yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Bryan K:
2 month review

I am not sure if this topic was already mentioned, I'm stating my opinion on the Ph-1 after 2 months of usage.

The concept behind the Essential PH-1 is great, some of us are just looking for a simple phone that is not swallowing itself with bulge of added software that are never going to be used.

After years of looking for a new smartphone, I found the PH-1, the perfect fit.

The PH-1 was marketed for its unique design and material used, not so much for its user-interface, which is the most important aspect of a smartphone.

Pros:

It's not a phone wannabe that is blown out of proportion being directly related to something that no one has ever heard of and that constantly reminds you of what it stands for.

The PH-1 is a simple device that is just being a smartphone. (True Love)

The materials used on the PH-1 removes your worries about scratches here and there.

The design and the feeling of holding the phone is just different.

The ability for the user to choose the apps they are actually going to use, gives you more flexibility over having to navigate through masses of icons that you are never going to be used.

Cons:

the battery was efficient for a couple of month, having a constant depleting/charging rate

2 months later the battery is being drained stupidly fast without being used, and charging has slowed down.

The 360 camera magnets should have been built-to-order. not everyone needs magnets on their phone. (Business is Business)

The user interface is the most stubborn interface I have seen

The highlighted menu bar on the home screen hides part of the display and it doesn't suit what the PH-1 stands for. Why not have the ability to activate/de-activate it?

The lock screen is highlighted by the clock in the middle of the display and the background display overshadowed. (Again, why not have it as an option)

The notification bar does not scroll down from the first time, it bounces right back up, after a few tries it you'll get it.

The lock screen also bounces whenever you try to unlock it until a few tries where you can actually unlock it.

The position and quality of the speaker. The sound is either too low or too high, there is no middle alternative.

When the phone is rotated the sound of the speaker is often isolated by how the phone is held.

The only application that the PH-1 should have integrated in the hardware is the camera with current tech sensors. A camera application doesn't do justice for this era of smartphones.

You can't record a proper stable video without having shakes embedded in the video.

The Essential company's ideology of the phone is great but could be greatly improved.

Looking forward to see what essential comes up with next.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Wolfhawke:
I can honestly say that with the Beta 8.1 over the last couple of weeks I've fallen in love with this phone. Little to no crapware/bloatware on the phone (unlocked version) it performs solidly better than any other phone I've had (including the moto g series and Honor 5x) and I've not had the urge to root and install a flavor of AOSP yet (which is unusual). For average joe user, this is a great phone! I've not seen the flicker on slow scroll yet though I've heard that there have been some issues with it, along with some speakerphone issues that don't seem to affect my phone.

I did buy a bumper case for it though as the slippery backside makes it a little hard to hold. Will probably get either the Poetic case or the Tudia tough case when I get a chance.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] sactownbully84:
Love my Halo gray ph1 . especially since the official 8.1update....only issue is that my sanyo sound bar will not connect nor show up as recognized on this phone since the oreo update...when I initially purchased the phone w. Nougat it connected just fine....other than that. The camera works great ...no screen stutter and no other "common" Issues that the forums claim to have with this phone
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] sheraz1015:
i am using this phone , simply love it . after the update of oreo had few bugs but later have gone this day .. fully satisfied with the mobile .
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] haevolution:
Still loving mine, especially after the Oreo update.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] CaptainElwood:
After the oreo update I gave my pixel 2 xl to my mom and now use the ph-1 full time. This phone is now what it should have been at release, which makes me think that the ph-2 might just be good enough to actually have the market penetration that this phone never got due to the problematic release. My only problems with the phone now are the mediocre reception, no wifi calling on verizon (wouldnt be needed if the reception was better), and finally after updating to 8.1 it no longer connects to my car (although my pixel 2 xl on 8.1 doesnt connect either). Even with those problems I still love this phone, possibly the best android phone I have ever used.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] GroovyBear:
I am sensing a renaissance of the PH-1. The recent flash sale for $250 and the update to Oreo has brought new life to the PH-1 community.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] dazeone:
Got my ph-1 going on 2 weeks now and I'm amazed by it. Unique design is nice. Camera is ok to good if using Gcam port. Battery is really good for it being QHD+ and Lcd. Performance is great and being in Android P beta is a plus. I got the essential for it's design. Big screen in a small device. I came from the 6p. I think essential would have become something if camera was close to Pixel quality and it was advertised more.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] monster1612:
I've had this bad boy for a little over a week. This thing is phenomenal. Well worth the Prime Day price of $250. The only thing is that it tends to overheat when you use the 4k camera or plug it into a charger.

Also, the fact that I got it out of the box and it was ready to jump straight from Nougat to Pie 30 minutes later is phenomenal.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] droidstyle:
agreed..this phone was a steal at 250.00. I luv it!!!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] mfrey0118:
I was watching this phone on Amazon for months, reading every review. I love idea of stock android, and my suspicion is that this phone isn't nearly as much of a privacy dumpster fire as are phones from major manufacturers, which would make the bad reviews from popular tech sites predictable, as they want us to give up our info as much as possible.

Anyway, I have an S7, and while it is a perfectly good device, it is 2016, and on Android 7. I decided against updating to 8.0 as I was reading about many issues with the update.

I finally decided to pull the trigger on the PH-1 Friday and I've been playing around with it since yesterday.

Phone is very nice looking, solid in the hands. I like the titanium band on the sides and the large screen. Screen is definitely brighter than the S7 and has better contrast for bright environments.

So far, this phone is fast. No lag whatsoever, the data connection and wifi are faster than the S7. Installing apps is a breeze, they download very quickly and install almost instantly.

One of the major complaints in the reviews of the PH-1 was signal quality. I am a Straight Talk customer and I use Verizon network. I popped my SIM card in from my S7, and switched the data connection to 4G/LTE and it works. In fact, I have better signal quality in my house than I did with the S7.

Another major complaint is the camera. While I can already tell that it's not as good as the S7's, it is perfectly usable and really not as bad as people have said it is. I have ported a gcam mod and it works well. The two things I miss about the S7 are the low light capabilities, and the hand-gesture selfie timer, which is a really cool feature and I wish it was available on this device.

The audio quality is noticeably better via wired headphones than my S7. Fidelity, range, frequency response, etc are all improved. Speaker is loud, a bit louder than the S7 and neither are anything to brag about in the sound quality department.

Battery life so far seems good, although I haven't really put it to the test. The S7 was ok, but time will tell if the PH-1 is an upgrade.

Call quality seems fine, people have told me my voice sounds loud and clear.

I got this bad boy for $309 on Amazon with a $50 discount for some customer service BS they pulled on me a few weeks ago so for around $275 total this phone is definitely worth it.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] sruel3216:
Bought this phone the other week when I had to send my pixel 2 xl in for an RMA. Scrolling jitter was annoying at first but I have seemed to iron that out for the most part with build.prop and kernel gpu set to performance. I love the build quality and the screen. I get my pixel 2 back tomorrow but I'm starting to like this phone more than the 2 XL. The 2 xl is just a little bit smoother (performance is #1 for me). I'm not sure if I'll sell my 2 XL now, return essential, or just keep both. I like the 2 xl for a few features this doesn't have. Ahhh the dilemma haha
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XeoNoX:
Updated very frequent, its why i bought the phone, its a steal for the price they are selling it for when its under$300. Too bad essential messed up the Launch, they have worked out alot of bugs over time and if you update the phone to the latest firmware the phone works very very good. i am overly please with this phone for the $200 i got it for, this phone is like that of a 400-500 phone. had some small issues on tmobile initially in the greater los angles area but i changed a few settings in the phone and works GREAT. for anyone that wants to try the settings https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=78257293&postcount=12
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] CamoGeko:
This is why I love this phone...
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Bobbaloo:
Very nice.

What rom/kernel are you running?
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] CamoGeko:
Cheers. :good:

CandyROM beta1.0 AOSP + Artemis kernel.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Bobbaloo:
Very nice. I've gotten great results with AOSiP and illusion. Candy is HMP? - edited, EAS. I think I'm going to try
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] RisingNoob:
Hey guys, I'm looking for a new phone used and was comparing the Essential Phone with the Xiaomi Mi 6. Which one do you think it's best? Till this moment I'm inclined to the Essesntial...

---------- Post added at 10:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 PM ----------

Really? I noticed you develop the AICP, thought would be using that one.

WHen can I find Artemis kernel?
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] EdwardUnderwood:
I'm so lonely(((
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
You're a power user. Can the Essential Phone keep up? Rate this thread to express how "healthy" the development scene is for the Essential Phone. A higher rating indicates available root methods, kernels, and custom ROMs.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XeoNoX:
Updated very frequent, its why i bought the phone, its a steal for the price they are selling it for when its under$300. Too bad essentail messed up the Launch, they have worked out alot of bugs over time and if you update the phone to the latest firmware the phone works very very good. i am overly please with this phone for the $200 i got it for, this phone is like that of a 400-500 phone.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
Would you say that the Essential Phone is "fast" in day-to-day use? A higher rating indicates that you think the Essential Phone exhibits fantastic performance. Like, is it as fast as your tears when you watch The Titanic?

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] tech_head:
I'm getting ran Antutu and am seeing 173K, but only when the phone has been sitting idle.

If anything has been running it drops to 150K.

If it's warm or you have been running games that are compute intensive, the phone will throttle down to 120K.

Thermal throttling is way aggressive on this device.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] andril:
I believe software updates can make it a easy 5
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] p51d007:
Just got one since the price dropped on Amazon. Right now, it's a backup phone, but playing around with

it, it's LIGHTNING fast. I use Nova Prime for the launcher. Screen is clear as a bell!
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] met3ora:
Has anyone played the GREAT PSP puzzler Lumines? If not, I suggest you all play this flash clone here http://www.gamesforwork.com/games/play-7737-Ryokan-Flash_Game .

I was wondering if anyone was developing a mobile version of this game? This is an absolutely amazing game. The music and graphics are a sight to behold, and the gameplay is as addicting as ever. Some go as far as saying it's the new Tetris.
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] jhendrickson:
It would be awesome to get a port for this game. I have it on PSP and also on Xbox 360 (Live download). Great game!
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] Azimuth21:
I Hear you. I've been looking for Lumines for the longest time, even trying to play the flash variants on my phone (too slow). Actually, i was thinking a Meteos clone would be even better, but no one has even tried to tackle that, so I've pretty much given up on it, lol. Anyway, i think i found what you want, I haven't tested it yet but it is FREEWARE, which is always great

http://www.zielok.com/?action=onegame&game=samulos

Hope it works

[edit]

ok i tested it just now, initially i was superexcited because it seemed to be just like Lumines. however, the difference is that, you know that sweeping line that clears up the combos? it's gone. it's replaced by a timer, and all combos disappear when the timer reaches zero. kinda removes some of the fun, trying to toss in more blocks before the line clears it away, but other than that it's a great way to satiate my PSP envy.
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] aih1977:
cab file

i have made a cab.
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] met3ora:
Ahh close, but it's not quite Lumines.

Is anyone working on a clone? Or even a port, since apparently it's open source and out for PC?
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] los1223:
Check out Loomies. I haven't tried it but looks like the original.
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] wapvirus:
This is the version from w800i it's 240x320 and works with latest jbed
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] bc040695:
but it gets stuck at the "activate sound" page for lumines.zip. can anyone tell me how to get across that page.
[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] Polargoat:
like los1223 posted Loomies is a clone of Lumines. Sad part is its not free. Link to the Loomies site http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=13963&section=PPC
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
OMG! Kim K posted another selfie with tons of cleavage! Rate this thread to express how quickly apps launch on the Essential Phone. A higher rating indicates that even the most intensive apps launch quickly and without hesitation, even if they are no longer in RAM.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] matistight:
Now that you mention it, apps open up pretty quick. Nothing out of the normal when compared to all the other SnapDragon 835/845 devices, but still not too bad. Gets the job done for sure. On Android Pie.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
You're busy and don't have time to wait, which is why you need to stop reading this thread and get back to organizing your Pogs. Rate this thread to express how the Essential Phone performs when multitasking. A higher rating indicates that the Essential Phone keeps many apps in memory so that they don't need to reload, and that when moving between apps, transitions are smooth and performance is excellent.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] jfoj:
I am usually a RAM whore. Not happy that devices always seem to come up short on RAM. I would prefer to have 8 GB vs the 4 GB that most phones have.

While I have hand not problems with this phone yet and what Apps I have been running, I have yet to run Waze, my Valentine One App, Pandora, an OBDII App and text or email at the same time! This will be the test!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] cappysw10:
8Gb is overkill

The way Android handles the RAM, 8gb is overkill IMHO. It would be nice to have and maybe in a future phone that has two screens. Right now 4gb is fine.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] GuestK00434:
The PH-1 does much better with ram than my Moto X Pure did. Haven't had much reload at all!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
Some phones exhibit choppy scrolling, especially when navigating long web pages when multiple apps are running in the background. Rate this thread to express how you smooth scrolling feels on the Essential Phone under such conditions. A higher rating indicates that scrolling is always buttery smooth, even when you're reading a 10,000 word article on "how to kiss a girl".

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] ajaykumar.p:
It is choppy and freezes a lot. I did not expect this from a highend phone
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] ecstaticnoodle:
Mine has a slight chop to it especially if there are ads and pictures in the article. Usually it is fine.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] ZBell:
My first device ran pretty smooth, but after 2 months the fingerprint scanner stopped working. I received a replacement unit this week and this just runs horribly. I don't know if this is a touchscreen issue or software. Scrolling through Youtube or a web page will seem to just hang and not move. The other day the phone just hung in the launcher. I'm getting more disappointed with this on a daily basis. I'm almost tempted to install the Oreo beta just to see if that improves things.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Ascertion:
Scrolling is hands down much smoother on my 2 year old Nexus 5x. Hoping Essential can fix it. It's been choppy on all of the stock-based ROMs. AOSP/custom ROMs appears to be really smooth.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] lbcary:
If you're rooted try a kernel control app & switch the gpu governor to CPU freq, userspace, or performance. That worked well for me. Especially cpu freq & performance.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] seabro01:
Scrolling has been smooth on open beta 2 and 3.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] mhajii210:
GPU governor

Touch scrolling is very choppy on my device. Even the app drawer is choppy as hell. I was on OB3 and it was the same. The only fix for me on all ROMs is to set GPU governor to cpufreq or performance (which I believe are similar in keeping GPU clock mostly at max). In the past Lineage 14.1 was super smooth, but for some reason all Oreo based ROMs are just as choppy as stock. Fortunately, the GPU governor tweak works great until Essential finally releases a fix. I'll believe it when I see it. If the GPU governor tweak didn't work, I would have moved on to a different device.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Toyeboy:
I thought it was really smooth with the GPU performance governor until I used my friend's Note 8. That thing has some smooth scrolling.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] cadbomb:
This device has horrible scrolling stutter that doesn't seem will be resolved anytime before I pick up the OP6. It's unfortunate that there isn't a fix for this problem, despite having released supposed fixes. I miss the OP3, never had a single issue.

If you like a buttery smooth and readable/responsive experience, pick any other phone. This won't give it to you.

On beta 3 stock, never rooted.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] MaulingDeOso:
I don't own the phone, but I read about the issue, and this sort of thing has really bugged me in the past. I'm curious: has anyone tested the refresh rate by going to vsynctester.com in Chrome? I wonder if the refresh rate is significantly off the reported value and resulting in an asynchronicity of sorts.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] arpitp:
Haven't used this site before, but on my phone, it's reporting 60.3-60.7 Hz refresh rate, on a 60.7 Hz screen. The word on the right generally stays grey with only 1-2 flashes of blue or red.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] MaulingDeOso:
That’s not perfect, but it’s not too off the mark. I was expecting something like 55 or 65hz if it were to be the source of the stuttering. It’s gotta be something else causing it, then.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] spmcd9:
I'm running 8.1 Beta and the only place I notice a slight choppiness is on my Google Feed page. Very smooth everywhere else.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Eiad Ajam:
I am on beta 8.1 already, the phone is not that smooth compared to my pixel 2 XL.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] gflexstump:
on Los 15.1 03/10/2018 and is buttery smooooooooooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] JBlaze05:
For anyone who sees this and runs latest stock rom as of this reply, how is scrolling smoothness now? I am considering getting this phone for a relative but they come from a Nexus 6P and with that, smooth scrolling so switching to something like the PH-1 and have choppy scrolling. Is it any better than before?
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] NikoZBK:
I'm on P beta 2, scrolling jitter/frame drops are still there. Coming from a Nexus 6P I'm sure they will notice it.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] JBlaze05:
What about latest 8.1 build?
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] crixley:
It is an issue with the screen/digitizer so it is never going to get fixed. You can either up the responsiveness and get jitters or make it smooth but very unresponsive.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] JBlaze05:
Really? that sucks. so as mentioned before my relative was using a 6P, got a amazon edition moto g4 play as a temporary phone a year back since they broke the 6P, but its time for something new. I dont want them to spend much on a new phone, but something with smooth scrolling is pretty much a must. I looked at the nokia lineup but i was surprised to see that their software just isnt as fluid as something like the newer moto G lineup. But the general consensus is that I would prefer my relative to have a phone with stock or extremely close to stock android, but it has to be fluid. Thoughts and suggestions?
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] crixley:
It really isn't that bad honestly, I'm pretty used to it. Other than that and the camera it really is an awesome phone.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] NikoZBK:
If your relative wouldn't mind a refurbished or used phone, I would go with the original Pixel XL. I recently got my sister a refurb Pixel XL for ~$270 and it works flawlessly, your mileage may vary of course.
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] :
I've noticed the same thing I've noticed on all my Android devices.... It depends largely on the app being used and sometimes how burdened the device is by other background processes.

In general mine is very smooth.... Nearly as smooth as the phone itself ?
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] JBlaze05:
In the end i told my relative to jump on the prime day deal. i went to their house to help them set it up and everything, and while the 7.1.2 build was meh in smoothness, the 8.1 update really did make it so much better. overall for 250$ id say easily the best purchase you could make for a phone that day
[Essential Phone Real Life Review] Saaber:
I agree! Mine's very smooth. I came from a Moto X4, which was smooth overall, but if I had it running one of Google's live wallpapers from the Pixel 2, it stuttered badly when scrolling over to the Google news feed and scrolling through that. My new Essential Phone on 8.1 handles all of that very smoothly. Scrolling through emails and webpages is equally smooth, especially since it's not trying to render a live wallpaper in the background.