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Essential PH-2 shown off by former designer, PH-3 was actively in development [Gallery]

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After just a couple of short years, Essential closed up shop earlier this year after bringing just a single smartphone to market. Now that all of its future plans have been scrapped, a former Essential designer is showing off what the Essential PH-2 and PH-3 smartphones would have looked like and offered.


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Essential Phone ends software support, Android updates after over two years

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The Essential Phone — PH-1 — debuted back in 2017 with the promise of premium hardware and clean software. Quickly, though, that vision started to fail as initial reviews were negative and prices were slashed as a result. Now, as the company shuts down, the Essential Phone is getting an abrupt end to software updates.


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Essential Phone adds support for Google’s Digital Wellbeing w/ March security patch, available now

Despite the fact that the device is no longer being made, Essential is keeping its promise when it comes to software updates. This afternoon, the company is just a couple of hours behind Google with its latest security patch, as well as delivering support for Digital Wellbeing on the Essential Phone.


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Essential fires 30% of employees, focussing on ‘game changing consumer product’

The Essential Phone found success only after various fire sales and price cuts that made the device a true bargain. It comes as the company reportedly canceled development of its second phone in May and paused its smart home product. A new report today reveals that the Andy Rubin company is cutting 30% of its staff.


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Essential reportedly working on a new phone that uses AI to respond to texts and emails on your behalf

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Despite its flaws, the Essential Phone is still by far one of my favorite devices to come out of the past year or so. While previous reports claimed that Essential was done and had scrapped plans for future devices, a new report from Bloomberg claims that the company has a new device in the works, this time with a twist.


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Essential reaffirms Pixel-like update policy for PH-1 despite rumors of company sale

The Essential PH-1 was one of the devices I really wanted to love last year, but it fell flat at launch leading to massive price cuts and a lot of updates to try and fix the issues. Now, it’s a pretty solid device.

Lately, the company’s outlook has taken a turn for the worse with reports of the company being in trouble and considering sale. Despite that, though, Essential is sticking to its guns when it comes to updates.


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Essential cancels development on second phone, company potentially up for sale [Update]

Essential, a company created by the co-founder of Android, Andy Rubin, wanted to create not only a phone but also an ecosystem that would best any smartphone manufacturer out there. Unfortunately, likely due to poor sales, a report has emerged that states the second-generation Essential Phone has been canceled and the company might be up for sale.


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Essential Phone camera update improves photo capture speed and burst mode

Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone wasn’t the hit many hoped it would be, but it brought a lot of good things to the table. One of those good things, however, definitely wasn’t the camera. At launch, the camera was pretty bad, but Essential has made it much better through updates, and now another update is working on capture speed.


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