For $250, the gorgeous Essential Phone is the best bargain for any smartphone on Amazon Prime Day
- The Essential Phone is selling for $250 on Amazon Prime Day.
- Anyone looking to get a great smartphone for cheap should absolutely consider the Essential Phone at $250.
- It's a high-end smartphone with great specs for the same price as a budget-to-mid-range smartphone.
- If you don't have a membership yet, sign up for a 30-day Amazon Prime trial to get full access to Prime Day deals.
- Check out all the best tech deals from Prime Day here.
Essential is selling its Essential Phone for $250 on Monday for Amazon Prime Day, which usually sells for $500.
For $250, that's a pretty great deal. That's budget-to-mid-range smartphone pricing. I recently tested the mid-range $250 Moto G6, which is a great smartphone for the price. But if I had the choice, I'd absolutely get the Essential Phone for the same price.
Keen smartphone enthusiasts out there may notice that you're getting the high-end specs from 2017 with the Essential Phone, including the Snapdragon 835 processor. In 2018, most high-end devices are running on the newer Snapdragon 845 chip.
But I'd counter that by saying Google's latest smartphones - the Pixel 2 smartphones that start at $650 - also come with the same Snapdragon 835, and they're still among the best smartphones you can buy despite the other Android phones that run on the Snapdragon 845, like the Samsung Galaxy S9.
The Essential Phone's camera wasn't well received when it was first launched, but its undergone several improvements over its lifetime. $250 will also get you ultra-premium design and materials, like titanium and ceramic. I'd argue that the "ocean blue" Essential Phone is one of the best-looking smartphones you can buy.
Just note, however, that the ocean blue model isn't part of the Prime Day deals. Only the black, gray, and white models are available on Prime Day for $250.
The Phone also runs a clean and simple version of Android that's close to stock Android. It's not quite what you'd find on Google's Pixel devices, but it's close - closer than what you'd find on phones from Samsung and LG. And the Essential Phone delivers a better overall Android experience for it.
If you want to stay up to date on all the best Prime Day deals, click here to see all of our Prime Day 2018 coverage. Don't have a Prime membership? Sign up for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial to get full access to Prime Day deals.
Check out more Prime Day deals:
- The absolute best Prime Day deals in every category
- The best tech deals you'll find on Prime Day 2018
- The Instant Pot is the cheapest it's ever been at $59 during Prime Day
- The Amazon Fire TV Stick is under $20 as a Prime Day deal
- We compared prices on Amazon Devices for Prime Day 2018 vs. Black Friday
- Prime Day deals on Echo devices - including the Dot, Spot, and Show
- 12 stores that are having competing sales on Prime Day