Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone Shipping Within A Week In Black, White Models Still Delayed
Andy Rubin, one of co-founders of Android, made waves after he left Google, started a new company called Essential Products, and then announced a new smartphone called the Essential Phone. Some of those waves subsided, however, when Rubin and company failed to launch the phone on time. Now a month and a half removed from when it was originally scheduled to ship, Rubin says the Essential Phone will be out in the US in a week.
The upcoming release was revealed in an email sent out to potential buyers who pre-registered to receive more information and/or pre-ordered the device. Here is the full text of the email:
The Essential Phone boasts a titanium body and ceramic backside. It sports a 5.71-inch display with a 2560x1312 resolution (19:10 aspect ratio) protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and 4GB of RAM.
Other specs include 128GB of onboard storage, an 8-megapixel front camera, dual 13-megapixel rear cameras, USB-C connectivity, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity, and a 3040mAh battery. The phone runs on Android.
What really makes this phone unique is a pair of holes on the back. That is where accessories plug into the device, the first of which is a 360-degree camera module that connects magnetically using pogo pins. With the camera attachment, users can shoot spherical UHD (3840x1920) footage at 30 frames per second.
The Essential Phone will initially ship in the Black Moon color option. Rubin says the Pure White model is still "a couple of weeks away." Users who pre-ordered the Pure White model and who do not want to wait have the option of switching to the Black Moon SKU. Rubin did not say when the Stellar Gray and Ocean Depths color options will be available.
The upcoming release was revealed in an email sent out to potential buyers who pre-registered to receive more information and/or pre-ordered the device. Here is the full text of the email:
Great news, your phone has been built! We now just need your payment details and we will ship within 7 days.Rubin stated last week that the Essential Phone had gone into "full mass production" and that manufacturing the device was "ramping up." He also promised to announce a release date soon, which he sort of did in the above email—while he did not provide a specific date, he did promise to start shipping the phone within seven days.
If you would like to change the items in your reservation prior to checking out, please contact our support team at support@essential.com. If you reserved an Essential 360 Camera, you will receive a separate email as soon as it’s ready to be shipped.
Your Essential Phone is unlocked, future-proof, and designed around you. For a limited time, we’ve also made it easy for you to get the phone for as low as $29.13 per month.
The Essential Phone boasts a titanium body and ceramic backside. It sports a 5.71-inch display with a 2560x1312 resolution (19:10 aspect ratio) protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and 4GB of RAM.
Other specs include 128GB of onboard storage, an 8-megapixel front camera, dual 13-megapixel rear cameras, USB-C connectivity, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity, and a 3040mAh battery. The phone runs on Android.
What really makes this phone unique is a pair of holes on the back. That is where accessories plug into the device, the first of which is a 360-degree camera module that connects magnetically using pogo pins. With the camera attachment, users can shoot spherical UHD (3840x1920) footage at 30 frames per second.
The Essential Phone will initially ship in the Black Moon color option. Rubin says the Pure White model is still "a couple of weeks away." Users who pre-ordered the Pure White model and who do not want to wait have the option of switching to the Black Moon SKU. Rubin did not say when the Stellar Gray and Ocean Depths color options will be available.
