A look back at Essential Phone, the Android phone that beat iPhone 15 Pro to titanium

Apple this week launched the iPhone 15 Pro, its first smartphone made with a titanium body. That launch will carry the materials to the lots, however it additionally reminds us of 2017’s Essential Phone, the short-lived Android phone that had a premium construct that was up to now forward of its time.

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The Essential Phone, or “PH-1,” debuted at a time when there was much more competitors in Android. Google Pixel was simply getting began, LG hadn’t thrown in the towel but, and every little thing about Essential simply appeared so promising back in 2017 when it was being teased. That preliminary impression was solely backed up by hands-on time with the machine.

At a launch occasion for the PH-1, I used to be blown away by the {hardware}. The ceramic back and titanium body had been simply so extremely premium and well-crafted, and that’s an impression that lasts proper down to at this time.

There are loads of components of the PH-1 that didn’t age effectively, and even begin off nice. The LCD display was objectively worse than OLED, and the cameras had been principally trash. But from a {hardware} standpoint, the Essential Phone stays the finest {hardware} Android has probably ever seen. It’s actually the finest I’ve ever had the pleasure of utilizing.

*The white Essential Phone was the finest one*

And, to a sure extent, I believe Essential’s use of titanium may be higher than Apple’s.

The polished titanium body of the Essential Phone picks up fingerprints however at nowhere close to the charge of the iPhone 15 Pro, which frankly appears to be like gross primarily based on hands-on protection from our sister web site 9to5Mac in addition to different shops corresponding to The Verge. Presumably, that’s due to the brushed and barely matte texture.

Hands-on: iPhone 15 Pro’s new design, Action button, and extra [Video]

*The Essential Phone’s titanium edge by no means seemed fairly this dangerous (Image: The Verge)*

That’s not to say that Essential Phone by no means picked up ugly fingerprints on its polished sides. The black fashions particularly might choose up fairly a little bit of grime, however it by no means seemed fairly as dangerous as what we’ve seen from the iPhone 15 Pro’s darker colours up to now, and that’s simply with these iPhones having been used for demos at Apple’s HQ. With that in thoughts, although, it appears solely doable that Apple’s titanium holds up higher in actual life. We’ll have to wait and see.

I’d additionally argue that the PH-1’s ceramic backing solely additional bolstered the premium body, including a cloth that ages means higher than glass.

*Even the black Essential Phone’s body was higher at hiding fingerprints*

But, sadly, the Essential Phone is now lengthy useless. As of final month, the machine grew to become six years outdated, which, by even the finest requirements, means that software program updates have lengthy since ceased – Apple launched the iPhone X that similar yr and lower it off from software program updates with iOS 17 this yr.

Essential itself can also be however a distant reminiscence, with the startup having closed its doorways in 2020 earlier than ever releasing a second machine. Much of the finest components of Essential have since moved over to OSOM, which had a promising successor to the PH-1 in the OV1, however that machine was killed off earlier than seeing the mild of day and transformed into the Solana Saga, a crypto-focused machine that, even when you ignore the web3 features, is seemingly not superb.

Will we ever see a tool with the similar match and end as the Essential Phone? Really, I doubt it, particularly not in the Android world. That mentioned, Apple’s transfer to undertake titanium may lead some Android producers to do the similar. And, with the iPhone 15 Pro shedding weight with that transfer, it would truly be a sensible transfer for foldables, which regularly battle with their weight by the inherent nature of being a foldable phone.

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