Customer Ratings & Reviews

There's a lot to love about the Essential Ph-1. Gorgeous LCD screen, minimal bezel, sleek design, high-quality build, speedy processor, high storage capacity, zero bloat and quick updates. Issues with touch sensitivity/lag. I've heard reports of signal issues, but it worked excellent for me on AT&T and Cricket. If you can get for $300 or under, this phone is a steal.

I am coming from a LG V10 Android phone. I have also used Windows Phone and an iPhone in the past. I am an avid photographer as well so the camera on my phone is important to me. Important, yes. An absolute deal-breaker? No. To explain, most of my work is done with a DSLR. That said, there is no substitute for having a smartphone camera in my pocket for various shots and circumstances. So, when I began the hunt for new phone (my V10 had become increasingly slow and the response time was becoming unacceptable) the camera was high on my list of features. But even more important was the speed and the build quality of the phone. The V10 was military grade and could be dropped from waist-high with very little chance of breakage. The Essential phone is even more solid. I started research and read enough reviews of the Essential phone that I was a bit concerned about the camera app. Many of the earliest reviews were trashing the camera. But, as I examined my needs and thought about how I use my phone, I decided that the camera wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. Clean, efficient design was my primary criteria. Could the phone work lightning quick? How easy was it to use? What about the form-factor in-hand? The V10 had a larger screen which I really grew to appreciate. But it often required two-handed operation. Not a big deal but just something to accept as part of owning a larger screen phone. Well, The Essential was greatly discounted (a real bargain) and the price of the new phones was becoming astronomical. So, I looked for an affordable (check), high-spec phone (check) that was solid (check) and super fast (check). Was it bloatware free? (check). Could I customize it exactly the way that I wanted (check). Smaller form factor? (check). Amazingly, I put the Essential next to me V10 and fired up the screens. The result? The Essential phone screen is the same size as the V10 but the overall size of the Essential phone makes it much easier to navigate with one hand. My hands are a tad small so there is still some two-handed operation but, again, this is no big deal for me. I read where the screen wasn't the best (not OLED as others are putting in their phones these days). I love OLED but even though the Essential doesn't have OLED I was stunned at how good the screen is on this phone. Very bright at even low levels. Excellent readability. Battery life: I am not a huge Social Media user. My phone is mostly used for texting, photos, checking Facebook on occasion, and lots of email. And, of course, phone calls (imagine that - a smart phone used as a phone). So, I charged this up (USB Type C fast charging! Yea!) and watched how quickly this phone drained the battery. The result is: AMAZING! This creature lasts much longer than my V10 and I have not managed to run it down completely during a normal business day. Messenger app: One thing I didn't like about the V10 was the inability to change the color of the app and the conversations. The latest app that comes with this phone automatically color-codes each conversation individually. It's a small thing I know, but I really appreciate the variety that function provides and how it allows me to track threads with people by color. As day after day has gone by I have become more and more thrilled with my choice. The price is AWESOME! The speed is AWESOME! The build quality - you guessed it - AWESOME. No bloatware! Beautiful screen! The camera app has already been updated. Portrait mode is now enabled. I am looking forward to manual controls from photos (as my V10 has). But they say they are coming. Did I mention that the camera has a black and white mode? Of the dual cameras on the phone one is dedicated to black and white and the pictures that it produces are fantastic. Updates have been regular. Notification screen is now available by swiping the fingerprint reader with my finger. The Fingerprint reader is FLAWLESS and fast. And the phone is a TANK. CONS: I only have two: 1) The phone is very slippery. I put it down on the couch next to me (on a very flat area) and watched it slide right off the couch. So, I went onto Amazon and found a case for it that fits perfectly and solved that issue. 2) The video does not have image stabilization built in. But, again, I don't use my cameras for video much so this has not been a deal-breaker for me. You really owe it to yourself to give this phone a look. I am keeping mine. I hope you get one as well.

Bought this as a gift to my brother. He absolutely loved it. The only complaint was with the stock camera app. It's not really good for photos. But other third party camera apps can be installed that overcome this disadvantage. An excellent flagship phone that is essential and affordable.

Awesome feeling, awesome looking, loved the quickness, but the signal did not seem to reach as high as other phones and had lots of drop outs. Maybe this will improve, but I didnt have time to wait on it. Took it back.

This is a good phone for someone who hates providers added application. This phone has pure Android and the only added app is the essential camera app.

Overall great phone if purchased under $500*. Great design and build quality.

Great phone much has been said but I'll keep it short and sweet this this is fast responsive and feels great in the hand. The much scrutinized camera has had updates that make it respectable. At this new price point it's now a steal all the specs are top notch the screen is great and again the price point makes it a steal.

This is a fine phone is you can get it for under $400. Minus one star for less than steller reception, other than that it's really a great device. If you live in a rural area and have reception issues I wouldn't recommend it. It's been fine in city environments though.

I have recently purhased this device from Best buy after watching lot of review viedeos and blogs about this Essential Phone. I saw everyone bashing the camera but they cant any more. I felt it is premuim look and feel and runs very smoothly. I got couple of software updtaes about the camera and securtiy features as soon I connected to wifi. After the software updates the camera works great. Kudos to Andrw Rubin team. This is truly Iphone killer.

I really like the phone. It feels solid in the hand and stock Android is the best! The camera app is a little slow but I don't see really any bad quality in the picture. Essential is constantly releasing new build updates.

Great Phone, Great camera, no bloatware. Reasonable price. Work on all carriers! OnTime Android Updates. Go Essential !!!

I have had Samsung, Google and Apple phones before. However, this phone's build is second-to-none. It is incredibly resistant and looks like one of those phones that 009 would use. The software is fluid and overall it is a great phone. People have complained about its camera, but the camera is solid enough for day to day use. I hope Essential sticks around to keep making high quality phones like this one.

I bought this about 9 months ago for $550. Even at that (now high) price, it's been a pretty good buy, and would be a great one at current, much lower prices. Best of all is the standard 128 gb memory. Also, the lack of a headphone jack turned out not to bother me, even though I use headphones every day and had always used wired ones before. Still, there are some significant problems: 1) It freezes at least a couple times a week. I have to hold down the on/off button for quite awhile to get it to reboot. 2) The amount of the screen that actually gets used for display is kind of small in practice, because there tend to be fairly wide black bars on each of the short sides. 3) The screen seems to scratch easier than other phones I previously owned. In all, I've been happy with it, but as I start thinking of an update after a year, I will want something with a bigger display in normal use (regardless of the specs).

This is the best Android phone that I have purchased. This phone is different from all the other smartphone manufacturers. My biggest issue with Android manufacturers was their delay in releasing security updates from Google. Essential releases security updates when they become available from Google so, I'm not waiting two months for Samsung to release the security update. The Essential PH-1 has zero boatware on this phone so, you're getting a pure Android experience. I highly recommend this phone.

This phone is great. I wish it had android 8.0 out of the box but it is coming. Overall great stock android experience with a quick snapdragon 835 and 4GB RAM. With 128GB of storage there is really no need for an expandable sd card slot. Battery life is excellent, and the screen is beautiful. At $500 it is the best android phone available right now hands down.

The phone is great looking and runs smooth near-stock android. For the first device from a new company it is a great product. It has a few flaws: no water proofing, no inductive charging, and it is a fingerprint magnet. In addition as the device isn't super popular there are not a lot of good cases or screen protectors on the market for it, there are some but selection is not as diverse as I was used to with a Nexus or Motorola device. Either way it was a great buy at $400 on sale.

The phone itself is fast and has a great design. The camera could be better, but as a package, the phone is well worth it at this price point. There are a couple great tweaks you can do to make the screen more immersive if you have a bit of technical knowledge.

The aluminum body with a nearly 100% screen to body ratio paired with specs that are equivalent to the s8+ can’t beat it. Especially for the price.

So I had this phone until recently. I enjoyed it, it was fast and nice to use. Big bonus was it got updated crazy fast, something most Android phones can't say. However, it was somewhat buggy and the camera was really really bad. I wouldn't have recommended it except I got it for an absolute steal. Essential is basically going out of business so I would not recommend buying one know for fear of a lack of support. Also I dropped it and not only did the screen shatter (in a case) but the whole display went bad and is unusable. Basically the price I paid for the phone to repair.

I bought this phone after my Nexus 5X bit the dust. I can tell you that this is a nice phone. The battery life has never been down to below 60%, and I use it all day. Not best camera around, but the pictures are good. There is a lot of storage-128gb. That is an advantage over the Galaxy. I highly recommend this phone. You will be impressed.