Any Interest In Rubin's Essential Phone?

[co.ag.2005]

Picked up the phone at Best Buy last night just to see what’s up. It’s fairly awful. For a stock Android experience, there’s something...muddy about moving around the OS. And stutters everywhere. Camera was actually better than I was expecting. If you edit photos and such it’s a no go. If you take pics of your kids or dogs or whatever and send to relatives, it’s fine. Build is gorgeous, lived up to the hype. OS experience needed to be Pixel good. For me that’s the biggest flaw.

I did the same a few weeks ago. Trying it out again after I sent back my preorder. I agree with your sentiments 100%. OS not fluid enough, even on the latest software update. Camera was ok but I’m definitely a sucker for that hardware. Too bad the software experience isn’t good.

 

[widgeteer]

Huh, that’s weird, I haven’t experience stutter on mine. I did have skipped frames while scrolling, but the last update fixed that. Maybe it was running older software?

I made sure to update it. I also had some slow touch responses.

Really a shame. I pulled the phone out of the box with a big smile on my face. The build is so gorgeous.

 

[kazmac]

It's already at $699 at Best Buy again. Someone forgot to tell them Essential and Amazon sell it for $499 now.

 

[slitherjef]

It's already at $699 at Best Buy again. Someone forgot to tell them Essential and Amazon sell it for $499 now.

Probably so they can push iPhones and maybe Galaxy devices for a bit more...

 

[AppleRobert]

This is one of the best NEW smartphone money can buy for $499. I will save folks time trying anything else besides the 5T.

 

[Fernandez21]

Essential Phone on sale for $399 with the 360camera on Amazon right now. Cyber Monday sale.

 

[KingslayerG5]

I'm a cheapskate. I want it lower by $300-$350 by Christmas. For $400 on Cyber Monday today at Amazon, it's definitely worth that price already. Go get it.

J. Williams summary -

If price mattered, you are OS agnostic and indifferent with camera, then Essential.

If price was the same, get iPhone X .

 

[Aneres11]

I am gobsmacked at $399.
Crazy price.
Half tempted, but when I was using the Essential just before selling it in comparisson to my iPhone X, the Essential definitely left something to be desired from an OS perspective.
Can't really pinpoint why, but something felt off.

If I had a need for two phones I'd be all over this for sure.

EDIT - Out of curiosity I checked and for some bizarre reason, the camera and phone package (that's $399) don't ship to UK. The phone on its own does, but that's more expensive. .
Weird.

 

[noobinator]

I know this is probably a great deal but for me it's still too much. If it was $300 I might get it. At $250 I'd try it for sure, but $400 is still too much for me for this with it's pretty bad camera.

 

[widgeteer]

I'm a cheapskate. I want it lower by $300-$350 by Christmas. For $400 on Cyber Monday today at Amazon, it's definitely worth that price already. Go get it.

J. Williams summary -

If price mattered, you are OS agnostic and indifferent with camera, then Essential.

If price was the same, get iPhone X .

I'm sorry, the conclusions on that video are simply stupid. In fact, people are really losing their minds with price these days. The Essential phone is not a good purchase at it's current price. There are better options in that price range ($100 more gets you an OP 5T, for instance).

However, and this isn't aimed at you, I'm tired of people pretending that all these devices are the same save for their cost. That's just a lot of nonsense. There's a reason some devices cost more than others. Whether someone is willing to spend that much on whatever the premium is, that's totally subjective. However, it's objectively true that the iPhone X is a better designed phone, with a much better camera and user experience than the Essential. There's a reason it cost more. Is it $600 better? I can't answer that for anyone but myself. Same is true of, say, the Note 8. Or the S8 Plus. These phones are so far and away better than the Essential.

It's not just a case of whether you're OS agnostic. You have to LIVE with the phone you buy. Spending $400 on a bad phone is way more expensive than spending $1000 on a great one.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Down to $399 with the 360 camera included on Amazon

 

[KingslayerG5]

Google Camera app on Essential is slow and still not a 100% fix to Essential's poor quality. Father of Android lost to the current makers of Android. Might be better off getting the Pixel 2 (Walleye) instead when it's discounted again by next month.

Dual front speakers
IP67-rating
Way better camera
Longer battery life
3 years vs 2 years of software updates

Pay more to get something better.

^ Great song at the end.

 

[Fernandez21]

I'm sorry, the conclusions on that video are simply stupid. In fact, people are really losing their minds with price these days. The Essential phone is not a good purchase at it's current price. There are better options in that price range ($100 more gets you an OP 5T, for instance).

However, and this isn't aimed at you, I'm tired of people pretending that all these devices are the same save for their cost. That's just a lot of nonsense. There's a reason some devices cost more than others. Whether someone is willing to spend that much on whatever the premium is, that's totally subjective. However, it's objectively true that the iPhone X is a better designed phone, with a much better camera and user experience than the Essential. There's a reason it cost more. Is it $600 better? I can't answer that for anyone but myself. Same is true of, say, the Note 8. Or the S8 Plus. These phones are so far and away better than the Essential.

It's not just a case of whether you're OS agnostic. You have to LIVE with the phone you buy. Spending $400 on a bad phone is way more expensive than spending $1000 on a great one.

Real quickly after having both phones for a while:

Hardware design, look, and feel : winner Essential Phone. It just looks much cooler to me with its even smaller bezels and smaller notch. The titanium and ceramic also feel great. The iPhone is more comfortable in hand though because of the rounded edges.

Hardware features/performance: iPhone wins here. Reception is better, performance is better, has stereo speakers, wireless charging, telephoto lens, front flash, and water resistance. The Essential phone is solid, but is out gunned by the iPhone.

Display: iPhone hands down, while the Essential phone has a really nice display, the iPhone is best in the market, even beating out my Note 8 IMO.

Camera: iPhone, again hands down. iPhone has the best camera on the market IMO, while the essentials is maybe slightly above average.

Sound: iPhone X again, it’s stereo speakers are some of the best. The Essential phone is average.

Ignoring price and OS, iPhone X is clearly the much better phone, even with the Essential phone beating it in design. However, when looking at the price the Essential phone is clearly the better value, more bang for your buck kind of phone. If you want the best and are willing to pay for it, get the iPhone. If your simply looking for a solid phone at a great price, the Essential Phone for me is the clear winner not only against the iPhone, but just about any other phone in the market.

 

[widgeteer]

Real quickly after having both phones for a while:

Hardware design, look, and feel : winner Essential Phone. It just looks much cooler to me with its even smaller bezels and smaller notch. The titanium and ceramic also feel great. The iPhone is more comfortable in hand though because of the rounded edges.

Hardware features/performance: iPhone wins here. Reception is better, performance is better, has stereo speakers, wireless charging, telephoto lens, front flash, and water resistance. The Essential phone is solid, but is out gunned by the iPhone.

Display: iPhone hands down, while the Essential phone has a really nice display, the iPhone is best in the market, even beating out my Note 8 IMO.

Camera: iPhone, again hands down. iPhone has the best camera on the market IMO, while the essentials is maybe slightly above average.

Sound: iPhone X again, it’s stereo speakers are some of the best. The Essential phone is average.

Ignoring price and OS, iPhone X is clearly the much better phone, even with the Essential phone beating it in design. However, when looking at the price the Essential phone is clearly the better value, more bang for your buck kind of phone. If you want the best and are willing to pay for it, get the iPhone. If your simply looking for a solid phone at a great price, the Essential Phone for me is the clear winner not only against the iPhone, but just about any other phone in the market.

I don't agree with your last paragraph. I don't think it offers a more compelling value than one of the lower priced Moto phones, and certainly not the OP5T. LG G6 can be gotten for around 400-500 too, and that's certainly a better value despite running a year old chip.

 

[Fernandez21]

I don't agree with your last paragraph. I don't think it offers a more compelling value than one of the lower priced Moto phones, and certainly not the OP5T. LG G6 can be gotten for around 400-500 too, and that's certainly a better value despite running a year old chip.

I disagree. The advantages for the G6 are water resistance, sd card slot, wireless charging, camera, and headphone jack.

But with the Essential Phone, you get a new processor, significantly more internal storage (32gb vs 128gb), much better design and build, larger screen on a smaller phone, stock android, better performance, and significantly more software support.

And even when you look at the G6 advantages, wireless charging on the G6 is really slow (not fast like Samsung), and the headphone dongle on the Essential Phone gives better quality than the G6 built in one (the Hi-def jack is only in the international models, not the U.S. ones). And the SD card is almost a moot point because of how much more storage you get with the Essential Phone.

Only real advantage is water resistance and the camera.

The only other phone I can see at this price range that I would recommend over the Essential would be a discounted S8.

 

[widgeteer]

I disagree. The advantages for the G6 are water resistance, sd card slot, wireless charging, camera, and headphone jack.

But with the Essential Phone, you get a new processor, significantly more internal storage (32gb vs 128gb), much better design and build, larger screen on a smaller phone, stock android, better performance, and significantly more software support.

Design and build is purely preference. The LG G6 is very well built and designed. We can argue about glass backs but again, that's preference. Larger screen? Not really. They're negligible. Both are around 5.8, and there is the small cutout on the Essential that some apps are optimized for and some aren't. Stock Android on the Essential doesn't equate to better performance. My own experience was that it was sluggish, and this has been a sore spot for many tech bloggers as well. Unfortunately we don't have much user data as in customer satisfaction...because no one is buying the phone. I know they're constantly pushing updates but Essential pretty much destroyed the idea that Stock Android in and of itself guarantees performance. Significantly more software support? We'll see. Constant updates to a failing device that they're trying to sell off may not equate to long term support. Not to mention that the reason they have to update the device every other day is because it has a ton of bugs. It's a plus that they care, so that's good. But that's not a huge selling point in an argument in which you're trying to prove a ton of "value" of a device.

And even when you look at the G6 advantages, wireless charging on the G6 is really slow (not fast like Samsung), and the headphone dongle on the Essential Phone gives better quality than the G6 built in one (the Hi-def jack is only in the international models, not the U.S. ones). And the SD card is almost a moot point because of how much more storage you get with the Essential Phone.

Wireless charging on every device except Samsung's is "slow" because they're the only ones using the fast wireless standard. And there's no way on this planet or any other you're going to sell the idea that a DONGLE immediately offers an advantage over a built in headphone jack. The sound quality might be better...until you forget it or lose it. And then you have nothing.

Only real advantage is water resistance and the camera.

The camera is so much better it's not even really a conversation. Not to mention the Essential camera app is still mostly broken despite the updates. I thought the pics were passable but the app is dogpoop.

The only other phone I can see at this price range that I would recommend over the Essential would be a discounted S8.

I don't agree, again. There are a few options much better.

Basically, your argument boils down to insisting all the pluses the G6 has don't count, but the Essential's weaknesses are actually strengths - its need for a dongle, closed storage, and lackluster screen give it an edge vs a device that kills it in all three areas.

 

[Tig Bitties]

For similar pricing at $499. I'd go OnePlus 5t all day every day over the Essential.

For the Essential to be a better purchase over the 5t it needs to be much cheaper, like $300 or so. Otherwise the 5t wins

 

[widgeteer]

For similar pricing at $499. I'd go OnePlus 5t all day every day over the Essential.

For the Essential to be a better purchase over the 5t it needs to be much cheaper, like $300 or so. Otherwise the 5t wins

I'd still go with the 5T. As I said before, a cheap phone with a poor user experience isn't a bargain.

Although the Essential does have an advantage over the 5T: it works on CDMA. In the States, that's a thing unfortunately.

 

[Tig Bitties]

The OnePlus 5t is a hard phone to beat.

 

[Fernandez21]

Design and build is purely preference. The LG G6 is very well built and designed. We can argue about glass backs but again, that's preference. Larger screen? Not really. They're negligible. Both are around 5.8, and there is the small cutout on the Essential that some apps are optimized for and some aren't. Stock Android on the Essential doesn't equate to better performance. My own experience was that it was sluggish, and this has been a sore spot for many tech bloggers as well. Unfortunately we don't have much user data as in customer satisfaction...because no one is buying the phone. I know they're constantly pushing updates but Essential pretty much destroyed the idea that Stock Android in and of itself guarantees performance. Significantly more software support? We'll see. Constant updates to a failing device that they're trying to sell off may not equate to long term support. Not to mention that the reason they have to update the device every other day is because it has a ton of bugs. It's a plus that they care, so that's good. But that's not a huge selling point in an argument in which you're trying to prove a ton of "value" of a device.



Wireless charging on every device except Samsung's is "slow" because they're the only ones using the fast wireless standard. And there's no way on this planet or any other you're going to sell the idea that a DONGLE immediately offers an advantage over a built in headphone jack. The sound quality might be better...until you forget it or lose it. And then you have nothing.



The camera is so much better it's not even really a conversation. Not to mention the Essential camera app is still mostly broken despite the updates. I thought the pics were passable but the app is dogpoop.



I don't agree, again. There are a few options much better.

Basically, your argument boils down to insisting all the pluses the G6 has don't count, but the Essential's weaknesses are actually strengths - its need for a dongle, closed storage, and lackluster screen give it an edge vs a device that kills it in all three areas.

I didn’t say it’s need for a dongle is better than built in, I said the hi-def dac is a moot point because the us varients don’t have those and the dongle the Essential phone comes with does. Same with storage, 128gb built in is significantly better than 32gb built in with an sd card slot.

The screen also isn’t lackluster, it is one of the better screens out. It’s not as good as the iPhone or Galaxy phones sure, but it’s pretty darn good, any review, even the most negative ones agree.

I guess we have to agree to disagree, to me this is one of the better phones out, I even like it better than my Note 8. And at its price point of $499 there isn’t another phone out I would take over it.

 

[nutriousmitten]

Got suckered in to the Essential again with a BF deal here in Canada which was basically $360 CAD ($270 or so USD).
Returned the first one a few week back, just because return period was coming up and hadn't made a decision. Same day, and Iphone X came up for purchase at the Apple Store, so been using that as daily driver. Sold my beloved Note 5 (RIP) as well.

Side note, the iphone x is excellent...love how handoff integrates with my ipad. FaceID works great for me, screen is fantastic, everything smooth and slick and fast. Form factor is perfect. Never had an Iphone myself, just Ipads, but I don't think I could downgrade o a 7 or 8 for size and screen.

Downside is dealing with some of the icloud issues (wife moved from Apple to Android (S8) in all this too, and that's a big change for her, having Iphones since the 4) with syncing now my calendars and Apple ID, as well as dealing with Itunes...and then of course the outright price I paid, which is 3.5x that of the Essential.

$ aside, also, though its a great camera, have had some odd processing from the Iphone camera...shooting video at an indoor pool, and darkened everything up and made the water look a lot murkier and green/brownish than it was. Also had my Sony Mirrorless camera (and previously when I tried the Note 8), and in video with it the water was a lot more blue/clear as it actually was. Whatever processing (HDR?) that the Iphone was doing, thinking it was enhancing the shot, was not making it better..i suspect that pool water was giving it fits with reflections and indoor lighting et al. I may try with HDR off, as already tried different recording qualities.

And, to a point, I miss the tighter Google integration on Android than Ios...not all the time, but used to it and Apple doesn't have a match for some of the thing (such as "Driving" on Google Maps)

If (big if) I can justify two phones (I have a month to month second line), for that price, can't beat Essential for a second line...liked it before, love it at the price. However, a second phone would also be something I'd want to take to the gym or a run or outside, and thus needing to be a bit more rugged. (S8 Active may fit that bill, but its not in Canada and not that cheap in the US right now either!)

What's caught my eye and haven't tried is the Pixel 2. The attraction there is the best camera on a smartphone, by a big margin in many situations from the many reviews I've seen on line. Compared to the Essential its got a better camera, better water resistance, as fluid or moreso a software experience. But really, mainly the camera. Also 2 or 3x more expensive, depending on the model...could justify to get the small one if it is a second phone. But screen is not as big or as nice as Essential. Nor out of the box is it much more rugged, but there are a lot more case options for the Pixel 2 than the Essential.

I think I need to try the Pixel before I make a decision on how to proceed. As much as Essential said they were going to be improving the camera and some software stuff, and they've been very responsive, relatively speaking to other manufacturers in updates, it hasn't really happened yet, and you wonder it it will. You have to think that the company itself is probably looking at fixing the majority of issues for the second edition of the phone in 6 months then putting a whole bunch more R&D into the current one which is why they are letting carriers discount this thing as much as they are. Obviously the Pixel has had great reviews, nailed the camera, and has Google behind it for 3 more years.

Anyone had both the Essential and Pixel 2/2XL to give any more insight to that comparison?

 

[KingslayerG5]

Nice comparison. Makes me want to get the Pixel 2 ("Walleye"). Better cameras, water-resistance, and louder dual front speakers.

What a difference a discount makes. For $700, it was Essential trash according to Flossy Carter. For $400 with free 360 camera, the Essential gets praised alot for its price as being the cheapest Android with Snapdragon 835.

I still prefer an HTC Google or an LG Google. Longer software updates up to three years instead of the usual two. Good luck with that if you got a 5T.

 

[Fernandez21]

Well, this is bad. Hope Essential can pull through, why does it seem every phone I become a huge fan of(other than the iPhone and Note) fall on hard times soon after? First the Palm Pre, then Moto, then HTC, BB10, and now Essential.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/29...leaves-essential-google-inappropriate-conduct

 

[widgeteer]

Well, this is bad. Hope Essential can pull through, why does it seem every phone I become a huge fan of(other than the iPhone and Note) fall on hard times soon after? First the Palm Pre, then Moto, then HTC, BB10, and now Essential.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/29...leaves-essential-google-inappropriate-conduct

I'd say those of you waiting for a price drop to $300 will get your wish soon.

 

[maflynn]

I saw this and was surprised (and dismayed). I'm very happy with my X, but i wouldn't mind this something to play around with