Andy Rubin, the cofounder of Android, departed Google in 2014 to go on and start his own smartphone company, Essential. Rubin first gave us a clue at what he would be working on when he announced in January that he wanted Essential to create a premium smartphone with a bezel-less edge-to-edge display.
Well today, Rubin dangled his new phone in front of us all, giving his almost 100,000 Twitter followers something to drool and ponder over. The smartphone, which "lacks a surrounding bezel," looks to be like one sleek pink surface. The Verge even speculates that there is "a cutout on top for a speaker," and there is definitely a button along the side of the device, possibly for volume control.
The phone that has yet-to-be-named is the first sneak peek into what Rubin and his "40-person team, filled with recruits from Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google," according to an earlier Bloomberg report, are up to. It's assumed that the Essential phone will run some version of the Android operating system.
According to TechCrunch, Essential has been focusing on creating "iPhone killers," and have been making efforts to raise a significant amount of funding to create its high-end devices. This comes after Softbank, the Japanese telecom and internet corporation, scrapped a deal with the Android cofounder's startup for $100 million. Reportedly, Softbank was worried about ruining its relationship with Apple, whom the investor company has close ties with.
All in all, going against Apple will be a tough one, but I'm excited to see what Rubin dangles in front of us next.
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