
Sprint to be exclusive carrier of Essential phone - artsandsci
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2017/06/11/sprint-exclusive-carrier-essential-phone/102669726/
======
nathanasmith
This whole idea of "exclusive carrier" just wears me out. My first smartphone
was an HTC Dream with T-Mobile, then a Moto Droid with Verizon, then a CDMA
Galaxy Nexus again with Verizon. I finally got sick of it and bought a
Motorola X Pure last Christmas. It's so-called "universal" so it works on
whatever carrier I want. Right now I'm using it on Cricket pre-paid and if
they do something janky I'll just pick up and go somewhere else. No more of
that carrier exclusive crap and no more contracts.

Regarding the Essential phone, even for people that don't mind being locked to
a major carrier, they chose Sprint? I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure they
have the least favorable reputation of the 4 major carriers. Hitching your
wagon to that seems like a bad idea. I'm all for more competition though so I
hope Rubin knows what he's doing.

~~~
brightball
It makes sense from a marketing standpoint, IMO.

If the phone is as good as it's supposed to be, they've given Sprint a reason
to promote it for them. Sprint gets an angle to look forward
thinking/innovative and probably pick up some new customers. Sprint already
heavily advertises and now this phone will be featured as part of that
advertising. Sprint needs ways to differentiate itself in the marketplace and
this could be a solid way to do it.

For Essential, it's a way to create demand an a bit of an exclusivity feel and
get a truckload of free advertising on the back of a giant. Essential isn't
Apple or Google. They won't have the out of the gate manufacturing or
marketing channels available that either of those two giants have so this will
also provide a means of somewhat controlling demand.

For people using Sprint, they get to feel a little smug if they whip this
phone out and it IS awesome. If it's as good as it could be, you create a
means of having that drool-inducing effect that makes people seriously
consider switching to get one.

I'll go ahead and tell you...I want one. I think it looks like a great design,
but I'm on an iPhone right now along with my entire family. The parental
control features basically lock me into an iPhone until the kids get older.
It's a small network effect....but whether essential was on AT&T, Verizon or
Sprint...I still couldn't get one because I'm stuck on Apple and not AT&T.

~~~
maxsilver
> For people using Sprint, they get to feel a little smug if they whip this
> phone out and it IS awesome

Except it's Sprint, so many people will whip out their phone and have no
functional data service. (Yes, even in 2017). There are lots of really good
reasons why Sprint has the worst reputation of all major carriers. And people
don't always pick up on the distinction -- a broken network makes a great
phone _look_ like a broken phone.

I think Essential is letting their business/personal ties to SoftBank cloud
their decisions on what's best for their users and what's best for Essential
as a product.

~~~
baldfat
Works good for me on the East Coast. People say things like that but I haven't
experienced them in my travels or day to day life. My older kids have gotten
different carriers and they don't seem to have a magical new network
experience when we travel together. They have Verizon and AT&T.

I live in Pennsylvania and travel to Connecticut and West Virginia all the
time. I don't see coverage issues and in fact in the back woods of the country
Sprint has better coverage due to a few acquisitions it has made in that area.

TMobile has a real problem on the East Coast. Coverage is bad in my city.
Doesn't work in WV and when my son was sick with cancer CHOP (Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia) in the Surgery Wait Room they tell you that they
can't call you if you have TMobile, which means you can't leave the waiting
area at all.

~~~
smacktoward
I live just outside Washington, DC and have Sprint. The service is fine for me
here. But then last year I took a trip to Florida and couldn't get a signal to
save my life.

In other words, Sprint's coverage is great right up to the moment when it's
terrible. Which you can live with if you're mostly in a place where it's
great, but which makes it hard to recommend to people generally since you have
no idea if they happen to spend most of their time in places where it isn't.

------
helper
You can still buy the phone unlocked direct from essential. This is
"exclusive" to sprint in that sprint will be the only carrier to have this
phone in their stores.

The supported bands are:

    
    
      -UMTS/HSPA+: 1, 2, 4, 5 6, 8
      -GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
      -CDMA EV-DO Rev. A: 0, 1, 10
      -FDD-LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 66
      -TDD-LTE: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
      -TD-SCDMA: 34, 39

~~~
Tasboo
I think the Pixel had a similar "exclusivity" with Verizon when it launched.

------
covercash
So Essentially, they're guaranteeing that this phone is DOA.

------
Urgo
“We like to bet with where we think the market is going as opposed to where
the market was”

Translation

"Sprint was the only carrier that was in a place to take a bet on us and
promote and pay us what we were asking for, or even allow us to put our phone
in their stores and have access to the brick and mortar market"

------
ulfw
Yea good luck. The least desired carrier in the US. That'll work well.

------
DiNovi
_thinks about his old palm pre_ _cries_

~~~
skinnymuch
Why do you have to bring up webOS? What a beaut. If HP didn't shut the app
store down or I had backups of most apps, I'd switch to my Pre 2/3 right now
for a week or two. God I miss it!

~~~
mrtron
What was so good about webOS?

~~~
erikpukinskis
Mathias Duarte, and a hackable system UI due to pervasive use of web
technologies.

------
eof
Well that's a mistake I think. Sprint network is terrible in comparison to ATT
& Verizon. Shouldn't this thing be unlocked and not tied to any carrier as a
matter of principal?

------
Shivetya
I have missed the boat here, what makes this phone special? Why would I choose
this over existing Android or Apple phones? At the price point it would need
to have some serious compelling features.

Oddly this is the first time I have heard of this phone.

~~~
SAI_Peregrinus
It has a weird magnetic accessory connector on it. And it's made of Titanium!
And a weird camera cutout in the screen so it doesn't have a top bezel! It
still has a bottom bezel for no reason. Could have moved the screen to the
bottom and not needed a camera cutout. And Andy Rubin started the company that
makes it! And it's not waterproof. Titanium! And no SD card slot. But Andy
Rubin! No headphone jack, you can buy an MP3 player for that, right??? But
Titanium! Did I mention you get all that for the low low price of $700? With
Essential Products, this lack of essential features can be yours today!

TL;DR: It's a piece of shit IMO. My personal list of essential features for a
phone: IPx8 rating, preferably 68. SD card slot. Headphone jack. NFC. I'd
prefer it if the manufacturer updated the OS in a timely fashion, but I can
live with Lineage and other ROMs.

------
mikeash
"You’ll be able to get the device unlocked on Essential’s website for $699"

So, which is it? Is it exclusive to Sprint, or available unlocked?

~~~
helper
Exclusive as in the only carrier to sell it in their stores.

You can still buy it unlocked from their website.

~~~
mikeash
Everybody in these comments seems to understand "exclusive" as "it's locked to
this carrier," including me. Bad wording.

~~~
Kequc
So, if my girlfriend and I are being exclusive. That means we can both get sim
cards from any carrier and put it in our phones? What is she going to say when
I tell her I misunderstood exclusive.

~~~
mikeash
Come on. Context matters. The title says "exclusive carrier."

------
joelrunyon
So is there a discount or something with Sprint?

Was really interested, but 1) I'm not switching to sprint and 2) Who buys
phones in stores?

------
MBCook
That worked so well for the Palm Pre.

------
platz
s/carrier/marketing rights

------
flexiflex
Innovative new phone. Archaic anti-consumer contracts.

------
theprop
Ouch!

------
homero
Good luck

------
jitl
:-/

------
flexiflex
BOO

