The Essential Phone is effectively discontinued

An already rough year for smartphone startup Essential appears to be ending on a sour note. Droid Life spotted that the company's flagship Essential Phone, also known as the PH-1, is out of stock and won't be coming back. The company has confirmed th...

Essential will restore your headphone jack for $149

Did you say you would pay anything to put a headphone jack on a phone where it was painfully absent? Essential wants you to prove it. The startup has released its long-discussed magnetic headphone jack adapter (now called the Audio Adapter HD) for...

Essential is working to fix its sluggish touchscreens

The Essential Phone launched last August, but five months later, there are still some issues with the phone that remain unfixed. One of those is the lagging touch latency. If you have a PH-1, though, know that Essential hasn't forgotten about the pro...

Essential Phone sends 360-degree live video to Facebook and YouTube

Essential has been racing to improve the (frankly lackluster) camera software on its phone ever since launch, and now those upgrades are showering affection on the handset's signature 360 Camera attachment. Andy Rubin's outfit is delivering an update...

The best phones under $500

Phone makers are trying to outdo one another by racing to add new, advanced features to their flagships, but these tools are not equally useful. Who really needs Face ID, Animoji or eye-sensing authentication? Some of us just want a good, no-frills p...