Andy Rubin announced the Essential Phone back in May and promised that it will be released within the next 30 days.
But since then, the startup has been going through a patchy time, which meant there has never been an official release of the Essential Phone. However, a few days ago, it was finally confirmed that the phone will start selling in a few days’ time. In fact, the phone has already been put up for pre-orders via four official channels – Amazon, Best Buy, the company’s Essential.com store and Sprint, the exclusive carrier of the phone in the U.S.
To get your hands on the Essential Phone, you need $699 and for a limited time, you can grab the phone alongside the Essential 360 camera at an extra $50. But there’s an even better deal on Sprint. Apparently, the carrier has an offer for the first people to pre-order the phone in Black Moon. The carrier has not mentioned any limits with respect to the number of people who pre-order, but it’s definitely for a short time since the phone is expected to start shipping in a few days’ time.
Apparently, Sprint will give you a 50% discount – or rather over $260 in savings – when you lease the Essential Phone with Sprint Flex lease program. You’ll have to register to the plan, which lasts for 18 months and when the plan ends, you won’t own the phone. The good side of the story is that you can finish up paying the remaining amount and assume full ownership of the phone. You may also trade in the Essential Phone for another rather than pay the remaining amount.
It’s important that you read and understand all the requirements for this deal on Sprint before making your move.
The Essential Phone ships with a 5.7-inch QHD display screen with Gorilla Glass 5, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB of non-expandable storage. There’s a dual 13MP camera on the back and an 8MP lens on the front and for the power, you get a 3040mAh unit that supports fast charging technology via a USB-C port. Be warned that the Essential Phone has no 3.5mm audio jack, but you get other nifty features such as modularity, Bluetooth 5.0 and a pure Android experience based on v7.1 Nougat.