Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!
What, if any, new features does the Essential bring? The reason I ask is that there is no real reason that phones should have any issues on release. I can understand hardware novelties like multi-camera setups or in my case a physical keyboard. You would think there's a cut sheet for a basic slab that uses onscreen nav buttons and off-the-shelf Sony sensors on the camera. It seems to me that manufacturing has taken a back seat to sales. QC is apparently a foreign concept as is random inspection.
The problem is that the whole industry, including Apple, is still chasing after Apple (iPhone 3G-4s) super profits.
If you're shooting for that uber-competitve mass market device, then yes, certain things should be nailed down before launch. I'll compare Andy's team to OnePlus. The difference here is OnePlus has always had backing from Oppo, for whom Carl Pei's bunch are a sub brand. Having experience with how mobile works is different than running a company and setting up all the logistics smoothly. It took Carl Pei's group 4 years to get sensible and have a good consumer base. OPO had a ton of QC issues - ask 99 about that.
I thought the tech community's expectations where too high because it's Andy. There's room for Andy's team in the market, but they have to figure out their audience. I'd target the people who like compact phones and ensure you keep fitting a big screen and a good camera in a small body. As much as I like stock Android, they need to either go fully bare bones and make it fly, or go the Moto/Pixel route with the ability to add on a few custom features that are useful.