Is This the Essential Gadget? - Comments Page 1

No headphone jack, no thanks.

Where do we line up to get this wonderful device? It''s a dream come true. But will the service providers accept it?

At first blush sounds like a great product. The ability to dock/attach accessories IS a good idea. Having to carry the camera around in my pocket IS NOT. Neither is lack of support for Qi to be replaced by some as yet unknown wireless charging method in the as yet undescribed phone dock. I'll wait and trundle on with my antique Samsung S7.

Essential sounds like what I always believed a Smart Phone should be. Instead of becoming obsolete every single year, it should last as long as the hardware can survive. Imagine if the early day Radio's had to be replaced every year because the technology had changed. I doubt that the public would have bought into the new technology if they had to shell out hard earned dollars every year for a new device. We would all still be getting our daily news in newspaper print format. The same goes for Television, the change from the very early Black and White only TV sets to color TV took my family more than 10 years to switch. That was because the FCC at that time made the wise decision to mandate the COMPATIBLE color system developed by RCA and NBC over the non COMPATIBLE COLOR WHEEL system developed by CBS. We were early adopters of TV having our first 9 inch screen set in 1947. When larger sizes became available we opted to buy a large oil filled magnifying lens rather than a new TV set. When we finally purchased a 19 inch screen TV it was still black and white as color was far to expensive at that time.Today I have 55 inch and 60 inch flat panel TV sets that are 8 or more years old, because they still work well. On the other hand I have an iPhone 6S+ because my iPhone 5 could not handle many of the new system upgrades. The iPhone 5 was my first iPhone as all prior cell phones were Android phones from Motorola.

I will be following Essential closely and I hope that they spur the other manufacturers to take a similar course in future development of their products.

I agree with Ed. In addition, I like the idea of an Operating System that will let you use it without it spying on you. Google and Apple both insist on linking your phone to some sort of account. How about a stand along Android that does not require a Google account?

One other BIG missing spec: FM Radio receiver. During disasters this is essential when cell service is down.

"Closed ecosystems are divisive and outdated" - but can be so much more secure than open ones in which unaware users can let anything in, both good and bad.

People complain about the restrictions of the Apple store (or Google, or Microsoft) but compare incidents of malware in the stores with 'open' Microsoft Windows.

Staying safe in the the Windows world takes much more effort than in the walled gardens of the Apple/Google/Microsoft stores. That's not to say that you can't, it's just requires more user awareness.

Sounds GREAT! But how will the other mobile carriers react? Also I love the idea of not being tied to one mobile carrier, or to google! Watching this very close!

If the Essential PH-1 cell phone had dual sim capability, I would buy it.

Interesting, but what about storage expandability, does it have an option for sd card?

You lost me at "no headphone jack"

@Mark Roy: The add on camera is a special 360 degree option with surround sound recording. The PH-1 still has 'normal' 8MP front and 13MP rear facing cameras in the base phone.

As for an FM radio receiver, do any of the current crop of 'smart phones' include one? At least this one could have a 3rd party one built for it.

Martin Quinones; The Essential PH1 has a standard 128GB of RAM.

Until battery technology vastly improves, or the phone manufacturers go back to having user replaceable batteries, no smartphone will last more than a few years.

There are other brands of phones that will work on the 4 major carriers already, and are much less expensive.

If the Essential uses stock Android, it will still have Google products pre-installed. Whether or not you can bypass using a Google account to operate the phone remains to be seen.

RhinoShield has cases that withstand an 11-foot drop, as well as protectors that virtually eliminate broken screens. Watch a guy hammer a phone screen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i1bVTJioGE

Essential *sounds* good, but it really isn't remarkable.

It's always nice to see another higher end, carrier-unlocked, stock Android phone come to market. I currently still enjoy my Nexus 6p, so am not in the market for a new phone, but this is something to continue watching. I would like to see it come with an IP68 rating, however, as is more common in flagships now. I am not concerned about the headphone jack, as I usually use a bluetooth headset. And, the Essential phone support bluetooth v5, which is nice.

@Cathy - Essential is not a mobile carrier, so not competition for the mobile carriers. There are carrier-unlocked flagship phones currently on the market, including the latest Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ and LG G6 models and the Google Pixel. As well, there are several nice mid-range carrier unlocked phones such as the Moto X Pure, Moto Z, as well as many lesser known mid-level brands. These will work on all the major carriers, as they have the radios to support the bands used by all of them. As Essential will run stock Android, there's no guarantee that a Google account will not be expected.

Bob
Good reading as always, intend going for an Android again > Samsung 8 plus.
Ken

I think that we got it Ken. Thanks

I think, this project is dead. It sounds good, reasonable, but real life...

Just take a look around. How long do you wear your clothes and shoes? One season. It means several months at best. How long our grandparents wore them when they were as young as we are now? Years. I don't mean ultrawealthy people, just regular. Now even relatively poor people can afford to change those things way before they are worn out completely. Same thing goes everywhere, including tech world. Yes, our gadgets already became disposable. And you can not fight against that - it's speed of technical progress. You can not predict future, so obviously every gadget becomes obsolete way before its physical "death". The world of eternal things is over. Forget about it.

Kirill, you kind of struck a nerve with me. This throw away generation is a concept I don't understand. I buy cheap throw away tools when I'm going to use them one time. Otherwise I buy DeWalt, Porter-Cable, Rockwell, Milwaukee, Miller Matic, and other quality manfacturers. These tools last for decades and are often passed down to other generations.

I like the idea of a quality phone that won't be obsolete. The concept is a phone that can be upgraded, won't fall apart. And yes the speed of technical progress makes everything we buy obsolete-before it even hits the market. But as long as it does the job I bought if for-I'm good.

Simple? Simple is good. Anyone can make it complicated. It takes real genius to keep it simple!

One last thought: tools should work for you, not you working for the tools. This includes the telephone, which I see far too many working for the phone.

Well, Chuck, tell me serious difference between DeWalt drill that was manufactured 20 years ago and today. Not the shape of handle or its color. No difference? And now tell me serious difference between cellphone 20 years old and modern standard one. For example, Nokia 5110, that was announced in 1998, well, 19 years ago. Part of description:

WLAN - No, Bluetooth - No, GPS -No, USB - What?

Can you upgrade it to modern level? No way. Was it possible to design it, keeping in mind possible upgrades for modern standards? WLAN - Wi-Fi was announced same year - 1998. Bluetooth 1.0 specification was released in 1999. GPS - was announced available for civilians in 1996 with degraded quality, same quality, as for military - 1998. USB - introduced in 1996. So obviously no way. And we didn't mention yet LTE, color touch screen, camera with resolution to be able to recognize bar codes or OCR bank checks, NFC, etc... And now you are dreaming of some gadget that can be modified to fit some completely new technology that doesn't exist yet. Is it possible to invent some concept that can be flexible to adapt unknown technology?

Only if you mean under "keep it simple" basic function of a cell phone that are untouchable for last 20 years? Well, it can call! Just like DeWalt drill, exactly same way, as it was 20 years ago. So the bottom line is how set of technologies, connected with some device changes over time. If it doesn't, we have a device that can passed down to other generations. Because it doesn't need any fundamental upgrades. It's already almost ideal. In case of cell phone, now smartphone, it's still evolving and who knows what functions and what technologies will appear even in a couple of years.

About the last thought: I bought a year ago Nexus 5X for $250 (32Gb). I'm not going to buy anything new yet. It has everything I need and also all modern technologies. Is it too expensive? I bet no. Also I bet it will work for a couple of years. And now calculate how much will you pay for basic concept ($699) and upgrades over similar period of time. And also I bet this time would be the same, as life of my "disposable" one (technology needs hardware). But way more expensive. I see far too many working for your ideal upgradeable phone. Real life sucks, I know...