Nothing, also known as Nothing Technologies, is now the owner of Essential, the once darling phone company that could have been something very special if it wasn’t for a large amount of misconduct concerning its founder Andy Rubin. With all of that behind us and Essential essentially doing nothing for the past couple of years, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has gained all of the rights to Essential’s entire line of intellectual property, including logos, trademarks, and patents.
There’s no telling yet why this took place, but the hunch is that Nothing wanted Essential’s patent portfolio, reported to be home to a few things concerning digital voice assistance. We’re not yet sure how that plays into Nothing’s headphones move, and it may not at all, but we’ll have to remain patient to see what comes of this.
We’re very curious how much this purchase cost Nothing. It couldn’t have been too much, right?
// 9to5Google
where did you get that horrible rendering? Essential would never allow protruding cameras
The OnePlus line lacked public exposure and large carrier deals. It’s a great phone, they make quality products, but they’re considered back-door “only geeks buy those” type phones. A bit of good marketing should get them off the ground (well, that and non-asshole management).
Nothing is Essential
Essential was a great phone and would love to see something like that soon.
‘We’re very curious how much this purchase cost Nothing. It couldn’t have been too much, right?’
You said it. It cost nothing. So I guess that’s not too much. Is there a less than nothing?? Or, stranger still, more than nothing? I guess that’s something. We can be sure nothing paid something….
Are they planning on producing phones? Or just become the next Anker or Wyze?
They are going to produce nothing. /s
Best news I’ve heard in a while.
No other manufacturer has ever come close with timely updates. Getting OS updates the same day as google. We need that again.
Easy to do when you all you got is AOSP and some camera blobs. Stock Android kinda sucks. There is a reason nobody uses it. No offense.
I suggested this on the last Nothing post. They already have the Essential Phone 2 and 3 prototypes in late development stage.
I can’t resist … so, it’s now “Essentially Nothing”?
Nope, just Nothing Essential
Stole my thunder, lol….. yep, essentially nothing….
Literally came down here to the comments immediately to comment the same!!
They’ve gone from being essential to being nothing.
“Its Essential, or Nothing”
It’s Essential to be Nothing.
They should call it “Essentially Nothing”.
Or Enough
Would love another device made from titanium and ceramic like the PH-1.
The only phone besides the OG Droid that gave me an emotional response. Loved that thing.
You could say the cost was….”Next to nothing…”
My Essential phone had so many problems with touch, sound, lag, etc. I was all in when it came out. Now, it’s nothing.
Never had any issues with mine and I’ll tell you what, release that extact same phone but with updated internals (888, 8-12gb ram, 256gb, updated cameras etc) and it would be an instant buy for me. I just really loved the form factor and feel of that thing.
I didn’t like the size either. It was bigger than my Droid Incredible, but smaller than, well, any other android phone I owned. Build was amazing.
You went from an Incredible to an Essential phone? Damn
It was a beautiful phone that you could tell was solid as a rock, but I’m definitely not a fan of that design and even worse is the 1/10 repairability score. For you that last bit doesn’t matter, but it means a lot to me.
I have never held a phone that felt better in the hand than an OP5. Cept maybe the og Moto X. But the Moto X design doesn’t translate well to larger phones.
https://media3.giphy.com/media/oJjghqlkb4iqs/giphy.gif
“Essential now owned by nothing”
That’s just never going to get old is it?