The Essential PH-1 was released August 2017. I bought one shortly there after and still use it to this day. Today Essential (the company) announced it is done and will cease operations. Regardless of what you think of Essential or the PH-1 they were the update kings. My PH-1 would get the monthly updates the same day as Google Pixel phones. It was astonishing to watch over the years.
Andy Rubin spearheaded Essential Inc. He had a little rocky past with Google but none the less created a great company. Last year they announced the "GEM" phone which was... different to say the least. They now state that it was not going to work and they are done.All updates are done for the PH-1 :) I will miss you timely monthly updates.
I bought the 360 degree camera when it was on sale for $25 and it has some flaws but it is glorious.
To recap everything that is going away:
PH1 will no longer receive any updates
Essentials 2nd phone "GEM" will not get released
Newton Mail will shut down May 1st. Essential bought Cloud Magic in 2018
Essential Home will never see the light of day. The Smart Home Speaker announced in 2017.
Here was what the GEM phone would have looked like:
