So the Essential Phone is official and with it Essential announced a 360 camera attachment, but just these two devices aren’t the only reason to perhaps be excited about this new device. The real excitement might come from what Essential is promising, which is to “fix Android.” What exactly that means is anyone’s guess, though Essential and its phone do have one thing going for it that is already out in the open pretty clearly. The modular attachments. For now there is only one, the 360 camera mentioned above, but there are likely to be more and if this is the case then Essential could have some big success with the Essential Phone as Motorola and Lenovo have been doing pretty well with the Moto Mods, which is more or less the same thing just implemented in a different way.
Of course, for Essential to see some success with the attachments it’ll have to do things differently from Motorola and Lenovo. In addition to this, consumers will need to consider the price of the Essential Phone when deciding whether or not it’s worth buying compared to other devices. On paper, the Essential Phone has some strengths but also some weaknesses. It is running with the latest processor, the Snapdragon 835, and it is running with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, but one has to wonder how likely it is that it will get updates to newer versions of Android as fast as Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL, and Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. Probably not likely, even if the updates do come in pretty fast. It also has a fingerprint sensor and NFC so that means unlocking the device and making mobile payments just by using your finger, but these are things which other top-end flagships have too.
With that bring the case, is a $699 price tag worth what Essential is selling to consumers? The design of the phone looks great, but again, all of its hardware can already be found on other devices that are considered top-end flagships, save for the 360 camera attachment. Then again, Samsung has the new Gear 360 camera that can be connected to a smartphone wirelessly, so although it doesn’t physically attach to the phone, it should be doing the same job, and that’s another thing to consider. Also worth noting is that the Essential Phone frame is made of titanium instead of aluminum, so Essential is boasting that it has a stronger phone here that is more capable of withstanding damage from drops. If your accident prone, maybe the Essential Phone is the device for you. It might be expensive, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great device. Will you be picking one up?