Andy Rubin unveils the stunning Essential Phone for $699

After months of teaser and speculation, Andy Rubin has finally revealed the Essential Phone. The handset, like its name, stands away from the crowd, with its absolutely stunning design and unusual display (and not just because it comes from the creator of Android).

The 7.8mm-thick, stunning phone has an edge-to-edge display with fewer bezels at the bottom, and a front-facing camera in the middle at the top of the screen, which is definitely a unique approach to smartphone design. The titanium build has a ceramic back, offering a variety of color choices — Black Moon, Stellar Grey, Pure White, and Ocean Depths. To make you (and people like me) feel happy, the Essential Phone has no annoying logos.

The Essential Phone is an Android smartphone, and comes with top-of-the-line specs for $699. The comprising specs include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 3,040mAh battery. The Essential has a 13-megapixel, f/1.85 dual-camera setup on the back with image fusion technology, while the handset embeds an 8-megapixel, f/2.2 hyperfocal lens with 16:9 aspect ratio and support for 4K video on the front. Did I mention about the headphone jack? Well, it doesn’t exist.

Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone has a company as well. It comes with a tiny, attachable 360-degree camera, and a charging dock. Modularity is the approach here — something that we’ve seen from Motorola with the Moto Z Line. In addition, there’s a speaker — the Essential Home — that proactively helps you manage your life. The Essential Home is powered by Essential’s in-house Ambient OS.

The Essential Phone is currently available for pre-order in the US for $699; you can only choose between Black Moon and Pure White as of now, with Stellar Grey and Ocean Depths coming soon.

/ Essential