Essential is nearing the release of its first device. It's live on Best Buy's site, but you still can't actually purchase the Essential Phone for yourself. For now you can just sign up to be notified when the retailer starts taking orders. While vague, it's a sign that Essential is moving forward and doesn't plan to wait much longer to enter the mobile industry.
The Essential Phone was announced 66 days ago, and not a single person outside of the company owns one. Multiple unexplained hiccups have forced the phone to miss the 30-day window promised by Andy Rubin in May. But, last month, the co-founder of Android sent a letter to prospective buyers saying Essential is only “a few weeks” away from a release date. That appears to have been an accurate expectation set.
Best Buy is the first retailer to confirm it'll be selling the Essential Phone in the United States.
Two models are currently live on the electronics retailer's site. There's an unlocked model as well as a Sprint model. The Sprint model doesn't have a price displayed, but other outlets are reporting it said $749 a few hours ago. Meanwhile, it's already known that the unlocked model costs $699. And the two models are believed to be identical, so it's puzzling to understand why pricing is different.
Both are going to be offered in Black Moon and Pure White when the release date hits. Essential will add Stellar Grey and Ocean Depths later on.
In case you forgot, let's go over the phone's specifications again. The Essential Phone features a 5.71-inch Quad HD (2560×1440) IPS LCD display, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, two 13MP rear cameras, an 8MP front camera, a 3040mAh battery, a USB-C port, and Android 7.1 Nougat. Everything is protected by either the unbreakable titanium body or Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. So yeah, it's a total beast.
Talk Android will get its hands on the Essential Phone when the device starts shipping out, so stay tuned for that. Everyone is interested in knowing whether or not the man who created Android can do his own thing on the big stage.
Source: Best Buy
