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Comment by hbbio | Hacker News Reader

Ok, a new phone made by the creator of Android which claims to be extremely well built.

However, since most phones now tend to reach the "good enough" level, my main question is about software and left unanswered. What version/flavour of Android does it run? How will updates be planned? For how many years will updates be provided? What's the size of the security team at Essential?

Providing an up-to-date Android with updates for at least 4 years like Apple does is key to me, as vulnerabilities come and go and the only reasonable way to be secure is to get security patches asap.

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I was under the impression that they start with Android and sorta roll their own OS from there on out. At least, that's what I would do if I were bold enough to start a new hardware company with the likes of Apple controlling the sector.

Software and hardware each built with the other in mind is how Apple is able to support updates for 4 years after you buy your iPhone. Manufacturers who use Android aren't able to do so because the two aren't coupled.

Hopefully Essential does it right and take full ownership of their OS. That would be a real game changer.

I used to think the same about being "good enough", but unfortunately my nexus 5x still struggles to give me a day of battery life, despite the fact that I only check e-mail and chat on it.

It's slowness is a little annoying, but definitely good enough.

I don't have battery problems with my 5x. If I'm not using mine much, it will last two days on a charge. Sounds to me like you may want to consider replacing your battery. A $5-10 new battery and ~15 minutes of your time, may be worth it.

If he has a bad cell signal, replacing the battery won't make any difference. He needs to look at his stats.

If you get more apps (even if you don't always use them), those apps are allowed to drain all your battery. I'm pretty sure that's not the case on iOS.

(No, nothing is in my notification tray or scheduled.)

> What version/flavour of Android

I hope they offer a Windows 10 option in the future. Full Windows 10 on ARM with x86 Win32 emulation offers capability not available on Android or iOS. Being able to run Win32 software on the device would be very useful for a lot of people.

It's hard to see any manufacturer seriously revisiting the Windows story on mobile platforms. It has died a couple of times already, and for a casual observer it looks like Microsoft is more committed to Android+iOS story now too.

Yes, but the big difference this time around is that it's the same Windows as on the desktop with the ability to run desktop software. You get mobile plus desktop on the one device which is something Microsoft's better positioned to deliver on than either Google or Apple. And because of that Microsoft will finally start succeeding on mobile.

That was the story with Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 too, and it never happened. Believe me, I bought into the ecosystem and was a true believer. And it never happened.

But again, the difference is that it's full Windows 10 on ARM with x86 Win32 emulation. You can take your 32-bit Windows x86 software and run it with no changes needed if you want to. You don't have to buy into any new ecosystem because there is no new ecosystem.

Here's a demo video they released at the start of the year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_GlGglbu1U

TBH, there is not much you can do on a phone of that size. There aren't many windows exclusive applications that you would want to use on a phone.

Also, it simply doesn't make sense when seen through a buisnessman's perspective.

The x86 desktop application support is for the desktop use case. For a phone you'd plug it into a dock and use it as a desktop or into a laptop shell and use it like a laptop. Like this for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNzatcI9Fqw

But I don't want to?

Then it's not for you. But it is for me, it is for the company I work at, and it is for many companies like it. This capability will be huge.

> And because of that Microsoft will finally start succeeding on mobile.

Has been said so many times before.

> And because of that Microsoft will finally start succeeding on mobile.

I've heard this joke before, but go on..

This was the mistake that MS made before.

Phone software is so radically different to desktop software that attempting to target the same program to them both makes both worse.

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