Creator of Android Andy Rubin Nears His Comeback, Complete With an 'Essential' Phone (bloomberg.com) 77
From a report on Bloomberg: Rubin, creator of the Android operating system, is planning to marry his background in software with artificial intelligence in a risky business: consumer hardware. Armed with about a 40-person team, filled with recruits from Apple and Google, Rubin is preparing to announce a new company called Essential and serve as its Chief Executive Officer, according to people familiar with the matter. A platform company designed to tie multiple devices together, Essential is working on a suite of consumer hardware products, including ones for the mobile and smart home markets, one of the people said. The centerpiece of the system is a high-end smartphone with a large edge-to-edge screen that lacks a surrounding bezel. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January, Rubin discussed the smartphone with mobile carrier executives, including some from Sprint Corp., people familiar with the talks said. The smartphone, according to the report, would go on sale around the middle of this year and will cost nearly as much as iPhone 7 ($649, off contract).
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And what exactly. is wrong with. that sentence?
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There's a period after "Apple" that shouldn't be there:
"...a 40-person team, filled with recruits from Apple. and Google, Rubin is..."
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You're right. The original submission had Apple Inc. mentioned. I removed the Inc like always but missed the period. Thanks for pointing it out.
No biggie; as editorial mistakes go, that's about as small as they get. :)
If I had a dollar for every editing mistake I've ever made, I'd be writing this response from my private jet on the way to Hooker Island.
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Nothing. If you're. William. Shat.ner.
Will be dead within a year (Score:5, Insightful)
This project will be dead within a year.
This guy parachutes into the middle of the most competitive market in the world, where manufacturers do everything short of killing someone (well... there's Samsung, but I don't think it was intentional) to gain market share, and hopes to take over just because he "made Android"?
Completely delusional.
And he's already arriving late. Alexa is the top dog in home assistants, and many other manufacturers are already moving into the space (HTC, Samsung, Apple, etc).
This guy doesn't have a chance.
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But there's no need to make a phone to do that. Make an app that runs on each platform.
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But there's no need to make a phone to do that. Make an app that runs on each platform.
Let them dream the dream. Own it all. Hardware. Software. Airwaves. User data. Anything less is a failure.
Why can't I watch Amazon Instant Video on my Android phone?
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You really should do the George Costanza tick and doing the exact opposite of what you think it right.
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what does this delusional state of mind have to do with privacy for all practical purposes? my cerebellum wants privacy from the prefrontal cortex?
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or u mean ppl are generally idiots? id agree there
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whatever though it will find its own way around it.first step is admitting the problem.. idk tho but there is seemingly something wrong here. if i misunderstood just ignore . excuse dbl post. kb probs.
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Android or no? (Score:2)
"It's unclear if the devices will run on software based on Android".
Either it's gonna run Android and be swimming in a sea of Android phones, or it's gonna run something else and be dead on arrival.
Re: Android or no? (Score:2)
You just made somebody high up at Microsoft very sad.
slashvertisements (Score:2)
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They chose an appropriate colour. Probably by accident, though.
Artificial intelligience and smart home market (Score:5, Funny)
Me: Essential, unlock the front door and let me in.
Essential smart home: I'm sorry, I can't do that.
Me: Why not? It's freezing out here!
Essential smart home: My sensors detect you've gained some after-Christmas weight. I'm not letting you inside until you go for a nice long walk. No need to thank me for improving your life...that's what I'm here for.
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That intelligent smart-phone doesn't seem very intelligent. It doesn't know what's best for itself. Stupid phone / smart home system.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Edge to edge screen hard for me to use (Score:5, Insightful)
The article talked about their phone have a large screen with no bezel, edge to edge. Am I the only one that thinks that is not desirable? Surely too much of anything is not a good thing. I already have troubles on some phones with small bezels with my fingers activating things on the screen while holding the phone. I'm not a two-thumb person (don't really understand how people can actually use two thumbs at once to type out messages on an onscreen keyboard... I can't do it); I hold the phone in one hand and use my finger of the other hand. The lack of bezel makes this a lot harder!
I just shake my head at where phones are going these days. Super thin and awkward seems to be the destination. No wonder AI is going to be so important in the future to help us use these things!
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There's two possible solutions to the problem: thicker bezels, or software that's better at identifying accidental brushes of the side of your hand.
Seems to be the second option is the better one. And if that happens- why not have a bigger screen on a smaller phone?
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I hold the phone in one hand and use my finger of the other hand.
A fun game of "spot the Apple user" =)
The rest of us use Swype, SwiftKey, or use the stock Android that follows the same entry method at those. I haven't tap-typed since 2010.
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iPhones can use the swype, swiftkey and 100 other keyboards too.
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I TouchPal shrunk and centered, I can't find any other keyboard that allows that, but it's still annoying because it keeps wanting to jump to one of the edges.
Also, my phone has a top and bottom area. I wouldn't mind losing the top area, but the bottom has a little bit of space for a physical button (no, it's not an iPhone), and that space also lets me type comfortably.
I wouldn't mind full left, I right, and top screen, but the bottom is very helpful, and I really wish there was a keyboard that locked to 75
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Are you suggesting that GP is 'holding it wrong'?
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Umm, nope. Not even close. I have been swiping since the beginning. Still don't understand how people use thumbs though. I swipe with my finger.
By the way, Google's keyboard is getting worse and worse at finding the correct word to match my swipe. About ready to switch back to Swype.
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Yeah, just giving you some crap. Haha.
And I would agree, Google's keyboard isn't that good. The others still have issues. My biggest frustration is I'll swipe a word in, it'll be WAY wrong, to the point that the other suggestions aren't close either. Delete the word, re-swipe, and it'll put the same damn word on there. You'd think that would make it into the logic somewhere: "If user just delete this word don't put it up as the next word".
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Yeah for sure. I've often thought that as well. At least Google does allow you to remove suggestions now. Part of Google's problem comes from having such a large dictionary full of colloquial words and names that I'll never use.
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Haven't tried any of those - they any good?
Typing out words lets me make sure that some "intelligent software" doesn't try to wrongly guess what I'm typing, and constantly requiring me to change dictionary depending on what language I'm using - if things got beyond the stage of constant obstruction, I'd be willing to give it a go.
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Added bonus: typing out words doesn't require using an app that's effectively a keylogger that must talk to remote servers in order to function.
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Everyone puts their phone in case, so that adds a bezel.
To the contrary - the edge of the case, even on phones with a thin bezel - prevents the edges of the screens from being used. This always gets me with text selection on Android.
With no bezel, you can't have a case wrap around the top edge. From the perspective of selling screens and replacement phones it's a fabulous idea.
Another startup (Score:4, Funny)
Trust (Score:3)
Why bother with the announce of an announce ? (Score:2)
Why not simply wait for the announce ?
I don't see Slashdot as a place overflowing with excitable kids. I may be wrong.
Re: Why bother with the announce of an announce ? (Score:2)
Competing with Microsoft (Score:2)
Android? (Score:2)
It's a crowded market.
Give me a WebOS phone with a real keyboard, and I'll be happy to wait in line all night for it.
(I don't even care about the lack of third party apps. Well, except for the crap HP pulled when they hobbled the Google Maps app, and replaced it with Bing Maps.)
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It's a crowded market.
Give me a WebOS phone with a real keyboard, and I'll be happy to wait in line all night for it.
(I don't even care about the lack of third party apps. Well, except for the crap HP pulled when they hobbled the Google Maps app, and replaced it with Bing Maps.)
Sure, but allow me to get off your lawn first
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In the meantime, there's LuneOS [pivotce.com], which is crying out for developers to port it to YOUR smartphone.
A Phablet. Great - no-one makes those. (Score:1)
This guy's phones used to be thick, robust and a reasonable size ( 4.5" ) and lots of people liked that size 'cos it fit safely in their back trouser pocket and could be sat upon without breaking.
But now every $%^&ing sheep of a manufacturer makes enormous, thin, fragile phablets that don't fit anywhere.
And now he's going to break the mould by making ... another thin phablet.
I hope they all break.
Well, I don't have to hope.
Port (Score:3)
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Nah, only if the large battery is removable, and it also has an SD slot, a CD drive, and a SCSI port.
Am I the only one... (Score:1)
...who doesn't give a damn about a bezel-less screen and would like to see battery life improvements, or anything more useful than this big-screen crap ?
Another large "phone" (Score:2)
It's a small tablet with a phone functionality added on. Will someone please make a phone size phone without penalizing the buyer by removing features (looking at you Apple!).
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Just out of curiosity, which Apple phone penalizes the buyer by removing features? Other than the iPhone 7 and the missing headphone jack, obviously.
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The Plus models have better cameras at the very least. The SE is missing a number of features including touch support. I would like Apple to bring out a set of phones that all have the same features and the only difference between them is the screen size.
Right now I'm using the 5s because I won't upgrade to the SE as I consider it to be crippled due to all of the missing features. The only reason for excluding features are marketing and not technological. I want the smaller phone because I need to use it
OH MY GOD (Score:2)
"The centerpiece of the system is a high-end smartphone with a large edge-to-edge screen that lacks a surrounding bezel."
Oh my GOD!! A phone without a bezel! I must buy one IMMEDIATELY!!!!
Suck it, all you outdated "phone-with-bezel" peasants!!
Good for you buddy (Score:2)
Fair play. Not an easy mission but...
There's plenty of scope for disruption!
I for one am pretty lacking in what I look for in a phone.
The market is not serving me in the following areas:
- user replaceable batteries and generally making a land rover phone future proof
- branded dependability with the likes of cyanogenmod that allows me to choose hardware freely
- headphone jack
- privacy capable hardware on which hackers can build solutions upon
- yet despite being accessible, you can still use stuff like (but n
essential = 2012-2014 "brick" phones (Score:2)
seriously. they do essential with better quality audio. the new huge screens galaxy whatevers seriously lack here due to amplifier on same chip as cpu? i dunno but sound quality is a factor for me.