It has only been two weeks since Essential dropped the price of the Essential Phone to $499, yet here we are talking about a further price reduction. Best Buy (and Amazon too) is now listing the phone at $449.99, which brings the total discount to $250 off. That’s nuts!
Best Buy has both black and white models, but the white model stock has been going in and out for the past 24 hours or so since this latest price drop showed up. The black model is in stock, though.
At this price, I know you are going to ask – is it now really, really worth buying? To keep it simple, I’ll say this: at $450, I can’t think of a better deal in smartphones, to be honest. I’m working on a re-review (Here it is!) of sorts at the moment that will be up later in the day if you really want to know my latest thoughts. I’ve spent the past four days or so with the phone to give it a fresh look following all these price drops and a bunch of software updates aimed at improving the experience. But yeah, at $450, if that’s your budget, this would be a hard phone to ignore.
My question is, buy now or wait to see what they do on Black Friday. Thoughts?
This is closing in on HP Touchpad territory. Which means the phone is a flop and they are trying to recoup inventory.
I would consider returning my Note 8 to Best Buy and getting this for half the price, but I’m incredibly picky when it comes to cameras. An average camera ruined the HTC 10 for me.
This price drop crossed the threshold for me — just purchased it from BB. If it drops again, I will approach BB about price match. Was in a Sprint store the other day feeling it out and I’ll be danged if it isn’t the first phone over 5.2″ I’ve ever held in one hand that I had no problems reaching every corner of the screen with my thumb. I finally understand what the bezel-less movement is all about. For the first time in years I’ll actually have an affordable flagship phone that is “small” yet has a large screen. Haven’t been able to nail that combo since the Moto X 1st gen (which mind you is still running fine! A big laggy for everyday use but very impressive considering how dated it is.)
Hard pass!
Ordered my white model on the first. Saw the price drop and went to my local Best Buy and got the price adjustment yesterday.
Was considering it, then I suddenly remembered it doesn’t have a headphone jack, and I don’t feel like dealing with an extra dongle when running or listening to podcasts at work, or spending money on a bluetooth device that will just add one more thing for me to charge while not sounding as good as my wired headphones/iem’s (unless I spend a lot of money on some actual good bluetooth devices).
Well even if you have good wired headphones, they still don’t sound good without an amp. DAC and amp preferred.
That’s why I also have a DAP, but it doesn’t always make sense to use it. When I’m running, listening to podcasts or just wandering around the office I usually use my phone instead of my DAP, especially since I can control it with my watch. With my Huawei P10 and Kinera H3’s it definitely does sound at least ‘good’, not ‘great’, but definitely better than I would get out of many non-expensive bluetooth solutions. (Fiio X3ii currently, waiting for my Hidizs AP200 to arrive)
So, to play off this for a second, has anyone used this phone yet? is the notch distracting when playing a video?Aside from that, I don’t think the notch matters where it is, as I don’t use that real estate anyway (dismiss messages don’t go far enough right and “stuff running” doesn’t go far enough left). Discuss.
From what I’ve seen the notch is not displayed during video playback in landscape position.
The notch kind of disappears for you after a bit of use. The videos black out the screen around it so you don’t see it at all.
So it “letterboxes” it?
If it drops another $400 I might actually get one.
Just an FYI for people thinking about purchasing this phone…
Was going to buy this phone From BestBuy.com. Was a little bummed they were out of the white option, but not a deal breaker. Then realized that with tax the cost was $493. White phone as available from Essential.com at $499 price, but Essential didn’t charge me tax. I decided to pay the extra $6 for the white phone. So if you don’t live in CA, Essential.com and BB.com’s final prices aren’t significantly different.
And Best Buy sucks.
Only a few weeks til Black Friday. At this point I’m thinking I can wait til then. Really crossing my fingers for a $500 U11 or $250 Moto X4. Maybe even anther $50 less for Essential.
Yea…at this point, unless you’re getting a brand new, in demand release, the smart thing to do is wait until Black Friday. All of my electronic purchases are currently on hold until then.
Motorola and Google dropped Miracast screen mirroring which means if you don’t have WiFi you’re out of luck with no TV out or screen sharing.
They’re driving people to Chromecast. No thanks.
Waiting patiently for Black friday… hoping verizon or best buy run a great deal on the V30!!!
Add a $40 prepaid card and $1 sim to your cart and you’ll get $50 off, making it $441 plus the value of the card (which you could use, toss, or sell)
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/offer/226711/pcmcat1498070823313.c?ref=8575135&loc=c9d32908c30211e79ce19298aa0449350INT&acampID=c9d32908c30211e79ce19298aa0449350INT&id=pcmcat1498070823313
I’d still wait for Black Friday though. Apparently Best Buy has tons of these that they can’t sell so I’m expecting further drops.
Definitely reaching “impulse buy” range…
mine is $350…which is about the most I pay for any phone. Sub $400 and these will sell out.
I was worried they’d sell out at $450 so I rushed to buy! Might regret it. Time will tell…
Wow. Talk about the definition of a fire sale. It’s tempting that’s for sure.
I’m still waiting for Black Friday deals on the Pixel 2 XL and V30. I agree this a good deal, but as is often the case, it will either come around again or drop even lower.
But at these prices, the PH-1 may be my interim phone until next year’s lineup.
This is a Killer deal but i think it will hit 399 for black friday. im waiting on the best buy early access to see if it drops in there. if it does i will be getting one as a backup phone and to play with as they continue with software updates
dont cr.cards offer price protection?
Sure but I rather wait cause I have the time
Hmm ????
Ordered!
This is a REALLY good deal.