Essential Phone review: edge-to-edge screen is great, good performance and battery life, but has a mediocre camera, an unproven module system, and no 3.5mm jack
and Your Smart Home Dave Lee / BBC : Android creator's new phone is great, but is it Essential? Andy Rubin / Essential : Essential Phone, available now. Sascha Segan / PC Magazine : Essential Phone PH-1 John Brandon / Computerworld : The Essential phone that's not that essential Fionna Agomuoh / International Business Times : Essential Phone Reviews Overall Favorable For Andy Rubin's First Run Nicole Nguyen / BuzzFeed : Finally: A Good-Looking Android Phone Without The Bloatware Cromwell Schubarth / Silicon Valley Business Journal : Early reviews of Andy Rubin's smartphone say it's not all that essential Shawn Knight / TechSpot : Essential Phone review round-up: good, but not quite “essential” Jake Swearingen / New York Magazine : What Reviewers Are Saying About the New Essential Phone Kyle Wiggers / Digital Trends : Here's what reviewers think of Andy Rubin's Android device, the Essential Phone Stephanie Mlot / Geek.com : Pre-Order Andy Rubin's Essential Phone From Sprint Caitlin McGarry / Tom's Guide : Essential Phone: What It Is and Why You Should Care Ben Schoon / 9to5Google : Review Roundup: Essential Phone has fast software, excellent hardware, but low-light camera performance … Rajesh Pandey / Android Beat : Essential Phone Review Roundup: Excellent Build Quality and Display, Mediocre Camera Wendy Lee / San Francisco Chronicle : Android creator makes a new-generation smartphone Ina Fried / Axios : Essential faces uphill battle in crowded phone market Tweets: Marques Brownlee / @mkbhd : Between iPhone 8, Essential Phone, Galaxy Note 8, LG V30, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 and Pixel 2 XL... RIP Bezels @essential : “It costs $699 but it feels like a million bucks” says @backlon at @verge in in-depth review of the Essential Phone:http://www.theverge.com/ ...
Context & Ripple Effects
Andy Rubin's May debut of the $699 Essential Phone promised a 5.71-inch edge-to-edge display, Snapdragon 835, and dual camera with no headphone jack — and today's review wave lands largely where the launch pitch did. Outlets including International Business Times frame the verdict as favorable overall for Rubin's first run, with BuzzFeed praising an Android phone free of carrier bloatware.
The Verge's own take splits the difference: the screen, performance, and battery are genuinely good, but the camera is mediocre next to the Galaxy Note 8, Pixel 2 XL, and V30, and the modular accessory system ships unproven. That tension — design credibility versus camera parity — is what the rest of the market will price.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between the $699 Essential Phone and the Galaxy Note 8, Pixel 2 XL, or V30 are effectively trading camera quality for a cleaner, bloatware-free build and an edge-to-edge screen.
- Essential's module system launches with no proven accessory ecosystem, so early adopters are betting on hardware whose value depends on accessories that don't yet exist.
Second-order effects
- Rivals have already matched the headline design feature — edge-to-edge displays are no longer differentiators — pushing Essential's case onto software cleanliness and the untested module bet.
- Accessory partners and carriers will read the review consensus before committing shelf space or module investment, making early sales volume a gating factor for the whole modular strategy.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, hardware startups entering the phone market compete on design and software restraint while conceding the camera — a gap later entrants like the Nothing phone (1), whose signature glyph notifications were judged mostly gimmicky, also struggled to close with novel features alone.
- Headphone-jack removal spreading from incumbents to new entrants signals the port's disappearance becoming an industry default rather than a single vendor's choice.
The trend: Android flagship competition is shifting from spec-sheet parity toward design and software identity, leaving camera quality as the durable moat for incumbents against well-funded newcomers.