Anyone interested in the first metal bodied Elephone? Well we have just received the first review model of the Elephone M1 and here are some hands on photos.
The Elephone M1 is the more affordable option from the Elephone ‘M’ series of phones. The M1 is the entry-level and the M2 the top of the range version.
Elephone wanted to created a more up market range of phones when they had the idea for the ‘M’ series, so naturally they wanted a slim design, metal construction and some classy features that their rivals are offering.
The result is a 5.5-inch phone with 2.5D glass display, main alloy body (with plastic caps top and bottom for less interference), and rear fingerprint scanner. Look at the Elephone M1 and you can see design ideas from other phones, in my option it looks like a budget Oppo crossed with a Huawei.
It’s clear to me that Elephone have focussed on the build quality of the Elephone M1, and they have done a good job balancing the quality of materials, with the quality of the final build. That said my model has a slight gap between the alloy and plastic on the lower ‘cap’, but it is slight and much better than say the UMi Iron which has a similar build.
Gizchina News of the week
Overall the design of the M1 is pleasing. I like the 2.5D glass panel and the curved alloy chassis. The slim design is comfortable to hold, and the volume and power buttons are really high quality items. I’m not so keen on the square fingerprint scanner, but I guess it saved a little money and still does it’s job.
Elephone M1 specifications include a 1.3Ghz quad-core Mediatek MT6735A chipset, Mali-T720 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 5.5-inch HD display, 2780mAh battery, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and 2 mega-pixel front. The system is Elephone’s own ELE UI based on Android 5.1.
Dimensions of the phone are 150.9 x 78 x 7.6mm, which is quite thin, yet enough room to include a front camera flash (so far proven to be useless), dual tone LED rear flash, fingerprint scanner, a pretty large battery, and micro SD support for up to 128GB cards.
Elephone M1 Gallery
Retail price of the Elephone M1 is $159.99, but for every Wednesday Elephone are offering the slim phone for just $119.99 through their own website.
My friend and i bought Elephone P6000 phones .. One arrived with camera that wouldn’t focus, the other arrived with grounding issue which means I can only use the screen with two hands and without a case. Not getting an Elephone again.
Elephone suffered from numerous quality issues in the past. They are still not perfect but they are getting better with each release.
Hahaha, P8000 is God’s gift to earth :p
Seriously though … I agree , they get better by the day, they used to be such low quality OEM.
Yup now they are average quality, but they are not an OEM. That is a term that is used incorrectly often here. OEM’s are the companies that actually manufacture the phones, some brands are OEM’s like Doogee, they actually build their own devices, Gionee is another one. Most are not, most use OEM’s (like KVD (Doogee), Gionee, Foxconn etc) to build their phones.
Actually P8000 is of great build quality, easily the best chassis in budget phones (quite better than Redmi Note 2, only my LETV one comes close but not quite).
As for not being an OEM, do we actually know that they don’t assemble their hardware because I think to remember dudes in white , but maybe it was not Elephone but some other company.
You have used every budget phone to make that claim with confidence?
You may not know, but several around here do. Elephone has used multiple OEM’s to manufacture their phones including Ulefone, KVD (owners of Doogee) and Mpai. The “guys in white” photos, are promo shots used by all companies. Most of these brands don’t even have close to the capital required to operate their own OEM facilities.
I’ve used quite many of the top names in the under $200 category (Jiayu S3, Redmi Note 2, betouch Pro, Lenovo K Note, Oukitel U8 and a bunch of others), so yeah I’m pretty confident on what I’m saying. I mean to find this kind of quality you have to go up one notch on the price scale. Phones like Xiaomi Mi4 and LeTV One also have excellent build quality but they belong to a higher price-range (at least they used to).
As for the guys in white I don’t mean the promo shoots, I mean them crouched on top of some kind of desk in a line, similar to an assembly plant. But you’re right, it’s possible that they’re another company’s workers.
Those are the promo shots I am talking about. Every company uses them and usually they are real photos of inside the factory but it’s just not a factory they own, it’s an OEM who builds their phones for them.
Lost me on MT6735
Hellphone.
Does it fix two SIM cards and microSD at the same time? Is there a separate space for all three?
Wow, He is really awful with this square finger sensor.
Nice design, save the fingerprint scanner. Wouldn’t buy it anyway, since I don’t trust the brand.
Good choice
Bought an Elephone once, horrible software and complete lack of support. Users had to fix the touchscreen driver themselves (it was off by some pixels). Insanity. Your suspicions are correct; everyone must avoid this brand.
Andi, can you please give me an update on Doogee F5? thats what i like
I expected this phone to come with 5inch
Well Lancaster given the last examples it seems manufacturers are not to much into that any more unless you are willing to fork out some good money on an IPhone 4.7 or a Sony compact line. Every other brand seems to be going after the broader market of blind people that need more size in order to see ?. I myself like BG screens because of games and YouTube. So I’m glad to sacrifice pocket space if it means great viewing experience.
Everyone!!! It looks like NO BLACK BESSELS has been accomplished!!!!! What do you say Andi? Is it?
Hard to tell with a dark screen, need to see it with some neutral color backgrounds.
Actually the black bar phenonem occurs when OEMs paints the border of the real frame of silver, white, gray and the rest of the “real frame” remain there in black. If you compare the Zopo Speed 7 in white you see black bars, if you check the black model all the frame have the same color. The black bezel is just a aesthetic thing that actually didn’t worked for our taste.
wait … so black bezel is CREATED by the manufacturer THEMSELVES ?!
Nexus 6P lookalike…
Finally the bezel is slimmer god sent – a better engineer and designer at elephone so we might get the p9000 and it could be an ok phone
hahah
ahaha
yes, it’s look very well. At whole it’s looks like very good device, for it’s price and destination. Elephone can do a good devices, like my P8000 ) i like it, very fine working and no problem.
I just LOVE the design of the M1!!! I have a P8000 now about a week and may give an initial conclusion. My expectations were far met. The unit is very well made, feels good and high quality, is very good in spite of its size in the hand and can be operated intuitively.A small error in the OS (it will work no widgets factory) can be easily and quickly fix.Have installed from the Play Goals Apex Launcher and everything runs smoothly.The display is absolutely super.The unit has everything quickly and accurately again.The speakers are very good compared to many other manufacturers.Navigation works very precisely and instantaneously.The camera could be a little better. All in all I am very satisfied with Elephone, looking forward to the review Andi 😉
I really love the design 🙂 I think i’ll order one for my wife because I have a P7000 and I’m very happy with it !
Love the design but the specs were to low for me, so i just pre ordered the M2, here’s hoping my experience will be as good as P8000 owners.
Wow. No fake bezels but slim real ones. Elephone, what happened??? O.o