Elephone Vowney can now be reserved from $239.99


elephone vowney

Elephone have set up a special page where customers can reserve either the Elephone Vowney or Elephone Vowney Lite from just $239.99.

The Elephone Vowney has been a phone on many people’s hit list since it was announced months ago. Specifications for the phone meet those of any top of the range device of today with the both the Lite and standard versions of the phone boasting a powerful Mediatek Helio X10 chipset and rear 21 mega-pixel sensor.

What differs the $299.99 Vowney from the $239.99 Vowney Lite is it’s 4GB RAM, and 2K display 25640 x 1440 display, the Lite has 3GB RAM and a 1920 x 1080 FHD panel.

Reservations are open now for the Elephone Vowney (Grey only for the Lite and Gold only for the standard so far) with presages kicking off on the 26th October and ending on 20th November. Those customers who do choose to pre-order the phone can expect it to ship from China on the 20th November.

Gizchina News of the week


elephone vowney

With so many people sitting expectantly from this latest device from Elephone who is actually going to pull the trigger and pre-order the Mediatek Helio X10 powerhouse? And which version will you opt for?

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92 Comments

  1. MattD
    October 23, 2015

    I really like the rear… Let’s see how it works, don’t really expecting too much though

  2. E8hffff
    October 23, 2015

    I cancelled my order due to the delay. I may still buy if it’s released earlier or if I don’t find an alternative. At the moment the phone with similar features and cost is the
    BLU Pure XL at $340USD, but Vowney seems to have the attention of the customers and therefore better community support.

    • Joel Adames
      October 23, 2015

      we are thinking alike. i’m worried to go for the PURE XL as there migth not bet any after-service and the battery is smaller serving to a bigger screen… so yes same boat here.

      • E8hffff
        October 23, 2015

        Cheers. Send me any heads up, Joel.

  3. Joel Adames
    October 23, 2015

    There is one other difference i believe as i have seen in most other resellers sites. the LITE version migth have a 16gb storage only compared to the 32gb of the regular VOWNEY…

    • E8hffff
      October 23, 2015

      Is anyone interested in a Lite Vowney… Elephone get smart.

      • Joel Adames
        October 23, 2015

        In paper the lite should be a very battery wise performer as the screen is only FHD opposed to the 2K on the regular VOWNEY.

  4. glynndrago
    October 23, 2015

    I wonder whether or not I should wait for the P9000 instead :-S

    • E8hffff
      October 23, 2015

      The Helio X20 is way off so you maybe waiting a long time for Elephone to get stock. Example if the Helio X20 comes in March 2016 the same time last year the X10 was released, then you could be waiting till the end of 2016 to see the P9000.

      Note the Mediatek P10 will be out sooner and Elephone plan to make a P9000C with it in Trunk Colours.

    • balcobomber25
      October 23, 2015

      You should wait for a good phone instead…

      • MaxPower
        October 23, 2015

        hey Balco, do Blu phones come with the Amigo rom as well?

        • balcobomber25
          October 23, 2015

          Blu phones are weird when it comes to the software. Some of them have the “Blu” ROM which is Amigo with a different skin, others have just stock Android, still others have stock with different menus and light changes. I have yet to figure out the reasoning could be part of their contract with Gionee. Most of them I have used though where incredibly easy to root and had some decent ROM’s available.

          • MaxPower
            October 23, 2015

            thanks.
            that Blu XL for $349 is tempting me

            • King
              October 23, 2015

              Lol me too. LeTV or Pure XL. 🙁

            • MaxPower
              October 23, 2015

              lol, i know your pain.
              i like the ZTE Axon too, but it’s a little pricey, i wish it was $50 cheaper.

              time goes by and i feel the urge of getting a new phone and i don’t know if i can wait much longer.

            • balcobomber25
              October 23, 2015

              I am waiting for the Mi5, if it blows me away (and is offered in something other than white) that will be my next phone. I am very tempted to get a new Gionee too, been too long!

            • Young
              October 24, 2015

              Many are waiting for mi5. That’s why I am stock with my mi3. Still waiting.

            • Tajwar
              October 24, 2015

              Same here ?

            • King
              October 25, 2015

              Exactly my thoughts …. time and patience are inversely proportional… as time passes, patience reduces. 😀

            • MaxPower
              October 25, 2015

              exactly, as simple as math.
              🙁

            • King
              October 25, 2015

              Oh and BTW, did you check out Nextbit Robin. Well the deisgn, to me, can be improved but I like it conceptually – the idea that the phone comes with unlocked bootloader, open drivers and remains in warranty even if you load a custom rom. check it out nextbit.com

              I like SD 808, 3 gigs RAM, 5.2″ displays, think it is Gorilla Glass 4. The battery is measly though. The company was founded by ex-Googlers who were part of the android team and the designer is the ex-designer at HTC who did the One M7, M8.

              Thoughts?

            • MaxPower
              October 25, 2015

              interesting project:
              i like the idea of the 100GB cloud space (i wonder how much they charge for it).

              Miui offers this feature too, but it’s only 10G.

              as for the phone it seems very good, nearly to flagship (but it will become a good mid-ranger once released)
              Nothing wrong with it, it’s all about how this is going to be priced.
              Honestly I’m not expecting a “Chinese” price, but I’m OK with it, the concept itself deserve a premium.

              battery is small, i don’t get though a whole day with 3000mha so it would be nice if the battery is removable (not mentioned in the specs)

              the project also would make sense if it’s a true World Phone with all the LTE bands enabled and surprisedly this is not mentioned in the specs (pretty odd since we are talking of a phone).

              as for the design, I’m not a fan, but it’s not ugly to make me look elsewhere.

              it is a brand to keep an eye on it, actually this is what small or new companies should do, to make “the phone” that satisfy everybody needs so they don’t have to worry to fight over a penny and can charge a little extra.

            • King
              October 25, 2015

              Totally agree. One thought I have about “true world phone” is that they official ship a number of countries (it listed in the cost of shipping section when u select the phone). If we consider that as any indication, then it looks like Robin may actually be a true world phone. Will keep an eye or maybe someone could just drop a note and wait for their response.

              and like you mentioned, the concept deserves a premium. and btw, they may not charge for the 100 gigs cloud space yet, but later they could, if there is a good sale. and something tells me that they will not limit themselves to phone, could me much more. could be IoT. could be a complete user centric lifestyle ecosystem driven by mobile. who knows. 🙂

              they are a infants in the phone world, they have nothing to lose and can try new things unlike a xiaomi or 1+ where expectations are different.

            • MaxPower
              October 25, 2015

              they bought me with this idea.
              this is what OnePlus was supposed to be last year.

              I’ve been saying for a while:
              Make a decent phone, make it completely unlocked (software, bands, sources) and you don’t even have to worry to fight over a penny.

              I’ve seen other devices(not phones) selling like crazy once the sources were released.
              Because developers can unrestrict all their potential.

              I mean, look at the raspberry pi, the first generation had the computing power of a calculator (let me pass this Hypebole) and still sold like crazy due to the open development and community behind it.

            • MaxPower
              October 25, 2015

              alright, I’ve got more infos:

              it’s a true world phone (very exciting)
              this is the list of the bands:
              HSPA 850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100
              LTE Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20/28

              price is $399 with $25 for S&H
              different story is outside US where the shipping cost averages $95
              (according to them VAT and custom fees are included)

              camera sensor is a Samsung 13Mpx (the model is not mentioned)

              i can’t find out if it has NFC or not.

              So this phone is a direct competitor of the Moto X Style (or Pure Edition).

              it starts shipping from February.

            • King
              October 25, 2015

              oops, i missed this response. 🙂

              I am following them. maybe will consider ordering a Robin. and when they upgrade their phone, the next one could be called Batman. 😉

              and it will definitely be hilarious when the phone is misplaced and we go “did you see my Robin?” 😛

            • MaxPower
              October 25, 2015

              lol

            • Joel Adames
              October 23, 2015

              You should also see some of the last 5 days videos up-loaded to YouTube about the BLU PURE XL… THEY SEEM VERY VERY COMPELLING. ???? WHY!! why elephone people are such teasers!?!?!!

            • MaxPower
              October 23, 2015

              i really don’t get this hype for Elephone.

              It could be a phone full of bugs that might never be fixed by the company.

              Besides the preorder BS i haven’t seen any good feedback about aftersale support, bug fix etc..

              you can have the best hardware, for the cheapest and still it’s a piece of junk if it has poor software.

              correct me if I’m wrong.

            • balcobomber25
              October 23, 2015

              I had some hands on time with it, I didn’t notice any groundbreaking bugs but it was only just twenty minutes with it. Amigo just needs some refinement and optimization and it would be a decent UI.

            • MaxPower
              October 23, 2015

              it’s a great deal, especially for me in need for a 4G enabled phone.

              I’m don’t know if I’m ready to jump from a 5″ to a 6″ phone thou.

            • Joel Adames
              October 23, 2015

              Again folks NOVA LAUNCHER (or similar) could take care of MOST** of the launcher gripes we usually have. I do agree with you about the 6incher…

            • balcobomber25
              October 23, 2015

              For Blu/Gionee phones I would recommend you change the launcher (Nova and Apex both work great), camera app, and the default messaging app (ive always had issues with this). Those three things will solve most of the issues with Amigo.

            • Joel Adames
              October 23, 2015

              If that BLU had a 4000mah+ battery I would have already jumped off the cliff

            • balcobomber25
              October 23, 2015

              I wasn’t sure if I could go from 5 to 5.5 or 5.7 and really it only took about a day to get used to the difference with those sizes. Now I don;t think I can go ever back to a smaller phone. For me I think 5.5 is the sweet spot.

            • MaxPower
              October 23, 2015

              I’m so jealous of my wife’s 5.5″.
              i would have bought the MI4C if i could deal with a 5″ phone.

              actually i think I’ll pass on the MI5 if is going to be 5.2″.

            • balcobomber25
              October 23, 2015

              I am loving the MX5 so far so I really don’t need a new phone, in fact this is only one of three phone (Mi4 and Mi3 the others) that I haven’t started looking for something new after a few months.

            • MaxPower
              October 23, 2015

              i was happy with my MI4 (except for the white color) until i broke my screen.
              i replaced it with one bought from aliexpress (black) and a week later i had a deal pixel.

              now the back button is working on and off…
              well, i’ve also got tired of the 5″ screen.

              I’m a Xiaomi/Miui big fan(you know it already) and what i like the most of MI4 is the camera:
              I love that it there’s no lag when you push the button to take a pic.
              Only iPhones are that fast.

              I’m waiting for the MI5, but it better hurry otherwise I’m going for either Le1pro, MX5, G4, MotoX,OPX.

  5. E8hffff
    October 23, 2015

    Elephone stupidly burnt customers in this latest shenanigans of releasing so many half ditched mid-range phones and ignoring and prioritising what the customers were calling out for, namely the Vowney and the Vowney with Intel SoC. By the time they get to market, the Vowney will seem over priced and ASUS Zenfone 3 will probably hold the minds of those that heard about the phone that runs Windows.

    I bet they have crate loads of phones they can’t sell and upset customers who wanted Vowney last month.

  6. MaxPower
    October 23, 2015

    Doraemon lol 😀
    for those who haven’t still figure out who’s behind Elephone

    • E8hffff
      October 23, 2015

      more please?

      • MaxPower
        October 23, 2015

        i didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.
        I can’t help it, really.

        I thought marketing people from OnePlus were funny, but nobody can beat Elephone.

        It has to be a new trend from China:
        “experimental marketing”.

        It doesn’t matter how good your products are, but a company like that wouldn’t last one month in the West.

        • E8hffff
          October 24, 2015

          I thought you had some conspiracy to run a company that taints the lower end market.

          • MaxPower
            October 24, 2015

            nah, nothing of that.
            never said anything bad about Cubot, Ulefone, Blueboo, Blackview,Homtom…

            I’ve made fun of two companies so far:Elephone and Doogee.

            BTW,I’ve never made fun of their phones that i consider decent and well priced.

            it’s their marketing that amaze me.
            But maybe it’s just me, i might be narrow minded to don’t understand this new way to run a business.

            i wish long life to both Elephone and Doogee, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll be so high to buy from them.

            • Tajwar
              October 24, 2015

              Yeah but at the moment YOU have to be literally High

            • MaxPower
              October 24, 2015

              lol

            • Max
              October 25, 2015

              isn’t homtom from doogee?

            • MaxPower
              October 25, 2015

              i don’t know, there’s Google for it.
              i was simply listing cheap brands that came on my mind.

  7. Sirrr
    October 23, 2015

    “who is actually going to pull the trigger and pre-order the Mediatek Helio X10 powerhouse?”

    I want to pull the trigger. Anybody volunteering from Elephone?

    • Joel Adames
      October 23, 2015

      Hahahaha very nicely pulled off?

    • MaxPower
      October 23, 2015

      they are short on ammos

  8. RedmiNote2Guy
    October 23, 2015

    Elephone is total crap. Too many models in way short time. Also buid quality is one of the shittiest ones. Bending P7000, exploding P8000. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

    • Joel Adames
      October 23, 2015

      Wooo!!! Exploding p8000 !!!??? Never hear that before… Can you elaborate, sounds interesting.

      • E8hffff
        October 24, 2015

        Yeah that’s new to me too and I’ve been scouring the Elephone news like yourself.

    • Marius Cirsta
      October 23, 2015

      Well they all explode if you make enough of them 😀 I mean on in something does explode. I’ve seen Samsungs, iPhones …
      I’m not saying Elephone builds great phones, I never had one. What I can say is that I’ve had an InFocus buit by Foxconn, a Xioami and an LG an all of them had great build quality. The fist 2 are still new but the LG is thus far an endurance champion, still working just fine.

  9. lemsi_86
    October 23, 2015

    Ugly piece of specs
    It take more than highend components to make a good smartphone

  10. Dante
    October 23, 2015

    the ad near the comment section says “25 top fails of all the time” im sure they need to add elephone on the list

  11. Faress ElFarissi
    October 23, 2015

    I don’t like the back design ugly

  12. Young
    October 24, 2015

    What an ugly design. We’re they sleeping when designing the back?

  13. Rezneck
    October 24, 2015

    Intresting, I have P7000 and i’m really satisfied, this is a bit expensive but a Helio X10 it’s worth it i think 🙂

    • MattD
      October 24, 2015

      LOL hey guys, another elephone’s employee over here!
      49 comments… Only on ele threads or bringing up the good old “elephone *insert model here* is better than this” riddle…

      Everytime i see someone saying good things about an elephone, i always check his comments… Guess what?! Almost 99.99% of the time he’s an elephone employee… It’s really hilarious xD

      • MaxPower
        October 24, 2015

        Same thing happens with Doogee.

        i wouldn’t be surprised if that guy is the same one with the Doraemon cup.

        • MattD
          October 25, 2015

          Or maybe he… is doraemon himself! D: and he’s elephone’s ceo! D:
          His infinite-gadget bag would answer the question “how can they bring up so many devices every month?!” lol

          • MaxPower
            October 25, 2015

            lol, that made my day

            • Rezneck
              November 18, 2015

              What the fuck guys ?

  14. Riccardo Benzoni
    October 24, 2015

    with the letv x600 out, who cares for this?

    • E8hffff
      October 25, 2015

      Shame about the Cameras and Screen Res. 13/5MP, and 1080P screen on a $300 phone. Hang a sec I’m feeling sick.

      • Riccardo Benzoni
        October 25, 2015

        i guess it’s better an elephone with 21mpx which makes unusable pictures with lot of noise and a qhd useless screen of mediocre quality which looks worse than a good fhd and kills the SoC performance and Battery life, plus Elephone (not)known quality into building devices… Yeah, noob phone for noob guys. You can continue to be sick now.

      • Jocke
        October 25, 2015

        letv x600 is a 180usd phone

  15. dazed1
    October 25, 2015

    Instead of this, you can get the Redmi Note 2 for 170$….much better software, better touch, reliability and update every week, sorry but they needed to offer X20 for like 300$ to make this interesting, Xiaomi with the RN2, and Mi4c just rendered useless all of this other smaller Chinese companies.

    The value/$ went so low, the old impressive phones are not worth it anymore, (compared to Xiaomi offerings that is) sorry Elephone.

    • Stef
      October 25, 2015

      Depends on what you’re looking on a phone. Redmi Note 2 has many problems that non-fans of Xiaomi instantly recognize: non-removable SD, only 2GB of Ram to power a Ram heavy OS (3gb should have been the minimum for miui). Inability or unwillingness of Xiaomi to merge many of the latest Linux kernel and/or AOSP patches and only do rarely , etc…

      Redmi Note2 phone is a budget phone through and through. Better priced than most budget phones? Certainly, but with glaring downsides.

      I have less bad things to say about Mi4c as even though it shares many issues with the Redmi note , it also solves many other merely by being small and having 3gigs (less objects to draw, more ram, more ergonomic, greater battery, but still no SD, and Xiaomi OS which to many is far from a blessing).

      • dazed1
        October 25, 2015

        2GB ram is enough, this is a 170$ device, keep that in mind, and its price range, when you are in such a low end (price wise) segment, 70$ difference is too much to spend on manufacturer who would probably never update the phone, and you can bet 6.0 and even 7.0 will be part of RN2. When you buy something so affordable, you can wait few seconds for apps to reload, or simply avoid to do heavy multitasking. One thing i would do, is release the 32GB version for 10$ more, but add 1GB + or so. As a complete package, RN2 is still best buy hands down, and the same can be said for Mi4c sorry but based on price/performance this is a fact.

        As an example, Mi4c is so much better then this phone, is not even funny, if i pay 240$ i would pay +30 and get the Mi4c.

        • Stef
          October 25, 2015

          I don’t think 2GB is enough for modern MIUI, there are considerable slow-downs in certain situation. MIUI is not fit for low ram situations (like I said you need at least 3GB). I think it’s well priced given what you get.

          Having said that I think you have to search more. There are 2GB phones with released sources in the same price-range running near AOSP (the newest Moto G comes in mind) which by virtue of the OS would run better. Lately even some China makers (in this range) are releasing sources (P8000 the newest Jiayu is rumoured to have released sources), making them all better choices performance-wise, as well as ensuring support from the community for the next 2-3 years (basically what “released sources” means to the end-user).

          If you love the MIUI experience though, then a Xiaomi is the only way because most MIUI roms for other devices frankly s*ck. In that case I would still recommend Mi4 for $200 over Redmi Note (and then Mi4c). This extra 1GB works miracles in MIUI (I have used both, Mi4 is clearly the better solution of the two).

          • dazed1
            October 25, 2015

            My RN2 never ever hick ups, only on the first very early roms, now it flys trough, trust me on this, its uber smooth on .22 dev rom.

            I got no reason to lie, the phone is monster regarding performance.

            And sorry, Moto G is not even in the same class, S410……

            • Stef
              October 25, 2015

              SoC is less important than software efficiency. In everything except those apps that use the SoC’s raw power (games mostly, video editing secondly) the amount of Ram, ram’s bandwidth and software efficiency are more important.

              I haven’t run any tests between SD410 and other SoCs in real time performance but according to the picture that I have in mind MotoG would feel (and probably be) snappier than most Xiaomis . Very possibly even from the high end ones. For example Nexus 5 is still snappier than many/most heavy hitters of today… A light OS goes a long way, and MiUI is not one of them.

            • dazed1
              October 25, 2015

              No man, its far from RN2 i have tested both devices, and you cant match the sheer power of X10, and the faster nand.

              S410 is good enough but far from it, and on top of that scrolling/smoothness is just 1 segment of phone performance.

              In app performance,app loading speed, responsiveness during app updates, responsiveness during multi-tasking, gaming – high load….are all part of what phone performs like.

              What use will i have of smooth scrolling, if the phone needs 10 sec to open Skype?

            • Stef
              October 25, 2015

              Generally multitasking is worse on MIUI roms. Like I said I haven’t owned both at the same time to compare times, but I strongly suspect that MotoG would keep more in memory (faster loading times) and it’s very possible that it would be more responsive.

              All the MotoGs that I have tried were very responsive despite the low specs, I can’t say the same for all Xiaomi phones. Specs often say half the story…

    • E8hffff
      October 25, 2015

      Exactly. They have left it too late. If they got Vowney out in July when it was scheduled then it would have been a killer, but as time goes on it’s becoming stale. The Vowney needs a price reduction to $230-$250USD. An alternative is a quick rehash, like X20, new case, bezel free, etc.

      The problem with the Redmi Note 2 is the low camera and screen specs.

      • dazed1
        October 25, 2015

        Camera is fantastic during the day, in low light like many phones its bad. Ofc i talk about price/performance when i say that the camera is great.

        • E8hffff
          October 26, 2015

          Have you seen the Vowney in real life?

          • dazed1
            October 26, 2015

            No, my comment was about RN2.

    • E8hffff
      October 25, 2015

      Lets face it, the X20 will be out to mainstream in July 2016 and Feburary for special manufacturers. If Elephone has an X20 based phone you’ll be waiting for September 2016.

  16. Jocke
    October 26, 2015

    you never know you might get a fingerprint under the LCD or a banana bending phone if you buy a elephone

  17. zdanee
    October 26, 2015

    25640 x 1440 display seems a bit of an overkill. Also is it edge-to-edge as the picture implies or does it have a black internal bezel as usual?

  18. Marc
    October 26, 2015

    On paper this is the perfect phone for my daughter (in white), but I cannot get any of the Elephone resellers to answer one simple question, “When will you put my phone into the DHL Envelope and send to me”. So far a lot of cagey non-answers (do they think we are really that stupid) but no sales. Looks like it will be Plan B, the Sony Z3.

  19. Marc
    October 27, 2015

    Not listed by Gizchina online store?

  20. bobo
    November 1, 2015

    does the elephone vowney have a black border around the screen?