Forget the Galaxy S8, Andy Rubin’s ‘Essential Phone’ Just Arrived

It was pretty common knowledge that the father of Android, Andy Rubin was gearing up to launch a flagship phone that could compete with the Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S8.

Well today is the day. The phone has landed and it looks extremely sleek. One of the aspects that stands immediately is the edge-to-edge display that spreads all the way up to the top only to embrace the selfie camera.

Secondly, the phone arrives devoid of any branding – on front or on the back. Thirdly, it will come with a host of modular accessories including a 360-degree camera that can snap 4K 360-degree video at 30 frames and a charging dock.

When it comes to specs, the Essential Phone features la crème de la crème. It takes advantage of a 5.71-inch “Full Display” with 2560 x 1312 resolution and 19:10 ratio. It’s also made of ceramic and titanium, so it’s supposed to be quite durable.

The phone relies on the computing power of a Snapdragon 835 chipset, as well as 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Like most flagships announced today, the Essential has a dual camera assembly on the back, which like in the case of the Huawei P10 employs a monochrome sensor for better shooting in low-light conditions.

Other specs include a USB Type-C port, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 and a 3,050 mAh battery. It should run Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box and will arrive in four coloring options including Black Moon, Stellar Grey, Pure White and Ocean Depths.

For the time being, only the Black and White versions are available for pre-order in the US for approximately $943 CAD. We don’t know for sure whether the Essential will arrive in Canada, but we certainly hope this will be the case.