Essential Phone Now Supported on Four Major U.S. Carriers, Including Verizon
The Essential Phone PH-1, the first model to come out of Android founder Andy Rubin's startup, has now achieved the status of "universal" network support in the United States. The flagship phone is now supported by its launch partner Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and now, Verizon as well.
Andy Rubin himself took to social media to share the good news. In his Twitter update on Friday, Sep. 15, the Essential chief shared that the PH-1 has passed Verizon's certification process.
"Update: Verizon certification complete. Thanks for your patience," he said before the weekend. "Might need to reboot your phone. Happy Friday!" he concluded, to the appreciation of Verizon users,
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The first Essential Phone first rolled out as a Sprint exclusive in late summer, so it's no surprise that the handset works on the network as advertised. For their part, AT&T and T-Mobile said that the pure Android phone will work on their respective networks just as well, although the latter admits that some features will need to be tested first.
T-Mobile has the "Bring Your Own Device" program that lets users subscribe to their network from most 4G LTE devices. Certain advanced features, like over-the-air updates for the phone's operating system, is still being confirmed.
"We'll have more to share closer to general availability in terms of what advanced network features might be available in Essential," a representative of T-Mobile said as quoted by The Verge.
AT&T, meanwhile, is also reserving comments on the full compatibility of the Essential on their network. More word from them is expected after the phone's launch in late August.
Before last week's news, Verizon initially met the Essential phone with a cool reception. "We can't promise the same experience and quality of service as devices that have been tested and approved for use on our network," the network said in an earlier email statement.
The issues appear to have been worked out by Friday, however, as a Twitter update from Essential confirmed on Saturday.
