PERFORMANCE: While the Essential Phone garners some high scores, many others score better. This phone could still be a good budget choice if you can get it at a good price or if you need only a basic smartphone. Ergonomics on the Phone were very good. While not the best, the touchscreen was very good and it is easy to use. You should be able to get comfortable using this smartphone very quickly. Call quality and convenience on the Phone were not the best but they were very good. Sound while on a call was very good in a quiet room and with background noise. Your sound quality will vary due to many factors including background noise, if you are moving between cell towers, the quality of the phone on the other end of the call, and the quality of the cell tower and antenna.
DURABILITY: After 50 drops in the tumbler, our experts rated it as excellent. The phone had some minor scratches. Overall, it was in good working condition. After our more strenuous 100 drops in the tumbler the screen and body are bruised but not broken. Our experts rated it as good. The phone was slighty damaged with a gap between the display and frame. Overall it was still in working condition.
PORTABILITY/BATTERY: The 5.7-inch screen on the Phone comes in a body measuring 5.6-inches tall, 2.8-inches wide, 0.3-inches thick, and weighs 6.4 ounces. Those measurements mean the phone is shorter than most and also the phone is heavier than most. At 12.5 hours, it is among the shortest battery lifespans we tested. Its battery is not removable and the phone doesn't support wireless charging.
CAMERA: The main rear camera on the Essential Phone measures 13-megapixels. The camera does not have optical image stabilization so handheld photos in low light may be blurrier than cameras with optical image stabilization. Overall the camera performance was good, below that of many other models but still good enough for most users to capture fine still shots. Images are evaluated on high quality LCD displays. The test photos are taken in a brightly lit studio and outdoors on a sunny day. In the viewing tests the images were rated good overall. These images offer acceptable results for color quality, exposure level, sharpness, and image noise but the images are not among the better cameras on smartphones. The Phone comes with a 8.3-megapixel selfie cam. Overall the selfie camera quality was very good.
DISPLAY: Overall the display quality was excellent. The display resolution was high enough, close to or greater than 300dpi, so you see a smooth, crisp display. If the display does have a higher resolution, most people will not be able to tell the difference. Readability outdoors is a combination of brightness, measured in candelas per square meter, and reflectivity. The readability rating was excellent. The brightness level measured 1 meter from the screen was a very high 600cd/m² and reflective glare was minimal.
