Okay today what I have for everyone is my full written review on the essential phone ph1. I divided this review into categories that I think are important to consider before your making purchase. That being said I hope everyone finds this helpful and let's begin.1. Build Quality and Design- talking about the build quality and design. I have to say essential did a great job there's no rattling or creaking of any kind all the buttons give me a nice tactile and clicky feedback when pressed. The combination of glass and ceramic building materials feel very good in hand and overall the device has a nice solid weight to it. The biggest downside to the overall build quality and designesign is however that those build material choices make the device very very slippery. So a case is almost a must with this purchase luckily there are many choices to choose from in that regard. Other than that the overall build quality and design is top-notch.2. Screen and Display- talking about the display on this device we have a 5.7 inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2560 by 1312 and an overall screen density of 504 pixels per inch. Okay sorry I Geeked out for a minute there. What does all that technical stuff mean? Well it just means you have a really really good display which gets really really bright Outdoors and my experience taking a device outdoors I really ever had to raise the brightness on the display up to more than 50% and also using the device indoors I found that it worked perfectly fine at no more than 10%. Using the device in terms of daily performance it was really really good and I had no issues. So overall the display on this device is one of the best and I'm really really pleased with it.3. Hardware and Software- Now give me a second if you would to run over some more technical aspects and then I'm going to talk to you guys about the software and the daily performance of that software.So in terms of hardware the essential phone is packing 4 gigs of RAM and 128 gigs of internal storage with no micro SD card expansion so that means you cannot add more storage if you're about to run out. Other Hardware internals include we have a Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor in it or a really powerful chipset and an Adreno 540 GPU what does that mean gaming and day-to-day performance should be a breeze. Moving on we have a 3040 milliamp hour battery in this guys. So getting through a day of light to moderate use should be extremely easy but if you're heavy user you will have to charge sometime during the day. Which should be really easy because we have a USB type-c port and it supports fast charging. We have one down-firing speaker on the bottom of the device which gets really really loud and stays very clear throughout not too much bass in this guy but for the location and what it is is pretty good. on the rear of the device up top we have laser auto focus do LED flash and two 13 megapixel cameras 1 primary camera and 1 monochrome camera. Which gives the phone the ability to just about do anything a modern Flagship should be able to do aside from super slow motion videos you guys and gals should really enjoy the cameras on this device I know I did. Jumping to the front of the device up top dead center in the notch yes this phone has enough. We have an 8 megapixel front-facing sensor again capable of 2K video recording or 4K video recording my mistake just like the rear of the device. The front facing camera is really good but it lacks some of the features that the rear facing camera includes those features being portrait mode, 120 frames per second slow motion, monochrome video and monochrome photo, as well as we don't have a front-facing flash on this device. It was to be expected and overall I'm very happy to say that the cameras on this device are really good whether you need to take photos or videos as long as you have the proper lighting you should be good to go. Jumping back on the hardware all we have left up front again is that 5.7 inch display nothing else is on the front and I can really appreciate the fact that essential decided not to include any company branding whatsoever so you have a super clean device which really turns heads when out in public. That does it for the hardware now let's move on to the software. In terms of software we're running a stock version of Google's Android OS in particular will running the latest stock version of the OS in 8.1.0 Oreo LOL I don't know why Google likes to name their OS versions after dessert I don't think those programmers get out too much. But let's move on in terms of the software we really only have a few key features like we have ambient display which lights up the display on your device when you get a notification so there's no need to be constantly checking your device to see if you got any new notifications essential also included a multi-color LED also which will help assist you when knowing if notifications are available. There's also raise to wake so you can wake up the display just by raising the device. They also included a fingerprint sensor gesture because we do have a built-in fingerprint sensor fast and it's capacitive so you don't have to press any buttons you just have to place your finger on the sensor and it should work sorry if I forgot that in the hardware. With that they gave you the ability in the software to swipe down on the fingerprint sensor to control the notification shade so you won't have to worry about swapping from the top of the device to pull down your notification shade you can just swipe down on the fingerprint sensor and you should be good to go. Other than that I have to say in terms of the software it's a pretty much barebones at stock experience which means at least for me I really enjoyed setting up to device exactly the way I like it with no bloat apps to get in my way. Now talking about the software in terms of daily performance. I would have to say that it is really really good opening and closing apps and navigating through the OS it's extremely fluid and fast. And I had no issues with the software no issues whatsoever. Aside from the occasional app slow down when I had a bunch of apps open in the background AKA if you have more than 14 apps open in the background you will get occasional app slow down and app refreshes but that's standard on Flagship Android devices. Aside from that I didn't have any issues with the software and they today performance was top-notch. I was also very happy to see that aside from a Google pixel device essential is right up there when it comes to releasing timely software updates and security patches. So good stuff good stuff indeed moving on.4. Wi-Fi-in terms of Wi-Fi this device isn't quite packing the latest and greatest but it's pretty close. This device has Wi-Fi 802.11bgnac Wi-Fi all that means is that you have access to your 2.4 gigahertz band on your router or your 5 gigahertz band on your router as long as you have a router that supports one of or both of these bands you should be good to go. The overall Wi-Fi performance on this device is top-notch and I had no issues whatsoever so good stuff in terms of Wi-Fi.5. LTE and GSM bands-now I just want to take a second to let everyone know that in terms of LTE bands and carrier support will there be a GSM WCDMA CDMA or otherwise you should be good to go. This device is a globally unlocked device. So what does that mean that means that she out you guys have carrier support for pretty much every carrier in the United States and every GSM carrier abroad and it's a very seamless plug-and-play experience all you have to do is drop your sim card in and you should be good to go. No need to program APNs or do any other type of smartphone trickery or magic so to speak to get your device to work on your carrier. I'm really glad essential decided to make their device globally unlocked in my opinion I feel like we need to have more globally unlocked devices because these devices are a lot of money so why not give your customers the choice to run on any carrier they want. So good job essential. That being said if you think it's too good to be true I encourage you to take a trip over to GSMArena and look up the overall band support for the essential phone for yourself it's always good to know the bands that devices support this way if you plan on Switching carriers or picking up new devices you know whether or not that they have the band supported by your carrier also I recommend you look up the bands that you're so you're not surprised when you pick up said new device. All right let's keep it moving y'all.6. Bluetooth- alright so now I'm very happy to report that the essential phone has the latest version of Bluetooth in it Bluetooth 5.0 so what does that mean that means you'll get more reliable file-sharing when you're sharing files over Bluetooth or you get a more reliable Bluetooth connection when you're using things like Bluetooth speakers or Bluetooth headphones or you connecting to your car via Bluetooth if you have a car that has that built-in functionality. That being said I got to tell you guys in terms of my experience with the Bluetooth it was a joy and I had no issues. That's saying a lot because I have a ton of bluetooth enabled devices Bluetooth speakers Bluetooth headphones. I'm trying to live that hashtag cableless lifestyle y'all. When you're trying to do that having a device that extremely reliable Bluetooth is a must and I'm very happy to report that the Bluetooth on the essential phone is extremely reliable.7. GPS-now let's talk about the GPS in this device and for those of you who don't know. I'm one of those people that is very GPS dependent some would even say I couldn't find my way out of a cardboard box without my GPS. They might be right but I'll never tell them in person. That being said LOL I got to tell you guys the overall GPS performance on this device really really good. Regardless of what I was doing that took advantage of the GPS it worked without issue Weatherby turn-by-turn navigation or geo-tagging I had no issues no issues whatsoever when it comes to the GPS. That being said I'm also happy to report that it locked on within seconds as well so really good stuff in that regard.8. Call Quality and Speakers-alright so now let's talk about the call Quality and the speaker call Quality because this is a cell phone after all or a phone so it needs to be able to cover the important bits. And I'm very happy to report in terms of call Quality who the built-in receiver it was very loud crisp and clear and I had no issues hearing the callers on the other end and they had no issues hearing me. In terms of the speaker calls they were very loud but they lacked a little bit of clarity in my experience but overall I would say they're good. That being said when we talked about the overall quality on this device I have to say overall it's good. That being said I also want to point out that your experiences may vary depending on the carrier that you use particular when I was using this device I tested it on T-Mobile's Network and Straight Talk Verizon's network I had some issues with the coverage on T-Mobile but whatever I had good cell coverage it work without issue that being said on Straight Talk Verizon I had some really really good coverage regardless of where I went and I had no issues.9. Camera user interface-okay so I already touched him with the camera could do earlier so now I just want to go over the user interface for the cameras and let you guys know how I feel about it. So that being said you can launch the camera simply by double tapping the power button on your device and this works from anywhere so what do you device is off in standby or your checking something and the Earth takes a real quick picture hits you all you have to do is double tap the power button and you be at the camera in seconds that's a really really nice touch. Now talking about the interface I have to say that I've seen. There's no need to dive through cluttered menus everything is nicely laid out and where you would expect it to me and I'm very happy to report that with Essentials recent update even if you want to change stuff with the camera like resolutions or recording modes it does not take you out of the viewfinder to do so so if you lined up your perfect shot and then you realized you wanted to make it portrait mode instead no need to jump out of the camera interface to change the mode and then jump back in and have to realign up your shot or if you wanted to take a quick video I'm very happy to report that not only can you line that up and then record but when you switch to the video settings or toggle it doesn't automatically start taking video so you have enough time to line up your video and then press record. Really nice stuff I really like what essential is doing not only with their cameras but with the camera interface as well.10. Gaming performance-all right this is what we talk about the gaming. Now I got to let you guys know up front that I am not a heavy gamer okay. So what does that mean I didn't testout games like Mortal Kombat, Modern Combat, Bullet Force, or Nova 3. I think the most graphically intensive game that I played was Asphalt 8 other than that I'm a Casual Gamer games like Fruit Ninja games like Subway Surfer's. That's me all day and I'm very happy to report that at least when it comes to Casual games you guys shouldn't have any issues and really when you think about the overall tips that that's in this guy if you want to play you more heavy games and graphically demanding games you shouldn't have a any issues either. Again I can only speak to my style and my usage which is light or casual gaming usage which was flawless I didn't have any issues with the games I didn't have any hiccups any slowdowns the device did get a little warm after extended gameplay. Other than that however I had no issues. So gaming on this device was really really good top notch.11. Benchmarks- now this is going to be a real quick category in terms of events marks again we're running the Snapdragon 835 processor and the Adreno 540 GPU which was last year's flagship chipset so the benchmarks performed pretty much where I was expecting them to off the charts if not some of the highest benchmarks that I've seen in awhile. But what I want to emphasize here is benchmarks nowadays mean absolutely nothing what I feel like everyone should be looking out for is the right combination of hardware and software which equates to an overall smooth and fluid user experience. Which equals a good user experience at the end of the day. Which I feel this device delivers in spades. Now let's move on we're almost finish I promise.12. Battery life and charge times-now talking about the overall battery life I have to say that the essential phone was good I was easily able to make it through a 12 to 15 hour work day and make it home what about 10 to 15% on heavy days 15 to 20% on light to moderate days. In terms of screen on time I was able to pull down anywhere from 5 hours of screen on time to 7 hours and 30 minutes of screen on time 8 hours if I really pushed it. So this is again where I would say the battery life was good keep in mind that everybody's results May Vary and I am an extremely heavy user. So depending on your usage Style and what you do with your device your results may be better or worse depending. Now moving on to the charge times I'm very happy to report that this device charges up extremely quicklyperiod on average it was taking me anywhere from an hour and a half to reach a full charge to an hour and 50 minutes to reach a full charge depending on the percentage at which I plugged the guy on to the charger now whenever I didn't charge the full so in instances where I charge to like 80% or 75% then I was getting on average anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour which is pretty good not the best I've seen but pretty good and you guys got to keep in mind this device again has a 3040 milliamp hour battery. So those are some really good charge times and overall battery life was I expecting more? Yes but for what it is it's really really good.13. Price and final thoughts-alright we've made it to the end. Now talking about the price I picked this guy up from Amazon and one thing I want everyone to keep in mind is that I am an Amazon Prime customer so what does that mean? That means that I get free 2-day shipping on all Amazon Prime eligible products. If you're not an Amazon Prime customer you still have to factor in shipping and handling and taxes, but because I am an Amazon Prime customer the only thing I had to worry about at checkout was taxes. That being said I've done a lot of reviews on Amazon and this is one of the first ones where I took advantage of Amazon payment program either the first or second I can't remember but how the payment program works for for eligible customers again let me reiterate and you have to be a prime customer to be eligible but the way it works is. You find a device that is payment plan eligible and at checkout you make your first payment along with paying the taxes then you have to make small monthly payments for 4 months they lay it out in at 5 months increment but because you're doing that first payment at checkout and you're paying the taxes it really comes out to 4 months so you doing 4 months of small monthly payments until the device is paid off. So that being said the full retail price was $500 the monthly payments on that is $100 a month. One thing I want you to keep in mind is that you can pay off the full retail price at any time by calling customer service. And also in terms of the Amazon payment program you can only have one device at a time on the program Okay so if you wanted to get another device on the Amazon Prime payment program you would have to pay off the first device that you have before you can move on. What that being said again this device is available right now today on Amazon for $500 and it is available on the Amazon payment program. So everyone is probably wondering at this point can I recommend this job pick up this device. And I would have to say yes as long as you keep in mind what all you're getting in this device and as long as you feel like you can take full advantage of everything that this device offers then yes I can recommend that you guys pick this up you should have a really in trouble experience. That being said once again I want to say I hope everyone found this review helpful and I hope you have a good evening, night, and or morning. Depending on your location and the time at which you read this review.