The creator of Android has finally unveiled the new smartphone he has been working on.
On Tuesday, Andy Rubin unveiled the first smartphone from Essential, his new company, after months of teasing.
It’s an Android device that packs some interesting features, and is clearly intended to go head-to-head with the top smartphones from Apple and Samsung.
The first thing you notice in photos of the high-end PH-1 device is the screen: It takes up almost the entire front face, so close to the edge it even curves around the selfie camera.
Another notable feature: It’s modular. It has magnetic connectors on the back of the device, which lets you attach accessories, including a 360-degree camera that can be ordered alongside the main phone.
Speaking of ordering - it costs $749 to reserve it, unlocked and with 128GB of internal storage, along with the 360-degree camera. For just the phone, it'll cost $699. But unfortunately for international customers, it's only available in the US to begin with.
Along with that 128 GB of internal storage, it packs 4 GB of RAM and a Qualcomm 835 processor.
Its casing is titanium and ceramic, and it comes in four colours - Black Moon (glossy black), Stellar Grey (matte dark gray), Pure White (glossy white), and Ocean Depths (a glossy green with bronze sides).
The screen is a hefty 5.7 inches - even larger than the 5.5-inch screen on the iPhone 7 Plus, but the relative lack of bezels on it means it has a smaller footprint than you'd expect. The rear camera is 13 megapixels, while the front-facing selfie camera is 8 megapixels. Both shoot 4K video.
All in all, this is definitely a premium device, and an interesting one at that - intended to go after the high-end customers who typically buy the likes of Samsung and Apple devices. (It even compares itself to them directly when showing how its titanium body can withstand a drop test.) The big question is whether it can manage it.
