back to article Essential's Rubin coy on mysterious Plan to Take Over the Universe

With Apple playing catchup to Samsung, the big phone story of the year belongs to Essential. And the big story with Essential isn't really the phone. It's a combination of starpower - founder Andy Rubin created Android and his Essential co-founders Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt created the Sidekick - and the huge investment he …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There might be life in this

    That is, if they can get the box makers (Honeywell, appliance makers, security systems makers, some entertainment systems etc) to sign up. Those companies don't stand a chance of coming up with their own UI - or nothing that will be any good, or endure. And faced with products like Alexa and Nest, they would probably welcome somebody else unifying things through a comms hub with a nice UI, in a way that doesn't threaten their core business, but relieves them of the tricky UI software and interlinking aspects.

    Personally, I'm still not buying the IoT pitch, so I won't be in the queue here, but Rubin and buddies are smart guys with a track record, and they know that they can't take the big tech companies head on. With product makers worrying that Google and Amazon will shit on them, they might see this as well worth playing ball with.

  2. Lysenko

    Apple is a walled garden, Google relentlessly snoops and flogs data/adverts to the likes of Amazon who are determined to sell you stuff all the time. There is an open goal here for a solution that is hardware vendor agnostic (exit Apple, stage left) and doesn't act as a data harvesting or advertising platform (exit the other two). Position the platform correctly and there isn't really any competition besides a Raspberry Pi running OpenHAB (strictly "enthusiast" territory).

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      > There is an open goal here for a solution that is hardware vendor agnostic (exit Apple, stage left)

      Apple HomeKit does work with 3rd party stuff but, from what I've read, the issue is that Apple take a while to certify 3rd party hardware, charge the vendor for the privilege, and haven't done much on the UI front. Oh, there's something about needing an Apple TV in addition to an iOS device, too. On the plus side though, HomeKit-certified stuff is said to be pretty secure.

  3. Camilla Smythe

    "Be the first to order yours."

    https://www.essential.com/#specifications

    Huh? What if someone has already ordered mine for me?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Be the first to order yours."

      Huh? What if someone has already ordered mine for me?

      Well, if your details were on Equifax's database, they probably already have, and it's now "out for delivery" to an address in eastern Ukraine.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iFixit

    The teardown of the Ph1 basically said "not really repairable" (1 out of 10).

    Though the outcome isn't really significant I'm voting with my wallet on consumer stuff from now on - no repair no sale. Though it looks as if I may not have much choice of phone in a couple of years...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iFixit

      I'm with you, but I think its a case of biting the bullet, and accepting that small consumer electronics have short lives anyway, primarily from simple obsolescence, or from lack of software support.

      As an example, I've got a 2012 Nexus 7. I can replace the screen, the battery, its in working order, but it is sooooo sllloooooooowwwww that it is unusable, and is stuck on geriatric software that leaves it vulnerable to a whole host of bugs. I could root and load some newer OS, but that would only maker it even slower.

      From a recycling perspective the method of assembly doesn't matter. What I should have done with the Nexus is flogged it as soon as a better one came out, and in turn flogged that eighteen months later. Let somebody else get the last bit of utility, and they can then dispose of it. Goes against my "buy-own-keep-maintain" philosophy, but that just doesn't work very well with small tech products.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: iFixit

        From a recycling perspective (as opposed to a repair perspective) glues are better than screws. Screens (where the nasties are often found) and SoCs (where the valuables live) can be more easily separated en masse for a batch of gadgets by use of an oven. The bulk metals and plastics in the cases and chassis can be separated after shredding.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: iFixit

          Screens and SoCs can be more easily separated en masse for a batch of gadgets by use of an oven

          I got the impression from the videos I've seen that they just shred the whole lot.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: iFixit

        It's a 5 year old tablet, it's beyond its working life. That said the 2023 Nexus7 was better specd and still works pretty reasonably....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who in their right mind wants IOT in their home.....

    ....and that's BEFORE we get to integrating it all with this!

    *

    Many IOT devices available have limited or no security...and consumers don't seem to care.

    *

    And the name ESSENTIAL tells you everything you need to know...."cool", bleeding edge...and dangerous when adopted by millions.

    *

    Am I the only person in the world who knows this will end in tears?

  6. Pedigree-Pete
    Joke

    Try to take over the world.

    I think I know which one is The Brain but which of the other 2 is Pinky?

    http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/ca/ca1e82814fbabf4703590d43509c7f4c2c1ce2403a1e634162043cef0a894c7f.jpg

    PP

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