Essential Smartphone
 

Android Creator Launches New Phone The Essential Phone: Review

Posted December 06, 2017
Share To
 
 

Andy Rubin, creator of Android, is trying to make his mark on the smartphone industry again with his newly designed Android phone: The Essential Phone.

When Andy Rubin sold his company, Android, to Google in 2005 he became the father of the non-Apple smartphone. His Android software, open-source, was revolutionary as it created an ecosystem other than Apple's for smartphones. It completely opened up the market to new ideas and made smartphones much more widely available to consumers. More options at better price points than Apple's iPhone meant competition, and competition means innovation. It is this competition and innovation that has given us the powerful smartphones we have today just over a decade later. Rubin is back at it again, trying to revolutionize the smartphone market, with his new company and phone.

The Essential Phone, or PH-1 as it is officially called, looks like a lot of other top-line smartphones today. It is almost all screen, runs Android and has a sleek glass body. The Essential team notes their high attention to detail and craftsmanship when designing the phone, but what sticks out to us, as it should be no surprise, is its camera system and modular accessory promises.

The phone has a 13MP dual camera system on the back that shoots in full 4K using both color and monochromatic sensors allowing the camera to let it 200% more light than most other smartphone cameras. The phone itself has 128GB of internal storage so you won't fill it up fast with your video.

What makes the PH-1 stand out is the modular accessory feature. While they have only released one accessory so far, the phone is built to allow for modular attachments that will enhance the experience -- particularly for Mojos or other smartphone video producers. The one accessory they have released is impressive too: a 360 degree camera. The attachment claims to be the smallest 360 camera on the market and just clips onto you phone's existing lens. Whether you think 360 is a fad, or here to stay, you can be a part of it and produce that kind of work with this phone.

The Essential PH-1 is available now for $499. You can buy it from Essential.

Check out more in our Equipment Section.

 


Recent Posts

There is a great deal of concern, well placed, that few people under the age of 30 watch TV news. Viewership of TV news in general has fallen off, so naturally, TV executives across the boards are searching for a solution. How to appeal to a demographic that spends most of their time on social media?


Sometimes when you are searching for something, the answer is right before your eyes. For years, I have been looking for a new and powerful way to cover breaking news stories - and now, I think, I've got it.


When we run our video storytelling bootcamps for TV news organizations, our primary focus is on what we call ‘the viewer experience’. It is a given that the journalism is well researched and accurate, but if no one is watching; if there is no ‘audience engagement’ with the story, then you are in fact showing it to no one, which is tragic, and avoidable.


Share Page on: