Benchmark Reveals Specs For Andy Rubin's Essential Android Smartphone

Andy Rubin, one of the co-creators of the Android operating system, is building his own smartphone currently known as the “Essential FIH-PM1.” Now, a purported benchmark of the upcoming device has made its way online, showing some of its specs.

The benchmark of Andy Rubin’s Essential smartphone was first spotted on the GFX Bench website, according to Phone Arena. The device is listed as having a 5.5-inch display with a screen resolution of 1,312 x 2,560.

If this is true, the device’s display will have an aspect ratio of 80:41 which is close to the LG G6’s 82:41 (or 18:9) aspect ratio. Rubin has teased in a photo that the phone will have a bezel-less design which explains why it will have an unusual aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the device is being powered by an octa-core 2.2GHz CPU which is believed to be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 SoC. The device also has an Adreno 540 GPU and 4GB of RAM.

It’s also oddly listed that the device only has 10GB of onboard storage. It’s possible that this may simply be because the unit is still under development, as pointed out by 9To5Google.

As for cameras, the Essential smartphone is listed as having a 12MP rear-facing camera and a 7MP front-facing shooter. Both are capable of recording UHD 4K videos. The rear 12MP shooter is also confirmed to have a flash, while autofocus, face detection, HDR and touch focus don’t appear to be functional yet. As for software, the Essential smartphone will come with Android 7.0 Nougat pre-installed.

IBT reported last month that Andy Rubin’s smartphone is being made by his own company, Essential Products, while Foxconn will help in manufacturing. Rumors suggest that the device will have a pressure-sensitive display that will likely be similar to Apple’s 3D Touch feature for its iPhones and will also have a proprietary magnetic connector for charging.

Rubin’s Essential smartphone is expected to launch in the middle of 2017 with a rumored price tag of around $649.