Android co-founder teases smartphone reveal date on Twitter (updated)

Android co-founder Andy Rubin teased us with a photo of his new smartphone this past March. The glimpse was small, showing only a corner of the new phone made by Rubin's company, Essential Products, Inc. The company jumped on Twitter today to announce that "something big" was coming May 30. Assuming the hype machine is in full force, this likely means that we will get a glimpse of the Essential smart phone in five days.

Essential will focus on a line up of connected tablets, smartphones and mobile software, according to early reports. The smartphone prototypes are reportedly larger than Apple's iPhone 7 Plus and feature bezel-free sreens and ceramic backings. The reports also say that the Essential team is working on a feature similar to Apple's 3D Touch and magnetic charging capabilities, which seems to position Rubin's new company as iPhone competition rather than other Android-powered hardware. We hope to find out more next week.

Update: A followup tweet reveals a shadowy outline, but with a little editing appears to show a 360-degree camera add-on that's similar to the old Sidekick camera (a previous Rubin project). Looking at a recent tweet of Rubin's appears to confirm the camera, showing a colleague working on some sort of surround camera setup.