Android creator returns and launches a smartphone made of ceramics and titanium, plus an intelligent speaker – VIDEO

Andy Rubin, founder of Android, launched a new company on Tuesday, called Essential Products and also announced its first products: a smartphone made of ceramics and titanium, as well as an intelligent device meant at coordinating the activities inside a home.

Essential Phone comes with a 5,7 inch screen that stretches throughout the whole front area of the phone, has a case made of ceramics and titanium for improved resistance, as well as two 13-megapixel cameras in the back. It can charge wirelessly, but it is not waterproof.

It also features a top processor – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, and the terminal comes with 4 GB of RAM memory and a 3.040 mAh battery. On the other hand, it does not have an audio jack.

Since Andy Rubin is the creator of Android, the smartphone runs this operating system as well, especially since Android is present on four in five phones sold worldwide.

The price tag is of $699, making the device a competitor in the high end line, alongside Apple’s iPhone 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy S8.

It also comes along with an accessory: a more powerful camera that can be mounted on the back of the phone, similar to the modules made by Motorola and introduced last year alongside Moto Z.

Home assistant with Siri

At the same time, Essential launched an intelligent home assistant called Home. It has a shape resembling the Samsung DeX, the device that can turn any Samsung Galaxy S8 into a desktop computer.

The gadget will be competing with Amazon’s Echo speaker and Google Home from Alphabet.

There is a surprise, though: the gadget will allow users to select what virtual assistant they want to use, with Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri all being available.

The way Siri will be available is still unknown. If Amazon and Google made possible the integration of their own digital assistants, Apple is yet to license the Siri technology to other companies.

Moreover, just like Apple, Essential is trying to protect the private life of its users, since Home will not transmit many information to distant servers and will make most of the processing on a local level. Google and Amazon are doing the exact opposite, with Google Assistant and Alexa always connected to their own data centers.

Giants Tencent and Foxconn, among the investors

Andy Rubin previously founded Android and sold the company to Google in 2005. He was the head of Android until 2013, when he later became the head of the robotics division for Google.

In 2014 he left Google in order to found Essential. The investors in his company include Tencent Holdings – ”China’s Facebook”, Foxconn – assembling iPhone for Apple, as well as funds Redpoint Ventures and Altimeter Capital.