Took all my strength not to pick one up today. As expected, gorgeous. A little more slippery than I thought, but the carrier had a case for it too if required. As I figured, the ideal size for one handed use for me. Screen is fantastic too. No camera bump.
Took pics with it and my Note 5, and in artificial light inside a store of taking shots of other phones, I don’t see a major difference between the two. It didn’t seem to take any longer to fire off snaps. Thankfully the double tap of the power button bring up the camera, and again, not slow at all. There was an firmware update notification too, the one that had the HDR update, but the unit wasn’t on wifi for some reason anymore.
But in the 5 mins playing with it, don’t notice any severe usability issues with the OS or camera. So that’s great.
Then wandered back over to the Note 8 again and remembered why I have had a Note 2, 4 and 5. Totally different software experience but things in there that I’ve come to appreciate and know they aren’t on the Essential OS. But, that size is just too much I still think for what I want in my next phone.
So no further along in the decision making process, as Tuesday’s IPx details will help form that. But a good initial in store experience with the Essential Phone, can confirm how good it felt in the hand and to use it one handed, and no major glitches in the stock OS, like a few reviewers have had, and camera looked fine to me.
Still may pick up the Essential outright and give it a spin for 15 days at least. Regardless, with the IPx also being that same size, as per my above essay yesterday, my next main phone (or one of them) will be that size.
And charging flagship pricing for more of a OnePlus 5 type phone. 