Hours after the Essential Phone made its official debut, creator Andy Rubin took part in an interview and spilled a few more details about
In an interview with Walt Mossberg, Essential’s Andy Rubin revealed that his company is aiming to ship its new phone within the next 30 days. “You can reserve it now and I wouldn’t take reservations if it wasn’t going to ship in 30 days or so,” Rubin explained.
Of course, the only way to get the Essential Phone right now is through Essential’s website, but that won’t be the case forever. Rubin said that Essential plans to have retail points of purchase, both carriers and other retail distribution. He didn’t elaborate any further on those plans, but that’s good news for folks that like to be able to see and touch a device before they pay hundreds of dollars for it.
Mossberg then pointed out that iPhones ship without any carrier branding or influence and asked Rubin if that’ll be the case with the Essential Phone. “I’m trying as hard as I can to have a pro-consumer product where you get to decide what’s on your phone,” Rubin answered, suggesting that he’ll try to ensure that the Essential Phone has vanilla Android software similar to what you’d get if you bought a Pixel from Google.
Finally, questions about the Essential Phone’s front-facing camera came up. There’s a cutout in the top of the display for the camera, and Rubin said that this is because Android notifications grow inward and so the camera won’t actually get in the way of anything. He added that he didn’t care for cameras placed in the chin of a phone, like the Sharp Aquos Crystal, calling that “nostril cam.” Rubin then added that because the Essential Phone’s display is 19:10, the camera won’t get in the way of 16:9 video content viewed on the device.
So now we’ve got a few more details on the Essential Phone and Andy Rubin’s plans for the device. We still haven’t seen much of the phone in action, but if Rubin follows through on his plans, we could start seeing Essential Phones on doorsteps and in consumers’ hands next month. Then they can make their way into carrier stores and in front of the majority of cellphone shoppers, which is necessary if Rubin wants the Essential Phone to be a success.
If you’d like to watch Rubin’s whole interview for yourself while we wait for the Essential Phone to launch, you can do so at the link below.
