The Essential Phone is free with a signed 2-year contract at Telus

While subsidized pricing has fallen out of favor in the U.S., the practice remains in other parts of the world. For example, Canadian carrier Telus is now offering the Essential Phone for $0 with a signed two-year pact. The cost of the required data plan starts at $95 a month. That's right, the offspring of the father of Android, Andy Rubin, is free if you lock yourself up with Telus for a couple of years. The off-contract price of the phone is $1,050.

The steep drop in the pricing of the Essential Phone on contract would seem to dovetail with a recent report that claimed only 5,000 units of the handset were sold in the U.S. Originally offered on September 8th by Telus for a price of $290 on contract, the carrier quickly dropped the subsidized price to $200 just 12 days later. After another two weeks has gone by, here we are telling you how Telus is offering the phone free on contract.

If you're considering picking up the Essential Phone, keep in mind that a very big update has just been sent out to the device OTA. The latest system build (NMI81C) will bring major improvements to the camera that will supposedly bring its performance in line with the cameras found on other flagship phones. When we reviewed the Essential Phone, the cameras were a disappointment to us, which partially explains why we gave the device a "4" out of 10 score. You can check out our review by clicking on this link.

source:  Telus via MobileSyrup