The failed Essential Phone is an ugly testament to everything that's wrong with Android

After a year of excessive hype, false starts, and empty promises, these may very well be the last words I will ever need to write about the Essential Phone. Quite frankly, I've already written too many. Last May, Android founder Andy Rubin unveiled his post-Google company along with a beautifully rendered website and lots of assertive language. Among the marketing copy that peppered the page were promises to "change how successful technology companies are built forever," testimonials about why t...