Essential shows smartphone with long and thin design

Essential, the smartphone company co-founded by Android pioneer Andy Rubin, has released a number of photos of a previously unannounced smartphone with a long and thin design. It is a new device that Essential is working on.

Andy Rubin has posted images of the phone to his Twitter page, including a short explanation that the phone is a ‘new user interface for a radically different form factor’. Essential has confirmed that it is working on this new device, which, according to the manufacturer, will shift our perspective on the mobile phone. The company has named the phone Project GEM and the device is currently in early testing.

Based on the photos, it can be concluded that the phone resembles a not too large TV remote control in terms of shape and size. Furthermore, the phone seems to have a fingerprint scanner on the back and a single camera with a fairly large bulge. At the front, the elongated, thin screen stands out.

Perhaps this is the phone Rubin was talking about last year. He told Bloomberg that he could solve the addictive effect of smartphones by coming up with a phone that is like a virtual version of the user and can handle business independently. This would be a device with a relatively small screen and software that responds to voice commands. Whether the Project GEM phone shown is the device associated with this vision is still unclear; Essential says it will announce more about the device in the near future.