Four years after Essential’s shutdown, its slim candy bar phone has finally been revealed

Summary

• Despite never making it to market, Essential’s Gem phone resurfaces in 2024, with a prototype selling for a steal on eBay at $165.
• Software engineer Rob Wainwright shared a video of the prototype, showcasing its unique card-based interface and some functionality issues.
• While not ideal for daily use, the Gem phone may attract collectors as more prototypes could potentially become available through auction sites.

It’s been four years since Essential called it quits and exited the smartphone market. And while memories of the PH-1 are bittersweet for some, the brand’s only handset never really managed to attract the attention of the public, despite a huge push from the company and its founder Andy Rubin. Despite reports swirling about Rubin’s problematic behavior during his time at Google, he managed to share images of the company’s next phone on Twitter, giving us a glimpse of something truly unique. And while the phone, dubbed ‘Gem’, would never come to market, Essential did manage to leave a parting gift for its fans during its closure in the form of some videos of the device in action.

Now, for the most part, we pretty much forgot about this phone. After all, it wasn’t ever coming to market, and we now have devices that are much more interesting in its place, like tablet-style and flip foldables. So imagine our surprise when a few of these devices were made available for sale through auction site eBay in 2024. And while we may never see these available for sale ever again, one lucky buyer has shared their experience with the phone on YouTube.

Even in 2024, this phone would be interesting

The video comes courtesy of Rob Wainwright, who is a software engineer and community lead for Nova Launcher. Wainwright posted the video to his own YouTube channel, showing off the phone and explaining on X (formerly Twitter) that he purchased it on eBay (via The Verge). We’ve looked at the recent sales history of the phone, and while three have been sold in total for this month, the first one that went live was purchased for just $165, which is an absolute steal.

Of course, this phone in Wainwright’s possession is a prototype, which means, a lot of things don’t work properly. While the software seems relatively intact, with the card-based interface being shown off prominently, there are some gaps here and there. While there are some customized apps that don’t appear to be working, some of the others are just web apps that lead to the mobile website.

Furthermore, we can see that the apps aren’t really optimized for the tall and slim display, which makes for a really uncomfortable viewing experience. When it comes to hardware, a majority of the physical components of the device seem to function as well, like the camera, which isn’t great, according to Wainwright.

For the most part, this seems like a pretty complete device, which should come as no surprise as it was reported that the phone was pretty much good to go, with the brand simply having no way of releasing it. Now, if you’re planning on buying one of your own the next time it pops up on an auction site, be warned, while a majority of the hardware and software appears to look good, this is a prototype and it most likely won’t be something that you’ll be able to use as a daily device. But if this is a collectible that you need, then keep your eyes peeled as there could be more on the way.