There’s a new smartphone you need to know about.

In fact, I placed an order to buy Andy Rubin’s new smartphone before I boarded my plane home from a trip to San Francisco on Thursday morning.

I was in town to meet with a variety of companies, including Essential, a new gadget brand launched by Rubin, the co-founder of Android and now the head of a hybrid venture capital/incubator company named Playground.

I didn’t have high expectations for the new Essential phone. All too often I’m let down by smartphones and the hype built by anyone other than Apple, Samsung or Google.

But the Essential phone is fantastic.

It’s a combination of great hardware and a pure Android experience free of any “bloatware apps.” Let’s take a closer look at the Essential phone now, and discuss some of its strengths and weaknesses.

Source: Tech CNBC
Android founder Andy Rubin's new smartphone is way better than I thought it would be