Essential unveils their new smartphone

Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, has unveiled the first smartphone from Essential, his new company, after months of teasing.

The PH-1 is an Android device that packs some interesting features and clearly is intended to go head-to-head with the top smartphones from Apple and Samsung.

The first thing you notice in photos of the high-end device is the screen: It takes up almost the entire front face, going so close to the edge it curves around the selfie camera.

Another notable feature: It’s modular. It has magnetic connectors on the back of the device that let you attach accessories, including a 360° camera that can be ordered alongside the phone.

Speaking of ordering, it costs $749 to reserve it, unlocked and with 128GB of internal storage, along with the 360° camera. For just the phone, it’ll cost $699. But unfortunately for international customers, it’s available only in the US, to begin with.

Along with that 128GB of internal storage, it packs 4GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.

Its casing is titanium and ceramic, and it comes in four colours — Black Moon (glossy black), Stellar Grey (matte dark gray), Pure White (glossy white), and Ocean Depths (a glossy green with bronze sides).

The screen is a hefty 5.7″ — even larger than the 5.5″ screen on the iPhone 7 Plus — but the relative lack of bezels on it means it has a smaller footprint than you’d expect. The rear camera is 13MP, while the front-facing camera is 8MP. Both shoot 4K video.

All in all, this is a premium device, and an interesting one at that, intended to go after the high-end customers who typically buy the likes of Samsung and Apple devices. (It even compares itself to them directly when showing how its titanium body can withstand a drop test.) The big question is whether it can manage it.