2K Elephone Vowney unboxing and hands on


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New Year new phone! The Elephone Vowney, remember that phone teased almost a year ago, has finally arrived and I’ve not wasted anytime to get it on camera in my Elephone Vowney unboxing video.

The Elephone Vowney was announced back in about January, was originally slated for a June/July launch and eventually went on pre-sale in October. Well it’s January 2016 now and the phone has finally arrived so let’s see if it was worth the wait.

Elephone Vowney unboxing Video

Elephone Vowney first impressions

elephone vowney 2k hands on 1

If you have seen the Elephone Vowney images, teasers and videos then the appearance of the phone is going to shock or surprise at all. The gold phone features a 5.5-inch 2K display, front facing 8 mega-pixel camera and thick 8.9mm body with a 4000mAh battery on the inside.

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The Elephone Vowney is really impressive for its hardware. This version of the Vowney costs $299.99 but features hardware that wouldn’t look out of place on more expensive phones. The 535ppi display is a 2K model with 2560 x 1440 resolution, the phone is powered by the impressive Mediatek Helio X10, and there is 4GB RAM.

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elephone vowney 2k hands on 1

There are more highlights too such as the 21 mega-pixel Sony IMX230 rear camera, dual LED flash, NFC and stock Android 5.1 too.

Although I have hand some hands on time with the Elephone Vowney in the past I was still surprised by the chin and navigation set up of the phone. As you can see in the photos, the Vowney has an oval icon that looks like it should be a home button, but infact this is a notification ‘breathing light’. I’m not sure if the phone has hardware buttons but so far I haven’t found a way of accessing them (if they are there) so an onscreen solution is used.

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elephone vowney 2k hands on 1

Another surprise is the fingerprint scanner on the rear of the phone. It’s set quite deeply in to the phone with a wide bezel meaning you really have to press your finger in to it for the system to register. Oddly the scanner isn’t a one touch solution so you must first wake the Elephone Vowney up before it will unlock. This is really disappointing at this price point.

I’ve only been using the phone for a few hours so I’m still likely to come across a few more details, but if you have any questions about the Elephone Vowney please feel free to ask me in the comments below.

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145 Comments

  1. January 4, 2016

    My Vowney’s fingerprint sensor turns on the screen and unlocks, just have to press it firmly. it vibrates once and unlocks :/ can sometimes takes 2 attempts though

    • January 4, 2016

      not, mine 🙁

      • Young
        January 4, 2016

        Issues as usual. Elephone will NEVER Change.

        • E8hffff
          January 4, 2016

          Every phone has issues at release and then comes the rom updates. Yep you expect the core functionality to work.

          • balcobomber25
            January 5, 2016

            I wouldn’t say every phone, some do some don’t. But Elephone has yet to prove they can make a phone that is issue free, other companies have. Elephone also has been terrible with updates so some of those issues never get fixed.

      • January 4, 2016

        That sucks, I checked in settings and could find nothing that would cause it :/ if it’s a common issue the next update may fix.

        I was gutted that ELE broke up with Lenovo, are you heading to the ZUK Z2 launch?

      • January 4, 2016

        For what it is worth I grabbed a quick vid of it unlocking via the sensor. Didn’t know if you wanted proof of the issue for the review 🙂 https://youtu.be/fa9PbcXkISo

        • January 4, 2016

          thanks for that, mine could be faulty. I’ll perform a reset to see if it fixes it

          • January 4, 2016

            Best of luck!

          • balcobomber25
            January 5, 2016

            Shocking a faulty Elephone. In other news China may have some smog today….

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Or balcobomer25 ranting his -rather irrelevant- opinion about Elephone on Gizchina…

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              No more like I’m speaking the same truth that everyone on every Android forum speaks about this wretched brand. Unless everyone is lying and no one has any issues with Elephone. That must be it, the thousands of complain are all a conspiracy.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Although this might be new to you: “you” is not “everyone”

              People complain about all kind of phone companies on all Kind Android forums – so all other companies must be wretched aswell according to your logic?

              But jeah, keep generalizing everything while fighting your personal crusade vs Elephone if it makes you happy – after all it is very amusing for others to watch 😉

    • E8hffff
      January 4, 2016

      Which Rom version have you got as Review phones have 2015.12.23 dated code.

      • January 4, 2016

        Mine is a review unit, I’m on the same update. I work for a different tech site, but was with Andi when we got a hands on back in August.

        • Adam Irvine
          January 5, 2016

          Ahh we have an XDA-Developers fella here… 🙂

          • January 5, 2016

            Correct, I’m a big fan of Andi’s work.

  2. Aa
    January 4, 2016

    I don’t know why, but Elephone phones are very repulsive to me. They had quality issues and shitty ROMs before. Maybe they are better now, but still I dislike them. And they make 10 new models and 100 new concepts per month instead of trying to make one or two good devices.

    • balcobomber25
      January 5, 2016

      I have a former co-worker who swears by Elephone. He falls hook, line and sinker for every model they throw at him. Don’t know what these Elephone fans (like our own E8hffff) sees in this brand. There are much better options out there for the same price or less. The software is still terrible on them, there are so many bugs I feel like I;m holding a portable ant farm. Each phone he has had, has suffered some sort of mechanical defect about 6 months in, and Elephone’s “support” is non existent.

      • highwind
        January 8, 2016

        4x Elephone 6000 / 6000 Pro within my circle of firends and family
        – all without any issues, even after more than 6 month
        – all with near stock Android working perfectly fluid
        – all priced very reasonably at the time they were bought

  3. eliHd
    January 4, 2016

    2 words : quality control

  4. Omer
    January 4, 2016

    Andy, here’s a suggestion for your unboxing videos: Make weighing of the phones on a digital scale part of them. For me personally, the weight of a device is a very important criterium, and I’ve noticed sellers’ sites do not always present the correct weight (They will often present lower weights – Or no mention of the weight at all).

    • January 4, 2016

      thanks

    • balcobomber25
      January 5, 2016

      I have found GSM Arena to be the most reliable with weights. Not sure if they will even have the Vowney listed though.

      • Omer
        January 5, 2016

        True, but like you said: They don’t list every phones, especially some of the ones we see here on Gizchina.

  5. Riccardo Benzoni
    January 4, 2016

    I wonder if being utterly ugly on the back side is one of the prerogative of Elephone’s smartphones. One full year and they didn’t manage to make it look decent.

    • E8hffff
      January 4, 2016

      This is why Elephone has been leaning more towards P9000 series. The Vowney is really for those that want the hardware features at a good price. If people wait a few months they may get similar hardware but better aesthetics from newer phones from Elephone as the Vowney, has been trapped in its era due to delays.

      • balcobomber25
        January 5, 2016

        Or you could get the same hardware, in better phones from better brands now and not have to wait.

        • Joel Adames
          January 5, 2016

          That’s the capitalist point of view Not having to wait for anything, not saying you are, or that waiting for elephone is the greatest of the ideas, but give the guy break or he may break apart.

          • balcobomber25
            January 5, 2016

            It’s a realist point of view. Elephone has a horrible track record, until they can prove they can make a good phone and offer good support there is no reason to wait for them. A lot of people who know nothing about Chinese phones come to this site and read the comments for help on buying their first Chinese phone. I don’t want any of them to fall in the Elephone trap of seeing good specs and a good deal and thinking it’s a good phone. Until Elephone can prove me wrong there will be no breaks!

  6. E8hffff
    January 4, 2016

    They really need to get fixed the mono sounds coming out of one channel if there is two speakers in the phone. The intelligent captive button at the bottom needs to be activated quickly and get rid of the screen buttons. What will make or break this phone is Elephone open sourcing the code. Then the hardware can really be brought out to the user.

    Thanks for the quick review.

  7. E8hffff
    January 4, 2016

    It will be interesting the black cover as it seems to have a texture finish. The gold version lacks the metal grains shown in computer mock up images from sales profiles. They may have dropped a film layer on the gold as they were having NFC issues.

  8. Reggie
    January 4, 2016

    I was in love with this phone, but I hate the black bezel, now I decided to go to the elephone p9000

    • E8hffff
      January 4, 2016

      Only the P9000 Edge will have bezel free design. The others have reduced bezels. The P9000 Edge is anywhere between April -July release.

      • Reggie
        January 5, 2016

        I’m waiting for the EDGE version…. I hope that in the last moment decided to use the helio x20

      • balcobomber25
        January 5, 2016

        If Elephone is saying April-July, that means it will come out around February of 2017, with a last gen SoC they can get cheaper and it will sell at a price point that isn’t worth it for what you get.

  9. Reggie
    January 4, 2016

    When you think is available to buy this phone… Andy??

  10. Owsley_66
    January 4, 2016

    Well, I hope the P9000 doesn’t face the same delays because I just joined the pre pre-sale for a whopping $5.

    • Squizzy911
      January 5, 2016

      see you next year 🙂

  11. MattD
    January 4, 2016

    I’m curious to read a review, but even a perfect device couldn’t make me change my mind: this phone had a reason to exist only back when it was announced, when helio x10 was new and its higher price could have justified a bit the ridiculous price of the vowney.
    Now there are plenty of phones with similar specs but half the price, so it’s just disappointing how they try to lucrate with it!
    One whole year projecting the device and they just couldn’t use spaces a bit better?! You know, black bezels everywhere and a useless big chin seems just like a waste of space!
    Not to mention: double the price of the competitors, but not a single hardware implementation to justify that… No laser autofocus, no ois, no dedicated audio chip (and a front speaker to use that useless chin, for example), not even a damn irda sensor! Nothing!

    • E8hffff
      January 4, 2016

      Would you like to give examples of these half priced same spec phones?

      • Squizzy911
        January 5, 2016

        i think you are someone who is only looking for specs 😀 299 dollar? i buy a samsung galaxy s5 for the money and get a much better product 😉 and the s5 will get more updates than this peace of something 😀

        the only china phones i would buy actually are xiaomi, meizu, huawei, leTV, OPPO, OnePlus, ZTE (nubia)

        • balcobomber25
          January 5, 2016

          The S5 is more money, not sure if it is a better product and Samsung is terrible with updates. Not a good example to use. LG would have been better haha.

          • Squizzy911
            January 5, 2016

            in germany it costs 299 😉

          • MattD
            January 6, 2016

            All in all, the s5 has an overall good hardware, microsd, removable battery, water resistant and an official support from cyanogen, not the crappy ports from elephone… If it hadn’t a small screen, i would pick it everytime over an elephone, especially at the same price like squizzy did 😀

            • balcobomber25
              January 6, 2016

              I am not making a case for the Elephone, I think their phones are terrible but the S5 isn’t the best phone either. It was only a marginal upgrade over the S4 and was actually worse in some senses and Samsung is terrible with updates to Touchwhiz.

            • MattD
              January 6, 2016

              Agree, s5 isn’t the best phone ever, and touchwiz is one of the worst mainstream rom ever, but with some modding it’s a nice device they say… Again, there are far better choices out there, as you said 🙂

      • balcobomber25
        January 5, 2016

        I can give you an example:

        Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 – Can find the 3GB model for as low as $200. Same SoC, same size battery (with a lower FHD screen), better build quality, much better support.

        Is $100 worth it for an extra GB of RAM and a power hungry 2k display? I don’t think so, especially considering the Xiaomi has already received more OTA’s this month than the Elephone will over it’s lifetime.

        You can even find the MX5 and LeTV X600 for less than the Vowney, both of those phones are infinite times better with similar specs.

        • highwind
          January 8, 2016

          “much better support”? xD
          No international LTE bands, unlocked bootloader and a company lying to users about being able to unlock it within 10 days by simply not giving away the permisson – that is awesome support!

          “better build quality”?
          So, when did you get your Vowney that you can compare the built quality of the two? Or is it your usual wild guessing aka making up “facts”?

          • balcobomber25
            January 8, 2016

            I can compare based on past models, Elephone has yet to build a phone without quality issues. Xiaomi has. Those are not made up facts, it’s actual brand history.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              No, you cannot compare current models based on past models – the only thing you can do is making assumptions based on that and those assumptions are probably not even based on your own experience as I personally do not believe that you to have ever owned even a single Elephone model… so as I said “wild guessing”

              There are several Elephones without quality issues, P6000 probably being the most prominant

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              It’s called product history and brand image. Elephone hae a history of bad product quality, you apparently have the only 4 that never had issues. Until Elephone can prove they can build a phone that wont suffer build quality issues, they will get that label.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Nope, ist called “subjevtice perception”” from which you suffer…
              You neither have any qualified sale figures nor figures on how many/often those devices broke… not from Elephone and not from any other brand.

              Might be that I got the only 4 Elephones that never had issues… but atleast I HAVE/HAD a phone of a brand you are constantly talking about, YOU do not!

              Elephone surely cares much about a “balcobomber25”-label… probably as much as pretty all smartphone owners care – not at all

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              I do need sales figures, it’s a perception of a product. It happens in every industry with every product. There are enough consumer reviews around the Internet to form opinions on companies. People assume a BMW will be a high class car because of their history. Visit any Android forum and you will see people talking about the quality or lack thereof for Elephone. When they start to make better products their image will change.

              I get it you love Elephone you have had good results with them, but most people have not. I know plenty of people that actually have them and have issues.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              The German “Automobilclub” (ADAC) does yearly test on customers satisfaction with car brands. BWM for a long time wasnt even under the top 10. 1st goes to Volvo for year after year.

              ADAC also does a yearly Evaluation of breakdowns they fix for the different brands. BWM is in a middle place while Dacia has been in top or near top spots.

              So much for “high class” BMW

              => brand/product perception and reality on reliability of products / satisfaction with customers are two very different kind of things

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              JD Power is the industry leader in quality rankings. They rank the BMW 3 series plant as the best in the industry. BMW is ranked 6th in their ratings for least problems. Keep trying and failing miserably it’s hilarious to read.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              self proclaimed industry leader JD Power > real figures collected from an Automobilclub actually reparing the breakdowns! xD

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              JD Power is more than self proclaimed they are industry recognized by every automobile company. But this is just boring noe, good luck with your Elephone hope it lasts more than 6 months

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Well, I think nobody really knows them outside the US but you are right, this is getting very boring and doesnt really matter

              I dont own an Elephone personally (currently rockin a super-high-end Leagoo Lead 1 xD ) but thanks anyways

              After all it would be cool if you could just be a little more “objective” and less “generalistic” on those matters, because Im sure you have quite some Knowledge/experience but this kind of “anti-brand-fanatism” lets you look a little stupid from time to time…
              Elephone for sure has had some quite bad phones and is in no way “the world best Smartphone producer”, you know that and I do aswell but:
              – both goes for Xiaomi (or Meizu or whatever) aswell, they had bad phones / moves aswell (Snapdragon 810 desaster, faked sales figures, artificial limited supply sales, etc)
              – neither is “every” Elephone the worst thing you can buy just because “some” were bad

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              When Elephone makes a good phone and can support it fully, I will give them credit but they haven’t yet.

              Xiaomi has already proven they can make great phones and support them. Xiaomi has never faked specs or phones, Elephone has. You have evidence of Xiaomi faking sales numbers?

              I owned 5 Xiaomis while living in the US, I never had any issues with support. In fact I had an issue with a battery once, they sent me a new one for nothing.

              No company is perfect but Xiaomi is a lot closer than Elephone.

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              You do realize BMW is #1 in ADAC rankings…….?

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              orly?

              customer satisfaction:
              (WWW).adac.de/infotestrat/autodatenbank/kundenbarometer/

              breakdown statistic:
              (WWW).adac.de/infotestrat/unfall-schaeden-und-panne/pannenstatistik/pannenstatistik_detailergebnisse_2015/pannenstatistik_kleinwagen.aspx?ComponentId=235100&SourcePageId=47921

      • MattD
        January 5, 2016

        Ehm… Letv 1 and 1s, xiaomi redmi note 2 and 3, meizu metal… All of them with same or better hardware (and software) but half of the price. Damn, even meizu mx5 has a similar price!
        Oh no, i forgot they haven’t got a useless 2k display or the 4th gb of ram, that’s surely worth the extra 150$!

        However they haven’t been producing storages of the phone for the last whole year, if they had it they would have sent it to buyers… They started production only recently, so they had all of the chances to add something… It’s just that they didn’t want to! All they wanted was to make the bigger profit possible out of it!

        • E8hffff
          January 5, 2016

          What those phones with 13MP cams.

          How about this.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBalZ-uXrG0

          • MattD
            January 6, 2016

            Oh yes, megapixels are the only thing that matters for good pics! I almost forgot that! :O

  12. Tajwar
    January 5, 2016

    Wow that back looks ugly af.

    • E8hffff
      January 5, 2016

      Companies are stupid for copying others, like Vowney being modelled on the Huawei Honor 7. The Black version of Vowney is supposed to be similar to the P9000 materials. I never liked white phones neither, or those attempting to copy early Apple phones.

    • E8hffff
      January 5, 2016

      Actually the images Andi has put in this article, the phone look quite good.

    • balcobomber25
      January 5, 2016

      Ugly is being kind….

  13. Galindo
    January 5, 2016

    Powerful configuration, the price of 299 a little high, many people may give up because of this reason that, for most people, excess performance, MT6753 and 3GB RAM sufficient. Also, do not expect its price will be low, so the quality can not be guaranteed, Umi Rome is a good proof.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpOO1S5yNM

    • E8hffff
      January 5, 2016

      It’s all about the camera and a SoC able to handle the resolution. The MTK6753 can only do up to 16MP. The Vowney is 21MP. The Vowney has a 2K screen, and don’t tell me it will use more wattage as that’s more a fable than anything. The Vowney is the best phone on the market for the price.

      • Lazar Prodanovic
        January 5, 2016

        Actually IPS handles camera input, DSP or ASICS handle multimedia and GPU is there for graphics. I wouldn’t call something that can’t handle even FHD in 3D & goes with 2K as a good product. The doors to the 4K are opening with S820 & Exunos 8890/8870 but I would actually like to see those with underclocked GPU’s & progres in FHD graphics & power consumption rather than 2K~4K.

        • balcobomber25
          January 5, 2016

          Yea this thing is going to struggle to handle that display. I am with you give me an SD820/Exnyos 8890 with a FHD display and I will be very interested.

          • Lazar Prodanovic
            January 5, 2016

            Exynos 8890/8870 with it’s beast of configurable T880 MP12 from two to full 12 clusters (by the need & load demand) underclocked to 400MHz on a FHD would be something to look at.

            • balcobomber25
              January 5, 2016

              I am waiting for the Meizu Pro 6 with 8870. Meizu said with the release of the Pro 5 they weren’t interested in using 2k or 4k displays, hopefully they stick to their guns. I was never of huge fan of AMOLED displays before, but the one on my MX5 does look very good, especially when compared side by side with my wife’s Galaxy S6.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              January 5, 2016

              MX 5 Pro have a Note 3 display. ?
              6’s won’t came until 3Q… I hope they will adapt a 5.2″ FHD Amoled for it.

            • Joel Adames
              January 5, 2016

              I couldn’t care less for screen tipes before trying mine. Of course my device is put into a 6″ device so this is were 2K shines not at 5.1″ 5.2″ or maybe a 5.5″

            • balcobomber25
              January 5, 2016

              I have used 2k displays on a variety of devices, to me I can’t see a great difference until it gets to into the tablet/small laptop sizes of around 10 inches. Anything under that 2k looks slightly better to me but not enought o justify it.

          • Joel Adames
            January 5, 2016

            Sorry balco I cannot agree to that, anyhow Andi already is reporting it to be working fine. My X10 powered device is also blasting through my heavy games an crazy internet habits so, let’s stay focused because there would be No point in Chinese gizmos if they were not cheaper than the other options… The SD and the Exynos you know will be on heavy hitters with high prices. Heck my blu/gionee is sold at around $530 in China by now and it only has a X10 so… By the way WAOOO!! this elite E8 has excellent build quality and changed edges and so on and so on. When they make a X20 + 4000mah + back-lit buttons I will definitely be interested

            • balcobomber25
              January 5, 2016

              We can save the first part of this discussion for the full review of this phone (I also have an X10 powered device, which is fine on a FHD display). The Exnyos will most likely only be on three phones: Galaxy S7/Edge, Note 6 and Meizu Pro 6. No one else really uses Samsung SoC’s. As for the 820 it will be like the 810, 801, 800, S4 Pro etc. It will be used on a variety of flagship devices ranging from $300-700.

            • Joel Adames
              January 5, 2016

              I would really like to see the first device with that SoC running under $400usd… Like ASAP..!!!

            • balcobomber25
              January 5, 2016

              Over the next month we have CES and MWC along with numerous manufacturer announcements. All the new flagships for 2016 will be announced.

            • Joel Adames
              January 5, 2016

              And I do because I can almost assure you that that SD SoC being as good as I spect it will be, I don’t think it will be any where cheap as anything else out in the market… So any phone with that thing there will easily be a great phone(unless software is really really bad) , but also an expensive one

            • balcobomber25
              January 5, 2016

              I can almost assure you that there will still be cheap flagships available with the SD top SoC. Starting with the Xiaomi Mi5 and continuing with the One Plus 3 and Huawei Honor 8. Prices of flagship phones have been fairly static over the years, they don’t change with advancements of technology. Every SoC I listed at one time was the next big thing in this industry and prices have never really changed. There will be phones in the $300 range and there will be phones in the $700 range. This industry is so large that there will always be something for every budget.

          • Steven Fox
            January 5, 2016

            Dude, those chips have huge development and fabrication costs, the process they are produced does not have 99% yields.
            The SD820 and the new Exynos alone would cost the phone developer at least 100$, let alone crafting and supplying the other components, if you count workhours(both software and hardware) and add at least 15% profit from each device you will get no less than 450$ worth of a phone.
            MTK is the only company in the world that offers really cheap SoC that deliver good performance and have no stability issues.
            So don`t hold your breath for a high end Samsung, Qualcomm or Apple SoC in your device at below 399$.
            I really think that the X20 will blow everything out of the water, because it will offer at least the Kirin 950 speed at half the price and next year’s Redmi Note 4 or 5 will feature it for 200$ with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
            Elephone cannot make that happen, because they don`t have the bank to make it happen. Xiaomi can afford to profit 5$ from each device they sell, because they will sell millions of them.

            • E8hffff
              January 5, 2016

              So on the mark.

            • balcobomber25
              January 6, 2016

              Every Qualcomm SoC had those same issues you mentioned above. We have always had SD SoC’s in cheaper flagships (around the $300 mark). That’s not going to change because the chip is more powerful, it’s natural evolution of technology. Just like the 800 was a major advancement from the S4 Pro. In fact many analysts speculate that Qualcomm will have lower production costs moving from TSMC to Samsung for production of the 820.

              The 820 equipped Mi5 will sell for around 1999 yuan ($305), just like the Mi4, Mi3, and Mi2 did. All of those featured a newer more powerful SnapDragon SoC.

            • Steven Fox
              January 7, 2016

              Reports are that the Mi5 will cost around 600$ on launch, and even more for the higher memory model, don`t know where you get this 300$ info.
              In my personal experience the most stable chips out there are Huawei’s Kirin, but they are always two steps behind in the GPU department and phones are quite expensive, but run super cool and have absolutely no performance or stability/gps issues, unless you try to play the most demanding games at 1080p and you will have some lag, which for me is a bummer because Huawei phones cost quite allot.

            • balcobomber25
              January 7, 2016

              I get it from Xiaomi’s pricing history:

              Mi1 – 1999 yuan
              Mi2 – 1999 yuan
              Mi3 – 1999 yuan
              Mi4 – 1999 yuan

              You see a trend here? I don’t know where you got that $600 report from, I have seen “guesses from $310-350 for the Mi5. Xiaomi has never deviated from their pricing structure for similar models, why would they suddenly start now? That pricing structure is one of the factors that has made them into one of the biggest companies today. And with increased competition from the likes of OnePlus, ZUK, LeTV and Meizu it would be a death blow to Xiaomi to charge $600 for the next Mi phone. Now there have been reports that Xiaomi wants to enter the “premium” market which would be a $600 phone, but I see this is as being a completely separate product or even an updated Mi Note model.

            • Steven Fox
              January 8, 2016

              Well, there is a month left until the device launches, we`ll see who’s correct.

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              I wont say “Xioami won’t do something” but I would be very surprised, they have been one of the more consistent brands out there when it comes to pricing. I would expect the new Mi5 to have two versions:

              Base model – SD820, 1080, 16/8mp, 3GB – 1999 – 2499 Yuan
              Pro Model – SD820, 2k, 16/8, 4-6GB – 2999 yuan

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              international model – LTE Bands, Language, user Support – unavailable
              customer friendly model – unlocked bootloader – unavailable

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              There won’t be international versions till they expand to international markets. As for user support, MIUI has some of the best in the industry. The MIUI forums are incredibly well run and the devs themselves are often there answering questions.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Right, so they dont even compare currently – just a Chinese company without any relevance for European or USA markets

              Btw. did you know that Elephone offers international language, international LTE Support and even have some repair centers across Europe?

              Orly? Then please show me a working method for unlocking my RMN3 in those incredibly well run forums with industry leading user support…

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              Good for Elephone, did you know Xiaomi updates their products every week and has amazing customer support?

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Yes, I did know that they care shit for customers wnating to unlock and leave them with lies

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              Good luck with your unlock.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Thanks, but I probably wont need it as I am currently selling the phone

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              Vowney has no support for US LTE markets btw. So much for international support. You also do realize MIUI is available in multiple languages?

              I found a tutorial in 3 minutes on the MIUI forums of how to unlock it. Apparently you were too busy with your Elephone love affair to find it.

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              I didnt say Vowney has Support for US LTE market, you should really learn to read

              I asked for a WORKING method… not the copy and past bullshit which doesnt work 95% (basically everybody not being Platinum and/or Developer) of the RMN3 customers you (and everybody else) found within 3 minutes!
              But Apparently you were too busy fapping on your 1 Minute Google search to actually read the threads and realize that this isnt working – be extra carefull, dont spill it all over your industry leading Xiaomi device with limited LTE and world class customer support!

              Yes, I DO realize that there is NO multi-language MIUI for RMN3 currently – Thing is, you DO NOT!

            • balcobomber25
              January 8, 2016

              You said it has support for international bands, it does not. Funny all the comments on the methods I saw said it works…..

            • highwind
              January 8, 2016

              Jeah, thats really funny, especially when we again think on “subjective perception”

              en.miui.com/thread-203479-1-1.html
              11 out of 122 (thats not even 10%) who were able to unlock and those 11 were mostly devs / platin members who got auto-approved because of status!

              en.miui.com/thread-203237-1-1.html
              where is that super supportive Xiaomi member telling why nobody has gotten anything even after 10 days of waiting?

      • balcobomber25
        January 5, 2016

        “The Vowney is the best phone on the market for the price.” Haha the Elephone employee strikes again with his comedy routine!. I can think of about a dozen phones at this price point that blow the Vowney out of the water.

        As for the camera, the MP size means very little when it comes to great photos. The sensor itself doesn’t mean much either. If Elephone uses cheap lenses, that sensor will be wasted. If their software sucks, that sensor will be wasted. Those are two issues that have affected nearly every Elephone that has come out. A 2K screen using more battery life isn’t a “fable”, it is a reality. More pixels means it takes more power to light those pixels up.

        • Steven Fox
          January 5, 2016

          Actually no other company offers those features at that price point, but we all know that Elephone have skimmed on some of those features and we will not get what we think we are getting(a 700$ phone for 300$). Lets face it people, Elephone offer a reasonable deal for the price, my only concern is build quality and that`s why I never buy Elephone, because if I pay 300$ and this thing literally falls apart in 7 months time I will go mental.
          With Elephone that has a chance to happen.

          • balcobomber25
            January 6, 2016

            So why would you buy an Elephone if there is a chance that will happen? That seems like the definition of insanity. The only thing that Elephone is offering at this price point that others don’t is the display and the extra GB of RAM. Neither of which are worth it if your phone fails 7 months in and there is virtually no support for the device, which given their history is a real possiblity. I would prefer 1GB less ram (which for 99% of people will never make a difference) and have a stable OS that is supported, but that’s just me.

        • E8hffff
          January 5, 2016

          Everything is better with more resolution. Recognition analysis, finality, perspective, archiving quality, etc. Regarding wattage the near same amount of energy is used in the same space, the only factor is loss of energy with more circuitry. I’d guess the different maybe less than 10%. I’ll try to do some research on panel specifications/datasheets.

      • Galindo
        January 5, 2016

        meizu MX4 PRO it has 21M camera, but the price is the same and meizu metal. What does this show? MX4 PRO even 2K screen, 3GB RAM.

  14. @ndy
    January 5, 2016

    Can’t blame them for trying…But yack, that is one ugly phone. Just purchased an honor 7, so I’m spoilt with a premium feel/build. Really not keen on the back side of the elephone. Looks very mid 00’s.

    • E8hffff
      January 5, 2016

      It the same looking phone but the Vowney has better specs and cheaper.

    • E8hffff
      January 5, 2016

      It the same looking phone but the Vowney has better specs and cheaper.

      “Huawei Honor 7” gold colour, even has the same bezel size. The only difference is the camera housing shape and flash position.

      https://youtu.be/nAZby1kvQhU?t=2m24s

      • Squizzy911
        January 5, 2016

        i would go with huawei 😉 warranty in your country, better build quality and better software quality.

        • Joel Adames
          January 5, 2016

          Huawei at the same price brackets is trash you can’t compete those 2. The mate is more of a better comparison but when price is in the conversation don’t mention it or go buy an iPhone or samsung

          • balcobomber25
            January 5, 2016

            What does a Samsung give you that a Huawei doesn’t?

            • Joel Adames
              January 5, 2016

              Brand recognition, but that’s not the point as myself buying BLU can denote that. My point is to be fair into price brackets as is more fair to compare the vowney to a Redmi Note 3 and then blame it for being expensive, that would be a better reason to mock on it that to compare it to a device much more expensive with less specs just because of build quality… That’s why I then jumped to mention the ?and the galaxy

            • balcobomber25
              January 5, 2016

              Brand recognition is a matter of perspective. In many countries the Huawei brand name is just as strong as Samsung. But I understand your overall point.

            • Joel Adames
              January 5, 2016

              I read the whole comments section I knew this was going to be a great topic to talk about. Glad I bought the Pure XL they have been seeding silent updates (261) that runs. On the background in the mornings as if the same Gionee team were doing them, you can even see some translation quirks, but great phone overall… The launcher has me scratching my head as to decide to stay with it but I keep going back to Nova launcher, it’s very stable and has nice features to it as double click to put to sleep and such but I guess the need for a app drawer will keep me from staying stock. Anyways with a great phone I can then give my unbiased opinion about the Vowney.

        • E8hffff
          January 5, 2016

          You can avoid that they both have near identical looks, especially the face.

      • @ndy
        January 5, 2016

        Sorry? Are we looking at two different phones here? They look completely different. Apart from being a candy bar shaped phone, there’s nothing that similar between the two. I’d never put $200 on an elephone, that’s already a year out of date :/

        • ARUN SUBRAMANIAN
          January 5, 2016

          Can you comment or share on rear camera samples?

          • @ndy
            January 5, 2016

            The camera feels better quality than my previous z3 compact. But I’m just a casual snapper. So haven’t had much time with the camera. Everything else is great though!

      • balcobomber25
        January 5, 2016

        Do you work for Elephone? Only an Elephone employee or the most diehard fan of theirs would think this looks anything like a Honor 7. And personally I would buy the Huawei everytime over the Elephone.

        • Joel Adames
          January 5, 2016

          I would not buy either but I do like the Vowney design… And. Price… But I went for a safe/powerfull as well option on the elite E8

          • E8hffff
            January 5, 2016

            I would have purchase the same, just the 6″ screen was just too large for me. I know many like the larger screen though for reading and multimedia.

        • E8hffff
          January 5, 2016

          Apart form the Honor 7 being slightly smaller, it’s pretty much the same aesthetics and same bezel size.

          • kermitto
            January 5, 2016

            I’m afraid you have no sense of style my friend. Honor 7 is a nice looking phone but Vowney is just fucking ugly.

            • E8hffff
              January 5, 2016

              I think you are hurt that the Vowney just stomped on your party. 21MP camera, beautiful captures and video, 4GB chip ram, dual sims, 4200mAh batter, 2K screen to look over the fine details in media creations, etc. …and at only $299.

          • balcobomber25
            January 6, 2016

            With a completely different look. All phones pretty much have the same aesthetics and bezel designs have become industry wide.

  15. The Special Juan
    January 5, 2016

    E8ffff….i get the feeling you like this phone. Just a hunch!

    • E8hffff
      January 5, 2016

      Good deals should be promoted and supported.

      • balcobomber25
        January 5, 2016

        And Elephones should not be promoted or supported.

      • Joel Adames
        January 5, 2016

        Well, I’ve got touch unlock from lock screen on my goober version… So I really used to it and love that feature. So no vowney for me in the future…

        • E8hffff
          January 5, 2016

          Andi’s phoen is faulty or older rom. The Touch ID does unlock the screen/phone.

  16. Adam Irvine
    January 5, 2016

    Oh dear…

  17. Frederick Micallef
    January 5, 2016

    I actually like the design, I mean those bezels have become the standard of 2015 and probably 2016, but apart from those, the back looks cool with that line following the camera and the finger print scanner.

    My only few concerns is that the screen will develop faults due to quality control, and the soc despite being a great one, I still find it lacking in the gpu department. Perhaps in the future it will be replaced by the p10.

  18. Levi Smith
    January 5, 2016

    “Keep expecting (us to deliver) and be surprised (if and when we actually do)”

    I find that to be very honest of Elephone.

  19. balcobomber25
    January 5, 2016

    Look at that it finally released, it’s only 8 months late. Paying $300 for an Elephone though is like buying swamp land in Florida.

  20. Joel Adames
    January 5, 2016

    ANDY I BELIEVE THIS PHONE DESERVES AN ASAP REVIEW SO THAT WE WON’T SET THE COMMENT SECTION ON FIRE, HAHAHA, PLEASE, PLEASE GIVE IT A FAST REVIEW… NOT A 3 WEEK ONE…
    SOMETHING LIKE “OK let’s stop everything g else we have going on and let’s kill this bugger right now and get it dealt with” hahahahahaha

    • Muhammad Yasir
      January 5, 2016

      legit and solid claim 😀

  21. Muhammad Yasir
    January 5, 2016

    so they screwed up the fingerprint scanner … Not off to the best start , are we 😀 ?

  22. The Special Juan
    January 5, 2016

    Elephone don’t seem to have learnt from the mistakes they made with the p7000. When announced the p7000 was fairly groundbreaking in what it was promising for the price point. After some good experience with the p6000 I fell for the promises and pre ordered. The production and release was delayed, and elephone subsequently went on to announce both the vowney and p8000 before the p7000 was released. The delay allowed rivals to catch up and together with appalling build quality,poor optimisation and rubbish. Camera optics killed the device. …yet elephone have now done exactly the same with the vowney, which was also delayed, they also went back on promises (dual windows / Android rom?) and put in shadow behind the p9000 and god knows how many other Elephone devices. I want to like elephone… I have invested in 2 of their products… But they make it so damn difficult!

  23. E8hffff
    January 5, 2016

    Impressive Elephone Vowney Video Preview (Andi @ GizChina) Forget those 13MP or even 16MP cam phones, they’re old news.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBalZ-uXrG0

  24. iANDROID8.1
    January 5, 2016

    Honestly it looks kinda good, except for that bulging camera module

  25. WWW.ELEPHONE.CC
    January 6, 2016

    To get this wonderful phone, you can order here: http://www.elephone.cc/elephone-vowney.html

  26. DJ Subterrain
    January 6, 2016

    Elephone really need to try partnering with Cyanogen, their developers are absolutely dreadful, most of their phones seem to be held up by the software being developed and when it does comes out it’s never up to the task. Their aspirations in the hardware department are admirable but the software lets them down…everytime.

  27. vincenzo
    January 15, 2016

    Hello

    For the phone Vowney, I can not insert the micro SIM card into the appropriate phone adapters.

    As I do?