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Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

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Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#91

Post by rrggrr »

DarronWyke wrote: post #74
rrggrr wrote: post #24

Value. Early adopters recognize and act on it. This is how OnePlus succeeded with its first phone. No bloatware, great specs, fair price. Essential is about $250 too expensive. It would have been enough if they had released a cheaper phone with the same specs, branding anonymity, and durability - less the attachments. Value. Value. Value. This concept is key.

The attachment system would be a huge selling point if it gave it the ability to do significant improvements or upgrades to the unit. But so far it appears to be a novelty thing. If they released several addons at launch to show the versatility of the system, then they'd capture the market that wants modular phones. But they didn't. The specs are nothing spectacular. It's not as great, stats-wise, as my Oneplus 3T, t…

Yes, the Ti body almost had me. Give me this: a Ti body phone with replaceable CPU/Memory. Give me an heirloom quality phone (like the pocketwatch of old) that has strong utility for 5 - 10 years.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#92

Post by Feniks »

Analemma_ wrote: post #2

Trying to break in to the high end of the smartphone market as a newcomer is a mistake. That's Apple and Samsung's territory, and they have the muscle to fight you intensely for it. The Chinese manufacturers have the better idea: start with cheap phones, build a user base, and move up. In particular, the camera is the ace in the hole that the established players have. People spending $700 on a phone expect a top-notc…

Has anyone been able to break into the smartphone market lately?

I can't imagine beating Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple and the other big billion dollar conglomerates this late in the game without a significant Nobel prize worthy idea.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#93

Post by SyneRyder »

jandrese wrote: post #78
dmix wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's zero brand recognition Really? I was going to take the opposite perspective and say celebrity and name recognition goes a long way, irrespective of actual success... I always hear the "Essential" brand name brought up now whenever Apple, Samsung, etc are mentioned. Even in the non-tech news sites. Which is funny to consider given their sales count.

As someone who frequents many tech sites I can't remember hearing the name "Essential" in relation to phones before today. I don't know what sites you frequent, but they're apparently different than Hacker News, Ars, or even Slashdot.

Ars has definitely been covering it. Here's one article wondering what had happened to the Essential and why it wasn't out yet:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/andy-rubin-promises-...

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#94

Post by ninju »

nsxwolf wrote: post #69
gumby wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). Indeed, if you go all-in on Apple they really do "just work", and come pretty close when you use a non-Apple BT headset with Apple gear. I can't say if this is because the standards are inadequate and Apple does some extra work, or if the BT implementations on cheap hardware are simply terrible. I kinda l…

Apple's Bluetooth products "just work" because they don't use Bluetooth for the pairing part.

Do you have a citation for this?

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#95

Post by khedoros1 »

ninju wrote: post #94
nsxwolf wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's Bluetooth products "just work" because they don't use Bluetooth for the pairing part.

Do you have a citation for this?

https://appletoolbox.com/2016/12/airpods-not-auto-pairing-sy...

This page mentions it in the "Setting your Airpods up" section.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#96

Post by khedoros1 »

kentt wrote: post #59
blensor wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure we are talking about the same bluetooth here. I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). The worst example are my wireless headphones. When I get into the car the car radio tries to connect to my phone, so it stops the wireless headphone output. I then have to scroll through the menu and disconnect the car radio, which tries to reconnec…

I'm just so baffled by this. I've been using bluetooth happily for over a decade. With some minor hiccups, I'd say it works near flawlessly every time. However, everyone seems to hate bt, it never works for anyone, manufacturers put it in everything, people continually switch to bt devices. Nothing adds up.

I hear horrible things about wired headphones too. I think everyone has their own sets of pet peeves that drastically change how they perceive the relative costs and benefits of the available technologies.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#97

Post by khedoros1 »

baldfat wrote: post #77
angryasian wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't be driving and wearing wireless headphones

How is that less safe then playing the car's stereo? I have one in my ear at a reasonable volume when driving with others so they don't have to listen to my Geeky podcast or music.

Many of them also act as partial earplugs, and block out more external sound.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#98

Post by khedoros1 »

jandrese wrote: post #78
dmix wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's zero brand recognition Really? I was going to take the opposite perspective and say celebrity and name recognition goes a long way, irrespective of actual success... I always hear the "Essential" brand name brought up now whenever Apple, Samsung, etc are mentioned. Even in the non-tech news sites. Which is funny to consider given their sales count.

As someone who frequents many tech sites I can't remember hearing the name "Essential" in relation to phones before today. I don't know what sites you frequent, but they're apparently different than Hacker News, Ars, or even Slashdot.

I only really frequent HN these days, and I've been hearing about that phone for a few months at this point.

Not to mention a lot of TV commercials for it.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#99

Post by la_oveja »

Feniks wrote: post #92
Analemma_ wrote: post #2

Trying to break in to the high end of the smartphone market as a newcomer is a mistake. That's Apple and Samsung's territory, and they have the muscle to fight you intensely for it. The Chinese manufacturers have the better idea: start with cheap phones, build a user base, and move up. In particular, the camera is the ace in the hole that the established players have. People spending $700 on a phone expect a top-notc…

Has anyone been able to break into the smartphone market lately? I can't imagine beating Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple and the other big billion dollar conglomerates this late in the game without a significant Nobel prize worthy idea.

OnePlus has become a pretty big player from zero.

Re: Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch

#100

Post by DarronWyke »

rrggrr wrote: post #91
DarronWyke wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The attachment system would be a huge selling point if it gave it the ability to do significant improvements or upgrades to the unit. But so far it appears to be a novelty thing. If they released several addons at launch to show the versatility of the system, then they'd capture the market that wants modular phones. But they didn't. The specs are nothing spectacular. It's not as great, stats-wise, as my Oneplus 3T, t…

Yes, the Ti body almost had me. Give me this: a Ti body phone with replaceable CPU/Memory. Give me an heirloom quality phone (like the pocketwatch of old) that has strong utility for 5 - 10 years.

Unfortunately modular phones haven't become a thing yet. Google tried that with Ara, but it's in indefinite hiatus. Of course, the next problem with making phones modular like that is a lack of standards. One developer makes the modules and keeps others from making them, thus entering the walled garden model.
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