CEO Andy Rubin of Essential Products has revealed a number of pictures and videos. From the few images that Mr. Rubin shared, we can see that the aspect ratio is ridiculously skewed. If you thought the 21:9 aspect ratio of the latest Xperia and Motorola One phones was ridiculous, then Essential just swooped in with a “hold my beer” to prove to us that phone designs can get even crazier.
Let’s take a look at the photos revealed:
CEO Andy Rubin also posted a video about the new phone. Mr. Rubin says the device, code-named “GEM,” is made with a “color shift material.” As shown in the video below, this material can change color based on the angle you’re looking at it from.
https://twitter.com/Arubin/status/1181688540540764160
The device is unquie and one of its own kind and its something that is never seen before.
The device seems to be running Android judging by the back and home buttons at the top of the phone. Apps are stacked on top of one another in a tile-based UI, with only one shortcut present in each tile alongside some live information being shown.
We can see Uber, Calendar, Maps, and a Weather app, though it’s unclear if Calendar and Maps are Google Calendar and Google Maps respectively.
Coming to the hardware part like the camera and all the phone seems to have a single front-facing camera and a single rear-facing camera with an LED flash. There is also an indentation for what might be a fingerprint scanner on the back. The device does seem to have a standard power button and volume up/down buttons on the right side, though.
The next Essential product is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 and is currently being developed on top of Android 10. The Essential has trademarked “GEM,” but it’s possible that it’s still just a code-name.