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Elephone S3 presale starts with an interesting guarantee

Ying HuaMay 6, 2016

The Elephone S3 presale is here and those interested can get it for 179.99$ starting on May 4th until the end of the month.

After the presale period the price will go up to the retail price 189.99$ so the presale discount isn’t so significant. But Elephone is for the first time offering an interesting guarantee promising the delivery exactly on schedule with the presale phones getting shipped in the May 31st till June 10th period. In case of a delay Elephone offers 1$ discount for every day of the delay.

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It’s questionable if this idea is a move to improve the Elephone public image, which is not the best in terms of dependability and meeting schedules or if it’s already part of the pre-emptive damage control. Let’s hope its the first option.

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About the author
Ying Hua
I'm an avid gamer and a bit of a Ninja when it comes to gadgets and technology. When I'm not busy with the latest Android and iOS games and I can be found writing at Gizchina.com.

Rob
May 6, 2016
What an excellent idea, by the time this actually ships next year they would’ve paid me! Once they realise this they won’t offer a deal like this again so better act quickly ?

balcobomber25
May 6, 2016
An Elephone “guarantee” is about as useful as a wet piece of toilet paper. I trust politicians more than this company.
- Omer
  May 6, 2016
  - giveup
    May 7, 2016
    If their “guarantee” does not come true… they will just change the “guarantee” page as they did for the P6000 release. Before release promise but upon release cannot get it to work just change spec page to match.
Gabriel Dranca
May 6, 2016
How manny people will get bullied this time?

E8hffff
May 7, 2016
The problem is many of Elephone’s Resellers may not pass on the savings once customers have already paid up. I guess this will work in that the sales price will drop till stock is available but finding out if stock is truly there to send will be a challenge.
Elephone are hinting at selling their own phones into the future as their new website engine does have a sales section.
Young
May 7, 2016
Phone for dummies.
Hakim Farouk
May 7, 2016
To be honest instead of all these gimmicks. Elephone should just release less phones and focus on building a good phone with good software support and of course, fix the customer service. Overtime consumers will, maybe trust Elephone again. Rather than giving out all these gimmicks and like a trillion phone models in a year which i’m pretty sure they, themselves can’t keep up.
- Stef
  May 7, 2016
  Software support is overrated. Just release the sources and let the community work its magic. Very few Chinese phones actually have good software to begin with, software development is a financial black hole, it’s more efficient to open source. Just release the sources already.
  I would had much preferred if there was an attitude of software in phones similar to that of computers. Being able to install the software you want or need because specialized software groups create software, instead of following the failed Apple model that software and hardware is in house (I mean that model is great if you’re as big as Apple, if not , it’s just bad, the phones with the most support are CyanogenMod supported phones, they get 4+ years of support, can’t say the same about *any* other phone).
  - balcobomber25
    May 8, 2016
    Software support is needed to be successful, most smartphone users will only ever use the software that the phone ships with. Most will never utilize the community.
    As for the “failed” Apple model. Xiaomi used that model to go from startup to one of the biggest phone manufacturers in the world in just 6 years time. They are not the only ones either, several brands from China have successfully used that model to grow. It can indeed work if it is done correctly.
    - Stef
      May 8, 2016
      Xiaomi is one of the very few 1st parties that actually do software well.
      As of how successful it is for them I cannot know, I do not have their revenue sheet. Maybe they found a way to be profitable while doing that. But Xiaomi (and Apple) is some of the very few companies that followed this model and worked to a point.
      Creating software in-house was also the PC model up until late 70s, early 80s and it was a big part (of) why it was so hard for the PC industry to get on its own two feet for a time.
      It worked for phones too as long as they were small feature phones. Right now the smartphone arena has been transformed with only (very) few of the main players being profitable. In the long run this model simply doesn’t work.
      Obviously the community cannot take the whole weight on its own shoulders which is why I also called for dedicated software industry for the mature market that smartphones currently are. A bit of both will probably work better. 3rd parties creating software and the community being on the bleeding edge.
      Currently Cyanogenmod phones get supported for 4+ years. The whole process is automated as long as the initial installation is done, as CM includes an auto-updater. The quality of nightly releases varies (but IMO it’s already far higher than most custom roms), but stable releases and release candidates are up there or at times better than most/any in-house software.
      The current simply doesn’t work, we’ll eventually end up having 3-4 companies in the long run in smartphones unless it’s to be changed. Already the players are getting less and less (Moto is practically no more, Sony and HTC is in trouble, many chinese vendors come and go even as they spend very little on software but still). But above all, android phones generally get very little support.
      And it will get worse as times passes. Software is getting more and more complex, harder and harder to maintain as more features continuously is added on, etc… Sooner or later 1st parties will realize that it’s best to outsource software, and outsource it well…

quodvadis
May 7, 2016
I’d certainly go out of my way and participate in this convoluted mess for a MTK6573 phone in 2016 yes.
lol

Cinegain
May 8, 2016
I like the display, but that’s about the only thing it has going for itself.
Vernee have surprised me, I like their approach, can’t wait to see the first high-end phones of them coming out.
UMI Super might be a cool thing as well, as probably the Elephone P9000 Edge that’s due.
Things are starting to look the bizz… but not quite there yet.
Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
May 8, 2016
So at this point We at Xiaomi cannot compete, As of the delay record of this brand all the buyers will get the phone for free. Please stay with us.
- Xiaomilover
  May 8, 2016
  Dear Sir,
  May i ask why Xiaomi Redmi note 3 pro 32GB always “out of stock” on Singapore Mi online shop ? This is a big problem for Xiaomi, those good and cheap model always out of stock. In the end , most of my friends cannot wait anymore and they bought other brands.
  Only the 16Gb available but i don’t think reasonable people like to buy the 16GB as the price only different by SG$20. it is not saving at all.
  Please help to replenish the 32GB version.
  - Creazydea
    May 10, 2016
Wolvie
May 8, 2016
What guarantee ?
Once thy name tarnished, it will be very hard to wash it.
But instead of improving their product quality, Elephone just keep doing their regular false advertising bullshit *sigh*
Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
May 9, 2016