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Android co-founder Andy Rubin will likely debut his new Essential smartphone May 30th

Android co-founder Andy Rubin will likely debut his new Essential smartphone May 30th

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His new company Essential is promising something big

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Andy Rubin is preparing to formally unveil the smartphone his new company, Essential, has been working on. Moments ago, Essential tweeted that “something big is coming” on May 30th, with Rubin himself adding that he and the team are “almost ready to share with you what we've been up to.” Rubin is scheduled to speak at Recode’s Code Conference on that date.

Two months ago, Rubin offered a teaser glimpse of the phone, which has extremely minimal bezels and a display with curved corners — similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6. Eric Schmidt later confirmed that the device runs Android software. Today’s tweet from Rubin, a co-founder of Android, was geotagged from Cupertino, California — the home of Apple — despite Essential’s offices being in Palo Alto, per the company’s Twitter bio.

In January, Bloomberg reported that the design of at least one device prototype from Essential featured metal sides and a ceramic back; the company was also said to be developing “a proprietary connector that serves double duty for charging the battery and expanding the phone's functionality over time.” Few companies aside from Motorola have stuck with the concept of a modular smartphone. Recently, Rubin has also tweeted other previews of what Essential is working on. The below image seems to show testing of a 360-degree camera.

Essential just about confirmed a 360-degree camera for its coming smartphone in a later tweet on Thursday. When that image is manipulated, it reveals what looks very much like a lens.

Essential’s Twitter page doesn’t yet offer any other new details; its cover image reuses the same photo that Rubin has already shared. The profile picture confirms the company’s logo that The Verge previously discovered to be registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office, however. The @essential Twitter handle previously belonged to a fragrances business before being scooped up by Rubin and his colleagues.