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It’s been a very long time I was ever so excited to write a review about any phone, but the Essential PH-1 is something that you can hardly overlook, and once you have a look, it is sure to ignite that excitation in you. Heads up – this Essential PH-1 Review is a biased one for sure. Rest assured, my biasedness toward Essential PH-1 has nothing to do with a paid review or anything of that sort.
First of all, this phone is created by one of the creators of Android, Andy Rubin! Secondly, it is built with Titanium, the same metal that is used for building rockets and replacing bones. If you didn’t know, Titanium doesn’t bend, dent, or scratch. I can’t guarantee how much that is true for the Essential PH-1, but it has been tested for corner drops on solid concrete. Essential PH-1 survived drops without blemish.
In fact, there’s no section for phone cases for the Essential PH-1 on the manufacturer’s website. It can only mean that they want us to enjoy the freedom of using the phone without worrying about protecting it against every little accidental drop. A case-free phone does go in tone with the manufacturer slogan – Freedom is Essential.
I have been disappointed with the latest smartphones manufactured by the giants in the industry. They all disappointed me either in performance, built, style, look, or price. They all looked and felt the same to me. It felt like they were supplying us the same thing but in different shells. Essentially, the Essential PH-1 felt like that fresh air of spring after a long winter.
The Essential PH-1 comes with a full edge-to-edge display. In fact, its body to screen ratio is an insane 84.9%. This gives the phone a breathtakingly astonishing look and appeal. The display is 2560 x 1312 QHD, and it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 cover glass.
It features the world’s thinnest dual camera (RGB and monochrome), 13 MP each. You can record 4K videos at 30 FPS, 1080p videos at 30 or 60 FPS, 720p videos at 60, and 120 FPS. The 8MP front camera is capable of recording 4K videos at 30 FPS too. Essential PH-1’s camera option doesn’t end there, you can buy a tiny, well not that tiny, but world’s smallest 360 camera built only for the Essential PH-1. The 360 camera is a separate part of it, sold separately. The good news is that it is priced at $50.
The 360 camera can be attached to the magnetic port on its ceramic back. That makes Essential PH-1 the most compact 360 camera phone in the world. Also, the Essential PH-1 has Modular features to upgrade its capabilities.
Under the hood, Essential PH-1 features Kryo 280 Octa-core (2.45GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad) CPU and Adreno 540 GPU. It comes with 4GB RAM and 128 GB memory storage. It will run any graphics intensive game you will throw at it; also, you will not run out of storage so easily downloading games and apps.
The phone comes with all the other features including a fingerprint sensor you may find in any other latest high-end phones. It comes with a 3040mAh battery. Even though I have been biased so far, but it certainly I would have preferred a 4000mAh battery with it given that it has modular features.
Last but not least, the Essential PH-1 wouldn’t cost you a fortune. It could be availed under $500.00 even if you buy the 360 camera separately. At that price range, I don’t believe, there’s any other true competitor of this phone available in the market. If you want something new and fresh, you should go for Essential PH-1. And it won’t be wrong to say that Essential PH-1 maybe the One Phone to Rule Them All!
I hope you like this Essential PH-1 review. If you have any question or comments, please feel free to use the comment box below.
Specifications
Dimensions: 141.5mm x 71.1mm x 7.8mm (HxWxD)
Weight: <185 grams
Memory & Storage: RAM: 4GB
Storage: 128GB UFS 2.1
Aspect Ratio: 19:10
Rear Camera
13MP Dual
Phase Detect and IR Laser Assist Focus
Video at 4K 30fps, 1080p 60fps or 720p 120fps
Front Camera
8MP
Video at 4K 30fps, 1080p 60fps or 720p 120fps
Connectivity
Bluetooth: 5.0 LE, WiFi: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO
NFC: Yes
Positioning: GPS and GLONASS
Ports
USB Type-C
60GHz, 6 Gbps Wireless Accessory Connector
2x accessory power pins (magnetic)
NanoSIM tray with pin eject
Thanks for sharing!