After a longer than expected wait Elephone have finally shipped their Elephone Vowney smartphone, so was the wait worth it? Keep reading our full Elephone Vowney Review to find out.
The first time we heard about the Elephone Vowney was way back at the end of 2014 when rumours of a new flagship phone from Elephone would launch in June of 2015. Obviously something didn’t quite go according to plan and as a result the Elephone Vowney has only just shipped!
So after a long wait, and a few delays what is the flagship Elephone Vowney like? Was it worth the wait?
Elephone Vowney Review – Hands on Video
Elephone Vowney Review – Design
The Vowney is no stranger to me and I originally got my hands on the first working prototype last year when attending the ZUK Z1 launch. From that original working sample to this production version nothing has physically changed.
Our review unit is the gold finished version of the Elephone Vowney with 5.5-inch 2K display, and all the rest of the drool worthy high-end hardware we have all been patiently waiting to see on sale.
Up front we have a gold face with thin gold bezels, a front facing 8 mega-pixel camera and a chin area with oval icon that looks like a home button but is actually just a notification light. Like many phones designed in 2015 the Vowney has a black border around the 5.5-inch 2K display, but it is narrower than some other Elephone phones we had seen during the previous year.
Elephone have made no attempt to hide the thickness of the Vowney, it’s an 8.9mm phone and it looks like one too. The flat sides are made of a mix of metal (the brushed areas along most of the length) with plastic at the corners, top and bottom.
The sides of the phone have the power and volume buttons on the right side of the device, while the left has dual SIM slots. The upper most tray can be used for either a micro SIM or micro SD card, while the second tray is just for SIM cards.
In the base we have a micro USB between two areas that are drilled out to look like speakers. The left (looking from the front) is the only speaker though, while the other is a microphone. The very top of the phone is home to just a 3.5mm headphone jack, there is no IR remote which has become standard on mid-range phones much cheaper than the Vowney.
The rear of the Vowney is none removable so no access to the 4000mAh battery.
We also find a 21 mega-pixel rear camera on the back of the phone with dual LED flash and fingerprint scanner that will recognise your fingerprint regardless of the way around you hold your phone, however the accuracy isn’t that great.
The Vowney looks just like the phone we have seen in all those images and renders over the past year. It is thicker than some of you might like (thicker still due to the protruding rear camera), but not enough to bother me while testing.
Build quality is ok, but there are a few gap issues here and there and my model has a rattle coming from it which isn’t the physical buttons on the right.
Elephone Vowney Review – Hardware
Like the Elephone P7000 and P8000, it’s hardware where the Elephone Vowney really shines.
As we mentioned the 5.5-inch panel on this version of the Elephone Vowney is a 2K panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. Even today there aren’t many phones on the market with a 2K panel, and the Vowney is about one of the most affordable.
The 2K display is an obvious high-end feature of the Elephone Vowney and although I would never choose 2K phone over a 1080 phone on resolution alone I have to admit that the panel on the Vowney is rather nice.
Pushing the pixels around the display is a Mediatek Helio X10 chipset with 4GB RAM. The chipset is similar to the SoC in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, LeTV X500 and Meizu MX5. It is one of the best processors that Mediatek have ever made. Even when having to push all those extra pixels around on the QHD panel the Helio X10 does a great job. Everything from normal everyday use and gaming is super smooth.
4GB RAM is a ton of memory and you really won’t want more than this (not that more RAM won’t be available this in 2016 phones), while storage is 32GB, which can be expanded with the micro SD card tray.
Gizchina News of the week
Oddly the the chin of the phone has an oval icon that would suggest it acts as a home button but this isn’t the case. Instead the Vowney uses onscreen navigation for getting around the stock Android installation. A look in to the settings reveals that there is no option to switch the onscreen buttons off and use hardware buttons instead. Either they aren’t available or this is coming in an update.
What the oval does do though is act as the LED notification light. The only option for this are found under the ‘BreathLight’ setting and simply allow you have the light on or off when charging, receiving a notification etc. The only colour available is white, so not RGB options on the Elephone Vowney.
On the rear of the Elephone Vowney is a fingerprint scanner. I have used other Elephone phones with a similar rear touch fingerprint scanner, but so far I have been really unimpressed with the model on the Vowney. I’ve seen that other Vowney owners are able to unlock the phone with one touch even with the screen off, but my sample doesn’t work like this and so far accuracy is poor.
When Elephone first started to develop the Vowney, a 4000mAh battery sounded damn impressive, but that was over a year ago and now even the 699 Yuan Xiaomi Redmi 3 has the same size battery. In the case of the Vowney though the battery has a much higher resolution screen to handle, more RAM to power, a more powerful chipset and a fingerprint scanner. I got around 3hours 50 minutes of screen on time from the Vowney and about a day and a half of regular use. Not the worst I have seen but not the best by a long shot either.
Audio performance is average at best from the single external speaker, but with headphones plugged in the audio is pretty good.
One issue I have had is WIFI performance. Now and then the WIFI signal drops off for no reason then comes back. Hopefully this can be fixed with updates.
Other hardware details worth noting are the 8 mega-pixel front camera, 21 mega-pixel rear camera, USB OTG, and LTE support for bands 1/3/7/20.
Elephone Vowney Review – Performance
As usual I ran a number of benchmarks on the Elephone Vowney, but was unable to get 3D Mark to run. I tried various options, rebooting etc but it was no use. Other benchmarks ran fine, and as already mentioned gaming is smooth. I played N.O.V.A on the phone and was quite impressed how smooth and stable it was. Gaming and running benchmarks does raise the temperature of the phone, but it never got seriously hot.
Elephone Vowney Review – Camera
The main camera of the Vowney is an IMX230. This is a Sony made 21 mega-pixel sensor. I already posted sample photos from the Elephone Vowney here, so am I impressed?
Well yes and no. I was really expecting the Vowney camera to be terrible, but overall the phone is capable of some nice photos. But, they aren’t what you would expect from a 21 mega-pixel camera.
It’s easily the best camera that Elephone have ever offered in a phone, but if you are expecting performance like a 21 mega-pixel camera in a Meizu, LeTV or other phone you will be disappointed.
You will notice that the video sample isn’t 4K and that I haven’t provided a slow motion sample. This is simply because the current software version doesn’t support these features. Elephone have told us that they will be optimising the camera so things can only get better and more features should be added.
Elephone Vowney Photo Samples
Elephone Vowney Video Sample
Elephone Vowney Review – Gallery
Elephone Vowney Review – Specifications
| Model: | Elephone Vowney 2K |
| Sim Card: | Dual SIM,dual standby (Micro SIM Or Nano SIM) |
| Color: | Gold/Gray |
| Capacity |
32GB internal Supports micro SD cards |
| Multi-Languages | Yes, |
| Chipset | CPU: MTK Helio X10 MT6795 Octa-core
GPU: Power VR G6200 550MHz |
| System | Stock Android 5.1 |
| Screen | Display Size: 5.5 Inch 2K display
Resolution: 2560 x 1440 Multitouch: Yes |
| Camera | Rear Camera: 21 mega-pixel IMX230
Front Camera: 8 mega-pixel |
| Network and Wireless Connectivity | FDD-LTE:band 1/3/7/20 (800/1800/2100/2600)
TDD-LTE:band 40 （2300） WCDMA:band 1 /8(1900/2100) GSM:band 2/3/5/8 (850/900/1800/1900) GPS: GPS + AGPS + GLONASS 5G/2.4G WIFI support WIFI DISPLAY |
| Battery capacity and life | 4000mAh battery |
| Sensor | Fingerprint Scanner |
| Size | Dimensions: 153 x 76.8 x 8.9mm |
Elephone Vowney Review – Conclusion
On paper the Elephone Vowney looks like a killer of a device, even in the hand there are features which stand-out as being pretty good. The screen is nice, although the 2K resolution is unnecessary and hurts the battery. Performance from the Helio X10 and 4GB RAM is very good, and the camera is the best Elephone has offered (but not as good as an IMX230 should be).
Had Elephone launched the Vowney months ago then they would have done very well on the market, and by now the phone would be running a really polished OS with updated camera performance, but as it is they are too late.
There are already plenty of other phones with the Helio X10 from bigger brands and at a lower price. The LeTV Le1 can be bought for nearly half the price of the Vowney and it is a better phone (sure there is no 2K display and the no fingerprint scanner but the UX is much better). Other options would be the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, Note 3, Meizu Metal and MX5, that’s some hot competition that the Vowney can’t quite compete against, even the Vowney Lite could be a better option (depending on price).
At $299.99 it’s a little too much, but if pricing drops to a bargain price with the P9000 launch and we see some decent updates, the Vowney could still be one to watch for.
This review sums up absolutely every Elephone device, they announce them very early, creating a marketing buzz, but by the time the phone actually launches there are a few better phones out there that cost either the same or a bit less.
So it`s always “much ado about nothing”
*sigh*
It’s the same old story with Elephone, you can sum it up with 3 things:
1. Lots of hype
2. Flashy specs
3. Horrible phone.
Flagship? This?
Take a modern mid end phone like the Huawei Honor 5X. Costs less than the Vowney.
Takes better pictures
FHD but much better screen
Fingerprint works faster and 100% of the time.
Better deal better user experience
Now it you take quality control, materials, software support, parts availability, resale value = it’s a world apart from Elephone.
It will also not break down after a few months LOL
I wouldn’t go as for as Horrible, but definitely not on par and if you are lucky it won`t stop working in six months 😀
I have met only one person who was “lucky”, his Elephone lasted 7 months lol/
” if you are expecting performance like a 21 mega-pixel camera in a Meizu, LeTV or other phone you will be disappointed.”
THEN WHY IN THE COLD HELL WOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND PAY $300 FOR THIS GODFORSAKEN LATE COMER WHEN YOU CAN GET A BETTER CAM IN A PHONE FOR AROUND 70% OF VOWNEY’S RETAIL ?!
This is reason enough to boycott this horrific end product and ensure elephone feel bad for their screw up !
You can’t. The Vowney is the best deal out there (apart from the Blu Pure XL), but it’s lacking attention to detail regarding its Android install.
Meizu MX5 anyone ?!
Me and Balco probably
Best deal out there?? I guess if we don’t include phones from LeTV, Meizu, Honor, OnePlus, Lenovo/Moto, Xiaomi and several others, than it might be a great deal.
Hopefully elephone will disappear this year as they keep releasing crap, eventually people will stop buying their rubbish.
either that and be replaced by a MUCH better company OR do an overhaul and improve their product longevity and pattern RADICALLY !
My mi4c camera which is 13 mp,( I know pixels don’t matter) is much better than this.
pixels do matter else you’d want a VGA cam.
No they do not. In short, in the 8-21 mp game. They don’t make any difference. I’m a photographer, I do know what I’m talking about. Pixels do not matter.
http://gizmodo.com/5888552/reminder-megapixels-dont-matter
You’re been listening to too many people who paid $500+ on their 2015 phone and only got a 13MP cam.
Man it’s no argument that 21MP makes a difference in clarity. Consider the division of light coming in on the matrix. Having a finer breakup not only goes to define more colour differentials but also the immersion of the viewer in the results due to the clarity.
There is an argument of a bad lens, but always aim for the most pixels with the the most features than generally expected.
The IMX230 is an off the self component that will most like be in many $500+ phones in 2016, and it’s not as if Elelphone got a dud version. Elephone just need to get their colour spectrum right if there’s any contention to quality. To me the current photos look great.
No, you’re wrong on many levels. It’s a small sensor. It doesn’t matter unless you’re blowing up to large format prints. Bit depth is also an important factor. The 8 megapixel honor 6 plus is a far better performer than most phones because of the 1.94um pixel size.
It’s all relational. Example the lens vs the matrix. Other words does the lens cast the light onto the matrix for the complete aperture.
With phones pixel size and aperture matter a lot more than the mp’s due to the tiny sensors used in phones. A lot of people see a higher MP number and think that means a better camera.
“There is an argument of a bad lens, but always aim for the most pixels with the the most features than generally expected.”
Keep doing that and you will miss out on some of the best cameras available. More megapixels will never make up for a bad lens or poor software. Just look at the Vowney, it has 21mp and the images look worse than some 8mp sensors. In fact it almost looks like they lied about the sensor and are using a 13mp sensor with pictures interpolated to the 21mp. That is how bad they look.
The IMX230 is already used in several phones with a variety of prices including the Huawei Honor 7 which can be found for as low $325. The 230 itself is a slightly updated version of the 220. The sensors you will see in 2016 on flagships is the 234/240, 298 and 300.
“In the case of the Nokia 808, the point of the massive pixelage isn’t to create a ginormous image, but rather downsize a 41-megapixel pic into a super-accurate 5-megapixel shot.”
And that’s the sore point in the article, the more pixels the better chance of of the device seeing the defining information in the vision. Downsizing to 5MP making the article incompatible with the argument, as the Vowney is giving you the full pixel count.
Apple has gone with 8MPX for so long and they make the best picture out there.
Or…
Samsung and Xiaomi ships their phones with 2 different sensors at random and people can’t tell which sensor they are using.
Moral of the story, don’t overestimate the sensor and don’t believe that more pixels means better picture, it means bigger picture and that’s it.
Lenses and software are more important.
Apple docet
It doesn’t mean they are great images. I’ve seen many Apple images and they lack detail. Example images of newsprint and you see chunky edges without much of the zooming of the end result. Sometimes colour merging can trick the unprofessional.
So you’re calling yourself a professional?
Then we shouldn’t even argue about what’s more important in photography.
Nope just a point of field. It’s like low resolution TV’s can trick people with colour changes and blend, in the movement of images. Apple maybe masters of colour algorithms so the result is impressive on the mind, but not reality.
The only thing he is a professional of is a “professional Elephone apologist”.
Pixels matter but not as much as you seem to think. Once you get past 8mp, pixels don’t matter that much.
Gionee Elife E7 got it nice… but then the Elife E8 with its 23.7 mpx are doing a great job for me + that of PDAF wich i thing is understated as it gives great fast shot wich can mean a lot of difference when taking a picture now and another now, just a split seconds apart can get your mom’s eyes open or closed and well you get the point
The Blu camera’s are good because they use excellent sensors from Omnivison, and they use high quality lenses. Gionee is also very good at camera optimization. I have used 5-13mp Gionee phones that took excellent pictures. If Gionee would ditch their own UI and use stock Android there phones would be some of the best available.
The results could be bad or good, it depends on how much Apple engineers know about Android and those phones in general.
so bad build quality as usual, sub-par camera (for the specs and price point) and the back side which looks like a minion with an open mouth.
all this for 300$ + customs?
They should stick to <200 phones, at least they have the low price excuse!
The unrealistic haters are out.
the lovers are more unrealistic in such a situation.
I’d be the first to praise them if this device was actually a quality one, you can’t expect a 300$+taxes device to be outperformed in most (if not in all) areas by some 150$ letv!
Not haters, we are realistic about this brand. You are blindly in love with them and refuse to see reality. If they made a good phone most people here would be praising them.
It appears Elephone continues to hold up its reputation in a fine way: dump a bunch of impressive sounding specs into a tin box, wrap it up in Apple wanna-be marketing, then release it to an audience that has already moved on. Elephone’s phone release strategy reminds me of how The Walking Dead handled’s Glenn’s “dealth”. The only difference is, TWD is a much better show ;).
So Elephone comes out blazing amongst the dead Zombie phones with 13/5MP cams.
The dead Zombie phones which take much better pictures? You do realize MP’s mean very little to good pictures. The Iphone with an 8mp sensor takes better pictures than this POS phone.
BULL.
Maybe we’ll have to have a competition. The scenario could be who can get the best definition filming a plane at a certain altitude. It will be up the participant how clear the day is, but you have to prove it’s a plane at the height contested on, like from Flight 24 info. I kno you wouldn’t partake in that with your 13MP cam vs Vowney’s 21MP.
yeah because everyone took photos and selfie on that altitude every day. pretty legit use case scenario
You’re showing inabilities to comprehend.
Something you have showed on a daily basis when it comes to Elephone….
He is trying to go to extremes to make his case. We don’t even need to do that though there are plenty of image samples of the Voweny available on this site and others, we can compare these two a 13mp sensor like he so badly wants to. Because in his mind there is no possible way a 13mp sensor like say the Vivo Xshot, could take better pictures than a 21mp sensor.
I know your wouldn’t believe the results even if they were clear as day. Its already been proven that when it comes to Elephone you are blinded by your love and devotion to them, reality doesn’t exist when it comes to you and Elephone.
Elephone made a crappy phone once again. No surprise here. However what the hell did they do with this astonishingly low quality phone in the past one year???
I am really looking forward to the P9000, however this makes me really cautious towards it.
The LeTV Le1 a better phone, WOW it’s only got 13/4MP config. It’s all about a complete package not just aesthetics and the SoC.
I will not accept a phone with less than 20MP rear camera, and has to be better than 5MP front.
Name another phone with 21/8MP, 64bit SoC or Helio x10, 2K 5.5″ screen , 4GB ram, NFC, for around $299! Apart from the Blu Pure XL which is 6″ screen, there’s none. Coming is the Oukitel K6000 Premium, Elephone P9000 Edge, and maybe the Walton Primo zx2 (price?)
Andi you failed to mention the 8MP front camera usage.
A good review will include the zeal of the phone doing every day to day action needed and doing it well. You have to rate a phone badly if its say grainy 2MP front cam can’t even conference well, or its 13MP rear cam is so 2014 with a 2015/16 price tag.
You can go back to your elephone office and tell the rest of the team to sort out all the problems with this phone. No surprises here really, another elephone product that looks good on paper but poorly executed. The difference with the letv is that the ‘only’ 13mp camera on it takes far superior pictures as it actually works well. 21mp sounds good but very few manufacturers have managed to get the best of out it, it seems that elephone have failed (again).
They have failed again and again and keep failing. And they aren’t learning.
The Vowney is about a 6/10 for the price. There are much better phones available for $100 less. Your very blind love for Elephone is about a 10/10.
Elephone will get the camera right as the IMX230 is now at the heart of all their coming front line phones, eg: M3, P9000 Edge, and Vowney.
When software and camera module suck your picture is crap.
21mpx means that your crap is bigger than a 13 mpx. That’s it.
More PX means more noise and if your lenses suck (like here) the picture is shit, big but shit.
Agree lens can make a big difference to colour and focus, BUT unless you pay top price they’re all about the same quality. Carl Zeiss vs Chinese Glass factory.
That is not even close to true, as usual with one of your posts. Every lens isn’t “same quality”. Some are very good, some are very cheap just like everything else in a phone.
Note much of the lens items are within the camera component. Sometimes the phone manufacturer just need to put in a masked glass protector or glass with a coating to suit.
No amount of software optimisation can cure bad pictures because of a cheap nasty lens as is the case here. This will never take great pics, they should’ve good for a good 13mp shooter and used the cost saving to invest in a better lens.
He is one of those “more MP’s = better picture” people.
Yeah
CES was terrible btw. I have been to much better trade shows, this year was a bit of a letdown to me.
i heard that the king of the show was the Keurig that makes Margaritas
Pretty much that and Ford updating its Sync with the latest Android Auto. Other than that I was very underwhelmed by this years offerings. Most of it was stuff we have already seen or heard about in the past. Even LG’s big announcement of the foldable LCD display wasn’t that exciting, Samsung showed off this technology a year ago.
In all fairness not much out there with 1440p and 4GB RAM and the SoC is not the selling point.If you want 4GB,very few options,if you want 1440p,too ,even fewer at sane prices.
Ofc anyone that can spend 150-200$ on a phone should wait for SD652/650 and X20 devices.
http://www.devicespecifications.com do a search for 2K screen, 21MP cam and not much comes up. Many are $500 phones.
i get your point of the all in option don’t get me wrong in some post, we are just having some fun, and just fire back some more so you too can enjoy the fun.
i do hope that VOWNEY gets a fair share of optimization so it can live up to its full potential and you can enjoy it.
Today there is absolutely no need for 4gb
im waiting 😀
2k displays aren’t hard to find in this price point, there are a lot of 2k screen phones that sell for around $350, including the Blu Pure XL and LG G3 among others. 4GB is good in theory but most people will never notice a difference between 4 and 3GB of RAM, especially on a device like this that is so poorly optimized.
hey Balco i would like to know your opinion if you ever get your hand on the BLU so someone can back me up on the Gionee affair as Yash said they working on it ten years ago…
What do you mean by the Gionee affair? I haven’t used the E8, but I have used a few Blu phones all were good devices for the price.
lenovo k80, cheaper but better.
K80 with 4GB is not cheaper and it’s hard to find, besides having a slow SoC, 1080p screen and 13MP cam.
http://item.jd.com/1750507.html
why do you need 2k screen on a 5.5 inch device?
why do you need anything?
give me a reasonable argument not a rhetorical question.
VR is a very reasonable argument but if you’re not into that there’s no real reason I guess.
His point is that it’s minimally affecting the quality of the experience (going from 400 to 535 ppi, I mean) and I tend to agree, it mostly affects the performance negatively.
“Need” in the context of phones is defined by the practical qualities of a new feature. I “need” a 4GB RAM phone because it will make browsing image heavy sites so much faster (no reloads, etc).
Very few can (even in principle) “need” 1440p on smaller phones because the difference can hardly be seen unless you use VR…
the gpu is the x10 weakest part. why would you want 2k screen on that soc?
why do you need anything?
you need food , you need water, shelter, all else is not about need.
as for GPU ,few people actually play demanding games on phones and all are kids, the world is bigger than that.
you cant notice difference between 2k and 1080p on a 5.5 inch screen. So the GPU has to render more pixels for no reason, giving performance hit and battery drain.
this phone is not for gamers. first, difference between 2k display and 1080p display on a 5.5 inch phone is not noticable.
Second, 2k display=gpu has to push more pixels resulting in lower framerate on an already weakish gpu. Also, more battery drain. How is this good news for a phone?
HTC went that same way on a bunch of their phones on 2015 so a smaller commpany as Elephone can be willing to do the same likewise.
It is cheaper and it’s not hard to find at all, I found about a dozen resellers that all have it in stock. I haven’t found a single one with the Vowney in stock.
http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Lenovo-K80-M-5-5-Inch-4-G-Lte-4-Gb-Ram-64-Gb-Rom-4000m-Ah-Intel-Z3560-64bit-Quad-Core/307786946?gpid=68416460341&gpkwd=&goog_pla=1&gclid=Cj0KEQiA5dK0BRCr49qDzILe74UBEiQA_6gA-lMwERdNsbQitlu0HQm-7jS9jobh41lvk31AV–q5SMaAjwv8P8HAQ
for those want VOWNEY but it is in out-of-stock or soon-be-available status that you wouldn’t get now, you may having alternative choice :~
Lenovo Vibe X3 aka Lenovo Lemon X3 (not the lite version), comes with
(1) 5.5 inch FHD (vowney is 2K)
(2) Finger Print (both have)
(3) Dual Sim 3-in-2 with MicroSD (same feature, 1st slot for SIM & 2nd for SIM-or-MicroSD)
(4) rear IMX230 21MP (same sensor)
(5) front 8MP (same feature)
(6) IR remote (vowney no)
(7) Stereo Speaker with Dolby Atmos (vowney no)
(8) Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 (5.2V 2A, vowney no)
may cost you extra USD100-150 on top of VOWNEY for great extra features with FHD screen only if you afford to pay – it may your Great Entertainment featured phone !!!
http://www.waltonbd.com/zx2/
Nice phone
Yet another rebranded gionee e8!
so what Rob, i believe when a model is rebranded 3 times then it must be really good, as i can hardly remember any other model on any company having the same luck.
Waaat? Walton makes phones? I thought they made tvs and fridges in bd!
No, they doesn’t: just a gionee’s rebrand like they already did in the past
Looks like the Gionee/Allview phone.
http://www.amazon.com/BLU-PURE-XL-Smartphone-Unlocked/dp/B01612PVV8
$349.
enjoying mine to the fullest!!! gaming is super nice, SOT for that is about 4:30mins for movies and similar is about 6-7 hours. and left alone on soft use it has lasted 2 days. i love buttons and the fact there’s a dedicated camera one is a pluss
In all honesty, I’m here just to read e8hffff’s stupid excuses and claims ?
Nothing new, and it’s like 5 months i kept repeating the same thing: this device had a reason to exist just back when it was announced… In 2015 Q1-Q2, they could have fooled someone to think it could have been an alternative to meizu mx5, with the only plus of microsd card reader (I’m not saying it actually is on the same level, just they could have fooled someone).
But… But right now, we’re drown in better devices with similar or better specs at half the price, so yeah… Same old story… If i were to buy an elephone (like someone forcing me with a gun) I’d rather go for p8000 or m2: at least, they’re not 150$ overpriced…
I would take that damn bullet anytime 😀
Would probably be less painful in the end.
Aren’t we all? If he doesn’t work for them they must be paying him to post all his drivel on any forum he can to promote their crappy wares!
Yet no one has debunked my claims.
Everyone has debunked your claims you just can’t accept reality.
Everyone did debunked your claims, it’s just that you’re put your fingers in your ears and be like “lalala I’m not listening lalala”
The biggest fail of the device is the looks. The only thing I imagine someone would buy it is for the 4GB RAM, but I would rather buy OP2 or zenfone 2.
The phone itself is not bad, the problem is the software and the price.
Considering you can get a Redmi Note 3 for $200 then this one shouldn’t cost more than $250
well, the $200 redmi note 3 has only 2GB ram, no 2k screen, no sdcard support. I think the price can be justified, but I agree on the software problem. Anyway, I wouldn’t buy this vowney even for $200 because of the looks.
Well, the $200 Redmi Note 3 is the 3/32 average reseller price included shipping.
If we have to mention the real price then the version with 2GB ram costs in China 899 yuan which is about $136
Yep you’re correct. People are leaning on ‘brand’ or other qualities rather than summing up if the phone has the overall hallmarks of being frontline.
If I get on Google handouts I do not want a 5MP or less front facing camera.
If I take photos especially of the family, friends and experiences in life, I want those with the best archive quality for prosperity. At the moment that means 20-24MP in the reasonable price league.
If I read or view hi-res images I want a screen with the ability to view those images or eBooks, without zooming in. A 2K screen is a good choice. I haven’t heard of anyone produce datasheets on 2K screen dramatically using way more power.
If I buy a phone I want it to have 64bit instruction set and be with modern SoC features.
People are leaning on brand, because those brands offer good quality and support. For Google Hangouts the front aperture will mean a lot more than an extra 3mp’s. Especially if the front camera sensor is of low quality. Most phones today are 64 bit including the $200 Helios X10 phones this competes with and are much better overall phones, even without the extra 1GB of RAM.
not to be the devil’s advocate but a bunch of HTC phones 2015 had the same x10 and such and none under 300$
And a bunch of LeTV, Meizu and Xiaomi phones did have the X10 for well under $300.
‘If I get on Google handouts I do not want a 5MP or less front facing camera.
If I take photos especially of the family, friends and experiences in life, I want those with the best archive quality for prosperity. At the moment that means 20-24MP in the reasonable price league.’
MP does not equal quality. I have an Honor 7 with 21MP back camera but it doesn’t make my pictures better than the 16MP of an S6. Unless you want to print posters 8MP is enough and 12MP is more than enough. The quality of the sensor and the software is way more important.
Obviously that’s an opinion. I consider more data important, especially if each item of data is capable of being distinct to another in regards to image recording.
Also consider AI recognition.
You’re looking at all the wrong numbers then
http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_269051.html?currency=USD&gclid=CjwKEAiAws20BRCs-P-ssLbSlg4SJABbVcDpQggoN824nOpXyhY6vNAJnHWrgZWTrEYkLIV7lFtjNhoCoULw_wcB
You can find the RN3 with 3/32 for $209….
Yep, I should’ve checked current prices before writing.
Yea this should be at most a $230 phone, for that price its a good buy. But for $300 there is much better phones available.
in all fairness it lacks 3 things
2K screens as unnecessary as it is
sd-card expansion
4gbRam
+ the crazy hipe hahaha
then the note 3 gets
awesome looks compared to vowney
better software
i guess if Xiomi were to produce a device spec’s identical to the vowney it would be around 300 as well.
anyways vowneys playground will be the the LITE version if it ever comes out.
Specifically that back protruding camera sensor.
That 4GB will be wasted with their terrible software, it won’t be an upgrade to a much better 3GB phone.
You aren’t fathoming multitasking or even running convergence scenarios, like say Ubuntu Touch/Phone running Linux desktop software.
Ubuntu Touch is still very early in its stages, I used both phones designed to run Ubuntu Touch and it is still years away from being a viable option.
I am fathoming what the majority of people will use this phone for: Android.
This is what an android phone with a fingerprint scanner from 2009 would look like
Hi Andi I wanted to know when the k4 note will be available in the gizchina shop with eu warehouse shipping.
Thanks
Hi, I don’t think we will be selling it.
Could you please tell me where can I buy it from? Thanks
Check the Amazon for your country, they usually carry the Lenovo Note.
why?
This review sums up absolutely every Elephone device, they announce them very early, creating a marketing buzz, but by the time the phone actually launches there are a few better phones out there that cost either the same or a bit less.
So it`s always “much ado about nothing”
*sigh*
It’s the same old story with Elephone, you can sum it up with 3 things:
1. Lots of hype
2. Flashy specs
3. Horrible phone.
Flagship? This?
Take a modern mid end phone like the Huawei Honor 5X. Costs less than the Vowney.
Takes better pictures
FHD but much better screen
Fingerprint works faster and 100% of the time.
Better deal better user experience
Now it you take quality control, materials, software support, parts availability, resale value = it’s a world apart from Elephone.
It will also not break down after a few months LOL
I wouldn’t go as for as Horrible, but definitely not on par and if you are lucky it won`t stop working in six months 😀
I have met only one person who was “lucky”, his Elephone lasted 7 months lol/
” if you are expecting performance like a 21 mega-pixel camera in a Meizu, LeTV or other phone you will be disappointed.”
THEN WHY IN THE COLD HELL WOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND PAY $300 FOR THIS GODFORSAKEN LATE COMER WHEN YOU CAN GET A BETTER CAM IN A PHONE FOR AROUND 70% OF VOWNEY’S RETAIL ?!
This is reason enough to boycott this horrific end product and ensure elephone feel bad for their screw up !
You can’t. The Vowney is the best deal out there (apart from the Blu Pure XL), but the Vowney lacks attention to detail regarding its Android install.
Hopefully elephone will disappear this year as they keep releasing crap, eventually people will stop buying their rubbish.
Meizu MX5 anyone ?!
either that and be replaced by a MUCH better company OR do an overhaul and improve their product longevity and pattern RADICALLY !
Me and Balco probably
Best deal out there?? I guess if we don’t include phones from LeTV, Meizu, Honor, OnePlus, Lenovo/Moto, Xiaomi and several others, than it might be a great deal.
I know it that over hyped Vowney is another shit in the making.
Will Elephone learn for once?
Believe me, this company won’t last more than a decade.
No sane person will waste his money on this shit.
My mi4c camera which is 13 mp,( I know pixels don’t matter) is much better than this.
pixels do matter else you’d want a VGA cam with a great lens.
No they do not. In short, in the 8-21 mp game. They don’t make any difference. I’m a photographer, I do know what I’m talking about. Pixels do not matter.
http://gizmodo.com/5888552/reminder-megapixels-dont-matter
Apple has gone with 8MPX for so long and they make the best picture out there.
Or…
Samsung and Xiaomi ships their phones with 2 different sensors at random and people can’t tell which sensor they are using.
Moral of the story, don’t overestimate the sensor and don’t believe that more pixels means better picture, it means bigger picture and that’s it.
Lenses and software are more important.
Apple docet
You’ve been listening to too many people who paid $500+ on their 2015 phone and only got a 13MP cam.
Man it’s no argument that 21MP makes a difference in clarity. Consider the division of light coming in on the matrix. Having a finer breakup not only goes to define more colour differentials but also the immersion of the viewer in the results due to the clarity.
There is an argument of a bad lens, but always aim for the most pixels with the the most features than generally expected.
The IMX230 is an off the self component that will most like be in many $500+ phones in 2016, and it’s not as if Elelphone got a dud version. Elephone just need to get their colour spectrum right if there’s any contention to quality. To me the current photos look great.
It doesn’t mean they are great images. I’ve seen many Apple images and they lack detail. Example images of newsprint and you see chunky edges on lettering without much zooming of the end result. Sometimes colour merging/blending can trick the unprofessional.
No, you’re wrong on many levels. It’s a small sensor. It doesn’t matter unless you’re blowing up to large format prints. Bit depth is also an important factor. The 8 megapixel honor 6 plus is a far better performer than most phones because of the 1.94um pixel size.
So you’re calling yourself a professional?
Then we shouldn’t even argue about what’s more important in photography.
It’s all relational. Example the lens vs the matrix. Other words does the lens cast the light onto the matrix for the complete aperture.
Nope just a point of field. It’s like low resolution TV’s can trick people with colour changes and blend, in the movement of images. Apple maybe masters of colour algorithms so the result is impressive on the mind, but not reality.
“In the case of the Nokia 808, the point of the massive pixelage isn’t to create a ginormous image, but rather downsize a 41-megapixel pic into a super-accurate 5-megapixel shot.”
And that’s the sore point in the article, the more pixels the better chance of of the device seeing the defining information in the vision. Downsizing to 5MP making the article incompatible with the argument, as the Vowney is giving you the full pixel count.
The only thing he is a professional of is a “professional Elephone apologist”.
With phones pixel size and aperture matter a lot more than the mp’s due to the tiny sensors used in phones. A lot of people see a higher MP number and think that means a better camera.
Pixels matter but not as much as you seem to think. Once you get past 8mp, pixels don’t matter that much.
I paid nothing for my phone and got a 20.7mp camera, my phone before was $300 and had a 13mp camera. Both take better pictures than this.
“There is an argument of a bad lens, but always aim for the most pixels with the the most features than generally expected.”
Keep doing that and you will miss out on some of the best cameras available. More megapixels will never make up for a bad lens or poor software. Just look at the Vowney, it has 21mp and the images look worse than some 8mp sensors. In fact it almost looks like they lied about the sensor and are using a 13mp sensor with pictures interpolated to the 21mp. That is how bad they look.
The IMX230 is already used in several phones with a variety of prices including the Huawei Honor 7 which can be found for as low $325. The 230 itself is a slightly updated version of the 220. The sensors you will see in 2016 on flagships is the 234/240, 298 and 300.
Gionee Elife E7 got it nice… but then the Elife E8 with its 23.7 mpx are doing a great job for me + that of PDAF wich i thing is understated as it gives great fast shot wich can mean a lot of difference when taking a picture now and another now, just a split seconds apart can get your mom’s eyes open or closed and well you get the point
I do get max point about the MX5 and it would be great as well given that with software optimization this big cameras can turn into great shooters… and no one can deny that if APPLE guys were to write algorithims for the MX5 or the Pure XL the result would be…
The Blu camera’s are good because they use excellent sensors from Omnivison, and they use high quality lenses. Gionee is also very good at camera optimization. I have used 5-13mp Gionee phones that took excellent pictures. If Gionee would ditch their own UI and use stock Android there phones would be some of the best available.
The results could be bad or good, it depends on how much Apple engineers know about Android and those phones in general.
so bad build quality as usual, sub-par camera (for the specs and price point) and the back side which looks like a minion with an open mouth.
all this for 300$ + customs?
They should stick to <200 phones, at least they have the low price excuse!
The unrealistic haters are out.
the lovers are more unrealistic in such a situation.
I’d be the first to praise them if this device was actually a quality one, you can’t expect a 300$+taxes device to be outperformed in most (if not in all) areas by some 150$ letv!
Not haters, we are realistic about this brand. You are blindly in love with them and refuse to see reality. If they made a good phone most people here would be praising them.
It appears Elephone continues to hold up its reputation in a fine way: dump a bunch of impressive sounding specs into a tin box, wrap it up in Apple wanna-be marketing, then release it to an audience that has already moved on. Elephone’s release strategy reminds me of how The Walking Dead handled Glenn’s “dealth”. The only difference is, TWD is a much better show ;).
So Elephone comes out blazing amongst the dead Zombie phones with 13/5MP cams.
The dead Zombie phones which take much better pictures? You do realize MP’s mean very little to good pictures. The Iphone with an 8mp sensor takes better pictures than this POS phone.
BULL.
Maybe we’ll have to have a competition. The scenario could be who can get the best definition filming a plane at a certain altitude. It will be up the participant how clear the day is, but you have to prove it’s a plane at the height contested on, like from Flight 24 info. I kno you wouldn’t partake in that with your 13MP cam vs Vowney’s 21MP.
yeah because everyone took photos and selfie on that altitude every day. pretty legit use case scenario
You’re showing inabilities to comprehend.
I know your wouldn’t believe the results even if they were clear as day. Its already been proven that when it comes to Elephone you are blinded by your love and devotion to them, reality doesn’t exist when it comes to you and Elephone.
He is trying to go to extremes to make his case. We don’t even need to do that though there are plenty of image samples of the Voweny available on this site and others, we can compare these two a 13mp sensor like he so badly wants to. Because in his mind there is no possible way a 13mp sensor like say the Vivo Xshot, could take better pictures than a 21mp sensor.
Something you have showed on a daily basis when it comes to Elephone….
Lol, 3.5 hours of screen time, I’m getting 7 hours of screen in 2 days usage on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 3GB/32GB and 10 hours of YouTube streaming.
Only a fool would get this phone.
You need to clean up start-up apps and settings, to really test battery life. I noticed on one review the Vowney test phone only had 30% ram memory left.
no, you really don’t. we don’t need “lab-results” where the phones are emtied out from all apps and put into hyper-energy-saving-mode so we get the highest sot. we don’t need cheated-on benchmark-results. we need real life results. most people want the phone to work like it is, out-of-the-box. they don’t want to fidget around with source-codes and kernels and custom roms and root and cleaning out all the bloatware. they want a phone to function. and that’s what andi tested here.
he “used” it. thats what most people do.
so 3,5h sot is weak for an everyday use of the average user of a phone.
even my lenovo k3 note gets 4 hours sot under heavy usage.
I used nokia for 10 days without charging.
yeah I can watch youtube and play asphalt 8 on my 3310 for the whole day and still have 80% battery left
Which Nokia and what did you use it for?
Elephone made a crappy phone once again. No surprise here. However what the hell did they do with this astonishingly low quality phone in the past one year???
I am really looking forward to the P9000, however this makes me really cautious towards it.
The LeTV Le1 a better phone, WOW it’s only got 13/4MP config. It’s all about a complete package not just aesthetics and the SoC.
I will not accept a phone with less than 20MP rear camera, and has to be better than 5MP front as the era calls for it.
Name another phone with 21/8MP, 64bit SoC or Helio x10, 2K 5.5″ screen , 4GB ram, NFC, for around $299! Apart from the Blu Pure XL which is 6″ screen, there’s none. Coming is the Oukitel K6000 Premium, Elephone P9000 Edge, and maybe the Walton Primo zx2 (price?)
Andi you failed to mention the 8MP front camera usage.
A good review will include the zeal of the phone doing every day to day action needed and doing it well. You have to rate a phone badly if its say grainy 2MP front cam can’t even conference well, or its 13MP rear cam is so 2014 with a 2015/16 price tag which is most of the phones you’re summing Vowney up to.
The score Andi gave was fair, but not in the field of the “value”. The Vowney is clearly a 9/10 score for price.
You can go back to your elephone office and tell the rest of the team to sort out all the problems with this phone. No surprises here really, another elephone product that looks good on paper but poorly executed. The difference with the letv is that the ‘only’ 13mp camera on it takes far superior pictures as it actually works well. 21mp sounds good but very few manufacturers have managed to get the best of out it, it seems that elephone have failed (again).
They have failed again and again and keep failing. And they aren’t learning.
The Vowney is about a 6/10 for the price. There are much better phones available for $100 less. Your very blind love for Elephone is about a 10/10.
Elephone will get the camera right as the IMX230 is now at the heart of all their coming front line phones, eg: M3, P9000 Edge, and Vowney.
When software and camera module suck your picture is crap.
21mpx means that your crap is bigger than a 13 mpx. That’s it.
More PX means more noise and if your lenses suck (like here) the picture is shit, big but shit.
Agree lens can make a big difference to colour and focus, BUT unless you pay top price they’re all about the same quality. Carl Zeiss vs Chinese Glass factory.
Note much of the lens items are within the camera component. Sometimes the phone manufacturer just need to put in a masked glass protector or glass with a coating to suit.
No amount of software optimisation can cure bad pictures because of a cheap nasty lens as is the case here. This will never take great pics, they should’ve good for a good 13mp shooter and used the cost saving to invest in a better lens.
That is not even close to true, as usual with one of your posts. Every lens isn’t “same quality”. Some are very good, some are very cheap just like everything else in a phone.
He is one of those “more MP’s = better picture” people.
Yeah
CES was terrible btw. I have been to much better trade shows, this year was a bit of a letdown to me.
i heard that the king of the show was the Keurig that makes Margaritas
Pretty much that and Ford updating its Sync with the latest Android Auto. Other than that I was very underwhelmed by this years offerings. Most of it was stuff we have already seen or heard about in the past. Even LG’s big announcement of the foldable LCD display wasn’t that exciting, Samsung showed off this technology a year ago.
In all fairness not much out there with 1440p and 4GB RAM and the SoC is not the selling point.If you want 4GB,very few options,if you want 1440p,too ,even fewer at sane prices.
Ofc anyone that can spend 150-200$ on a phone should wait for SD652/650 and X20 devices.
http://www.devicespecifications.com do a search for 2K screen, 21MP cam and not much comes up. Many are $500 phones.
Today there is absolutely no need for 4gb
im waiting 😀
2k displays aren’t hard to find in this price point, there are a lot of 2k screen phones that sell for around $350, including the Blu Pure XL and LG G3 among others. 4GB is good in theory but most people will never notice a difference between 4 and 3GB of RAM, especially on a device like this that is so poorly optimized.
i get your point of the all in option don’t get me wrong in some post, we are just having some fun, and just fire back some more so you too can enjoy the fun.
i do hope that VOWNEY gets a fair share of optimization so it can live up to its full potential and you can enjoy it.
hey Balco i would like to know your opinion if you ever get your hand on the BLU so someone can back me up on the Gionee affair as Yash said they working on it ten years ago…
What do you mean by the Gionee affair? I haven’t used the E8, but I have used a few Blu phones all were good devices for the price.
lenovo k80, cheaper but better.
K80 with 4GB is not cheaper and it’s hard to find, besides having a slow SoC, 1080p screen and 13MP cam.
http://item.jd.com/1750507.html
why do you need 2k screen on a 5.5 inch device?
http://www.pandawill.com/lenovo-k80mp90-4g-smartphone-4gb-64gb-55-inch-fhd-quad-core-18ghz-4000mah-nfc-black-p112939.html
216$ vs 299$
the gpu is the x10 weakest part. why would you want 2k screen on that soc?
why do you need anything?
why do you need anything?
you need food , you need water, shelter, all else is not about need.
as for GPU ,few people actually play demanding games on phones and all are kids, the world is bigger than that.
give me a reasonable argument not a rhetorical question.
His point is that it’s minimally affecting the quality of the experience (going from 400 to 535 ppi, I mean) and I tend to agree, it mostly affects the performance negatively.
“Need” in the context of phones is defined by the practical qualities of a new feature. I “need” a 4GB RAM phone because it will make browsing image heavy sites so much faster (no reloads, etc).
Very few can (even in principle) “need” 1440p on smaller phones because the difference can hardly be seen unless you use VR…
VR is a very reasonable argument but if you’re not into that there’s no real reason I guess.
It is cheaper and it’s not hard to find at all, I found about a dozen resellers that all have it in stock. I haven’t found a single one with the Vowney in stock.
http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Lenovo-K80-M-5-5-Inch-4-G-Lte-4-Gb-Ram-64-Gb-Rom-4000m-Ah-Intel-Z3560-64bit-Quad-Core/307786946?gpid=68416460341&gpkwd=&goog_pla=1&gclid=Cj0KEQiA5dK0BRCr49qDzILe74UBEiQA_6gA-lMwERdNsbQitlu0HQm-7jS9jobh41lvk31AV–q5SMaAjwv8P8HAQ
you cant notice difference between 2k and 1080p on a 5.5 inch screen. So the GPU has to render more pixels for no reason, giving performance hit and battery drain.
this phone is not for gamers. first, difference between 2k display and 1080p display on a 5.5 inch phone is not noticable.
Second, 2k display=gpu has to push more pixels resulting in lower framerate on an already weakish gpu. Also, more battery drain. How is this good news for a phone?
HTC went that same way on a bunch of their phones on 2015 so a smaller commpany as Elephone can be willing to do the same likewise.
for those want VOWNEY but it is in out-of-stock or soon-be-available status that you wouldn’t get now, you may having alternative choice :~
Lenovo Vibe X3 aka Lenovo Lemon X3 (not the lite version), comes with
(1) – 5.5 inch FHD (vowney is 2K)
(2) – 3GB (vowney 4GB, more than 2GB is great)
(3) * Qualcomm 808 (vowney is Mediatek X10)
(4) * 3600MAh (for Vibe X3 with FHD where 4000MAh for vowney 2K)
(5) */+ 32GB / 64GB (vowney 32GB)
(6) * Finger Print (both have)
(7) * Dual Sim 3-in-2 with MicroSD (same feature, 1st slot for SIM & 2nd for SIM-or-MicroSD)
(8) * rear IMX230 21MP (same sensor)
(9) * front 8MP (same feature)
(10) + IR remote (vowney no)
(11) + Stereo Speaker with Dolby Atmos (vowney no)
(12) + Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 (5.2V 2A, vowney no)
(-) vowney (*) same (+) vibe x3
may cost you extra USD100-150 on top of VOWNEY for great extra features with FHD screen only if you afford to pay – it may your Great Entertainment featured phone !!!
http://www.waltonbd.com/zx2/ $658 USD
Nice phone
Waaat? Walton makes phones? I thought they made tvs and fridges in bd!
Yet another rebranded gionee e8!
No, they doesn’t: just a gionee’s rebrand like they already did in the past
Looks like the Gionee/Allview phone.
http://www.amazon.com/BLU-PURE-XL-Smartphone-Unlocked/dp/B01612PVV8
$349.
so what Rob, i believe when a model is rebranded 4 times then it must be really good, as i can hardly remember any other model on any company having the same luck.
so it goes by
Elife E8
Pure XL
X2 Xtreme
ZX2
Noir E8
something they must have done Rigth!!!
enjoying mine to the fullest!!! gaming is super nice, SOT for that is about 4:30mins for movies and similar is about 6-7 hours. and left alone on soft use it has lasted 2 days. i love buttons and the fact there’s a dedicated camera one is a pluss
In all honesty, I’m here just to read e8hffff’s stupid excuses and claims 😁
Nothing new, and it’s like 5 months i kept repeating the same thing: this device had a reason to exist just back when it was announced… In 2015 Q1-Q2, they could have fooled someone to think it could have been an alternative to meizu mx5, with the only plus of microsd card reader (I’m not saying it actually is on the same level, just they could have fooled someone).
But… But right now, we’re drown in better devices with similar or better specs at half the price, so yeah… Same old story… If i were to buy an elephone (like someone forcing me with a gun) I’d rather go for p8000 or m2: at least, they’re not 150$ overpriced…
I would take that damn bullet anytime 😀
Aren’t we all? If he doesn’t work for them they must be paying him to post all his drivel on any forum he can to promote their crappy wares!
Yet no one has debunked my claims.
Everyone has debunked your claims you just can’t accept reality.
Would probably be less painful in the end.
Everyone did debunked your claims, it’s just that you’re put your fingers in your ears and be like “lalala I’m not listening lalala”
The biggest fail of the device is the looks. The only thing I imagine someone would buy it is for the 4GB RAM, but I would rather buy OP2 or zenfone 2.
The phone itself is not bad, the problem is the software and the price.
Considering you can get a Redmi Note 3 for $200 then this one shouldn’t cost more than $250
well, the $200 redmi note 3 has only 2GB ram, no 2k screen, no sdcard support. I think the price can be justified, but I agree on the software problem. Anyway, I wouldn’t buy this vowney even for $200 because of the looks.
Well, the $200 Redmi Note 3 is the 3/32 average reseller price included shipping.
If we have to mention the real price then the version with 2GB ram costs in China 899 yuan which is about $136
Specifically that back protruding camera sensor.
Yep you’re correct. People are leaning on ‘brand’ or other qualities rather than summing up if the phone has the overall hallmarks of being frontline.
If I get on Google handouts I do not want a 5MP or less front facing camera.
If I take photos especially of the family, friends and experiences in life, I want those with the best archive quality for prosperity. At the moment that means 20-24MP in the reasonable price league.
If I read or view hi-res images I want a screen with the ability to view those images or eBooks, without zooming in. A 2K screen is a good choice. I haven’t heard of anyone produce datasheets on 2K screen dramatically using way more power.
If I buy a phone I want it to have 64bit instruction set and be with modern SoC features.
That 4GB will be wasted with their terrible software, it won’t be an upgrade to a much better 3GB phone.
People are leaning on brand, because those brands offer good quality and support. For Google Hangouts the front aperture will mean a lot more than an extra 3mp’s. Especially if the front camera sensor is of low quality. Most phones today are 64 bit including the $200 Helios X10 phones this competes with and are much better overall phones, even without the extra 1GB of RAM.
http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_269051.html?currency=USD&gclid=CjwKEAiAws20BRCs-P-ssLbSlg4SJABbVcDpQggoN824nOpXyhY6vNAJnHWrgZWTrEYkLIV7lFtjNhoCoULw_wcB
You can find the RN3 with 3/32 for $209….
Yep, I should’ve checked current prices before writing.
‘If I get on Google handouts I do not want a 5MP or less front facing camera.
If I take photos especially of the family, friends and experiences in life, I want those with the best archive quality for prosperity. At the moment that means 20-24MP in the reasonable price league.’
MP does not equal quality. I have an Honor 7 with 21MP back camera but it doesn’t make my pictures better than the 16MP of an S6. Unless you want to print posters 8MP is enough and 12MP is more than enough. The quality of the sensor and the software is way more important.
Obviously that’s an opinion. I consider more data important, especially if each item of data is capable of being distinct to another in regards to image recording.
Also consider AI recognition.
You aren’t fathoming multitasking or even running convergence scenarios, like say Ubuntu Touch/Phone running Linux desktop software.
You’re looking at all the wrong numbers then
Ubuntu Touch is still very early in its stages, I used both phones designed to run Ubuntu Touch and it is still years away from being a viable option.
I am fathoming what the majority of people will use this phone for: Android.
Yea this should be at most a $230 phone, for that price its a good buy. But for $300 there is much better phones available.
not to be the devil’s advocate but a bunch of HTC phones 2015 had the same x10 and such and none under 300$
in all fairness it lacks 3 things
2K screens as unnecessary as it is
sd-card expansion
4gbRam
+ the crazy hipe hahaha
then the note 3 gets
awesome looks compared to vowney
better software
i guess if Xiomi were to produce a device spec’s identical to the vowney it would be around 300 as well.
anyways vowneys playground will be the the LITE version if it ever comes out.
And a bunch of LeTV, Meizu and Xiaomi phones did have the X10 for well under $300.
This is what an android phone with a fingerprint scanner from 2009 would look like
Hi Andi I wanted to know when the k4 note will be available in the gizchina shop with eu warehouse shipping.
Thanks
Hi, I don’t think we will be selling it.
Could you please tell me where can I buy it from? Thanks
why?
Check the Amazon for your country, they usually carry the Lenovo Note.
I know it that over hyped Vowney is another shit in the making.
Will Elephone learn for once?
Believe me, this company won’t last more than a decade.
No sane person will waste his money on this shit.
how does GPS on this newer mediatec phones perform, no problems anymore ??
Long time no problems with GPS on MTK phones, this could be the same
Actually I was amazed how well GPS works on mediatek chips (Meizu mx5, Helio x10). It works much faster and more precise than on my Oneplus one(SD801).
Yea I saw a reversal this year, the Mediatek 64 bit phones GPS’s has been very good this year, the SD ones it has been hit or miss. Qualcomm was their own worst enemy last year. Hopefully all their issues are solved with the 820.
Lol, 3.5 hours of screen time, I’m getting 7 hours of screen in 2 days usage on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 3GB/32GB and 10 hours of YouTube streaming.
Only a fool would get this phone.
You need to clean up start-up apps and settings, to really test battery life. I noticed on one review the Vowney test phone only had 30% ram memory left.
I used nokia for 10 days without charging.
yeah I can watch youtube and play asphalt 8 on my 3310 for the whole day and still have 80% battery left
Which Nokia and what did you use it for?
no, you really don’t. we don’t need “lab-results” where the phones are emtied out from all apps and put into hyper-energy-saving-mode so we get the highest sot. we don’t need cheated-on benchmark-results. we need real life results. most people want the phone to work like it is, out-of-the-box. they don’t want to fidget around with source-codes and kernels and custom roms and root and cleaning out all the bloatware. they want a phone to function. and that’s what andi tested here.
he “used” it. thats what most people do.
so 3,5h sot is weak for an everyday use of the average user of a phone.
even my lenovo k3 note gets 4 hours sot under heavy usage.
So typical Elephone, more hype than substance. Great on paper but in execution it falls short. And with Elephone’s horrible history with build quality and complete lack of updates you are better off with a LeTV, Xiaomi or Meizu that will cost $100 cheaper with an FHD screen.
FUD. Leave Elephone to elephone customers.
I originally disagreed with Andi that Elephone was a brand to watch in 2016. But now I understand what he meant, this is yet another of their overhyped phones that didn’t deliver. Will 2016 be the year people like you see the light and stop making excuses or blind judgments for this company? Once those people see these phones for what they really are, their won’t be any customers left.
how does GPS on this newer mediatec phones perform, no problems anymore ??
Long time no problems with GPS on MTK phones, this could be the same
Actually I was amazed how well GPS works on mediatek chips (Meizu mx5, Helio x10). It works much faster and more precise than on my Oneplus one(SD801).
Yea I saw a reversal this year, the Mediatek 64 bit phones GPS’s has been very good this year, the SD ones it has been hit or miss. Qualcomm was their own worst enemy last year. Hopefully all their issues are solved with the 820.
So typical Elephone, more hype than substance. Great on paper but in execution it falls short. And with Elephone’s horrible history with build quality and complete lack of updates you are better off with a LeTV, Xiaomi or Meizu that will cost $100 cheaper with an FHD screen.
FUD. Leave Elephone to elephone customers.
I originally disagreed with Andi that Elephone was a brand to watch in 2016. But now I understand what he meant, this is yet another of their overhyped phones that didn’t deliver. Will 2016 be the year people like you see the light and stop making excuses or blind judgments for this company? Once those people see these phones for what they really are, their won’t be any customers left.
Jesus that manufacturing gap activated me so hard.
The Xiaomi MI 4c or ZUK Z1 are much better than it
Hey , i have the 2 year old htc one m8 and it s fine.(except the camera).
Just as I expected… Elephone just can’t do ‘high end’.
Not very good at low end or midrange either lol.
Is this phone any different from those already available on the market right now?
Yes, the build quality is worse and the software is trouble. You are better off with any number of the Helios X10/1080p phones it competes again. Many of those are much better phones for less money.
hahah !
Yep. We have the Letvs and Xiaomis out there. Who need an Elephone? -:)
Jeah, especially Xiaomi with missing LTE Bands, missing language support and locked bootloader for forced pesky MIUI is so much better!
You know what, yes I agree with you about Xiaomi. Very much disappointed.
Jesus that manufacturing gap activated me so hard.
The Xiaomi MI 4c or ZUK Z1 are much better than it, or even Meizu MX5Huawei Honor 7, or even the 2-year-old HTC One M8!
Hey , i have the 2 year old htc one m8 and it s fine.(except the camera).
Just as I expected… Elephone just can’t do ‘high end’.
Not very good at low end or midrange either lol.
Is this phone any different from those already available on the market right now?
Yes, the build quality is worse and the software is trouble. You are better off with any number of the Helios X10/1080p phones it competes again. Many of those are much better phones for less money.
hahah !
Yep. We have the Letvs and Xiaomis out there. Who need an Elephone? -:)
Jeah, especially that Redmi Note 3 with missing LTE Bands, missing language support and locked bootloader for forced pesky MIUI is so much better!
You know what, yes I agree with you about Xiaomi. Very much disappointed.
I was waiting for this phone but ended up buying a second hand Samsung Note 4 for about 265 USD, I guess I did the right choise as I am very pleased with the Note 4, Seeing the sample photos her I think the Note 4 does much better with its 16 mp Sony IMX 240 sensor.
I was waiting for this phone but ended up buying a second hand Samsung Note 4 for about 265 USD, I guess I did the right choise as I am very pleased with the Note 4, Seeing the sample photos her I think the Note 4 does much better with its 16 mp Sony IMX 240 sensor.
Pre-sale buyers are still waiting, Elephone did not ship any Phone yet to resellers!!!
They only send a few pre-relaesed Vowney’s to some reviewers like Andy.
From the moment they said the phones were shipped, all resellers are suddenly “out of stock” and available from 01-20-2016, even presellers from 3-4 months ago did not revceived one.
They are fooling the customers! The images they show on there facebook are just a lot of empty boxes in one big box, with two shown pre-released Vowney’s!
They have been saying they would release this phone since July. Don’t expect it for sale for another month at least.
Just got this phone today. I got only 29k in antutu but maybe it’s because it’s version 6.1 . will test more
Antutu 6+ gives higher scores. A Helios X10 should be scoring between 55-65K in Antutu 6 and between 45-55k in Antutu 5.
Redmi Note 3 not even reaching 50k in V6.x.x
Pre-sale buyers are still waiting, Elephone did not ship any Phone yet to resellers!!!
They only send a few pre-relaesed Vowney’s to some reviewers like Andy.
From the moment they said the phones were shipped, all resellers are suddenly “out of stock” and available from 01-20-2016, even presellers from 3-4 months ago did not revceived one.
They are fooling the customers! The images they show on there facebook are just a lot of empty boxes in one big box, with two shown pre-released Vowney’s!
They have been saying they would release this phone since July. Don’t expect it for sale for another month at least.
Just got this phone today. I got only 29k in antutu but maybe it’s because it’s version 6.1 . will test more
Antutu 6+ gives higher scores. A Helios X10 should be scoring between 55-65K in Antutu 6 and between 45-55k in Antutu 5.
Redmi Note 3 not even reaching 50k in V6.x.x
So long to wait this phone. It was expected like something WOW! But….not worth for 300$. Today i finished to buy whole metal bodies phones – they all the time have connection problems and with no physical buttons! No way…
LeTV 1 for 160$ 32gb today – no problem at all. Yes, no 2K screen, but half price and have buttons. Who need wofnee?
So long to wait this phone. It was expected like something WOW! But….not worth for 300$. Today i finished to buy whole metal bodies phones – they all the time have connection problems and with no physical buttons! No way…
LeTV 1 for 160$ 32gb today – no problem at all. Yes, no 2K screen, but half price and have buttons. Who need wofnee?
Hello there, i want bought this phone for the 2K screen i want use it to try the VR google cardboard, but can the phone have gyroscope working please ?
that golden frame looks sooo “plasticky”… is it?
Hello there, i want bought this phone for the 2K screen i want use it to try the VR google cardboard, but can the phone have gyroscope working please ?
that golden frame looks sooo “plasticky”… is it?
To me, the best option is Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, very better batery and OTG connectivity.
Fully recomended.
To me, the best option is Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, very better batery and OTG connectivity.
Fully recomended.