What the hell is up with this Essential device?

guest · Oct 9, 2019

What the hell is up with this Essential device?
October 9, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/08/what-the-hell-is-up-with-this-essential-device/

Essential CEO Andy Rubin has been pretty silent over the past year for, well, lots of reasons — both business and otherwise. The company has struggled to sell devices, reportedly shipping only 88,000 handsets in its first year.

Now, a year later, he’s back on the platform touting a new device. It could be the next Essential handset, or it could be something else entirely.

New UI for radically different formfactor pic.twitter.com/Es8hFrTuxx
— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) October 8, 2019
A spokesperson for the company confirmed that the new device is in “early testing” in the real world, which is probably why Rubin opted to get out in front of leaks by showing the half-phone on his own terms, rather than grainy leaks. Here’s the official statement from Essential:

"We’ve been working on a new device that’s now in early testing with our team outside the lab. We look forward to sharing more in the near future."
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guest · Feb 12, 2020

Andy Rubin's Essential is shutting down
The Essential phone was never really essential for consumers
February 12, 2020
https://www.androidcentral.com/andy-rubins-essential-shutting-down

Essential, the company founded by one-time Android creator Andy Rubin, is now closing its doors for good. The firm had debuted the interesting Essential phone and had planned to create a wildly thin and tall device as a sequel to that. That's no longer happening.

From Essential's blog post announcing the move:

In October, we introduced Project GEM, a new mobile experience that our hardware, software and cloud teams have been building and testing for the past few years.
[...] Despite our best efforts, we've now taken Gem as far as we can and regrettably have no clear path to deliver it to customers. Given this, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations and shutdown Essential.
The Essential phone was always an odd one. It held a lot of promise, but it never really caught on, that was its major failing. The phone was sold with a lot of potential that could only be actualized if it had mass appeal
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guest · Feb 13, 2020

Essential Shuts Down: What Will Happen To Your Essential PH-1?
February 13, 2020
https://fossbytes.com/andy-rubin-essential-shutdown/

Essential was founded by the current CEO Andy Rubin back in 2015 and has since released only one Android-powered device in 2017 by the name of Essential PH-1.
What will happen to my Essential PH1?
According to the blog post, the security update for Essential PH1 released on February 3 is the last one from the company.
However, users can continue to use their smartphone without any issues, except that there won’t be any customer support or software updates to download.

The company will upload the stock Android image for PH-1, along with other related data, on its GitHub repo to provide easy access to the developers.
Still, all thanks to the Android community, users will be able to leverage various custom ROMs that are compatible with the Essential PH1. This way, the smartphone will continue to get new features in the future.
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guest · Feb 27, 2020

Essential Phone users will get a taste of Android 11 but no official update
February 24, 2020
https://www.androidcentral.com/essential-phone-users-will-get-taste-android-11-no-official-update

ssential Phone users won't be getting the full Android 11 update, but at least they won't be left completely high and dry. The team is working on improved compatibility with the Android 11 Developer Preview's Generic system Images (GSIs) to bring the upcoming Android update to pre-existing devices.

As per Google, a GSI is a " system image with adjusted configurations for Android devices.
Ongoing work on this project was spotted on GitHub (via XDA Developers), after which Essential's Jean-Baptiste Théou confirmed that it would be coming to the community after a "review and validation" period.
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guest · Mar 19, 2020

Essential designer shows off the phones that might've been
Plus, some backstory for each device
March 19, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/19/essential-designer-shows-off-concept-phones/

Earlier this year, Essential, Android creator Andy Rubin's once high-profile phone startup, shut down.
Besides Project Gem, a concept device it teased late last year, the company had released only one phone: the striking but flawed Essential Phone. However, now we have some idea of what could have been had Essential made more devices.

In a post he has since locked, Kevin Hoffman, a former employee who says he was the lead designer on two successor devices, the PH-2 and PH-3, shared images of the phones and detailed their backstories.
[...]
It's hard to say whether any of the above devices would have reversed Essential's fortunes, but it's certainly interesting to see what the company was working on before it closed.
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guest · Sep 4, 2020

OSOM Products Rises From The Ashes Of Essential
September 3, 2020
https://www.androidheadlines.com/2020/09/osom-products-essential-staff-new-company.html

Former Essential employees have started their own company, called OSOM Products. The company terms itself as "building the next suite of craziness." However, details on its products or services are sketchy at best.

Essential's erstwhile Head of R&D, Jason Keats, founded OSOM Products in February this year. He has been promoting and trying to build up a following for OSOM Products these past few months on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In a tweet, Jason Keats had confirmed that his former Essential colleagues have joined OSOM Products. These include Wolfgang Muller, JB Theou, Nick Franco, Gary Anderson, Kevin Chen, and Wilson Chan.
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Essential's demise resulted in OSOM Products being formed
Android co-founder, Andy Rubin had launched Essential Products in November 2015, after leaving his role at Google. Subsequently, the company launched the Essential Phone in 2017, which went on to develop a cult following.
Unfortunately, Essential Products had to shut down in February 2020, [...] However, the company's official blog post lamented that they were shutting down as there was "no clear path to deliver" their new products to customers.
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Essential founder Andy Rubin is not heading OSOM Products
Unsurprisingly, OSOM Products has hired a CEO with no link to the now-dead Essential Products. Andrew Zalasin is heading OSOM Products as the company's CEO.

In fact, Jason Keats has confirmed that OSOM Products would be hiring 20-30 new employees by the end of this year. It should be interesting to see how many former Essential employees join OSOM in their erstwhile roles.
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guest · Nov 16, 2020

OSOM plans to release its first privacy-focused product next year
Essential may be dead, but OSOM is starting a life of its own
November 16, 2020
https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/...-its-first-privacy-focused-product-next-year/

Essential may not be around anymore, but that doesn't mean the talented team that made up the company is taking a break. Essential's head of R&D, Jason Keats, founded OSOM Products earlier this year with a handful of former employees on board. Now a new interview has revealed a glimpse into the future of OSOM — and it's a vision that's focused pretty much entirely on user privacy.

OSOM (Out of Sight, Out of Mind) may be comprised of ex-Essential staff, but the company isn't trying to recreate the magic of the Essential PH-1. Instead, it was founded on a grounding principle of privacy.
While specific details are spare, Keats emphasizes that data will be stored solely on a user's device. OSOM won't even be able to access it, much less sell it to the highest advertising bidder.
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When the first product drops next year, it will be sold in the US, Europe, and parts of Asia. It will be interesting to see if OSOM can replicate Essential's good bits while tossing out the bad in its attempt to push privacy-focused products into the mainstream.
Source: CNET
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