How can we forget the doomed Essential PH-1 (more commonly referred to as Essential Phone) that had a hardcore following thanks to its ergonomic in-hand feel and a software ecosystem that was smooth and ultra-secure. But only 5,000 units of the phone were sold before the ship sank due to a lack of direction from people at the helm. Now the like-minded people who had a key role in the development of Essential PH-1 (minus Andy Rubin) have formed OSOM (Out of Sight Out of Mind) with Jason Keats (former head of R&D at Essential) as its founder.
The intellectual bunch is working on a security and privacy-focused phone they call the OSOM OV1 (a.k.a. OSOM Vault 1), which will provide detailed reports about the information being used by apps on the phone. According to Keats, the phone will be 100-fold more powerful at revealing this particular information as compared to the Android smartphones currently on the market.
The motive of putting control back in the hands of the users revolves around three key elements – the software ecosystem, hardware integration, and marketing. The last bit zooms in on the ease of use and choice to keep personal information shielded from prying services.
The core focus on privacy and security doesn’t compromise the design, UI, or performance of the device in any way. It has a very minimal yet classy form factor – just like the Essential Phone with the promise of a near-stock Android OS environment.
OSOM OV1’s teaser first hand images have been revealed thanks to Android Police’s exclusive interview with Jason Keats. The device has dual rear-facing cameras in a triangle-shaped housing and a flat backplate that looks inspired by the latest generation iPhone’s design. Also, there is a rear capacitive fingerprint sensor which is an outgoing trend, but we’re not complaining!
The camera setup on the Essential Phone wasn’t much to boast about, and OSOM is spending a lot of time and resources on fixing this bit. OV1 may be powered by a Qualcomm chipset, and nothing other than this information about the hardware or software was shared in the interaction.
OSOM OV1 is all set to be revealed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February 2022 with a release expected in the following summer. For now, the phone is in Engineering Validation and Testing (EVT1) stage, and according to Keats, it is certainly not a sequel to the Essential PH-1.
