Essential Phone PH-1 review: Andy Rubin's 2017 modular flagship with a titanium frame and ceramic back.
Andy Rubin's ambitious comeback.
Essential Phone was the Android co-creator's ambitious 2017 comeback — a titanium-ceramic flagship with one of the first notched displays and magnetic modular accessory pins. The unbreakable build was real; the camera and Mod ecosystem disappointed. A landmark "what could have been".
01Display
74/10074/100 is one of the weaker display results among flagship phones of 2017 — 6 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
62/10062/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2017 — 7 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
03Performance
76/10076/100 trails the 81-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2017.
04Battery
60/10060/100 is one of the weaker battery results among flagship phones of 2017 — 9 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
84/10084/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2017.
06Value
66/10066/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2017.
- Titanium frame + ceramic back — virtually unbreakable.
- Magnetic accessory pins for snap-on Mods.
- Edge-to-edge display with notch (early adopter).
- Stock Android with timely updates.
- Mono speaker, no jack.
- Average camera launched buggy.
- Mod ecosystem barely materialised.
- Andy Rubin controversy hurt sales.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 2-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .