Last night, just as we were passing out here on the west coast, Essential started emailing those who made a reservation for the device, letting them know that they could now place an order and receive their phone within 7 days. A bunch of our readers confirmed that they received the emails, with a few even dropping the $699 immediately to ensure their order was one of the first.
This is what the email looked like and also the order confirmation screen:
Unfortunately for some of us, those emails came later and with a different kind of note. You see, the only version of the Essential Phone that is ready for order right now is the Black Moon color, not the Pure White. If you reserved Black Moon, you really should have seen an email already with instructions on how to purchase. If you went for Pure White, then you also should have seen an email, only it looks like this and tells you that Black Moon is the only version shipping within 7 days. The Pure White model won’t be ready for “a couple of weeks.”
Finally, as you may have already figured out, the only people who are allowed to buy the phone at the moment are those who reserved one. If you are just now jumping on the Essential bandwagon, you are likely out of luck at the moment. Essential hasn’t opened up general orders by any means – this is a reservation ordering period only.
To put it simply, if you want Black Moon and reserved the Essential Phone, you can buy one right now. Go check your inbox. If you wanted Pure White, that’s just not ready yet. If you don’t want to wait for it to become available and instead will be satisfied with Black Moon, you can email Essential at the address listed above to have your order changed. If you failed to get in on the early reservations, well, you’ve got more time to wait.
Mind you, this is all happening without Essential actually announcing anything. At this point, I’m assuming they’ll make some form of announcement today, though it’s impossible to tell with these guys.
But yeah, you can buy the Essential Phone! Well, some of you can.
Cheers Billy, Brian, and everyone else!
“Invites” oh boy, not another OnePlus One situation
This feels eerily similar to the original OnePlus One launch. Hope this phone is good enough to merit the wait!
how sad is this. Can’t get the white one to ship but the black one? like really. They keep on stumbling on such basic inventory. At this point it’s better to wait for the pixels 2 phones.
If you’re frustrated that much by their process, I can’t see how you’ll be any happier with Google’s. And if you’ve ever ordered a device from Google at launch, you should know this by now.
well theirs a difference their a startup company. They need to make a good impression to be successful in the long term and this is not how you start out no matter what company especially in the smartphone theses days where it’s so competitive. They need to hit a home run and so far it’s not happening. We are getting close to the Note 8, Apple ipnones and Google nest Pixel phones. all of them are not new at this point. i got my 6P on time not delayed like this.
A delayed launch isn’t the end of the world. Sure it probably hurt them. But if their phone lives up to the hype, and is of the quality it appears to be, it will all be forgotten soon enough.
My first smart phone was the OG Motorola Droid. Since then I’ve owned every Nexus phone, plus all their other devices – I can start a museum for Google products. It was a great run for Google, but it’s time for me to move on to something different, and a company that is hopefully more focused on their limited # of products. Google is just too big to do anything 100% correct, and efficiently – a perfect example would be their messaging apps, and them renaming, killing/starting new services every couple of years. They are just all over the place with their direction.
A delayed launch isn’t the end of the world. you are right but im just talking about first impressions. The black and white is the first two basic colors. Many people are waiting for the green one and that ship has sailed.
Same thing happened with Google and it’s 1st Pixel. They have had stock of certain colors, or storage sizes, etc. I haven’t looked in forever, but I’m pretty sure if was like that for a long time… might even still be that way.
But you’re right, they messed up and released info too early. They should have waited until they were closer to launch day. And not have even shown off the other colors if they didn’t intend on having them at launch. It just gives people a reason to complain.
I haven’t gotten the email ????
The Essential is essentially non-essential for me at this point.
Paid last night
Still no email for me and I reserved it on day one.
…so you are sticking with them? is this the kind of service you demand?
It’s not even a pre order. I am sure enough people signed up before me that I just need to wait a bit. Phone won’t ship for a couple of weeks anyway.
Explains the lack of email. I selected the black and white model. Apparently enough others did to lush the release of that one back a bit.
People who didn’t order black got an email saying white wasn’t ready and are allowed to change to black…if they want.
I’m waiting for Amazon to post: rather deal with their terms and return policies.
Got the email asking if I wanted to switch to Moon Black. Nope, holding out for Pure White.
I wanna know what’s up with the Earth tone color that was shown off in renders early on. I’m not pressed to get this phone right away. I’ll just wait. Pixel does me good. Plus, I’m curious to know what this phone plans to offer other than good specs, but essentially (no pun intended) a stock feel in a better package (my opinion). I think their differentiation software wise may come in the future with that unifying theory Rubin shared. Plus, I have Sprint. I’ll wait until they pick it up. Hopefully the Earth tone color will be included.
One differentiation they have is that they give you a big screen in a small phone. This is a 5.7″ screen in a phone the size of a Pixel 5″. There just are not many “small” phones available and I think this is the only one that packs a large screen into one. Even if you wait for the Pixel 2 (5″), you still won’t get the larger screen. That’s big for a lot of people who don’t want a large phone but love a larger screen.
I understand that. That’s why I said stock in a better package. But I believe software is the most engaging part of a device. So how can they make that experience different, or even better? Like, other than the specs (mentioned before) what is it offering that feels brand new in how it is used.
I guess we disagree on that. The best software feature a phone manufacturer can give me is as close to stock Android as possible, as well as frequent updates and long-term support. That’s it. Obviously every phone will have some custom bits for cameras and such – that’s fine. But beyond the required custom stuff, anything extra is a con for me.
Ultimately, I don’t want my phone’s software to be bedazzled and shiny. I want it to be fast and reliable. Apps can let me bedazzle the things I want/need.
I see the black moon arising. I see trouble on the way.
Only Google and Andy Rubin can make Kellen post this early, apparently
I reserved the $749 one with the 360 camera, but I can’t get the camera…
I mean they said shipping information for the camera is forthcoming.
Sure does… My bad.
Hurray for competition
I’ve gotta wait for fingerprint readers in displays before I buy a new phone. With them on the horizon for next year, I know I’ll be wishing I had one once they come out. Fingerprint reader on the back is not acceptable for me. I shouldn’t have to pick up my phone to use the quick unlocking you get with a fingerprint reader.
Guess its preference. I put the phone head down and screen in when it goes in my pocket. So the reader in the “Nexus” position on the back is in the perfect spot for my finger to brush it as I pull the phone out, resulting in an unlocked and ready to roll phone by the time I have it held up.
you put it in your pocket upside-down. dafuq is wrong with you.
Thats how it works. Im holding it upright but when I move my hand to put it in my pocket it automagically ends upside down.
Its that same reason I prefer a bottom headphone jack.
But that is old technology, people may not even remember anymore the good ol’ days when you could plug in your headphones or audio cord directly into a 35mm jack.
That and if you were listening and charging at the same time both cables are coming out of the same side of the phone. Makes handling easier.
Yea idk man. Loved the article about waiting for the new Pixels because of this same reason. I can’t trust anymore “startup” companies after OnePlus And Pebble. I realize that OnePlus is owned by Oppo but they sure as hell run like a startup.
Too much of a sour taste. This is why people pay premiums for certain products. I’ll stick with my reliable Pixels and their “high” prices. Prices that are similar to Samsung, Apple and others making waves.
What did One Plus do? They seem to haven gotten themselves together rather well. That is a pretty good example of a startup in my opinion.
oppo is like the second largest smartphone manufacturer. Hardly a startup.
Interested in the same. They had themselves together on day one with a killer product.
They keep abandoning phones by not offering software updates. The OnePlus 3T released several months ago already has an software support EOL announced once it gets Android O. OnePlus 2 won’t get Nougat even though it was promised. Plus the shenanigans they’ve pulled over the years. These aren’t good things.
Sure, there are some good things OnePlus has done. But those above things have caused people to lose trust in them.
Google still runs their product launches like a startup…. and it’s been like 7 years.
so has this phone been officially demoed on video? or has it just been pictures and such? I ask because I couldn’t behind myself to drop 700 on something that I haven’t even seen a in depth video overview of. it’s a first generation product I’d definitely have to see it or get hands on before dropping that much.
You can return it for free within 15 days if you are not satisfied- per Essential. I ordered one and figured I would know within a week if it’s a keeper or not.
Good idea.
Got the Pure White email. I definitely don’t want the Glossy black though. At this point I’ll wait for Best Buy
DOA: Too little, too late for underwhelmjng specs and last year’s formfactor. And no more assurance of support than the average non-Pixel device.
I got the same email but won’t be buying this phone anymore. I think if it had come on time as promised I would have bought it but this close to the Pixel 2 and Note 8, I need to wait and at least see what these two have to offer beyond the rumors we have so far.
I can’t decide between Essential and Saygus 2.
3.5 jack, big battery, proper launch & water proofing are not essential, dongles, “black moon” & headphones fragmentation are the future!
Amazing
You’re easily amazed, must be nice.