Items tagged with essential
Most people thought that Essential was dead and had probably given up hope of getting the Audio Adapter HD dongle for headphones that the company had been promising for a long time. Things haven't exactly been smooth at Essential with the Essential Phone not selling well and the company announcing back in May that it was canceling its second-generation smartphone and considering selling itself. Last month Essential laid off 30% of its staff, and with those layoffs, any hope of the promised Audio Adapter HD launching dimmed. However, today we learn that Essential has launched the Audio Adapter HD as promised. The adapter launched yesterday and owners of Essential phones were hungry for the little...
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When the father of Android, Andy Rubin, left Google and later launched Essential Products, the world expected big things. The launch of the Essential Phone proved that just because you are the father of the most popular operating system for mobile devices doesn't mean people will flock to your new products. The Essential Phone was essentially a flop with the device moving less than 90,000 units in 2017. The phone launched with a massive price tag, but discounts were piled on the device as time went by, with the latest discount coming in August when the device was a mere $224 during a special Amazon deal. Now we're learning that Essential Products has laid off about 30% of its workforce according...
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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, right? Andy Rubin and his company, Essential, are taking that advice to heart after the company's first generation Essential Phone failed to disrupt the smartphone market. Essential is not finished building mobile devices. The company's next phone will take another stab at disrupting the competitive landscape, this time by leaning heavily on artificial intelligence. AI seems to be the go-to technology these days. Google's recently introduced Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, for example, leverage AI to help combat against spam calls. And practically every smartphone these days has some sort of digital assistant, be it Siri, Bixby, or whatever. According to...
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If there's one thing that this year's Mobile World Congress taught us, it's that some companies are able to change their product designs really quickly according to changing market conditions. We're of course talking about the almighty notch that graced an incredible number of Android flagships shown off at the event. Samsung was one of the few to avoid the temptation, and the S9 and S9+ are probably much better for it. If you're an Android fan who hates the notch, chances are good that you've felt a bit of ire for Apple. Clearly, it is most definitely the reason for the Android copycats, but you may be surprised to learn that the Cupertino giant wasn't first, at least in the modern era. That...
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Essential certainly didn’t get the reception the company dreamed it would when it launched the Essential Phone last year. The device essentially flopped with only 5,000 units sold on Sprint from launch through late September 2017. That hasn't stopped Essential from plugging away and trying to woo buyers with seemingly continual price cuts and new color choices. Three new Essential.com exclusive colors have been announced including Ocean Depths, Copper Black, and Stellar Gray. And now Amazon is getting its own exclusive color called Halo Gray (which you can purchase here for just $449 unlocked, if you so choose). Amazon's Halo Gray Essential Phone Exclusive With Alexa On Board...
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Cyber Monday deals are in the air, and that is especially true for the Essential Phone. Once billed as a flagship killer from Andy Rubin that had the chops to stand toe-to-toe with the best smartphones in the industry, the Essential Phone has essentially been left behind as flashier competitors like the Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone X have entered the fray. However, the Essential Phone does have one thing on its side at the moment: enviable pricing for a flagship smartphone. For Cyber Monday, Amazon is selling the device for the low, low price of $399 unlocked. That's an all-time low for the smartphone (if you don't count the Friends and Family discount code). What makes the deal at Amazon so attractive...
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Essential Phone owners are about to enter an elite club. The Essential team announced on Twitter that a beta version of Android 8.0, otherwise known as Oreo, is available to download and install, though only through side-loading. An over-the-air (OTA) update is not yet available, however the final Oreo release for Essential Phone will be delivered that way, presumably sometime soon. According to the release notes, biting into the beta Oreo release could result in increased battery drain when Bluetooth is enabled. Essential also warned that the beta build may break Android Auto functionality on some automobiles, though it did not get into specifics, such as what makes and models are not compatible...
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The cost of an Essential Phone just keep getting cheaper. About a week ago, Andy Rubin and company slashed $200 off the price of the Essential Phone, knocking it down to $499. The price cut made it one of the more affordable flagships phones on the market, but on top of that, Rubin's outfit is running a promotion that saves buyers an additional $200 off the handset, bringing the cost down to $299.At $299, the Essential Phone can now be had for more than half off its original $699 price tag just a short while ago. Of course, there is a caveat. The additional discount is part of a friends and family promotion that Essential is running, and it requires a code that can only be obtained from having...
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Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android and CEO of Essential, issued an apology after his smartphone company accidentally leaked out private data from dozens of customers to other customers. What happened was sort of akin to mass emailing a large group and forgetting to BCC everyone, leaving their email addresses in plain site to one another. Only in this case, it involved more than email addresses.Image Source: Flickr (Joi Ito) "Yesterday, we made an error in our customer care function that resulted in personal information from approximately 70 customers being shared with a small group of other customers. We have disabled the misconfigured account and have taken steps internally to add safeguards...
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Once again, Andy Rubin, the co-creator of Android and former boss of Google's Android division has taken to Twitter in order to tease a smartphone being developed at Essential, a new company he started last year. Essential joined Twitter in November 2016 and has just two tweets, both of which were posted in the past 24 hours "to let you know something big is coming May 30th." We heard you @renan_batista - here's something to hold you over until next week: pic.twitter.com/QSIeXyjKNq — Essential (@essential) May 25, 2017 The most recent tweet shows a darkened image of a smartphone with an odd protrusion at the top. While Rubin did not offer up any clues as to what that might be, the consensus on...
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