Andy Rubin Teases New Essential Phones and They Look Odd

Odd phones are not a stranger in the industry, but it's still quite unnerving to see devices that you won't see in the mainstream market, such as what Andy Rubin of Essential Phone teased on his Twitter recently.

Rubin posted a series of photos and a video of the odd-looking Essential Phone devices that looked elongated than usual with a rather tall UI and a large button on the right side of the device. It also looked small in the hands of Rubin in one picture.

In general, the teased phone looks similar to a television remote control. However, it does include one single camera on the back as well as a fingerprint scanner. There is a front camera in a punch-hole style at the top left area of the touchscreen. Besides its long look, the devices also have amazing iridescent metallic colors. From the video that Rubin posted, you can see that the colors change depending on which angle you're looking at.

In an interview with The Verge, an Essential spokesperson did confirm that the phones are on their roster of upcoming devices and that they are in the process of early testing with their team outside of the lab and that they are looking forward to "sharing more in the near future."

After Rubin has tweeted the photos, the official Twitter account of the company also tweeted a few official images of the device which they are calling Project GEM. Besides these photos, we have yet to learn the specs of the devices and its other features.

However, it does seem to run on Android, as after all, Rubin is its co-founder.

Andy Rubin is a mobile industry executive and a part of Google until he left the company in October 2014 when he was accused of aleged sexual misconduct, making him controversial. He and Google also got more backlash when Rubin was able to keep his $90 million severance pay from the company.

When Rubin left Google, he started his own company – the Essential Phone.

Rubin is also well-known as the co-creator of the T-Mobile sidekick, which is also known as the Danger Hiptop years ago.

Project GEM is not the first flashy phone from Essential. The first one they created also had a flashy design, which included a sea green phone with gold accents and is known by the name Ocean Depths.

Bloomberg has reported last year that Essential was creating an AI phone that was supposed to mimic its owner and reply messages on their behalf. It was said to have a smaller screen, which will be controlled mostly by voice commands.

In December, Essential did confirm that they were working on a new phone, and Project GEM maybe what they had announced back then.

Then again, this is not the only "odd" phone in the market as Android Authority saw some weird ones during the Mobile World Congress held earlier this year, such as the thickest and heaviest Android phone with an amazing battery power that could last for days.