Tempted to jump on this Essential PH-1 for $280 deal (UPDATE: I jumped on it when it dropped to $224 but now it's $310)

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 08/21/2018 at 11:12 • Filed to: None

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On Prime Day, the Essential PH-1 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . People jumped on it. I hesitated because Essential isn’t the most solid company right now and the camera is mediocre. But it’s down to $280   $224   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and Essential keeps updating the phone, including Android P the same day as the Pixel lineup.

I have my Galaxy S7 Edge that is both good and frustrating in not quite equal measure. I’ve never been 100% on this phone’s bandwagon since I’ve had it. The latest aggravation with it is it’s been very finicky about automatically connecting to the bluetooth in my car. It always shows it’s connected, but often, the bluetooth audio streaming doesn’t work, and I have to go into the settings on the car to disable and then reenable bluetooth audio to get it to work.

I bought the S7E in September 2017 for $475 and I could sell it now for probably $250-275 range so I would at least be not denting my bank account to get the Essential. I don’t want to pay flagship prices, not even like, $600. But I want something new with a warranty.

When the Essential first came out, I had it on my radar, but I didn’t love the notch, the cameras were crap, there’s no headphone jack, it didn’t support high quality bluetooth codecs like aptX, and the price was high. But Essential has kept on updating the phone, it’s on Android P already, the camera is now above-average, and aptX and other bluetooth codecs are now present. Essential has improved the notch software support. They had some custom tweaks for it, which they dropped in favor of Android P’s built-in notch handling, but they’re working to add the Essential notch tricks back in. I only occasionally use wired headphones, and the vast majority of those times are when I have my work bag with me. I can keep the headphone jack dongle in the same pocket in the bag.

Basically, at this price for the Essential, and with my continued frustration with the S7E, this feels like a no-brainer.

The only other phone that works on Verizon that competes in some way with the Essential is the Moto Z3, which has largely similar specs (SD835, 4 GB RAM) but is $480 and is a Verizon-specific phone, not unlocked. The benefit of being a Verizon phone is it can use wifi calling but generally with Verizon’s network I haven’t had to use that. But I’m not 100% attached to being on Verizon so an unlocked phone is a plus, and $480 is still a lot more than the Essential deal.

The other main unlocked options that work on Verizon are the assorted Samsung, LG and Pixel flagships, and most of the Motorola lineup. I guess there are probably some random Verizon-branded cheap phones available direct from Verizon. If I didn’t want/need Verizon compatibility, then the OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5Z would be on my radar. But again those are both in that $500-ish ballpark.

So...before I click buy on the shit I’m looking at cases and whatnot but I could very well do it.

UPDATE 8/20/18 @ 9:16 am:

Yesterday in between the various other things I was doing, I tried to pick a case for the PH-1 that I actually like. The pickings are a little slim but I decided on one and pulled the trigger on the phone around 9:15 last night.

But then this morning I saw the price on the PH-1 had dropped to $224. Dafuq?! So I called Amazon customer service to see if they could drop the price on my existing order. They said they couldn’t get an override for that but they would cancel the $280 order so I could place the order again at the new $224 price.

I should point out that this deal is on the exclusive-to-Amazon Halo Gray color of the PH-1, and it comes with Alexa pre-installed. It’s not a full “Prime Exclusive” version of the phone—usually those come with all the other Amazon apps installed—and Alexa can be removed if desired.

There’s a deal to get the Halo Gray color with the Essential USB-C headphones. But me personally, I use bluetooth headphones at the gym, and keep a nice pair of wired earbuds in my work bag. So I’ll just keep the USB-C headphone dongle with those headphones. #donglelife

UPDATE 2 8/21/18 @ 11:12 am:

Shortly after I jumped on the lowered $224 price, it went up to $365, but now today it’s back to $310. This is for the Halo Gray color. Black is $344 and white is $359. Those prices actually changed a bit during the course of making this update. They could very well change again. Dunno what Amazon is doing with these prices bouncing all over the place, but there you have it.

I’ve done my usual waffling on cases. My first choice when I originally placed the order on Sunday night was the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but when I went to check out with it, Amazon said it would be delivered a couple says after the phone, so I switched to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But I’m persnickety about cases, and that case might be ever so slightly too big and bulky looking for my taste, so when I re-did the order at the lower $224 price, I also ordered the Poetic case and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I have a feeling I’m probably going to keep the Poetic of these three, but we’ll see.

Final thoughts on the phone before it arrives: the only thing at this point that gives me pause is the lack of optical image stabilization on the cameras. This helps in low light still photos of non-moving subjects, were you can use a slower shutter speed. But the Essential’s second camera is a black & white sensor that’s supposed to help capture more detail in general and in low light so hopefully the still image performance is at least mostly up to par with my S7E, which is pretty dang decent for a phone camera.

Where OIS especially helps is in videos. I rarely shoot video but I did shoot a few recently with the S7E where I was very impressed. This was on a very bouncy boat and yeah you can tell the camera is moving up and down but everything is nice and smooth.

The PH-1 has no OIS and the sample videos from it have good detail but definitely need stabilizing.

But Google Photos can stabilize videos after shooting them and the samples I’ve seen of it look promising.

So...whatever. It’s probably fine. I don’t shoot so many videos where relying on Google Photos to stabilize them is going to consume much of my time.

I’m planning to get some kind of pocket cam with a 1" sensor that I’ll bring with me as much as possible. Last year I tried to get in the habit of carrying my m43 camera with a couple small prime lenses around with me, and while I did get some opportunistic shots with it, it’s not truly a carry-everywhere camera. Something like a Canon G9X Mark II however, is small enough to take most places without much thought, while trouncing even the best phone cameras. It often goes on sale for $350-375. So basically once I get around to getting that G9XII I’ll have spent less money on it and the PH-1 than say, the $650 that Amazon is currently charging for the unlocked LG V35.

C62030 > Textured Soy Protein 08/19/2018 at 14:34

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I’ve read mediocre review of the Z3, which is a shame, since I had a Moto X Pure in like 2014 and it was the best phone I’ve ever owned, and by far my favorite design. A little thick, a little heavy, but perfectly shaped, and it let you pick your own colors.

CompactLuxuryFan > Textured Soy Protein 08/19/2018 at 14:41

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I actually jumped on the $250 Prime Day deal but just couldn’t find a use for it. Returned it unopened last week. I’m on an iPhone on AT&T, though, so completely different scenario. 

Textured Soy Protein > C62030 08/19/2018 at 14:46

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I had the 2015 Moto X Pure before my S7E and generally have warmer feelings about it in spite of the S7E having a better camera, better (in theory) performance but less smoothness, headphone jack, and some neat tricks like scrolling screenshots mixed in with all of Samsung’s bloatware.

The Z3 has a just-ok camera, half the reviews don’t like the side fingerprint reader and/or the power button that’s on the other side of the phone, and last year’s flagship guts.

The OnePlus 6 isn’t much more than the Z3, and it has this year’s flagship specs, a better camera, and much better update frequency. B ut what all those reviews leave out is that there’s plenty of people that need to be on Verizon. The OP6 works best with T-Mobile but I had to switch from T-Mobile to Verizon for coverage reasons.

Verizon is an annoying-ass company but their network works best for me. 

DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back > Textured Soy Protein 08/19/2018 at 15:55

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I also have an S7 Edge since it came out, and it’s getting pretty long in the tooth. I’m tired of Samsung, and getting tired of Android too, and I also have an iPad Pro 10.5 that I love, so I’ve been really considering getting whatever iPhone comes out next month.

But this is such a a good deal. I’m very very interested in hearing any real world experiences.

LOREM IPSUM > Textured Soy Protein 08/19/2018 at 17:13

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That handset wasn’t very well received by the Android community, but at that price it seems like an excellent value for your dollar. However, are y ou certain the LCD isn’t cholesterol based?

Chuckles > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 09:23

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As someone still using his S5 on verizon, I'd be interested in that S7E should you decide to sell it.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 09:42

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T h e c o m b i n a t i o n o f a c h i n a n d n o t c h r e a l l y b o t h e r s m e ( a n d t h is p h o n e i s n ’ t the only one to do t h is) . T h e w h o l e p o i n t o f a n o t c h i s s o t h e s c r e e n c a n g o a l l the way to the ed g e s e v e r y w h e r e e x c e p t t h e n o t c h . I guess it still beats bot h a chin and forehead a n d f o r $ 2 2 5 i t s e e m s l i k e a n a c c e p t a b l e c o mpromi s e .

Textured Soy Protein > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 08/20/2018 at 09:56

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Bezels don’t bug me as long as the overall size of the phone is manageable . I’d rather not have a notch but this one is small. The Essential screen is 5.7" 16:9 so it’s more real estate than the 5.5" 16:9 S7E, but the PH-1 is actually smaller overall. It is heavier though.

diplodicus > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 10:31

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Post a review I hate the nokia I’ve got right now. 

His Stigness > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 11:20

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Damn it now it's back up to $370. I'd have bought it for my mom to replace her Pixel XL which I got for her for only $50 thanks to insurance. I had just pre-ordered the Pixel 2 XL when I decided to file a claim on my 6P for this weird dent. They said they didn't have any more 6Ps but they could send me out a new Pixel XL. OKAY! But she's broken the back glass and the fingerprint sensor and I'm afraid to change it. 

Textured Soy Protein > His Stigness 08/20/2018 at 11:42

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Wow, I’m glad I jumped on the price drop this morning. I guess it was only for a few hours.

My mom just got a Pixel 2 recently. S he had a Moto Droid Turbo 2 that she wanted to replace, and she asked me about the S9, but I steered her to Pixel since the stock Android on it is closer to what she’s used to from Motorola. I suggested the XL but she decided she didn’t want to pay extra for the bigger screen.

My dad also had the same Droid Turbo 2 and I had made the same Pixel recommendation to him a while back, but he went S9+. I will say I find that phone both nicer and less annoying than my S7E. If I were playing in that price bracket I’d consider it.

Both of them put too-beefy cases on their phones . My dad’s S9+ case isn’t too terrible but the phone itself is already big so the slightly bulky case makes for a bigass overall package. My mom got some giganto Otterbox case that’s supposedly the “small” Otterbox for her phone but is still big. She claimed it was the only case they had at the Verizon store. She probably paid like 40 bucks for the damn thing. I assume it’s the Otterbox Commuter, which is what my company gave me for my work iPhone 6S. I used that for like a day or two before buying a slimmer case on Amazon for it. I tried showing my mom slimmer cases but she didn’t want them. I’m tempted to buy her one anyway and have it shipped to her out of the blue.

His Stigness > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 11:55

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It took me a minute but I found that Amazon is out of stock and they raised the price back to $500.

The regular Pixel 2 is just as good as the 2 XL, which is really nice. I just don’t like the small screens.

The crappy thing is my mom has a case on her phone, a Speck, which provides plenty of protection. I think she must have dropped it onto the fingerprint sensor which flexed the glass enough to crack it. The Otterbox is massive, and I think unnecessary. When I first got my 2XL I had a clear Speck case (I use Dbrand skins now) and it has a drop protection of six feet. An Otterbox is ridiculous. It still leaves the screen, lens, and fingerprint sensor exposed, just like every other case .

And in regards to buying a case in the store. I'll admit, it's been many years since I bought phone in the store, but I was just reading an article from The Verge about how carriers are fighting to get people to buy overpriced crap in the store, and apparently people spend on average $95-$110 in the store when they walk out with a new phone. When I've got Amazon on my phone I can't fathom doing that. But, I also know what phone I want, and always have a case before I get the phone. But I can't imagine paying the $20-$30 for chargers from the carriers when they're crap. 

Textured Soy Protein > His Stigness 08/20/2018 at 12:07

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Yeah I didn’t want to lecture her about not getting a case at the store but I wouldn’t be surprised if she paid friggin 30-40 bucks for the thing.

I waffled on the case I wanted for the Essential. Last night m y top choice was going to be a slightly delayed delivery relative to the phone , so I did my second choice instead. But with the re-order to get the lower price, now the phone is coming the same day as when that first choice case would arrive, but the first choice is now not in stock until 8/27.

So...I ordered that first choice case, and one other case, so I’ll try the 3 and return the 2 I don’t like. 

His Stigness > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 12:38

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What was your first choice?

Textured Soy Protein > His Stigness 08/20/2018 at 12:59

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My first choice was the Poetic Karbon Shield . There was some confusion about delivery date on it so instead I bought the Tudia TAMM in navy blue to have a case to go on the phone day 1 . Then today I bought both the Poetic and the Tudia SKN in smoke gray . Those are arriving on the 30th and 28th, respectively.

Spanfeller is a twat > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 17:04

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I hope you like it! For what I paid for mine it isn’t worth it, but for 250 it’s quite a good price. Now I want a Nokia 6.2

Textured Soy Protein > Spanfeller is a twat 08/20/2018 at 17:12

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I’ve watched a couple video walkthroughs on Android Pie and it looks pretty good at this point. On paper, t he only thing that I feel like it’s really missing for me is image stabilization on the camera. We’ll see how I like it.

( I’ve been wanting to get a Canon G9X Mark II for a truly pocketable camera with a 1" sensor. There are deals on it where it goes down to the $350-375 range. )

Spanfeller is a twat > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 17:14

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I guess some apps can solve that for you. iirc the standard camera app that ships with the Essential is hopeless, so be ready to jump ship into a 3rd party app!

Textured Soy Protein > Spanfeller is a twat 08/20/2018 at 17:17

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I’m planning to try out the Google Camera port. It doesn’t add electronic stabilization to videos in the app, but does provide better still image quality. But like I said, I shoot videos very rarely, and once I get around to buying that G9XII I’ll have that with me as much as possible. Just trying to economize lately since I’ve had some other expenses like the down payment on my wife’s CX-5 and a bunch of airfare to family gatherings I’d rather skip.

Spanfeller is a twat > Textured Soy Protein 08/20/2018 at 17:26

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Well, in that case, the large battery won’t let you down when you inevitably end up playing phone games in said gatherings 

The Dummy Gummy > Textured Soy Protein 08/21/2018 at 11:23

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I think the amount of time it has taken me to read about your phone buying experience is more than the time I’ve taken to decide on phones over the last decade haha.

Glad you’re enjoying the phone. 

Textured Soy Protein > The Dummy Gummy 08/21/2018 at 11:25

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My gadget-buying OCD is strong.

(I’m not enjoying the phone yet, it arrives on Thursday. At some point after that I’ll post a review.) 

gin-san - shitpost specialist > DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back 08/21/2018 at 11:36

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I have the S7 Edge as well, got it a couple of months after it came out. Performance has been great for me (although I use the regular Google loader instead of the Samsung loader) but it’s developed a screen malfuction where there’s a pink line that’s probably 0.5mm think straight down the screen about 1cm from the right edge of the phone. I can generally ignore it but it’s impossible to ignore when watching video.

I’m waiting for Google to put out the Pixel 3 XL and I’ll either get that or a marked-down Pixel 2 XL.

The Dummy Gummy > Textured Soy Protein 08/21/2018 at 11:44

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Oh whoops, I mistook the boat video being from your new phone.

Textured Soy Protein > The Dummy Gummy 08/21/2018 at 11:46

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Yeah t hat’s from my current S7E, to show how the OIS does a good job.