The Essential Phone is an unusual-looking Android device with premium specs, support for modular accessories, and a pretty strong pedigree: Essential was founded by Andy Rubin, one of the co-founders of Android.
First unveiled in May, the Essential Phone is expected to begin shipping soon. So it’s not surprising to see that the phone passed through the FCC this week.
The FCC documents don’t tell us much we didn’t already know about the phone. But they do confirm that the phone supports 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC and has the network band support to work with pretty much all US wireless carriers… even though Sprint will be the only carrier that actually sells the phone directly to customers. Everyone else will be able to buy it from Essential Products.
Essential’s first smartphones feature a 5.7 inch, 2560 x 1312 pixel display that covers most of the front of the device… with the exception of a small bezel below the screen and a cut-out on the top, allowing Android status notifications to wrap around the camera. Expect to see a black bar there when running full-screen apps though.
The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 3,040 mAh battery, a 13MP dual camera system on the back, and an 8MP front facing camera. And it has a USB Type-C port but no 3.5mm audio jack.
An unlocked phone is priced at $699 and there’s an optional 360-degree camera accessory that will be the first module designed to attach to the back of the phone. The camera is eventually expected to sell for $199, but it’s up for pre-order for $50 when bundled with the phone.
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