So far, 2018 has been a gut punch for Huawei. Huawei is the 2nd largest phone maker in the world, and they were all set to finally make their big splash here in the US, but then AT&T pulled out of a partnership deal and then US intelligence agencies sent out a warning that Americans should not buy phones from Huawei (and ZTE) because of fears that these Chinese companies are a cybersecurity threat for stealing information. To answer this, Huawei says:

“Huawei is aware of a range of U.S. government activities seemingly aimed at inhibiting Huawei’s business in the U.S. market.  Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide and poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor, sharing as we do common global supply chains and production capabilities. We are committed to openness and transparency in everything we do. Ultimately, Huawei will continue to develop its global business through a significant commitment to innovation and R&D and to delivering technology that helps our customers succeed in all markets that value the innovation and value it delivers.”

At the time of this writing, there hasn’t been any hard evidence to back up the government’s claims that Huawei or ZTE are spying on us. I’m not going to tell you to buy or not buy Huawei phones and I’m not going to talk politics either because that’s not what we do here on The Gadgeteer. I’m just here to review this phone. So let’s get started.

What is it?

The Mate 10 Pro is Chinese technology giant Huawei’s latest flagship Android smartphone with the build quality and features that have been set to compete with other high-end phones from Apple,  Samsung, etc.

Hardware specifications

Processor: HUAWEI Kirin 970
Octa-core CPU (4 x Cortex A73 2.36 GHz+4 x Cortex A53 1.8 GHz)+i7 co-processor, Mali-G72 MP12 GPU
NPU: Neural Network Processing Unit
Operating System: Android 8
Memory: 6 GB RAM+128 GB ROM
Display: 6in 2160 x 1080 pixels, 402 ppi OLED Display
Network: Carrier unlocked 4G LTE TDD: B39
4G LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B14/B18/B20/B28/B29/B30/B66
LAA Band: B46
3G WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B8
2G GSM: B2/B3/B5/B8 (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Camera (rear): 20 MP Monochrome+12 MP RGB, f/1.6
Camera (front): 8 MP FF, f/2.0
Connectivity:
Bluetooth: BT4.2, support BLE
WiFi: Wi-Fi 2.4 G/5 G, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with Wi-Fi Direct support
DisplayPort 1.2
NFC: yes
Positioning: GPS/Glonass/BDS
Battery: 4000 mAh
Dimensions: 154.2mm X 74.5mm X 7.9mm
Weight: 178 grams
Water and Dust Resistant IP67 under IEC standard 60529

What’s in the box?

• Mate 10 Pro smartphone
• USB-C Earphones
• AC Charger
• USB-C Cable
• USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
• Flexible Clear Case
• Quick Start Guide
• Eject tool

Design and features

When I first opened the box and saw the pretty Midnight Blue phone, I was like ooooh, it’s so pretty! For those of you who are adverse to color, the Mate 10 Pro is also available in Diamond Black and Titanium Gray.

The front of the phone is all screen except for narrow bezels along the top and bottom edges. At the top edge is a front firing speaker that has an ambient light sensor on one side and the front-facing camera on the other side. To the left of the ambient light sensor is a tiny status LED that lights up when the phone is charging and when notifications come in.

The back of the phone has dual camera Leica lenses, an LED flash, and a fingerprint sensor.

The phone’s back is made of glass with a finish that is slick and shiny. That means that it’s a magnet for fingerprints and smudges and is slippery as heck. But in what is a first for modern smartphones, I was surprised to find that the Mate 10 Pro ships with a clear silicone case included in the box. That’s a nice touch as you will be able to protect your shiny new phone as soon as you take it out of the box.

Another equally nice touch is a pre-installed screen protector. Again, I was surprised that Huawei included this with the phone, but it’s a welcome “freebie”. Especially since it’s been installed perfectly with no bubbles or dust to be seen.

On the left side of the phone, you’ll find the SIM card slot, but it doesn’t have an area for a micro SD card.

On the opposite side, you’ll find the power button and volume rocker button. Both buttons are nicely raised so you can find them with your finger and both have excellent tactile feedback. Like the Essential Phone PH-1, the power button is located below the volume button instead of above it, but unlike the Essential, I didn’t find that I had any problems pressing the wrong button.

The top edge of the phone has a speaker and an IR blaster so that you can use your phone as a universal remote control for your TV and other equipment.

On the bottom edge, you’ll find more microphones, a USB Type-C charging port and a downward firing speaker.

The Mate 10 Pro looks and feels like what you would expect from a high-end flagship phone. It’s solidly made with rounded sides and a smooth rounded back for a comfortable feel. The Mate 10 Pro had no problems surviving my rigorous Gadgeteer squeeze test without rattling, flexing, or creaking.

Display

The Mate 10 Pro’s 6-inch OLED display is lovely to look at. It’s bright, crisp, and clear. Unlike other screens like the one on my Pixel 2 XL, the screen doesn’t have a blue tint when you look at it from any angle other than straight on. Even with the brightness level set to 50%, the Mate 10 Pro’s screen is really comfortable to view.

I mentioned earlier about the status LED and the screen protector. The image above shows both. Yes, that tiny yellow dot at the top is the LED.

Fingerprint reader

For those of you who like to read my phone reviews, you might remember that I’m always complaining about fingerprint scanners because they almost never work for me. I say almost because the Pixel 2 XL’s fingerprint scanner is the first one to work for me 99% of the time. All other phones work for the first day after I set up my fingerprint and then they stop until I reprogram it. Then it stops again within a day. Rinse and repeat. Guess what though? The Huawei works for me too and I would say that it might work even better and faster than the Pixel 2’s! It seems to unlock as soon as my finger gets close to the scanner.

Camera

With Leica lenses, you would expect the Mate 10 Pro’s camera to be impressive and it doesn’t disappoint. This phone is a capable shooter. It’s blazing fast at capturing impromptu shots with a double click of the volume down button. It even shows off how fast it is by displaying the speed it took to wake and snap a picture, which if you’re curious is less than a second every time I’ve tried it.

I’m not going to pretend to be a professional photographer, but from the pictures I’ve taken with this phone, I’ve found that the colors seem true to life and sharp, even in low light. It’s even really good at taking macro shots.

Audio quality

Although you probably won’t want to listen to your favorite tunes through the phone’s speakers, you won’t be put off by their audio quality if you do. Music and other media audio sound really good. Audio quality is even better if you use the included 3.5mm to USB Type-C adapter with your favorite wired headphones.

Using the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for phone calls

During my 2 weeks using the Mate 10 Pro, I’ve had no issues making and receiving calls with this phone on the T-mobile network and have felt that the volume level on both sides of the conversation has been just fine.

Software and user interface

The Mate 10 Pro ships with Android v8.0 and Huawei’s own skin over stock Android that’s called EMUI. EMUI doesn’t make Android look that much different, but it does add extra features like the ability to take screenshots by knocking twice on the screen with your knuckle. You can also knock once and then draw an S to take a scrolling screenshot for really long pages. There’s even a built-in tool to record a screencast.

Other features included in the EMUI includes a special button that you can add anywhere on the screen that improves one-handed use. Tapping the button goes back to the home screen, and holding the button and sliding to the right goes to the previous app while holding the button and sliding to the left pulls up all the open apps.

The are other gestures that you can use to show apps in a split-screen view and you can launch apps by drawing a letter with your knuckle.

The phone even has its own very basic built-in assistant called Emy that you can use to make and answer calls.

I like some of the gestures, especially the screenshot gestures, but one thing I don’t like about the Mate 10 Pro is the software bundle. Instead of sticking with stock Google apps for the core set of programs like contacts, calculator, messages, calendar, etc, Huawei has included their own versions of these apps. Blah… I’m not saying their versions of these core apps are bad, but they are a waste of space for me because I like to stick with stock Google apps. Even more disappointing is that you can’t uninstall or hide the Huawei apps from the app list.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro does have another trick up its sleeve. You can connect it to a large screen via HDMI and experience a desktop computer look and feel that reminds me of the Samsung DeX Station without having to buy a special dock. All you’ll need is an HDMI cable with a USB Type-C connector on the other end or a USB Type-C to HDMI adapter. I already had a cable and an adapter, so all I had to do was connect the Type-C connector to the Mate 10 Pro and the other end to my Hisense 65″ TV.

The large screen TV shows a full-screen Android desktop with a taskbar at the bottom and icons on the left side. Can’t you see the icons on the left side? Yeah, me neither. That’s the problem. A problem that I wasn’t able to resolve by changing the resolution on the phone or the format of the TV. Actually, switching the TV to 4:3 format, did allow me to see part of the icons, but ick. This feature would be really cool – if it worked. *I’ll update the review when I hear back from  Huawei if there’s a fix for this problem*

Overall performance and battery life using the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for day to day tasks

This phone has a 4000mAh battery that keeps it running for a full day of medium to heavy use, with lots of juice to spare. I never saw a low battery warning and when I did recharge, it was topped off very quickly due to Huawei’s SuperCharge technology which gives you a full day of power on a 20-minute charge.

What I like

• Comes with a case and pre-installed screen protector
• Terrific camera that’s blazing fast
• Great battery life
• Unlocked for use on GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T

What needs to be improved

• Bloatware
• No wireless charging even though the phone has a glass back

Final thoughts

I wasn’t expecting to like the Huawei as much as I do. Except for wireless charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot, this phone has pretty much every other feature you’d expect in a premium phone. The Mate 10 Pro is a quality phone and it’s a shame that it probably won’t get a lot of traction here in the US due to government warnings not to buy it and the fact that none of the major carriers are going to sell it. However, you can buy one from online shops like Amazon and Best Buy.

Price: $799.99
Where to buy: Amazon and Best Buy
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Huawei.

So far, 2018 has been a gut punch for Huawei. Huawei is the 2nd largest phone maker in the world, and they were all set to finally make their big splash here in the US, but then AT&T pulled out of a partnership deal and then US intelligence agencies sent out a warning that Americans should not buy phones from Huawei (and ZTE) because of fears that these Chinese companies are a cybersecurity threat for stealing information. To answer this, Huawei says:

“Huawei is aware of a range of U.S. government activities seemingly aimed at inhibiting Huawei’s business in the U.S. market.  Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide and poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor, sharing as we do common global supply chains and production capabilities. We are committed to openness and transparency in everything we do. Ultimately, Huawei will continue to develop its global business through a significant commitment to innovation and R&D and to delivering technology that helps our customers succeed in all markets that value the innovation and value it delivers.”

At the time of this writing, there hasn’t been any hard evidence to back up the government’s claims that Huawei or ZTE are spying on us. I’m not going to tell you to buy or not buy Huawei phones and I’m not going to talk politics either because that’s not what we do here on The Gadgeteer. I’m just here to review this phone. So let’s get started.

What is it?

The Mate 10 Pro is Chinese technology giant Huawei’s latest flagship Android smartphone with the build quality and features that have been set to compete with other high-end phones from Apple,  Samsung, etc.

Hardware specifications

Processor: HUAWEI Kirin 970
Octa-core CPU (4 x Cortex A73 2.36 GHz+4 x Cortex A53 1.8 GHz)+i7 co-processor, Mali-G72 MP12 GPU
NPU: Neural Network Processing Unit
Operating System: Android 8
Memory: 6 GB RAM+128 GB ROM
Display: 6in 2160 x 1080 pixels, 402 ppi OLED Display
Network: Carrier unlocked 4G LTE TDD: B39
4G LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B14/B18/B20/B28/B29/B30/B66
LAA Band: B46
3G WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B8
2G GSM: B2/B3/B5/B8 (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Camera (rear): 20 MP Monochrome+12 MP RGB, f/1.6
Camera (front): 8 MP FF, f/2.0
Connectivity:
Bluetooth: BT4.2, support BLE
WiFi: Wi-Fi 2.4 G/5 G, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with Wi-Fi Direct support
DisplayPort 1.2
NFC: yes
Positioning: GPS/Glonass/BDS
Battery: 4000 mAh
Dimensions: 154.2mm X 74.5mm X 7.9mm
Weight: 178 grams
Water and Dust Resistant IP67 under IEC standard 60529

What’s in the box?

• Mate 10 Pro smartphone
• USB-C Earphones
• AC Charger
• USB-C Cable
• USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
• Flexible Clear Case
• Quick Start Guide
• Eject tool

Design and features

When I first opened the box and saw the pretty Midnight Blue phone, I was like ooooh, it’s so pretty! For those of you who are adverse to color, the Mate 10 Pro is also available in Diamond Black and Titanium Gray.

The front of the phone is all screen except for narrow bezels along the top and bottom edges. At the top edge is a front firing speaker that has an ambient light sensor on one side and the front-facing camera on the other side. To the left of the ambient light sensor is a tiny status LED that lights up when the phone is charging and when notifications come in.

The back of the phone has dual camera Leica lenses, an LED flash, and a fingerprint sensor.

The phone’s back is made of glass with a finish that is slick and shiny. That means that it’s a magnet for fingerprints and smudges and is slippery as heck. But in what is a first for modern smartphones, I was surprised to find that the Mate 10 Pro ships with a clear silicone case included in the box. That’s a nice touch as you will be able to protect your shiny new phone as soon as you take it out of the box.

Another equally nice touch is a pre-installed screen protector. Again, I was surprised that Huawei included this with the phone, but it’s a welcome “freebie”. Especially since it’s been installed perfectly with no bubbles or dust to be seen.

On the left side of the phone, you’ll find the SIM card slot, but it doesn’t have an area for a micro SD card.

On the opposite side, you’ll find the power button and volume rocker button. Both buttons are nicely raised so you can find them with your finger and both have excellent tactile feedback. Like the Essential Phone PH-1, the power button is located below the volume button instead of above it, but unlike the Essential, I didn’t find that I had any problems pressing the wrong button.

The top edge of the phone has a speaker and an IR blaster so that you can use your phone as a universal remote control for your TV and other equipment.

On the bottom edge, you’ll find more microphones, a USB Type-C charging port and a downward firing speaker.

The Mate 10 Pro looks and feels like what you would expect from a high-end flagship phone. It’s solidly made with rounded sides and a smooth rounded back for a comfortable feel. The Mate 10 Pro had no problems surviving my rigorous Gadgeteer squeeze test without rattling, flexing, or creaking.

Display

The Mate 10 Pro’s 6-inch OLED display is lovely to look at. It’s bright, crisp, and clear. Unlike other screens like the one on my Pixel 2 XL, the screen doesn’t have a blue tint when you look at it from any angle other than straight on. Even with the brightness level set to 50%, the Mate 10 Pro’s screen is really comfortable to view.

I mentioned earlier about the status LED and the screen protector. The image above shows both. Yes, that tiny yellow dot at the top is the LED.

Fingerprint reader

For those of you who like to read my phone reviews, you might remember that I’m always complaining about fingerprint scanners because they almost never work for me. I say almost because the Pixel 2 XL’s fingerprint scanner is the first one to work for me 99% of the time. All other phones work for the first day after I set up my fingerprint and then they stop until I reprogram it. Then it stops again within a day. Rinse and repeat. Guess what though? The Huawei works for me too and I would say that it might work even better and faster than the Pixel 2’s! It seems to unlock as soon as my finger gets close to the scanner.

Camera

With Leica lenses, you would expect the Mate 10 Pro’s camera to be impressive and it doesn’t disappoint. This phone is a capable shooter. It’s blazing fast at capturing impromptu shots with a double click of the volume down button. It even shows off how fast it is by displaying the speed it took to wake and snap a picture, which if you’re curious is less than a second every time I’ve tried it.

I’m not going to pretend to be a professional photographer, but from the pictures I’ve taken with this phone, I’ve found that the colors seem true to life and sharp, even in low light. It’s even really good at taking macro shots.

Audio quality

Although you probably won’t want to listen to your favorite tunes through the phone’s speakers, you won’t be put off by their audio quality if you do. Music and other media audio sound really good. Audio quality is even better if you use the included 3.5mm to USB Type-C adapter with your favorite wired headphones.

Using the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for phone calls

During my 2 weeks using the Mate 10 Pro, I’ve had no issues making and receiving calls with this phone on the T-mobile network and have felt that the volume level on both sides of the conversation has been just fine.

Software and user interface

The Mate 10 Pro ships with Android v8.0 and Huawei’s own skin over stock Android that’s called EMUI. EMUI doesn’t make Android look that much different, but it does add extra features like the ability to take screenshots by knocking twice on the screen with your knuckle. You can also knock once and then draw an S to take a scrolling screenshot for really long pages. There’s even a built-in tool to record a screencast.

Other features included in the EMUI includes a special button that you can add anywhere on the screen that improves one-handed use. Tapping the button goes back to the home screen, and holding the button and sliding to the right goes to the previous app while holding the button and sliding to the left pulls up all the open apps.

The are other gestures that you can use to show apps in a split-screen view and you can launch apps by drawing a letter with your knuckle.

The phone even has its own very basic built-in assistant called Emy that you can use to make and answer calls.

I like some of the gestures, especially the screenshot gestures, but one thing I don’t like about the Mate 10 Pro is the software bundle. Instead of sticking with stock Google apps for the core set of programs like contacts, calculator, messages, calendar, etc, Huawei has included their own versions of these apps. Blah… I’m not saying their versions of these core apps are bad, but they are a waste of space for me because I like to stick with stock Google apps. Even more disappointing is that you can’t uninstall or hide the Huawei apps from the app list.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro does have another trick up its sleeve. You can connect it to a large screen via HDMI and experience a desktop computer look and feel that reminds me of the Samsung DeX Station without having to buy a special dock. All you’ll need is an HDMI cable with a USB Type-C connector on the other end or a USB Type-C to HDMI adapter. I already had a cable and an adapter, so all I had to do was connect the Type-C connector to the Mate 10 Pro and the other end to my Hisense 65″ TV.

The large screen TV shows a full-screen Android desktop with a taskbar at the bottom and icons on the left side. Can’t you see the icons on the left side? Yeah, me neither. That’s the problem. A problem that I wasn’t able to resolve by changing the resolution on the phone or the format of the TV. Actually, switching the TV to 4:3 format, did allow me to see part of the icons, but ick. This feature would be really cool – if it worked. *I’ll update the review when I hear back from  Huawei if there’s a fix for this problem*

Overall performance and battery life using the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for day to day tasks

This phone has a 4000mAh battery that keeps it running for a full day of medium to heavy use, with lots of juice to spare. I never saw a low battery warning and when I did recharge, it was topped off very quickly due to Huawei’s SuperCharge technology which gives you a full day of power on a 20-minute charge.

What I like

• Comes with a case and pre-installed screen protector
• Terrific camera that’s blazing fast
• Great battery life
• Unlocked for use on GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T

What needs to be improved

• Bloatware
• No wireless charging even though the phone has a glass back

Final thoughts

I wasn’t expecting to like the Huawei as much as I do. Except for wireless charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot, this phone has pretty much every other feature you’d expect in a premium phone. The Mate 10 Pro is a quality phone and it’s a shame that it probably won’t get a lot of traction here in the US due to government warnings not to buy it and the fact that none of the major carriers are going to sell it. However, you can buy one from online shops like Amazon and Best Buy.

Price: $799.99
Where to buy: Amazon and Best Buy
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Huawei.

Unlike the iPhone, there are quite a few brands to choose from when it comes to Android smartphones. Samsung is the obvious leader of the pack, with phones from Google, LG, Moto, HTC, Huawei, OnePlus and Sony coming next and a variety of budget brands at the very end of the line. In the past few years, it has been tough for new brands to get a foothold at the top of the Android smartphone ladder. Huawei and OnePlus have been trying hard, but they aren’t nearly as popular as Samsung and Google. Now we have another challenger. The Essential PH-1 smartphone. Rob and I are going to tag team on this review. Let’s get started.

What is it?

The Essential Phone is a premium Android smartphone that has been designed by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, and manufactured and developed by Essential Products. It sells as an unlocked phone that can be used on all major US carriers including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Hardware specs

Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon 835 Kryo 280 Octa-core (2.45GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad), 64 bit, 10nm processor
GPU: Adreno 540, 710MHz, 64bit
Operating System: Android 7
Memory: 128GB UFS 2.1 + 4GB RAM
Display: 5.71” 2560 x 1312 QHD CGS / LTPS
Network: Carrier unlocked, UMTS/HSPA+: 1, 2, 4, 5 6, 8
GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A: 0, 1, 10
FDD-LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 66
TDD-LTE: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
TD-SCDMA: 34, 39
Camera (rear): 13MP Dual RGB + Mono camera with image fusion technology f/1.85 lens
Camera (front): 8MP f/2.20
Connectivity:
Bluetooth: 4.2
WiFi: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO
NFC: yes
Positioning: GPS and GLONASS
Battery: 3040mAh Fast charging via USB Type-C
Dimensions: 141.5mm X 71.1mm X 7.8mm
Weight: < 185 grams
Water and Dust Resistant IP54

What’s in the box?

Essential Phone
USB Type-C charging cable
USB Type-C to 3.5mm headphone jacket adapter cable
USB Type-C AC charging adapter
SIM tool

Design and features

Julie: Right out of the box, I was struck by the size of the Essential compared to my current phone – the Pixel 2 XL (above on the right).

Rob: The size was one of the reasons I chose the Essential after comparing it in the store. I had been using a Nexus 6P, and the display on the Essential is nearly the same size despite the device being noticeably more compact.

Julie: Yes, this phone fits much better in my back jeans pocket than the Pixel 2 XL and it’s just the right size for one-handed use.

Julie: At first glance, the Essential looks like most smartphones on the market right now. It’s rectangular with rounded corners, volume buttons on the side, and has a camera at the top center. But when you really look at it, you find out that this phone is made of high-quality materials that have not yet used by other high-end phone makers. It has a Titanium body with a ceramic back, and it has an edge to edge display with just a tiny widow’s peak in the center which looks significantly nicer than the iPhone X infamous notch.

Julie: At the time of this writing, the Essential is only available in black and white versions. I chose black. The back of the phone, which is made of ceramic is very shiny. It is also a magnet for fingerprints, smudges, and smears, not to mention that it’s slippery as heck which I know Rob will agree.

Rob: Indeed it is. I normally don’t use cases on my phones and am careful enough that I’ve never broken one. That streak ended after a week and a half with the PH-1. Trust me, you need a case. Without one it will slide off of any surface that isn’t perfectly level, and possibly out of your fingers as well. It’s undeniably sexy and feels like holding a slab of glass, but perhaps a matte finish would have been a bit safer.

Julie: The back of the Essential is where the fingerprint scanner is located (more about that later), along with the back camera, flash, and the unique accessory contacts. There’s currently only one accessory that uses these contacts. It’s the 360-degree camera. A special charging dock is listed on the Essential home page as a future accessory. It’s really too bad that the phone doesn’t support wireless charging since it has a ceramic back. I would think that would have been a great opportunity to include that feature instead of making a special dock. But I guess Essential needs to prove that their accessory connector can be useful for something other than the 360-degree camera.

Rob: The accessory connector is a neat idea, but time will tell if its potential is realized.  It’s essentially a USB port (using very short range wireless for data transfer and the metal pins for power) so it can potentially be used for just about anything.  So far the only other accessory announced (besides the camera and the dock Julie mentioned above) is a headphone adapter, which would free up the USB-C port for charging while using wired headphones.   (By the way, I have the 360-degree camera, but didn’t receive it in time to properly review it alongside the phone.  Look for a more in-depth examination of it here soon.)

Julie: The left side of the Essential is smooth with no buttons or ports. The only thing that breaks up the Titanium sides are what I believe are the antenna “bars”. I really don’t know what else to call them.

Julie: Flip the phone around to the other side and we have a power button and individual volume buttons. I don’t know about you, but I find the layout of the buttons to be backward compared to other phones I’ve used in the past few years. The power button is BELOW the volume buttons. I am constantly pressing the up or down volume button when I really meant to press the power. But I am happy to say that the buttons have excellent tactile feedback with an audible click sound.

Rob: This caused me a bit of confusion at first, but I’ve become used to it. I’m not sure this is a big problem but it is something to keep in mind especially if you use more than one device.

Julie: The top edge of the phone has another antenna “bar”.

Julie: The bottom has a downward firing speaker, USB Type-C charging port, SIM tray, and Microphone. Did I read somewhere or did you tell me that people have been accidentally poking the microphone hole when they are trying to open the SIM card tray?

Rob: I hadn’t heard about that, but I can easily imagine someone doing it due to the position of the mic, especially if they’re in a hurry. Since we’re talking about ports, I’d also like to point out that like some other flagships of late, the USB-C port is the only place you’re going to be able to plug in wired headphones, as there is no analog jack on the PH-1. (There is, at least, an adapter in the box.)

Julie: The Essential Phone PH-1 is a very solid phone that feels like a high-quality flagship phone. It’s well made with great materials and it survives my patented Gadgeteer squeeze test without a whimper. This phone feels great in hand and pocket.

Display

Julie: One of the main selling points for the Essential Phone is its edge to edge display.  Even though the Essential is physically smaller than my Pixel 2 XL, it can display slightly more info on its screen.

Rob: Unlike most flagship devices today, the PH-1’s display is not AMOLED, but LCD. It’s an excellent LCD so I don’t consider this a problem at all, just something to take note of. Like some other manufacturers, Essential opted for a somewhat taller and narrower display that was common in previous generations, though not quite as dramatic a difference as, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Julie: These pictures do not do the Essential Phone’s screen justice. It’s very nice. But like my Pixel 2 XL, viewing the Essential’s screen at an angle puts a slight bluish cast to the screen.

Julie: The screen has a small uvula (google it) on the top edge of the screen that isn’t nearly as noticeable as the iPhone X notch.

Rob: The size of the cutout makes all the difference in how much you notice it, I think. Compared to iOS, Android loves its notification icons, and the Essential’s camera notch leaves plenty of room on both sides of the bar.  Most apps handle this well, but occasionally you’ll run into one that draws a bit of its user interface under the camera.   Reportedly, Google is adding support for notches in a future version of Android, since this design is probably going to stick around for a while.

Rob: The speaker and a notification LED (the red LED in the image above) are behind a nearly invisible grille in the top bezel, which is ever so slightly bigger than the sides.

Julie: The bezel at the bottom of the display is pretty wide compared to the top and side bezels. This is a slight disappointment since Apple is able to create a fully bezel-less screen minus the hideous notch of course.

Fingerprint sensor

Julie: Fingerprint scanners usually don’t work for me. That’s a sentence that I’ve typed on almost every smartphone I’ve ever reviewed. The only anomaly to this statement is that the Pixel 2 XL’s fingerprint scanner has been working perfectly for me. Since that’s the phone that I’ve been using for the last four months, I’ve become spoiled by it and expected that the Essential would work that well too. It doesn’t. It doesn’t work at all. Ok, let me back up. It will work a few times the first day after I add my fingerprint but it quickly it stops working for more than 1 out of every 10 tries. I shouldn’t be annoyed because I’ve dealt with this issue for years. But I am annoyed. A lot.

Rob: I haven’t had this problem with the Essential, but I have found fingerprint sensors to be kind of picky in the past, so I’m not surprised.

Julie: As my friend, Bill Ray tells me, I have alien DNA, so I guess that explains my issues with fingerprint scanners.

Audio quality

Julie: In-call audio is clear and crisp and listening to YouTube videos using the phone’s built-in speaker is plenty loud enough for most situations. The only downside to the phone’s audio is that it just has the one downward firing speaker that can get muffled if you’re trying to listen to something while holding the phone in landscape orientation between two hands. Note: you can actually feel the speaker vibrating if you have the volume jacked to the max and you touch the speaker grill.

Rob: I agree, call audio is fine.  Although I miss the dual front speakers of the phones I previously had, the one in the Essential is loud and clear and fine for watching videos and the like.

When it comes to the other important aspect of audio quality, music in headphones, the Essential is good but not perfect.  The provided 3.5mm headphone adapter is adequate, but of course, you will probably use Bluetooth instead — or so the design seems to assume.  In the Nougat (7.x) OS that the Essential ships with, it does not support the apt-X codec which is commonly used for high-quality Bluetooth audio, but it is expected to be part of the Oreo upgrade.  Still, the audio quality with the Bluetooth devices I use regularly (Sony headphones and speakers, and a Kenwood car unit) is good, which may mean it has another high-quality codec (such as AAC) installed.   If you insist on apt-X, however, you might want to wait until the Oreo update is available.

Camera

Julie: The Essential’s camera is one thing that kept me from considering the Essential when it first came out. I kept reading about how bad the camera was and since taking pictures is one of the main things I do with my phone, I didn’t want anything to do with this phone. Then later I heard that the camera problems were fixed by various firmware updates so my concerns lessened. When I mentioned that I’d be reviewing the Essential, someone asked that I take some pics before applying any updates and then similar pictures after the updates. So here you go. Here are four sample pictures that were taken BEFORE any Android OS updates were applied to the Essential Phone. Click for larger view.

And here are the same pictures taken AFTER all updates were applied.

I can see a very small difference in the before and after images, but that said, I don’t think that the before images are as bad as people were moaning about. I think the Essential Phone’s camera is a capable shooter for day to day snaps that you would upload to your favorite social media sites. What do you think?

Rob: Essential is still regularly releasing updates for their camera app, tweaking the HDR processing and the like.  There are also patched versions of the Google camera app out there which might be even better.  There are undoubtedly better phone cameras, but at this point, I think the early problems with the Essential camera aren’t going to be an issue for most people anymore.

Using the Essential for phone calls

Julie: During my week with the Essential, I’ve had no issues making and receiving calls on the T-mobile network and have felt that the volume level on both sides of the conversation has bee just fine.

Rob: Same here.  I’m on the AT&T network, and it’s been fine for me too.  While it does seem like the reported signal strength is a bit lower than the last couple of phones I’ve used, that doesn’t seem to change anything in the areas I use it.

Software and user interface

Julie: The Essential Phone’s user interface and the core set of apps are about as bare-bones stock Android as you can get without buying an actual Google phone. The apps in the 2nd image above on the right are the only apps installed on the phone.

Rob: That’s one of the reasons I was attracted to it.  No extra crap, no Android skin.  The only non-stock app installed by default is the camera, plus an extra settings panel where you can opt-in to anonymous data collection by Essential.  It’s about as close as you can get to a Nexus these days, and a lot cheaper than the Pixel 2 XL.

Julie: One thing that caught me off guard the first time I used Chrome is the errors you see above. I was like what the heck is this? I didn’t trust the REMOVE VIRUS NOW button considering the URL that was displayed in the address bar, so I just killed Chrome. These errors finally went away after I applied all the OS and app updates and I haven’t seen it since.

Rob: This doesn’t have anything to do with the phone. It’s an ongoing problem with malicious ads being served to mobile devices, even being snuck in through reputable ad networks (like Google itself). It’s so widespread that Google is reportedly going to address it directly in Chrome soon; maybe they already have (which might be why you haven’t seen it since). I’ve seen this plenty of times, even through major mainstream news organizations’ stories linked through the Google feed and the like. At any rate, it’s nothing to do with Essential, just the usual scam artists spreading malware like they always try to do.

Julie: I find it weird that I’ve not seen this same error on my Pixel 2 XL. I guess I should just count myself as lucky.

One other thing to mention is that while I’ve had the Essential Phone, it’s received quite a few updates including the Android February security update. I think that this is worth mentioning because my Pixel 2 XL has NOT received this update yet.

Overall performance and battery life using the Essential for day to day tasks

Rob: The battery life of the Essential is, so far, quite good. Certainly a lot better than the aging Nexus 6P it replaced. Right now, at the end of a day in which I checked social media every hour or so, watched some Youtube videos, and listened to some podcasts and music while at Starbucks, it’s at 52%. 

Julie: I’ve noticed the same thing so far. I was able to get easily get a full day of use from one charge. As for performance, the Essential felt reasonably snappy launching and switching between apps. I didn’t notice any obvious lags using the phone for day to day tasks.

Positives

• Premium materials
• Edge to edge display
• More affordable than other top-tier flagship phones
• No bloatware
• Unlocked
• Quick updates to fix issues

Negatives

• Slippery
• No waterproofing
• Fingerprint scanner doesn’t work for me (Julie)

Final thoughts

Julie: I bought the Essential Phone PH-1 because I was curious to see if I might like it better than my Pixel 2 XL given that it’s smaller and more pocket-friendly than the Pixel 2 XL. After using the Essential Phone for a week, I like it just fine, but the fact that the fingerprint scanner does not work for me is causing me to box it up and ship it back to Amazon for a refund.

I think this is a really nice Android smartphone that comes in at an equally nice price. It seems that Essential is trying hard to fix any issues in a timely manner and the fact that the phone is receiving security updates faster than Google’s own phones is another plus in their favor. I don’t know if they’ll be able to hang with the big boys, but I wish them luck.

Rob: The Essential PH-1 is, while not very well known thus far, one of the more interesting Android phones we’ve seen in a while, with a design that stands out from the rest combined with flagship performance and a stock Android experience.   It isn’t perfect but at its current price, it’s a great deal, especially if you are the kind of person who appreciates the core Android experience without a vendor skin.  I recommend it, with the caution that in some respects it is still a work in progress, with significant updates yet to come.

Price: $499.99 MSRP
Where to buy: Essential and Amazon
Source: The phones for this review were purchased with our own funds.