The company behind the Essential Phone, while selling a nice looking phone with some pretty high end specifications, have made some pretty questionable decisions. We wrote an article detailing our problems with the device and the company behind it. What's more, not even a day after we published that article Essential seemingly messed up again, leaving a small number of customers in a potentially dangerous position. In an attempt to regain goodwill from users, those who received the disturbing email will receive a free phone and a year of LifeLock service.
And those are only problems relating to the company.
The phone itself seems pretty decent, especially software wise thanks to its nearly stock Android. Not fantastic, not "essential", just good. But one of the biggest issues with the device has been the camera experience. Nearly universally, reviewers and early users of the phone have stated that the camera experience just isn't on par with other flagship phones in its category. The phone provides a slow, laggy picture taking experience with poor quality photos and a lot left to desire.
The Essential Phone's Camera Potential is Held Back by Software
Thankfully, a review over on TheNextWeb.com points out that the Google Camera HDR+ port we covered works very well on the device. The difference is absolutely night and day, and shows that the Essential Phone's camera can be saved. The sensor certainly has potential as showcased by the images below, taken on an Essential PH-1 by reviewer Napier Lopez.
Before I show the other images, I just need to point out how amazing the Google Camera HDR+ is against the stock camera. There is substantially less noise and an impressive amount of detail in comparison. These photo comparisons were enough to sway me – the Essential Phone actually has a good camera, but it is held back by the stock camera software.
Left is stock, right is Google Camera HDR+ Port. Credits: Napier Lopez \\ TheNextWeb
Left is stock, right is Google Camera HDR+ Port. Credits: Napier Lopez \\ TheNextWeb
If you still aren't convinced, TheNextWeb tells us they will have a more detailed comparison between HDR+ on the Google Camera app versus the stock camera app, so be sure to check that out.
As for the pictures we've seen so far, they are of a much better quality with nicer colors and greater detail when taken on the Google Camera app. This shows the phone's camera woes actually come from the camera processing software, and not the camera sensor itself. If the device has potential for photos like those shown above and can consistently do as good of a job as these, keep an eye out on future software updates from Essential – the camera quality still has room to grow.
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