Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I've been struggling with the infamous LTE reception on my PH-1. The ceramic back and titanium frame act like a Faraday cage, which is a nightmare for me since I work in a huge metallic warehouse.

I'm running LineageOS 22.2 (Android 15) and decided to try an experiment. I bought a replacement frame on AliExpress (around $15 with shipping). Instead of ceramic/titanium, this frame is made of a plastic inner shell, an aluminum outer frame, and a glass back cover.

My theory was that glass and plastic are much more transparent to radio waves, allowing the antennas to "breathe."

The Test (Same location, same cell tower):

I used NetMonster to measure the signal before and after the swap, and I also compared it to my Huawei P50 (which is known for having excellent antennas).

1. Original PH-1 Frame (Ceramic/Titanium):

· RSRP: -111 dBm

· SNR: 11 dB

· Network: 4G only (LTE 700 MHz)

2. PH-1 with the new Frame (Glass/Aluminum):

· RSRP: -108 dBm (3 dBm gain)

· SNR: 10 dB

· Network: 4G+ (LTE-A 700 + 1800 MHz)!

3. The Ultimate Benchmark: Huawei P50 (Same exact spot):

· Main Band RSRP: -112 dBm (LTE 1800)

· Secondary Band RSRP: -104 dBm (LTE 800)

· SNR: 13 dB

The Real Victory:

A 3 dBm gain might not sound like much, but look at the numbers. With the original ceramic frame, the signal was so weak that the phone couldn't even hold a single band. With the new frame, the signal is strong enough for the modem to actually perform Carrier Aggregation (4G+).

Even more impressive: the modified Essential Phone actually gets a slightly stronger raw signal (RSRP -108 dBm) on its main band than the Huawei P50 (-112 dBm). The P50 still wins on signal quality (higher SNR of 13 dB vs 10 dB), meaning it handles interference better, but the PH-1 is now in the same league!

If you have an old PH-1 and you're tired of the poor reception, I highly recommend trying this $15 mod. It won't make it a modern flagship, but it definitely fixes the "marginal" antenna performance we've all been dealing with.

good day all😀

Hey everyone,

I know the PH-1's poor LTE reception is a well-known design flaw (the ceramic back + titanium frame combo seems to block the signal). I'm currently running LineageOS 23.3 and it's much better than stock, but the signal is still weak in some areas.

I just ordered a cheap replacement back cover on AliExpress. It's a glass back, and the frame is likely aluminum instead of titanium (for the price, it can't be real titanium).

My theory is that replacing the dense ceramic + titanium with glass + aluminum might let more radio waves through, since aluminum is a much better conductor for antennas than titanium, and glass is more transparent to signals than ceramic.

Has anyone here tried this? Did swapping the back cover (even a cheap aftermarket one) improve your signal strength at all? Or is the antenna design so bad that it doesn't make a difference?

I'd love to hear your experiences or technical thoughts. Thanks!

So, my boy is just about to turn twelve. He has a laptop that his older sister gave him but no phone. I have two old essentials sitting in my desk drawer and I thought it might be a good idea to update one and give it to him as his first phone. BUT.... I have absolutely NO idea how to do it. So I thought I'd come here to search for wisdom...

1). Do you think it is a good idea?

2). How to go about putting a new custom ROM on it.

Thanks,

Pulled my essential phone out of storage to mess around and forgot about the coffee cup! It was about the little details w the ph1 😊

I have an essential phone in moderate condition that I haven’t used in a couple years.

I did do a DIY screen replacement so it’s no longer as sealed as it is from the factory.

If anyone wants it, I’m happy to ship it to you if you cover shipping and handling.

It was a great phone and I’m gonna miss it, but I don’t need to keep it around any longer, my wife has dragged the whole family into the Apple Garden

update: given to A3T7

Are there any ex-Essential employees on here who know how many Audio Adapter HDs were made?

Also, does anyone know why such a limited number were produced? There seemed to be one manufacturing run and that's it.

My phone is vivo y16 (pretty old but no damage at all), im using it as my backup phone or while my main phone is charging. So i was scrolling through tiktok and suddenly the app went back to homescreen, i tried clicking the app again and it went back to homescreen again. And so i thought to myself maybe the app is updating because it sometimes does that when the app automatically update. I tried checking it on the play store, however, same thing happened (it went back to homescreen again) and i tried clicking all the other apps and it did the sam thing.  So maybe i thought it was just lagging so i restarted my phone, and after it shutdown i waited for a few seconds and the logo is not yet appearing so i manually hold the power button, it still black. I tried charging it but its not showing any sign of life.

I did tried all sort of advices i found on the internet; Hold the Volume down and power for 30 seconds, Hold the Volume Up and power for 30 second, or Hold both volume up and down, and power for 30 seconds. BUT Still no signs of life. I tried doing it for minute.

I need your help guys!!

My trusty Halo Gray PH-1 finally gave up the ghost over the weekend, after over 8 years of service. It's been through 2 screens, 2 or 3 batteries, and one power button. Many thanks to the LineageOS team for continuing to build for the PH-1, that's been keeping me updated for the past few years. I've replaced it with a Pixel 10a, which just isn't the same -- it feels too chunky but at the same time cheaply made (though at least it doesn't have a camera bump -- I waited long enough that those started going out of style maybe). I almost considered jumping ship to Apple just to get something a bit closer in size to the PH-1, and I would've like to get a Fairphone but they haven't sufficiently bribed my carrier to be allowed on the network.

I'm generally not a person who upgrades devices often, but in the past I've always ended up replacing things before they die entirely. I've always found something that's a big enough leap forward that I'm willing, or even eager, to make the jump and get something new. Not this time -- the PH-1 was such a great phone, the design was still timeless, and it still did everything I needed it to. Sure, the Pixel has a nicer camera. The processor is faster so I can check my calendar or whatever faster, I guess. The design isn't bad, but still feels like a slight downgrade, like a cheap knockoff device. Maybe the regular or pro Pixels have a nicer feel, but the huge camera lump is a dealbreaker. Point is, this time I wasn't ready - I was perfectly happy to keep my PH-1 running, and over the years as I've occasionally checked on the state of the phone market, I never saw anything that caught my interest as much as the Essential did. I so wish the company had stuck around and just made a PH-2 etc.

Wifi shows obtaining ip address then shows saved and doesn't connect.

I live in a college dorm / hostel so I can't reboot the router.

Is there any other way to connect it?

Hi essentials

I've owned my Essential PH-1 since 2017. I used it back then before eventually switching to Google devices. Now, I want to bring this beautiful piece of tech back to life as a secondary phone, but unfortunately, it's still locked to the Sprint network.

I currently live outside the US, so contacting T-Mobile/Sprint support didn't work out since I don't have an active account with them.

Does anyone know of any working methods, tricks, or tools to bypass this SIM lock today? Any help or guidance to revive my old PH-1 would be highly appreciated!

If so what era of games?

I'm running Android 10 I pulled this out of a drawer it's been there for years I was using an S5 bro because my s23u broke now I'm dailying essential ph1

I'm thinking of trying to use mint mobile on my LineageOS PH-1 and wanted to check in to see if anyone can confirm whether it will get provisioned for VOLTE or if it'll run into an issue do to the underlying T-Mobile MNVO.

Wanting to check before I burn my activation kit.

In the Paradise (2026) show on Hulu or Disney the great Essential PH-1 can be seen around the 21:20 mark of the first episode.

What are some cheap mobile network options that work for voice and data with an updated lineageos essential phone?

I have an essential phone kicking around in a drawer and would like to use it for work emails and calls, so maybe 300 mins per month and 2gb of data per month max.

Mint doesn't seem to be an option as even though the phone has been updated to support volte, they use T-Mobile which won't provision the esential phone for volte.