Customer Ratings & Reviews

Bought mine off Essential for $399 and it came with great headphones, 360 camera w/ camera case and the dongle since it's a USB-c. This phone strikes a different chord with the beautiful ceramic back (I got white), the titanium band around which greatly improves strength and scuffs if dropped, a pure android with absolutely no bloatware, and receives updates thus far on the day of release. (Example) October security patch released today Oct 1 and phone has already been updated. I run Verizon on mine and consequently have never had a signal problem but might depending on where I roam? All said and done, it's a great phone, with great sound, can use the PIXEL 2 camera .apk for better photos and honestly when other Snapdragon 835 phones like Sammy 8's and PIXEL 2's are running in the $600-$900 price; this was a no-brainer for your's truly. Oh did I forget 128Gb?

What you need to know: Works on all carriers, blazing fast, No bloatware, Camera is decent after updates not up to Samsung par works for me I like the photos. Not looking for a photo phone, Video recording is good but no image stabilization built in so you'll be using software editing for IS, Heavy feel but in a good way I like it, fits perfect in the hand easy to use onehanded, Screen quality excellent, You will find it hard to find a case most definitely. I don't use one. Ceramic back for me works! It's pretty solid build phone! I dropped it at the bank four feet straight onto rugged stone tile! No scratches no chips no nothing! Not saying it wouldn't but it didn't for me! I love the phone and would buy it again without hesitation!

The Essential phone is easily the best looking smartphone ever made. I left my iPhone 8 plus for the PH1 and have no regrets. Everything wrong with the device has been addressed with updates and has left only one drawback - camera. It's fine outside of lowlight performance and it has a better portrait mode than the Pixel 2.

Was excited about price drop and thought reviewers were just hating. But it's true - if you've used a camera on a flagship phone for past 2-3 years, it will be faster and take better pictures than this device. I'm a phone nut and have had many - many connect to my '16 Accord without issue (for Android Auto). Such is not the case with this phone - and Essential tech support is non-existent. This phone is half-basked and not ready for prime time. I'm returning.

I love this phone ! The look - style - fit and finish are just amazing and very high end. It feels amazing in your hand and you really get a lot of attention with this phone. Everyone wants to know what it is and how can they get one. The screen is bright - big and beautiful yet the size of the phone is small and compact and very pocketable. Sound is very loud and clear and the clean interface is very fast and responsive. The camera problems seem to be fixed and it takes pretty nice pictures and videos. I don't have any problems with it. Bottom line is that this is a really really nice phone that works great - looks great and draws you a lot of attention. Get one !

I returned this phone even though I had to pay a restocking fee. Pictures taken with this phone are terrible, especially flash pictures. Screen response is sometimes erratic.

Everyone that owns this phone is a beta tester. I haven't had a phone this unstable since the Droid X2, and I've owned most flagship phones because I like to jump around. The phone is slowly getting better (some of the time, other times they break something worse), but it still has staggering problems regularly. Latest is that for the past few days my navigation hasn't been working. I emailed essential support, and they told me to turn off enhanced 4G. The camera is still extremely slow to respond, and often takes blurry pictures. Apps crash frequently, and the phone seems to reboot at times after locking up for 20 to 30 seconds. My bluetooth is now shutting off multiple times per day, I have no idea why. I have been complaining about these issues for over 2 months to their customer support, they keep pushing updates, and the updates occasionally slightly improve one problem, then often cause more things to break.

I love this! I've had it for about 1 year and it's sustained my abuse. I've dropped it and it survived. Apps run quick and the camera does what I need it to. I can get 2 days on the battery most of the time and with heavy use I still have battery left after 1 day. Android update come quickly after release which is awesome!

This is the best new phone for 2017, it is so fast and feels the best in hand compared to any other phone. I love the no branding they do, and it does have some software hicupps but those will be fixed via updates.

Beautiful phone, superior performance. Does everything I need perfectly, ideal phone/screen size, amazing quality. Best phone I have ever had. Highly recommended. Go beyond the hype.

So the phone could be an amazing device but... it freezes and locks up multiple times through the day, the camera is extremely poor and Essential customer service doesn't exist

Overheating like crazy, screen brightness is terrible when compared with the note 8 or even the S8 But the worst part of all...... Almost no accessories at ALL....

the best Android phone i have ever owned, too bad the company is closing. So if you ruin your phone you are on your own.

So I really wanted to like the Essential phone - however after using returned two of these phones. The screen is beautiful (flat the way I like it) and the OS free of bloatware is nippy. The deal breaker on this phone is cell reception for TMobile (not sure if people on other carriers noted this as well) - cell reception is poorer than other older phones on Tmobile and actually drops from time to time - I got the error SIM Not Found multitudes of times - even after doing various resets on wireless settings as well as a fully factory reset. I thought that the issue may be with my set but the other phone in our family also had call drops. In fact once I did further research the Essential phone seems to have documented issues with TMobile reception (Reddit etc). My other big issue with Essential was the customer service - they initially were very responsive and even called me back after I left a voicemail on the weekend - but that was that they were interested in logging the 'ticket' and 'follow up' but the solutions offered seemed to be web queries etc and without a genuine interest in alleviating the customers issues or customer satisfaction. They did not even mention or acknowledge the issues with TMobile reception. When I said can you replace my phone the answer was we will flag that up the chain and get back to you.

buyer be aware do not buy this phone the attena reception sucks on this phone i tried 3 wireless companies its not my sim its the phone .the the signal bars keep dropping

I loved this phone initially. Then you realize that the LTE antenna gets poor reception. Not sure what the problem is, tried everything to correct it, nothing worked. What happens is when you are moving in the car, the LTE will just drop to zero bars. Could be the way it is trying to switch towers, not sure. Anyway, I waited too long and could not return the phone. I still have my Google phone and went back to that. Perhaps a future update will fix this problem. For now, I would say stay clear.

Essential PH 1 signal issues https://www.neowin.net/news/essential-discusses-the-ph-1s-signal-issue-with-a-solution-incoming

It is a nice phone but have noticed connection issues to network. Other reviews said with T-Mobile.l have found same with Verizon.