My phone just arrived from Telus.
My initial impressions of the PH-1 is that it is smaller than my previous phone, but the screen size is pretty much the same. It feels different in my hands when compared to the G3... solid and heavier would be an accurate description. It's also narrower but longer and just a bit thinner.
After a few updates, I downloaded the google & essential camera apps with portait modes. I can say without a doubt that although there has been complaints about the camera quality, it is still better at taking pictures than the G3. Sometimes with the G3, I would get slightly out of focus pictures only noticeable when you zoom in 100%. With the PH-1, I have not yet gotten one that is as bad. In terms of quality, I can't really say anything about that except it's good enough for my purposes. Portait mode pictures are a neat trick and a good addition to any smartphone camera app.
Since I've never had a phone with a fingerprint sensor on it (except for the Life One X2 which is my wife's), I found that the one on the PH-1 is fast and accurate. Personally, having the sensor on the back, as opposed to the front, makes more sense to me because I've found with the One X2, after you unlock the phone, you have to readjust your grip to use it. Having it at the back, you're in your normal grip already, you just need to move a finger. By the time I've taken the phone out of my pocket and put my finger on the sensor, it's already unlocked when I see it.
I read some things in this thread about MS Launcher, so I tried it. Eventually, I went back to Nova Launcher simply because MS Launcher doesn't support the Essential screen's odd resolution. You will notice it because there is a permanent black bar going across the top exactly the height of the camera notch. Nova and Essential's own launcher does not have this issue.
Anyway, after a day of use, I noticed a few things. This phone has LTE-A. The notification bar shows LTE+. A speedtest confirmed 160Mbps download and 46Mbps upload. G3 maxed out at around 80Mbps download and 60Mbps upload. Speedtest also confirms that on average, wifi speeds are faster. My G3, at home with 150Mbps Internet service, would max out at around 118Mbps on a good day but average about 100Mbps. The Essential phone would sometimes max out at 170Mbps but then slow down to around 120Mbps average. Not sure why this happens. For reference, my wired desktop computer would get 170Mbps everytime.
Signal strength on the PM/Telus network is about the same as the G3. Doesn't seem to me like it has reception issues as some have observed on the Internet.
Even though the Essential phone has the same size battery as the G3 (3000mAh), I already notice it has way better battery life. Maybe the G3 battery is old and on it's way out, but it is simply amazing at this point.
One of the biggest annoyances with my G3 has been resolved with the PH-1. I used Android Auto daily, and evertime I plug in the G3, it pops up an annoying permissions message asking me to allow access for which I have to unlock the phone and allow. Maybe this was a feature of Android in version 6 or something that LG added, but now with the PH-1, I just plug it in and launches AA immediately without any fuss.
There is one utility from LG that the Essential phone does not have though. It is the Smart Screen function where the screen will stay on as long as it detects that you're looking at it. Samsung has something similar as well and I think this is a great feature that should be baked into Android itself.
