Osom, the company founded by Essential employees after the launch fell apart, has released new details about its upcoming OV1 phone, including a well-known list of building materials. Designed to compete with leading models from Apple, Google and Samsung, the OV1 will feature a stainless steel and titanium body, ceramic back, Corning Victus cover glass and a Qualcomm processor.
Stainless steel is for the phone’s frame, while titanium will be used for accents such as the power and volume buttons, as well as the ring around the camera protrusion, according to Android Police. It looks like the phone will carry a lot of weight – Osom says the OV1 will be “noticeably bigger” than the Essential Phone, which had razor-thin bezels and a 5.7-inch screen. The company also says that the phone will be available in white and matte black, but that there are “some surprises” in color.
Speaking to Osom’s founder and CEO Jason Keats, he said OV1 was not intended to intentionally trigger Essential Phone. The resemblance is simply a natural result of the same team designing and designing. In my opinion, it still manages to stand out – the materials are still relatively unusual in most phones, even five years after we boasted about the design of the Essential Phone. Apple is probably closest to the stainless steel countries of the iPhone 13 Pro and the Ceramic Shield, but I think most people could immediately tell the difference between the iPhone and the OV1. (Besides, there is the price – Osom did not say exactly how much his phone will cost, but said Android Police it would cost well under $ 1,000, which is where the 13 Pro begins.)
OV1 was due to be fully unveiled this week, according to TechCrunchbut Osom is postponing its announcement and delivery date so it can upgrade the phone’s processor. The company says it will use a “Snapdragon 8 series chipset”, although it cannot give details, according to TechCrunch. Qualcomm recently changed its chip naming scheme with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, although it seems unlikely that OV1 will use this particular chip, given its vow of silence.
Osom says the phone will get “all-day” battery life and will have ultra-wideband or UWB, the same technology that other manufacturers like Apple, Google and Samsung use for things like precision location tracking and digital car keys. Keats would not say exactly what the radio was for, but said the company was preparing some “interesting things” that it would announce later. There will be room for two physical SIM cards – Keats says the company has deliberately chosen not to use e-SIM to avoid being tied to certain operators. (He also mentioned that partnering with a specific carrier is a “devastating mistake for Essential.”)
Osom says it has also learned from the camera’s flaws in Essential and wants OV1 to have a “truly leading camera experience”. In terms of design, the OV1 has a camera shot, something the Essential phone avoids. This shock keeps the two rear cameras running at 48 and 12 megapixels. The front camera will be 16MP. Because of the importance of software for the mobile photographic experience, it’s hard to say how these specs will turn into snapshots at this point.
Finally, there is a USB cable that comes in the box. There’s usually not much to say about them, but Osom includes one with a trick: the ability to rotate a switch that physically shuts off data pins so you feel more comfortable charging your phone from a public outlet. Keats couldn’t say how fast the OV1 would load, but it would be “impressively fast”. This is BYOB (bring your own brick), but it will not come with a charger in the box.