It turns out that the folding phone isn't the only weird form factor these days. Andy Rubin, the man behind Essential, just posted the first photos of the company's upcoming phone on Twitter. It's quite the departure from the PH-1, but if you like how tall Sony's 21:9 phones are, you're in for a real treat.

This is possibly the weirdest phone we've seen in a while, Galaxy Fold and ZTE Axon M included. It looks to be about as tall as an open flip phone... except that it isn't a flip phone. A better way to describe it would perhaps be "half-width." Up top, we can see a hole-punch camera, as well as what appear to be two navigation buttons. One image shows a maps app that doesn't appear to be Google Maps or anything we've seen before, though it does have different transport options. The other shows the general UI, which features icons for Uber, weather, maps, and calendar apps that each take up about a quarter of the extremely tall screen. This is most likely some custom Android-based skin, but we can't really tell. Also shown are some color-shifting options that are equally as zany as the phone itself.

Truth be told, this is possibly the first phone I'm excited to check out in a long time, purely because of how insane it is. How could you not want to try a phone that's half as wide as anything else on the market? It's a modern-day Juke!

UPDATE: 2019/10/09 8:56am PDT BY DAVID RUDDOCK

As a publication, Android Police will no longer be accepting any kind of access (press conferences, briefings, events, review devices, embargoes) from Essential, indefinitely. This decision has been made in light of allegations against its founder, Andy Rubin, and is explained in full here.

Source: Andy Rubin (Twitter); Essential