phone and there I just need to take pictures of parts or labels, so as long as those are legible I'm fine.

What kills me is I know this was the perfect Android phone for me. Premium build with stock Android. It's something I've wanted forever. No wonder I sound like a "lover scorned" now. Lol...I think.

 

[Zackmd1]

Question of the day: We know if they fixed the camera?
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Being harsh implies it isn't deserved. The company is selling a product for 700$. All negativity is earned at that point.

If you take a step back and look at what has happened these past few months they actually haven't earned much negativity at all from what I can see... From what I remember (and someone please prove me wrong if otherwise) The company never promised that phones would ship within 30 days, Andy Rubin did that an interview. The phone did miss its 7 day shipping window but not by much. This was my comment about overpromising and under delivering. Again though, you have to take into account that this is a small startup and not a large company and as such if you choose to order one of these phones you are accepting the limited manpower that comes with a startup.

One of the tech bloggers, maybe it was Fisher I don't remember anymore (i watch too many of these damn videos) made a great point: how many times have companies promised that camera imaging can be improved by updates? And how many times were they successful? We're not talking about an okay camera that can be made good, but apparently something that's already starting at the level of "it sucks."

While this is true, the comment does not take into account that all companies that have said that have been dealing with mono sensor cameras. I truly think the issue with this camera lies in the software and how they are combining the two images from both sensors. The simple fact that the google camera app on this phone can produce respectable images using just one sensor I think is evidence enough that the problem is in the software. With that said, there is no guarantee that the company has the skills to correct the issue.

 

[widgeteer]

While this is true, the comment does not take into account that all companies that have said that have been dealing with mono sensor cameras. I truly think the issue with this camera lies in the software and how they are combining the two images from both sensors. The simple fact that the google camera app on this phone can produce respectable images using just one sensor I think is evidence enough that the problem is in the software. With that said, there is no guarantee that the company has the skills to correct the issue.

What you're saying makes sense. I guess the fact that it was released with such *horrible* results suggests they don't know how to fix it. They've apparently released several updates and it's still at best near "okay."

 

[jamezr]

What you're saying makes sense. I guess the fact that it was released with such *horrible* results suggests they don't know how to fix it. They've apparently released several updates and it's still at best near "okay."

My thoughts too. The camera was probably the reason for the delays in the first place. Which means they really don't know how to fix it...or they would have before reviewers had it in their hands. They knew they would get bad reviews on the camera but couldn't do anything about it. That does not bode well for them fixing it anytime soon.

 

[Michael Goff]

If you take a step back and look at what has happened these past few months they actually haven't earned much negativity at all from what I can see... From what I remember (and someone please prove me wrong if otherwise) The company never promised that phones would ship within 30 days, Andy Rubin did that an interview. The phone did miss its 7 day shipping window but not by much. This was my comment about overpromising and under delivering. Again though, you have to take into account that this is a small startup and not a large company and as such if you choose to order one of these phones you are accepting the limited manpower that comes with a startup.



While this is true, the comment does not take into account that all companies that have said that have been dealing with mono sensor cameras. I truly think the issue with this camera lies in the software and how they are combining the two images from both sensors. The simple fact that the google camera app on this phone can produce respectable images using just one sensor I think is evidence enough that the problem is in the software. With that said, there is no guarantee that the company has the skills to correct the issue.

Andy Rubin is the CEO of Essential. He speaks for the company.

 

[Zackmd1]

Andy Rubin is the CEO of Essential. He speaks for the company.

Ok it was a vague comment during an interview and not published in any official documentation as far as I know. Again with the comment of overpromising and under delivering.... That being said you might have more of a case if they actually took money from us who reserved back in May and then didn't ship the phone after Andy's 30 day comment. The fact of the matter is there was a lot of hype around this phone and now it is not quite meeting people's expectations which causes what you are seeing now.

 

[Michael Goff]

Ok it was a vague comment during an interview and not published in any official documentation as far as I know. Again with the comment of overpromising and under delivering.... That being said you might have more of a case if they actually took money from us who reserved back in May and then didn't ship the phone after Andy's 30 day comment. The fact of the matter is there was a lot of hype around this phone and now it is not quite meeting people's expectations which causes what you are seeing now.

The camera on a 700$ phone is subpar. That's unacceptable. Even taking the lie about shipping out of it, the phone and the company that sold it deserve to be criticized for selling what they sold.

 

[Zackmd1]

The camera on a 700$ phone is subpar. That's unacceptable. Even taking the lie about shipping out of it, the phone and the company that sold it deserve to be criticized for selling what they sold.

In its current form the camera is subpar but not terrible from what I have seen. Yes the company deserves a bit of criticism for the poor camera. It did not however miss its shipping window by much at all plan and simple. If you want to condemn a company because they shipped a phone 2 days late then be my guest.

Again though you have to understand that this is a small startup. You are not and should not expect the same level of service from a startup with barely 100 people to a large company with 1000s of employees. Now there is a point to where the service does become unacceptable and Essential is dangerously close to that with not honoring some cancelation requests but we shall see how that plays out. It could simply be that they are stretched way to thin and could not stop the shipment from being prepared in time.

 

[AppleRobert]

The camera is no concern for me personally, remember I posted about a week ago about being leary and warned about it after I read one of those reviews posted here which stated as much. So there was ample warning.

Here’s my deal, buy or preferably check the demo at BB they supposedly will have. If they don’t I will buy it regardless. If I like it, I probably still will not keep it until the price drops UNLESS it absolutely floors me but I rather doubt it.

You folks tend to be pretty good with smartphone cameras. Maybe it will work out for you so .......

 

[Michael Goff]

In its current form the camera is subpar but not terrible from what I have seen. Yes the company deserves a bit of criticism for the poor camera. It did not however miss its shipping window by much at all plan and simple. If you want to condemn a company because they shipped a phone 2 days late then be my guest.

Again though you have to understand that this is a small startup. You are not and should not expect the same level of service from a startup with barely 100 people to a large company with 1000s of employees. Now there is a point to where the service does become unacceptable and Essential is dangerously close to that with not honoring some cancelation requests but we shall see how that plays out. It could simply be that they are stretched way to thin and could not stop the shipment from being prepared in time.

I'm condemning Essential for being overpriced and barely anything more than hype. A stock Android phone that's fast isn't exactly a masterpiece with the 835. All they had to do was make a camera that can take good pictures. They couldn't. But they charged flagship prices anyway.

"You shouldn't expect much because it's a startup" is a crap excuse. I should be able to expect customer service befitting the flagship phone market because that's what they're trying to be a part of. Besides, it isn't even like they're selling that many phones.

Stop trying to play with the big boy companies if you can't achieve it.

 

[Zackmd1]

Very good review of the camera for those interested. The one really low light shot was abysmal compared to the S8 but in almost every other photo I preferred the essential phones more realistic colors. The supermarket shot though was excellent for the essential phone compared to the S8.

http://www.businessinsider.com/esse...-white-lenses-the-essential-phone-won-here-11

 

[AppleRobert]

The camera on a 700$ phone is subpar. That's unacceptable. Even taking the lie about shipping out of it, the phone and the company that sold it deserve to be criticized for selling what they sold.

Well how did the Note 7 and also the lack of speed of high profile software updates work out with smartphones that costed even more from Samsung?

I am not giving this company a pass but aren’t there others as far as missing target dates?

And as far as the quality of this smartphone for the buck? Well it has a 835 processor, good amount of ram, good display resolution, excellent storage, etc etc. Heck it is not even in our hands yet so I personally will wait and see for myself if it delivers.

That will be easy peasy with BB right down the road. And I will be amongst the first to condemn it if warranted.

 

[Zackmd1]

I'm condemning Essential for being overpriced and barely anything more than hype. A stock Android phone that's fast isn't exactly a masterpiece with the 835. All they had to do was make a camera that can take good pictures. They couldn't. But they charged flagship prices anyway.

"You shouldn't expect much because it's a startup" is a crap excuse. I should be able to expect customer service befitting the flagship phone market because that's what they're trying to be a part of. Besides, it isn't even like they're selling that many phones.

Stop trying to play with the big boy companies if you can't achieve it.

Then don't pay attention to the company and stop complaining about it. This phone and company are clearly not for you.

 

[AppleRobert]

Valiant effort Essential but you've made way too many errors already and customers don't even have the phone yet. You blew it. Your only chance was releasing it as originally announced and riding the initial hype. It's all but gone now.

It is all but gone now? You base that upon some dissatisfied (and impatient I might add) smartphone geeks on this forum who don’t even have their hands on it yet? That’s weak to say the least but ok I guess, your opinion is your opinion.

I will make a big recommendation to folks on this forum, stop preordering!!!

 

[Michael Goff]

Well how did the Note 7 and also the lack of speed of high profile software updates work out with smartphones that costed even more from Samsung?

I am not giving this company a pass but aren’t there others as far as missing target dates?

And as far as the quality of this smartphone for the buck? Well it has a 835 processor, good amount of ram, good display resolution, excellent storage, etc etc. Heck it is not even in our hands yet so I personally will wait and see for myself if it delivers.

That will be easy peasy with BB right down the road. And I will be amongst the first to condemn it if warranted.

Standard high end processor, standard high end RAM, inferior screen to even the OP5 since resolution is only one part of the formula, no MicroSD, mediocre at best camera (if they update it from crap), etc etc.

Then don't pay attention to the company and stop complaining about it. This phone and company are clearly not for you.

So this thread should only be for cheerleading Essential? We shouldn't be looking out for people who are getting tricked by the hype of "Andy Rubin made Android and he's the CEO of the company"?

 

[widgeteer]

Ok it was a vague comment during an interview and not published in any official documentation as far as I know. Again with the comment of overpromising and under delivering.... That being said you might have more of a case if they actually took money from us who reserved back in May and then didn't ship the phone after Andy's 30 day comment. The fact of the matter is there was a lot of hype around this phone and now it is not quite meeting people's expectations which causes what you are seeing now.

Totally disagree with you. Let's put aside the missed shipping deadlines for a moment. They charged people as of Monday/Tuesday of this week. They didn't ship out (or create the labels which is more likely) until today. That is extraordinarily shady and deserving of criticism. Now add on to the fact that they have been straight up lying about shipping since the first missed deadline and it's all right there. No disappointment in the phone necessary.

You're grasping at straws to frame this as people projecting things onto the company when this is an instance in which there is legit malfeasance on the part of the company. People are just reacting to what's there, not creating imaginary wrongs.

 

[noobinator]

It is all but gone now? You base that upon some dissatisfied (and impatient I might add) smartphone geeks on this forum who don’t even have their hands on it yet? That’s weak to say the least but ok I guess, your opinion is your opinion.

You think there's a ton of hype and excitement around this phone right now?

 

[AppleRobert]

You think there's a ton of hype and excitement around this phone right now?

I couldn’t care less, I am interested in checking it out. The company has not missed out and disappointed me personally.

 

[Zackmd1]

So this thread should only be for cheerleading Essential? We shouldn't be looking out for people who are getting tricked by the hype of "Andy Rubin made Android and he's the CEO of the company"?

My meaning is that you have made your point known and I have made mine and lets move on.

They didn't ship out (or create the labels which is more likely) until today. That is extraordinarily shady and deserving of criticism. Now add on to the fact that they have been straight up lying about shipping since the first missed deadline and it's all right there. No disappointment in the phone necessary.

I will agree with charging cards to early. The lying about shipping most likely had more to do with the phone being delayed longer then expected then an intentional lie aimed to deceive customers. Again overpromising and under delivering.

You're grasping at straws to frame this as people projecting things onto the company when this is an instance in which there is legit malfeasance on the part of the company. People are just reacting to what's there, not creating imaginary wrongs.

Lets all be honest here... When we hope to receive a package and it doesn't come when we expect it to we all get little upset. The company has done some things that deserve criticism yes but I do not think it is as bad as some are making it out to be.