Essential is selling its Essential Phone for $250 on Monday for Amazon Prime Day, which usually sells for $500.

For $250, that’s a pretty great deal. That’s budget-to-mid-range smartphone pricing. I recently tested the mid-range $250 Moto G6, which is a great smartphone for the price. But if I had the choice, I’d absolutely get the Essential Phone for the same price.

Keen smartphone enthusiasts out there may notice that you’re getting the high-end specs from 2017 with the Essential Phone, including the Snapdragon 835 processor. In 2018, most high-end devices are running on the newer Snapdragon 845 chip.

Essential Phone

Foto: sourceAntonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

 

But I'd counter that by saying Google's latest smartphones - the Pixel 2 smartphones that start at $650 - also come with the same Snapdragon 835, and they're still among the best smartphones you can buy despite the other Android phones that run on the Snapdragon 845, like the Samsung Galaxy S9.

The Essential Phone's camera wasn't well received when it was first launched, but its undergone several improvements over its lifetime. $250 will also get you ultra-premium design and materials, like titanium and ceramic. I'd argue that the "ocean blue" Essential Phone is one of the best-looking smartphones you can buy.

Just note, however, that the ocean blue model isn't part of the Prime Day deals. Only the black, gray, and white models are available on Prime Day for $250.

The Phone also runs a clean and simple version of Android that's close to stock Android. It's not quite what you'd find on Google's Pixel devices, but it's close - closer than what you'd find on phones from Samsung and LG. And the Essential Phone delivers a better overall Android experience for it.

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