Andy Rubin, the co-creator of Android Operating System for Google is reportedly working on a smartphone of his own. It’s been long since we heard from Rubin after he left Google back in 2014. According to a report by Bloomberg, Andy Rubin is working on a new, high-end smartphone through its Essential Products Company. The alleged smartphone is expected to launch by mid-2017.
The Essential Products was started by Rubin in 2015 which is aimed to produce smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. The high-end smartphone will be named as the Essential FIH-PM1. It will feature a large edge-to-edge display with no bezel on sides, the report said.
The Essential FIH-PM1 was recently leaked on benchmarks. As per the benchmark listing, the upcoming mobile will feature a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC comparable to the Nokia 8 smartphone. The Essential FIH-PM1 will come with a 4GB of RAM and it will offer high-end, premium smartphone features to compete with likes of Google Pixel XL and Apple iPhone 7 Plus.
The artificial intelligence is not a new thing for Andy Rubin and he has plans to integrate AI and machine learning in the upcoming Essential FIH-PM1 smartphone which will be launched later this year. Rubin has a small but strong team of 40 smartphone design and engineering professionals at Essential Products. Most of the team members are ex-Google and ex-Apple brains. Having such a robust team could certainly help Rubin realize his dream.
Presently, no details whether the Essential FIH-PM1 will come with Android 7.0 Nougat is known. However, early leaks hint that the Essential Products’ high-end smartphone will incorporate latest Android OS, but we will have to wait and watch the end product. Andy Rubin’s experience with Google’s Android OS will certainly help in boosting the overall appeal.
Coming to the pricing of the Essential FIH-PM1 smartphone, the smartphone is expected to feature a larger display screen than iPhone 7 Plus, so it is expected to be priced around $749 (roughly Rs 51,000). It is believed that the smartphone will have a 360-degree external camera attachment.