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essential

Andy Rubin has been involved in the mobile industry for years, including a role in founding both Danger (makers of the Sidekick) and Android earlier it was acquired by Google. Now, Rubin is heading up an endeavour to build new phones at his new company, Essential. Rubin says the telephone is coming before long — as soon every bit next calendar week — and he has the pictures to prove it.

The long-teased Essential Phone PH-1 was unveiled at the cease of May, and at that time Rubin said the device would be in our hands inside of a month. That didn't happen, and Essential was silent on the reason. Later, Rubin confirmed the squad was still working toward a release date, but no specifics were given.

It's not difficult to believe at that place would be some concluding minute issues with the hardware. Essential is going all out for its debut phone. The device has a big five.71-inch LCD with QHD resolution and a 19:10 attribute ratio. Thus, it's taller device like the Milky way S8 and LG G6 earlier this twelvemonth. That allows the panel to fill up the available space more completely. In fact, the Essential Phone'south screen goes right up to the border and has a somewhat odd cutout at the top for the front-facing photographic camera.

Besides on the calendar (and possibly causing issues) is a modular accessory system that connects to the phone magnetically. Information technology doesn't take over the entire back like Motorola's Moto Mods, though. Essential'due south modules attach to a pair of contacts about the height of the rear console. So far, there's just a 360-caste camera.

Any the delay, Rubin says the device is finally in full production. He shared some photos of the phones beingness assembled. It's unclear from the photos if these are fully functional phones, or merely the titanium frames — aye, the phone will have a titanium frame, forth with a ceramic dorsum. Rubin says the phone will exist available next week, and he improve exist right this fourth dimension. If Essential misses two self-imposed release deadlines, it's going to lose face. We're also getting close to the Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone season, and Essential doesn't need any more contest than information technology already has.

The Essential Phone will exist bachelor unlocked for $700 from its own site, Amazon, and other retailers. Sprint volition also carry the telephone in stores.