The phone by Android's Pappa : The Essential phone

  The Essential Phone : Is this the Essential for you?

What happens when Papa gets angry with mama for making the same dish everyday ? He makes something special , something Essential , on his own !!! Andy Rubin , the co-creator of Android , has come up with a brand new billion dollar startup 'Essential' . With the first phone of the company , the Essential PH1 , the company has created quite a hype in the market ! But does it live upto the expectaions ? Let's see . 

Though the PH1 was announced quite a time ago , people were able to put their hands on one a few days ago only ; and for the common folks shipping will start from September 1 . At $699 , it is quite expensive , though what you get with the device seems to justify the price tag . It has a unique design and you can connect modular accessories to the pins provided at the back of the phone ( Though the only one available right now is the 360 degree camera module ) . The bezel-less design of the phone steals your heart away , and at the same time , the titanium and ceramic build provide it the strength required . You get the purest form of Android , and the company has aimed to make it the forefront for Essential's new ecosystem of smart home-devices and services , via its own Ambient OS . Moreover , the company has promised to provide latest updates for upto two years of launch . Clearly , it is a strong enough competitor in the smartphone industry . 

Coming to the specifications of the smartphone , the Essential PH1 boasts of a beautiful edge to edge display , with very small bezels on the chin of the smartphone , and a small U shaped cut-out for the selfie camera ( and a couple of sensors ) on the top . The design is unique and eye pleasing . The recent iPhone 8 leaks tout of a similar design . The display here is 5.7" LTPS IPS lcd covered with gorilla glass 5 for protection . The aspect ratio here is 19 : 10 and the resolution is 1312 x 2560 pixels . It is a sharp and beautiful 2k display with excellent viewing angles , though an Oled display would have been appreciated .

The frame of PH1 is made up of titanium ( Yes , it is the first smartphone to have a titanium build ) , and the back is ceramic , making it a fingerprint magnet . The fingerprint sensor is on the back with dual 12 mp cameras and magnetic pins for modularity . The titanium and ceramic build provide the strength to PH1 , while the design makes it absolute beauty . Overall a 10/10 for design and build .

The PH1 has got great internals too . It is powered by the latest and greatest Qualcomm's snapdragon 835 along with 4 gigs of ram and 128 gigs of onboard storage . The GPU duties is handled by Adreno 540 . With these internals , performance should be top-notch . It should be able to handle everything you throw at it . The phone also supports stereo speakers for better media consumption .

For optics , the PH1 has dual cameras at the back . Both the sensors are of 13 mp , but one is regular RGB , while the other is a monochrome sensor . The company has gone with this kind of setup to improve low light performance . The aperture here is f/1.85 . There is support for phase detection autofocus and laser autofocus . 


But the rear camera performance is sub-par compared to the other flagships out there , including the S8 , HTC U11 and the Pixel . Though we hope company shall throw OTA updates to improve the camera performance . The front camera is an 8 mp f/2.2 shooter and is capable of 4k recording . Clicking selfies with the front camera of PH1 is a joy . And we shall not forget the 360 degree module . It helps click some great 360 degree photos and videos . 

For connectivity , the PH1 has support for 4G VoLTE , Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac , NFC , GPS and bluetooth 5.0 . Sadly , the company has skipped on the 3.5 mm headphone jack . There is type-C port for charging and headphone . The battery capacity is 3040 mah with the support of quick charge 3.0 . The company provides a 27 watt charger in the box for fast charging the PH1 . 

The PH1 is up for preorders on the company's official website ( here ) for $699 . If you purchase the 360 degree camera module along with the smartphone , you get the bundle for $749 ( Individual cost of the module is $199 ) . The company also offers a 2 year protection plan worth $99 in which the company replaces your Essential phone with a new one , in case of breakdowns and accidental damage .

With the PH1 , Essential has tried its best to give a strong competition to the market , though there is still room for improvements , which the company shall work on in future , given that it is the company's first attempt in the smartphone industry .