The Essential Phone is the new kid on the block and while I'm normally all for being nice to the new kid, the Essential's
$700 price point means it wants to compete with the big boys.
And it would be (??) to expect preferential treatment for such a quintessentially priced device. Let's get started.
Inside the box we get a rather nice braided cable along with the USB-C
dongle headphone jack which already spells bad news for the versatility of this device and of course the wall plug
Here's the phone itself supposedly this device is Android, boiled down to the bare essentials
Also, while calling it future-proof personally I always thought devices from the future would have more features instead of less
But that might just be me. Let's start with the scratch test remember the Mohs scale of hardness is
Exponential curving significantly upward as the numbers increase
Build quality is one of Essential's big selling points using some of the most premium materials available in the cellphone world the Gorilla Glass 5
On the screen is a good start, scratching at level 6 with a deeper groove at a level 7 the essential phone has the exact
Same scratch tolerance as the Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 7. Up here at the Cyclops looking 8 megapixel front camera
It's under the same glass as the screen, so it's protected as well. You might be wondering to yourself at this point
Where is the earpiece on this phone is it a piezoelectric
vibrator like we saw inside the Mi Mix? And no it's not, it's just a super thin little line up here at the top covered
In some kind of fabric it'll be interesting to see the shape of the speaker and the audio channel configuration
during the teardown
because that slot is tiny. Down at the bottom of the phone how the buttons are still underneath the glass so there's nothing new to
Check down here. The back of the phone though, is brilliant.
I do like glass phones and the ceramic of the essential phone takes design to the next level - not only is the ceramic super reflective,
but it's also super, super hard. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
We'll have to test and see if Essentials using real ceramic in a second.
But since my razor blade is leaving no marks in the material, things are looking good.
There are two circular holes in the top back panel
I thought the modular accessory mount would be more flush like they are on Motorola's phones
But these are literal holes in the phone with super strong magnets
Inside kind of interesting the two circles on the opposite side of the phone are from the dual 13 megapixel cameras this part
I'm not a fan of don't get me wrong
I love dual camera setups the zoom lens of the iPhone 7 plus or the wide-angle lens of the LGV 30 are both amazing
but I have yet to see a
Monochrome picture that I just needed to have in my life the camera lens is glass so at least that's a positive
Being so extremely flush with the back panel though is great aesthetically
But not when you're trying to keep scratches and damage to a minimum. We'll try to solve that in a second but first
Let's see if essential really used a ceramic panel
Ceramic normally starts scratching at a level 8 as we learn from the ceramic Mi Mix phone last year
And it looks like that same level of hardness is achieved on this essential phone
No marks were left by my Mohs picks until level 8 the back panel is essentially
Impervious to scratches along with the fingerprint scanner zero damage means the hardware will continue to function long into the future
The sides of this phone are made from titanium which is a level 6 on Mohs scale
This is not to be confused with titanium carbide which is a level 9
These are two very different
substances
stainless steel like my razor blade is also around a level 6 and you can see the damage being done to the surface of the
phone both titanium and stainless steels beat out aluminum though
Which usually sits around at level 3 or 4 depending on the alloy and if all of that made sense you're probably watching too many
Of my videos, it's not pure titanium though around the edge
There's a pretty sweet little plastic rim plastic is much more forgiving than metal so even this minor ring pressed up against the glass
Will help keep pressure off the glass during a drop if this phone survives the rest of my test and enough people request it
I'd be willing to drop this phone a few times before I take it apart
Let me know if you want to see a drop test down in the comments down here at the bottom of the phone we find
The lack of headphone jack this phone really is just the bare essentials
Which means it's barely useful if you forget to bring or charge your headphones personally, I own a ton of different wireless headphones
I enjoy them
but I still appreciate the convenience of my headphone jack on a regular basis the biggest downside to the glossy ceramic back is the
Fingerprints and like I said earlier how the camera sits flush with the back surface one option that potentially solves both problems
Is a skin this matte black skin helps keep things sleek and minimal
Or if you want more of a khaleesi vibe the dragon skin also looks pretty sweet a skin raises the camera glass just enough so
It's not rubbing on whatever surface you set your phone on I'll include a link to these skins down in the video description and big
Thanks to D. Brand for supporting my channel and helping make this video possible
Speaking of Dragonfire this 5.7 inch quad HD IPS display lasted about nine seconds under the heat from my flame not invincible
But still impressive the pixels went black and turned off, but after the heat was removed
They came back to life
which seems to happen quite a bit north of the wall the ultimate test of build quality is the bend test the construction of the
Phone says a lot about how long it will last in everyday life
And this phone does feel extremely solid and heavy and that carries over into the bend test it is impressively rigid and sturdy
even when flexed from both directions physically this phone passes my durability test, I'm
Definitely impressed with the materials ceramic is one of my favorites
But the second monochrome camera is unappealing to me that combined with a lack of headphone jack no water resistance no SD
Card and no standardized wireless charging brings the uselessness level of this phone to a load that I'm not willing to accept
I don't need the bare essentials. I need all of the essentials
Let me know if you want to see a drop test
I think I'd rather enjoy dropping this phone onto concrete
Somewhere come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter if you want to see a little preview. Thanks a ton for watching
I'll see you around