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Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
- philip1209 9y agoBetween generic brands and Apple, I don't think there is room for a third competitor. Fitbit learned this the hard way trying to sit in-between. Trying to make a brand that is more expensive than Apple will likely fail. They have made gold devices before. Plus, most of luxury is perception - and they stand no chance of having better brand marketing and recognition. I don't think that the operating system is enough of a differentiator, particularly when Google controls the software while promoting their own high-end hardware.
- gadders 9y agoChrome 40, so all I see is menu headings. Anyone got a summary?
- IMTDb 9y agoit's a pretty and expensive android phone
- gabby92 9y agoDo you require the services of a hacker for your general ethical/unethical hacks?,contact leehacks92@gmail.com,he’s time conscious and reliable,he’s the best i’ve worked with so far..check him out and you won’t be disappointed,serious enquiries only!!
- look_lookatme 9y agoYeah the website is a total mess. First visual I see is a picture of Andy Rubin (???). Anyway, AFAICT, it's an android phone made from titanium and has some cool looking attachments. Is there enough money in $750 Android phones like this? I would imagine this is a commodified market.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoIt would be, but the titanium, full screen and accessory systems are USP's.
- threeseed 9y agoFull screen has already been done by Samsung and Apple is likely to be releasing a full screen iPhone 8/X/? around September. And most people use cases so the titanium isn't that compelling. Accessories typically just use Bluetooth to communicate so that isn't much of a USP either.
- fao_ 9y agoIt's a new phone. The essential differences is that > the casing is made out of titanium rather than aluminium -- the makers claim this is more resistant to drop damage. > there are hole-clip attachments near the camera for peripherals (Notably the "360 camera" that they are also selling) > There are no logos on the phone I'm not sure if I've missed anything
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mda 9y agoUh, you are almost 20 version worth of security updates behind.
- gadders 9y agoBank locked down version. What can you do?
- aedron 9y agoChrome 58 for me. Blank page for ten seconds, then menu headers, but nothing else, appears.
- thinkindie 9y agois a 360 degrees camera really essential?
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoNope, that's why it (seems to be) a separate, attachable accessory.
- ed_blackburn 9y agoI'm drowning in a pretty website with no summary of what I am looking at.
- stupidcar 9y agoI think they're selling a new Android phone, plus some accessories like a 360 camera, but the site makes it seem like the 360 camera is the main product.
- emmelaich 9y agoI got that it was a home device like Google Home or Alexa. The phone part of the site didn't show anything for me. I didn't see mention of a camera!
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoIt's literally the same concept as Apple's Mac Pro website, and there's a picture of a phone you haven't seen before when you open it. How obvious does it need to be?
- majewsky 9y ago> a picture of a phone you haven't seen before To be fair, all phones look basically the same. Not saying that there aren't differences, but most phones are difficult to tell apart at first glance.
- wodenokoto 9y agoThere's a picture of a phone, a founder's story and a description of a separate camera. It is not at all obvious what the webpage wants to tell me.
- ensiferum 9y agoOh..just another craproid device
- hbbio 9y agoOk, a new phone made by the creator of Android which claims to be extremely well built. However, since most phones now tend to reach the "good enough" level, my main question is about software and left unanswered. What version/flavour of Android does it run? How will updates be planned? For how many years will updates be provided? What's the size of the security team at Essential? Providing an up-to-date Android with updates for at least 4 years like Apple does is key to me, as vulnerabilities come and go and the only reasonable way to be secure is to get security patches asap.
- dcdevito 9y agoTotally agree with this - this is what Android OEMs, including Google, don't seem to understand. For all we know this guy has the attention span of a fly and will go off and do something else in 6 months.
- clouddrover 9y ago> What version/flavour of Android I hope they offer a Windows 10 option in the future. Full Windows 10 on ARM with x86 Win32 emulation offers capability not available on Android or iOS. Being able to run Win32 software on the device would be very useful for a lot of people.
- distances 9y agoIt's hard to see any manufacturer seriously revisiting the Windows story on mobile platforms. It has died a couple of times already, and for a casual observer it looks like Microsoft is more committed to Android+iOS story now too.
- clouddrover 9y agoYes, but the big difference this time around is that it's the same Windows as on the desktop with the ability to run desktop software. You get mobile plus desktop on the one device which is something Microsoft's better positioned to deliver on than either Google or Apple. And because of that Microsoft will finally start succeeding on mobile.
- groundCode 9y agoHope the product is better than the website....
- ghthor 9y agoWebsite seemed quite functional for me on my galaxy 7. What were your gripes?
- shirian 9y agoDid not work in Firefox for me, despite allowing all scripts to run. Plus, as a subjective note, I perceived it overall too designy, i.e. more focus on the "coolness" than the information itself.
- majewsky 9y agoHuh? Works for me (FF 53 on Arch Linux). I have uMatrix set to allow only first-party JS by default, but they play nice and serve all JS from the same domain (essential.com) I still find the website overdesigned, of course, but the technical execution worked perfectly for me.
- ghshephard 9y agoIt killed Safari on my MacBook Air. Chrome seemed to perform a bit better. I almost gave up on the website before find a browser that played well with it.
- apetrovic 9y agoOn desktop Safari I can see only the top menu. The rest of the page is blank. Works well on Chrome.
- aedron 9y agoChrome 58, top menu only (only appears after ten seconds). Clicking menu items, nada.
- rodionos 9y ago
- therealmarv 9y agoI bet this phone will not get fast Android updates ;)
- dcdevito 9y agoBattery is rather small for Android these days. There's nothing about this phone that would tempt me to trade in my iPhone 7 for this - or any other Android phone for that matter
- Numberwang 9y agoBoy do I miss the websites of the late 90s. How about you spend another second or two thinking about how your content is structured.
- je_bailey 9y agoInteresting. So he's started a new company to focus on products that have "play well with others" as a design concept. I like the idea he's promoting with the phone where all the accessories either magnetically connect or a wireless connection. I hate having to purchase the same things over and over again.
- wodenokoto 9y agoI found it ironic that they talk about how annoying dongles are, but still the phone requires a dongle for headphones
- sparkling 9y agoWho cares if the casing is scratch resistant titantium? That case is not the limiting factor for hardware longevity, the non-removal non-user-servicable battery is.
- staeff 9y agoAgreed. This was the first thing I checked. For me it's just another expensive android phone with expensive addons. Is the "docking station" really nothing more than a quick charger? Why do they call themselves essential?
- bananicorn 9y agoThere also seems to be a new smart home device in the making, just click on the right icon in the header. Not sure if that's actually new or if I just misclicked...
- ghthor 9y agoSeems like a great idea in a space that needs more competition. Apple has a monopoly on designing complete user experiences using technology and I'm tired of it. Can't wait to see where this takes us.
- ulfw 9y agoWow what? A space that needs more competition? Android phones???
- alexandersingh 9y agoThe high-end smartphone market is dominated by Apple, with Samsung a very distant second.
- canuckintime 9y ago> The high-end smartphone market is dominated by Apple, with Samsung a very distant second. Only if you're measuring by profit/revenue. If you're measuring by actual high-end features delivered, and customer satisfaction, then No!, the high-end smartphone market is very competitive
- ulfw 9y agoAnd Essential is going to change that and get more market share than Samsung or even Apple? Please. There are tons of great choices of Android high-end devices available from Google itself, from LG, Xiaomi, Huawei, htc, even from OnePlus, you name it. Good to have onemore choice with Essential now.
- jaboutboul 9y agoHa! Yet another android phone.
- mstade 9y agoThis is the first paragraph that shows up when seeing the site in mobile safari: > I know people are going to ask me a lot of questions about why I started this company. Why didn’t I just travel the world, ride my motorcycle, tinker with my robots, hang out at my bakery with friends and family. And to be honest I still do ask myself that sometimes…but not too often. 1. Maybe I'm not geeky enough, but I don't know who you are 2. I don't care who you are 3. What are you selling? A phone? 4. Oh screw this, I don't care enough to read past that pompous nonsense... Oh well.
- curiousgal 9y agoI know who he is and I cringed at the humblebrag.
- OnionBreathDang 9y ago... my thoughts exactly. And, just to make doubly sure there's no chance anyone will know WTF this is all about, let's present it all using an illegible (but no doubt extremely hipster) grey text on a grey background website design!
- raverbashing 9y agoAnd that's absolutely fine, the site wasn't built for you It filled its purpose of filtering those that are further on the adoption curve away
- 19273921 9y agoAmazing what kind of bullshit people write here. But dang protects this and wants it this way.
- arkitaip 9y agoOf course you got downvoted for telling the truth. Essential seems to be in pre-launch and Rubin is one helluva competitive advantage who early adopters will know about.
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- shanwang 9y agodare i say the phone looks underwhelming? the home hub looks interesting, but it seems the main selling point is it can work with other devices? so does it mean I can do things like asking Alexa to stream my itunes library on chromecast?
- whisdol 9y agoThey seem to avoid mentioning the version of Android they are running - the specs only say "Android". I'd like to be exited about this, but this uncertainty combined with the fact that their security personnel is a team of dogs[1] makes it quite hard for me. [1]https://www.essential.com/about https://www.essential.com/about
- ericflo 9y agoI thought you were being unimaginably rude until I went to the page and saw that there were actual dogs listed.
- jjoonathan 9y agoWow. For a platform that struggles with security, listing a security team entirely composed of dogs comes across as the equivalent of "I drive better drunk!". One has to wonder whether it was intended as a joke or as a dismissal, and in both cases it evidences an alarming attitude towards a very serious problem. EDIT: If there were humans on that team in addition to the dogs, I'd not be nearly so upset.
- yeukhon 9y agoWell professionally I'd like a human photo. If this were a shy photo, I would hope for not a cute puppy photo, but a human animated icon. There is a bit I called professional prsentation vs being cute, but this is a startup and it's someone else's company.
- pawadu 9y agoor you could just accept that this a cute way to present the office dog, and get on with your life...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- s_kilk 9y ago
- Sephr 9y agoLooks great. I just wish they went with AMOLED. It'd be worth the increased price.
- raesene6 9y agoI like the idea of tougher phones, but to me it misses the mark to talk about the titanium phone case surviving corner drop tests, it's the glass that's the problem. The number of people I've seen wandering around with cracked phone screens from drops is quite high, and is the reason I put a case which covers the front on every phone I buy. So having no phone case here just means you get the usual after market screen protectors and risk of cracked glass that most other phones suffer from.
- raverbashing 9y agoCorrect Apart from major damage I care much less about damage to the shell than I care about damage to the glass But their drop test conveniently misses that Drop it face down and we'll talk
- jjoonathan 9y agoMy intuition says that it's very difficult to get a phone to impact glass-first and that 99% of all drops are going to see it dance on the corners, if only for an invisible fraction of a second, before flopping/sliding down on the glass. My intuition also says that those corner impacts are going to be a much greater threat to the hardened glass than the final face-first flop/slide. The universe doesn't necessarily obey my intuition, of course, but since it differs quite dramatically from yours I thought I'd mention that there's an alternative model of the problem which supports the actions Essential Products is taking.
- pricechild 9y agoI think the point was that even when the phone is dropped on a corner, the glass cracks? Toughening the corners doesn't seem to help that.
- jjoonathan 9y agoThe glass cracks from a corner drop because the aluminum flexes and/or deforms much more than the glass, effectively focusing the force onto a small part of the glass's edge, which is the weakest part due to the hardening. Increasing stiffness and decreasing deformation spreads the force out across the edge, multiplying the effective strength. There's a reason why cracks almost always seem to start at the edges. In the most severe cases of direct impact of the face on a sharp/hard protrusion, you get a radial crack pattern, but by my estimation those are a tiny minority.
- deprave 9y agoHe dumped the pile of insecure garbage called Android on us and now he's moving on to reinvent iOS. Got it.
- Jdam 9y ago> Your phone is your personal property. It’s a public expression of who you are and what you stand for. Just no. It's just a tool that I use to communicate.
- chinathrow 9y agoIt's also not really our personal property when we can't use and repair it at will.
- DiThi 9y agoThat's why I'm considering the Fairphone 2 as my next phone.
- organsnyder 9y agoThose phones look really intriguing to me. I feel no need to keep up with the latest flagships—I just want a phone that is good enough, as long as the camera is decent. If Fairphone produces a phone with USB-C charging and sells it in the United States, I'm sold.
- mrwilhelm 9y agoToo much mission for a device.
- joatmon-snoo 9y ago> Just no. It's just a tool that I use to communicate. And your treatment of your smartphone as such is a public expression of who you are and what you stand for ;)
- freehunter 9y agoYeah, going out of your way to make sure everyone knows that your phone is just a communications tool is a louder expression of your personality than a bright pink Hello Kitty case IMO.
- paule89 9y agoShipping to the US only...
- NikolaNovak 9y agoJust saw that; aaaaaaanddd it all becomes irrelevant oh so quickly :-/
- niho 9y agoThere are very good reasons that aluminum is the best option for a mobile phone, rather than titanium. The most important is environmental. Aluminum is more abundant than titanium, it is easier and friendlier to extract/process. It can be recycled (very important!) and it is cheaper. Aluminum also has much better technical qualities. It is much lighter weight and easier to machine. It is softer, which means the casing will absorb most of the force from an impact when you drop your phone. And as others have pointed out; your screen or battery will break long before the structural casing. I have personally never been bothered with scratches on the casing of my iPhone. I'm much more worried about the overall environmental impact of the device.
- jjoonathan 9y agoOf the 8 reasons you listed why Al is allegedly superior, 7 are reasons that it's actually the lower-grade product and the 8th (drop resistance) is simply incorrect. To a first approximation, overall acceleration doesn't kill glass or batteries, it's the uneven application of force that kills them. I'd imagine that increasing the rigidity of the frame improves drop resistance a great deal.
- niho 9y agoAre you trying to argue that being cheaper, lighter weight and recyclable makes aluminum a worse choice for a mass produced mobile device? Are you insane?
- JustSomeNobody 9y ago> The most important is environmental. Aluminum is more abundant than titanium, it is easier and friendlier to extract/process. Don't worry, they won't sell many of these phones.
- al2o3cr 9y ago"We want to make a device that plays well with others, so here's our new proprietary expansion port!" Even better, it uses 60GHz wireless to get data across the fraction-of-an-inch gap between the phone and the accessory. That should be a fun one for battery life.
- MrBuddyCasino 9y agoThis is the first phone since the iPhone that triggers an "I want that" feeling. Why the negativity?
- Markoff 9y agobecause it has horrible battery, no jack and cut out camera in display which could be easily fitted in bottom bezel? you are better off with Xiaomi Mi Mix running Lineage OS than this joke
- bobsam 9y agoBecause in Android-land there are better phones for less money. People are disappointed, they had probably expected another miracle from andy, that's all.
- fullshark 9y agoWhat's the reason? Do you just like the design? I don't really get why this is special or interesting.
- philfrasty 9y ago„Why 360 changes everything“ Where does all the excitement for 360° videos come from? In its current implementation it adds absolutely nothing for the viewer and strips away the possibility for the creator to tell a story by choosing what the viewer sees. Useful for VR yes, on a flat screen just no.
- sangnoir 9y agoMost consumers don't want to "tell a story" but record memories. The auteurs who wish to "tell a story" can crop the viewport to their hearts desire without limiting choices for everyone else who isn't a tortured genius.
- freehunter 9y agoSo you've never posed for a photo? Waited until the giraffe was looking right at you before you took a picture at the zoo? You're comfortable just snapping a picture, any old picture, and calling it good enough? You just want a picture of your kid, it doesn't matter if they're in focus, or looking at you, or picking their nose. It'll go on the christmas card anyway, right? You don't have to be a "tortured genius" to want to frame a picture and make it look nice. Nearly everyone wants to take a picture where things are in frame, in focus, and the setting is controlled. 360 photos can be achieved with normal cameras like they are today without a fad attachment. No one is limiting your choice, let's not be hyperbolic.
- sangnoir 9y ago> Nearly everyone wants to take a picture where things are in frame, in focus, and the setting is controlled. Not everyone wants to take a picture where things are in frame, in focus, and the setting is controlled - but they want a picture when the conditions are right: this is why burst-mode-with-auto-best selection is a thing. When I'm taking a picture, please don't make me think too hard, work tor hard, or it or hope to get the timing exactly right. I don't have a clue why fidelity-loss at point of capture is romanticized when you can do it in 'post'. It is also not future-proof for no good reason, IMO. My argument is an extension of why you would want to shoot and save pictures in RAW, rather than JPEG. My personal holy grail would be a continuous, high-quality 360-degree video on which I can go back in time and frame a specific area at a given time to put on the Christmas card/push in the gallery. Bonus point would be opening the framed-image in a gallery and being able to see the context around it (360-video with sound).
- philippnagel 9y agoWill the battery be easily replaceable?
- shubhamjain 9y agoIt doesn't seem premium Android phones have something spectacular to differentiate. Sure, you can spice up the camera, make the body more glossy, and add a beautiful screen. But the software is just another commodity that would be available for 1/3rd the price. That's why Google Pixel would always feel exorbitant even when the price is almost close to Apple iPhone. Seeing Essential's price tag, I have the same visceral feeling: "$750 for an Android Phone...? What?". Here's where Apple eats the larger pie: the exclusivity of its experience that can only came at a price. In the past, the naive me used to think why Apple doesn't try to dent Microsoft's 95% desktop market with its excellent OS. Now I understand why that'd never happen: you can't be premium in people's eyes unless you create a brand of exclusiveness.
- nailer 9y agoI just want a phone that: - Lasts a full day - Looks nice That's all. Currently I can buy various 8mm phones with various bad-to-OK cases. Give me a beautiful 16mm phone and software updates and I'll give you my 700 bucks.
- avar 9y agoYou can buy an external case for the iPhone which fits this description, e.g. at http://mophie.com http://mophie.com (I have no relation to that site). I'd be happy to sell you one for 700 bucks. Looks like an easy way to make a few hundred dollar profit :)
- nailer 9y agoYes. I own two. Hence: > Currently I can buy various 8mm phones with various bad-to-OK cases. In the post you're replying to.
- avar 9y agoIt wasn't clear from your post that you meant /battery/ cases. What's the problem with the cases on the market that make them unacceptable? I haven't tried the one I linked to but it looks good, seems to be well designed, and is around the total thickness you're aiming fora
- homero 9y agoAll I want is the best processor, most ram, micro sd, replaceable battery and root. Why can't anyone deliver this? I'm here cracking a v20 when I could be happier.
- maufl 9y ago"My software engineers wanted me to talk about our vision for making all devices, even those we don't make ourselves, play well together." This sounds really interesting to me, but I can't find anymore information about what that means. Does anybody know?
- rmah 9y agoIt doesn't mean anything. It's marketing tripe.
- apexalpha 9y agoWhat is it with these companies putting the latest SnapDragon CPUs in their mobile devices? No one cares about CPU performance. I've got a SD820 now in my Axon 7, and I can tell you there is 0 difference with a SD625 in daily use. Except that the SD625 is cheaper and has an incredible battery life. The only company realising that people care about UX in stead of specs seems to be Xiaomi. Consistently choosing SD625 and SD660 for their phones, because it is clear that any CPU can pull a phone. And let's be honest. No one cares about mobile VR. I'll take SD625 and 5000mAh battery over SD835 and 6GB RAM any day.
- morsch 9y agoI had a Xiaomi Mi 4i which had a SD615, thinking "how bad can it be". Turns out, it was painfully slow to use; no match at all to the vanilla Mi 4 with a SD801. Maybe the current generation is different, but I got a Mi 5 (SD820) and haven't looked back. The battery life is fine, enough to last a full day with lots of spare capacity.
- piyush_soni 9y ago- "And let's be honest. No one cares about a camera phone" - "And let's be honest. No one cares about having 2 GB RAM on a phone" - "And let's be honest. No one cares about <any new technology>" New processors are not only 'faster' but also more energy efficient, which is an equally (or more) important thing especially now when we've reached high speeds even in basic (/cheap) smartphones. As long as they're not going backwards, I don't see a reason why these companies should not go with them.
- apexalpha 9y agoI don't think that is a fair response. 1) Camera's had proven use and adoption before being mounted on mobile computers. RAM has been ever increasing since the inception of it. 2) My comment should be seen in a timeframe. When I say no one needs 6GB RAM, there is an implied 'in 2017' added to that. Otherwise every discussion about hardware could be killed with you argument. >As long as they're not going backwards, I don't see a reason why these companies should not go with them. The question is: which one do you choose to put in your phone now. Knowing Android, knowing the other specs of the phone and knowing what kind of apps people use. In that case: I think the SD835 is overkill for 99% of people. That last 1% being people who want the fastest simply _because_ it is the fastest, or who play the most advanced mobile games / VR. Those people are a very small subset of all smartphone users. 1% might be too much.
- JepZ 9y agoWell, I like the 'no logo' and the open software features. The other stuff looks more or less like a normal flagship smartphone nowadays (yes I like the 360° camera too, but it is not essential). The things that I am missing: - replaceable battery - SD card slot - wireless charging Those three are all essential to the lifetime of the phone. Storage requirements may change, batteries and power connectors may wear off. I still use my 5 old Samsung S3 which has all those features (with updated Software). While I am willing to pay for a newer model (better camera, faster processor, etc.), I can't find a phone that promises an equal longevity.
- linuxkerneldev 9y agoNo mention of waterproofing, water resistance. That's the main thing I look for.
- aerique 9y agoBut does it run SailfishOS?
- Shelnutt2 9y agoInterested to see if Sprint and Verizon will support this on their networks. The phone supports all the needed bands, it more a business decision on the CDMA carrier side to certify it. The rumors from a few months ago said Sprint was onboard, we'll see if that panes out.
- jbg_ 9y agoWhat do you mean by "support"? Do they really get to tell you that you can't use a device even though it supports the standard their network uses? (I'm clueless of how things work with these carriers.)
- kalleboo 9y agoAFAIK, Sprint and Verizon still require you to register your phone's serial number to access the legacy CDMA network (or have they finally implemented RUIM?). A SIM card should be fine for their LTE network though.
- Shelnutt2 9y agoVerizon used RUIM, but it still has to be registered. Sprint is still using NV based authentication. Both carriers are more focused on getting to VoLTE than improving the CDMA process at this point.
- izacus 9y agoAhh, so new Android phone shipping only to US where Apple is dominating the high-end sales? I see that going well.
- Markoff 9y agoit's not like they would have lot of chances everywhere else where Xiaomi Mi Mix with bigger battery and jack is just fine
- zmix 9y agoI want: - 4 buttons on the finger's side, one jogwheel/microswitch at the thumb. Buttons are configurable/contextual. Of course, also touch-screen - expandable flash - best mobile camera to date - Android (no bloat, unlocked, easily rootable) - no bezel - great battery - size of Xperia Compact Z3 but thinner - withstands rain and beach - upperclass CPU/GFX/RAM/Flash
- jvzr 9y ago“Et cent balles et un mars,” as we delicately put it in France.
- zmix 9y agoHehe. As you get older you don't have time to wait for things to evolve, which long time ago already have evolved. Technically it's possible, because we have seen it. Now all should go into one device. What's so difficult about it? I would have thought, that an engineer comes up with something better than the marketing team.
- intrasight 9y agoI get a blank screen except for the menu. What plugin is needed to view that site?
- kelvin0 9y agoWe are the misfists, the craftsmen ... and uhh... Oh thats already been made. Well dammit it worked once!
- samfisher83 9y agoThey are selling the phone for 700 dollars. 700 dollars for a phone? You can get a s8, HTC, or LG for cheaper with the promotions they are running and those companies have a track record for making phones. They could have been like One plus one and produced a high end phone ~400 bucks. For 700 dollars this will have a hard time getting traction.
- adim86 9y agoI am not impressed by the website at all. It is very well designed and in some ways pretends to give you a lot of information but I find myself asking the most basic of questions. What is Essential, does it do hardware, software or both? Is it running a special Android or vanilla? What is the screen made of? There is all this hype about how strong the phone is but I have never heard anyone complain that aluminum is not strong enough for their purposes etc. For a marketing site, I am just not impressed with the amount of important information. Maybe the answers to all of this are in there, but it is so poorly arranged that after checking in a bunch of places I expect it to be. I have given up
- giarc 9y agoThe example picture of the waves rolling on the beach doesn't even look all that high quality. Perhaps it is my crappy monitors at work, but it looks pretty basic.
- Markoff 9y agono jack, no waterproofing, 3000mAh battery for 5.7", display disrupted by camera, no brand and they ask 700$ for this?
- madmax108 9y ago>>> play well with others ...And right off the block, no headphone jack. Why do companies insist on just blindly following Apple? Baah.
- jlebrech 9y agoI like the 360 camera idea, but how could that not snap to a case for any other phone?
- settsu 9y ago> - Devices are your personal property. We won’t force you to have anything on them you don’t want to have. Ok, so at first glance this is just a diplomatic, manifesto-ese way of saying "no bloatware". However, there's probably a very pragmatic discussion about what this really means and that just leads us back around to where we are now with who defines "anything" (i.e., the phone app is on table for that discussion...) > - We will always play well with others. Closed ecosystems are divisive and outdated. Closed ecosystems are also knowable, stable, and can produce very happy customers. > - Premium materials and true craftsmanship shouldn’t be just for the few. So for a few more? There's a reason mass-production is an economic success. > - Devices shouldn’t become outdated every year. They should evolve with you. "Outdated" is an extremely subjective concept. Hardware that evolves? Do tell. > - Technology should assist you so that you can get on with enjoying your life. Should it? > - Simple is always better. Now you're just being lazy. I'm a huge fan of big picture, think-outside-the-box vision-casting. But this just comes across as so tone deaf from the very start and ultimately so vapid that it's easy to see how these SV figureheads have earned such a reputation for utter lack of self-awareness. Please, if you have become this level of successful, you need someone in your inner circle who specifically is tasked with keeping you grounded.
- bobsam 9y ago> Closed ecosystems are also knowable, stable, and can produce very happy customers ... until they don't. Then you are screwed. > Now you're just being lazy Now you are just arguing for the sake of the argument.
- settsu 9y ago> ... until they don't. Then you are screwed. His point works well in a world where Android isn't competing with Apple which, while far from perfect, does not suffer nearly as badly from the looong tail of terrible quality apps. The third-party Android app markets are neat but, pirated content aside, they largely serve only niches. > Now you are just arguing for the sake of the argument. No, it's point unto itself: Simple is not always better. (Obviously.)
- m-j-fox 9y ago> Why didn’t I just travel the world, ride my motorcycle, tinker with my robots, hang out at my bakery with friends and family. Was Andy a douche before he got rich or is that the price of success?
- dang 9y agoPersonal attacks will get you banned on HN, so please don't do this again. It doesn't matter if the other person is rich or even if they deserve it; what matters is that it poisons the community, and we don't want that.
- m-j-fox 9y agoDang, you have a lot of rules that you enforce but don't write down. Any criticism could be called an attack and everyone is a person so you're being arbitrary. My stance is that I'm doing some guy who refers to "my engineers" like they're his royal subjects, the favor his copy editor should do him in letting him know how aragance plays with the audience. I'm arbitrarily enforcing our culture's unwritten sanction against humble bragging and general douche baggery. Basically, what you do.
- dang 9y agoInterpretation is always involved, but that doesn't make it arbitrary. Everything we do as moderators follows from the principles of the site—intellectual curiosity and civil, substantive discussion. > don't write down It's impossible to write everything down, it would be boring to try, and the reward for such foolishness would be even worse behavior. The commenters who most poison internet forums are experts in adapting to rules so they're technically not violating them. > I'm arbitrarily enforcing our culture's unwritten sanction Sure, there are many such values and there are tradeoffs between them. In this case the need to protect the commons takes precedence, because it's fragile and worth protecting. There were other ways to make the substantive point behind your comment.
- fabrice_d 9y agoI find the Home product more interesting than the phone: https://www.essential.com/home https://www.essential.com/home
- hbosch 9y agoI find the Home product to look essentially vapor-grade. The mock UI is awful, no indication of size on the site, no indication of who their voice vendor will be (Google? Amazon? home made?), no realistic roadmap... Just product renders and optimistic statements. I have a feeling the phone will be obscure in a year or two, and the Home will be even less popular. Of course, in an alternate future, some enterprising HNer will quote this comment... I'm prepared for that.
- gallerdude 9y agoI do think pricing is the biggest problem here. Android phones have been flourishing recently because of cut prices (see: Moto G, OnePlus). There's a LOT of good options for high end Android phones, and even if you manage to take 2nd or 3rd place, you won't remotely get half or a third of the profits. They're getting too greedy too early. You have to earn the public's trust before you jump in with a $700 device.
- therealdrag0 9y agoOn the other hand, wouldn't it be hard to raise the price after grounding it low? What they're saying is "we're a luxury phone like iPhone."
- gallerdude 9y agoI mean, yeah, it's infinitely easier to lower a price than raise it, but at the same time if they announced it today with a killer price their marketing would have a lot more momentum. re: "we're a luxury phone like iPhone," this is a claim that they don't have the brand to attempt. Sure, the co-creator of Android is nice, but I doubt anyone will be compelled by it. Building a top of the line brand takes years of cultivation and careful adjustment. Essential has to prove itself before it can just 'be luxury'.
- auggierose 9y agoThat site makes me sea sick.
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- souldoubt 9y agoLovely site, but scroll lag janks so hard it's almost unusable! Also hardware looks lovely. Any chance it runs something other than Android?
- varelse 9y agoI really like the idea of a mobile phone that just works with a suite of consistent apps for photos, SMS, email, navigation, and whatever. I really like maximizing local computation over cloud services. And at first I thought this might be it. But alas, it appears to be just another pretty and overpriced Android phone. I guess I will continue buying last year's latest and greatest at a 50% discount or more once brand new shiny disrupts it.
- dharma1 9y agoI think it looks really good. Not a huge fan of a proprietary expansion port, but I guess there is no other way of future-proofing for certain accessories, like sensors for inside-out VR/AR tracking. I hope they get enough traction so that it'll be a viable business and these won't be paperweights in 2-3 years time
- remir 9y agoThe expansion port will be open source, like Ambiant OS, according to Andy.
- whalesalad 9y agoThe 360º camera feels like a gimmick. I dig the idea of having it, but it gives me a gopro accessory vibe: pain in the ass to use and store (where do you keep it when you're not using it??), it'll get lost, etc... I like the idea of a titanium enclosure that is resistant to damage during falls -- but that force needs to be absorbed somewhere. It's nice to know that the outer enclosure of my phone is absorbing some of the impact of a fall. If the Essential phone's titanium is not doing this – are the internal components going to suffer more? I'm interested in giving Android another shot but without the ability to go into a store and play around with one, it's hard to throw $700+ on blind faith. For example, the Pixel looks incredible in photos. It resembles the iPhone and offers an appearance of quality. Holding in your hand, however, it feels like a plastic piece of crap. If I'd have gone on photos/videos alone, I'd have been very disappointed. Apple, for me, has been great due to the progressive enhancement and the ability to go into a store and play around. Each phone release is familiar, yet new and refreshing. Every time the latest 'killer' Android device comes out, it will inevitably introduce a handful of paradigm shifts in both the hardware and software. I feel like you either need to be an early adopter willing to throw hundreds of dollars at devices more frequently, or settle for Samsung bloatware.
- theprop 9y agoI thought Rubin's other new product, Lighthouse, a security camera which uses an AI backend to analyze video for anything "suspicious" and notify you on your phone was much more interesting & promising.
- Animats 9y agoFirst-world problem: what business to start when you have too much money and no really good ideas. - Private space program? Everybody's done that. - Sports team? Not into sports enough. - Museum? Boring. - Supercar company? IC engines are so last-cen and electrics mean competing with Elon. - Super high end phone? Yeah!
- nojvek 9y agoI still think a robotics company for the masses is something waiting for a billionare to indulge in. Its 2017 and where is my "Rosie the maid" from jetsons? It should be here by now. I hate doing house chores.
- ericflo 9y ago100% agreed. The pieces are there, someone needs to put them together. It's VR in 2009.
- Animats 9y agoVR may be the next 3D TV. It's been around for a while, but it's a niche product. Hassle of using it outweighs the benefits.
- ericflo 9y agoYou're right that it's a niche product at this point, but it's very different from 3D TV. Tesla cars are niche products too.
- scott_karana 9y agoIt's hard to think of a product less niche than automobiles. 80% of Americans have one. Tesla is in a small-volume, premium segment of a proven commodity, whereas VR is still niche. (Though, Google Cardboard proves it needn't be premium-only!)
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- thesanerguy 9y agoAndy has been able to get together a stellar team in such a short time
- throwaway47861 9y agoHere are some angrily and hastily written observations: - No microSD card slot. Yes, 128GB internal storage -- and it being an UFS, which is fast -- is a lot, but there are people who carry data on their phones and require portability and speed. There's honestly no excuse not to have a microSD these days. - Small battery; 3040 mAh, seriously, shouldn't the OEMs have learned by now? Android is a battery eater, Google doesn't seem interested in making the OS more efficient and keeps thinking of half-assed "solutions" like the Doze mode which is basically "if it's the night and the phone hasn't moved in an hour, please cripple its functions until the owner picks it up", heh. For Android you'd best go for the absolute minimum of 3500 mAh or just admit you're after a quick buck. If you're serious about an Android phone, better just put 4500 mAh or more in your device and then I'll take you seriously. - No 3.5mm audio jack. Yeah, keep dreaming, Andy Rubin. Parties with rich friends who tell you "things they hear" are not a good indicator about market needs. And you dare call your hardware "essential", lol. - Display is not AMOLED. Heard about actually having a black color on your display? Guess not. Heard about dynamically turning off parts of the screen to save power while not losing any part of the image (because the turned off part is black)? Guess you haven't heard of that either, nor energy efficiency for that matter. - No word on planned maintenance period -- 1 year, 2, 4, how much? It's a crucially important element nowadays, how can Android's creator be unaware of that? - Cameras look good on paper but we all know it's the camera app which makes the real difference. I bet it'll be some default vanilla app which won't make a good use of at least 50% of the device's camera functions. Overall -- overpriced pretty device. What else is new? The guy is pulling a popularity card to get away with yet another mediocre device and entice naive people to buy it because of his supposed prestige as Android's creator.
- p2t2p 9y agoThis website doesn't work in Safari. Google Chrome is required. Back to IE6 age... UPDATE: Nevermind, it started to work after couple refreshes. UPDATE: Actually, 'home' section started to work, 'phone' section still doesn't work in Safari.