Essential Phone

The Essential Phone is a great idea in offering a phone which supposedly just offers the essentials. While it seemed to stumble at launch, software updates have rectified some of the issues and the camera is slowing getting better with each one as well....

The Essential phone is a beautifully crafted piece of technology. Despite the bugs, the device feels really, really good in the hand. The phone's design works. The screen's design works too, regardless of concerns one might have had with the front...

We can't recommend the Essential Phone over competitors, but it’s a mostly competent handset that’ll definitely turn heads.

"I can't really recommend this phone over other currently available high-end Android phones. For the same amount of money, Canadian consumers can get the more complete Galaxy S8 or LG...

From a design standpoint, Essential's PH-1 is a bold first move. It offers a stock Android experience and looks like no other device out there, but so far, the company has come up short on its...

Unfortunately, smartphone cameras have gotten so good that Essential's purely OK shooter will frustrate some. The lack of certain popular niceties, like a headphone jack and water resistance, also make the PH-1 a tougher sell than expected. All told, this is a phenomenal first try and an undeniably solid device, but we're really looking forward to Essential's next attempt.

Minimalism can ironically go too far – without dialed-in software to back up what is a beautifully-crafted and well-executed piece of hardware, the Essential Phone will greatly appeal to some and frustrate others looking for...

The Essential Phone is doing so much right: elegant design, big screen, long battery life, and clean software. And on top of all that, it has ambitions to do even more with those modules. If you asked Android users what they wanted in the abstract, I suspect a great many of them would describe this exact device. But while the camera is pretty good, it doesn’t live up to the high bar the rest of the phone market has set.