Reddit AMA reveals that Stellar Gray will be the next color available for the Essential Phone

Every other week, Essential team members have appeared on Reddit to discuss the future of the Essential Phone during an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") session. The most recent AMA featured Dave Evans (VP of Design), Linda Jiang (Head of Industrial Design), and William Leggett (Director of Product Design). The team members answered questions ranging from the colors we can expect to see on future versions of the handset, and why wasn't the phone certified for ingress protection.

According to the latest AMA, samples of the highly anticipated Ocean Depth color are still running into problems, and the samples do not meet the company's standards. The next color to launch will be Stellar Gray (matte black). Why no IP certification rating? As it turns out, adding an IP 67 or IP 68 rating would have forced Essential into making changes to the phone's design that were unacceptable to the team for its first handset. Adding protection from water and dust would have required thicker bezels and a thicker device. The team members answering the queries said that an IP67 rating is one of the most demanded features for the PH-2 (the current model is PH-1), which means we could see it as a feature in the sequel.

As far as what changes the team would make to the phone in hindsight, the team members refused to answer because these are the things that are going to be added as new features for the second generation Essential Phone. And don't expect Essential to push out its own line of cases either. "Plastic bumpers is not where we generate the most impact in the world of consumer electronics," said a team member. Instead, Essential was open with third party manufacturers allowing them to build "good stuff." In addition, the company felt that the phone was durable enough, especially with Gorilla Glass 5, to get by without a case. The Essential Phone is "best-in-class" when it comes to surviving drops claimed a team member.

One major complaint about the phone was how difficult it is to repair, based on a report by iFixit. When someone asked whether the PH-2 will be made easier to repair, the team member who answered pointed out that the phone was designed to be repaired using a different methodology as used by iFixit.

Check out the entire AMA by clicking on the sourcelink.

source: Reddit via Droid-Life