Just yesterday we mentioned that the upcoming new Elephone model, the highly expected Elephone R9 is quite similar to the iPhone 7’s design with its metal body. And with the similar nano-injection molding it’s actually logical. And as much as Elephone like the iPhone comparisons they want to also be unique with some features.
And that uniquenes should come with the rear camera design, where the lens is almost parallel to the body so not protruding so much, which is quite a feat to achieve with the ultra slim 7,55 mm thin body. Apparently the Elephone engineers focused primarily on the 13 Mpix camera’s lens not messing up the whole smooth design of the back. And looking at the pictures they certainly did a fine job.
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The Elephone E9 is quite a looker and the camera design is just helping that. It’s surely not as powerful or cutting edge as the iPhone 7 in the hardware department, but still the deca-core Helio X20, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage are respectable stats and the price tag is also surely going to be way way lower than the Apple product. So something to look forward to.
This copy of a copy looks more like Iphone 6 than I 7.They should just advertise it as ‘poor man s oppo r9’.
IF ONLY they could flaunt the following things instead :
i good OS
ii top build quality
iii an elephone handset working normally …
You ask for too much, my child. Elephone can only work on hardware design. They’re a one-trick pony, and even after just marketing on the looks and design, they fail to release their phones on time or capture the market.
P7000 took an extra six months even after being on presale for another two, very similar to Vowney. Even with that huge time window, they couldn’t fix that shitty mess they called an affordable flagship.
Didn’t buy from them, instead I got an Ecoo E04 Aurora. And guess what? It was an Elephone sub brand. Fuck. Never trusting them again.
yep. Elephone are like the bane of Chinese mobile market … despite the presence of quality brands , it gives the chinese a bad name.
how bad was the Ecoo E04 Aurora??
I’ll share its problems as they happened.
Ordered in March 2015, Elephone P7000, mind you.
Kept getting delayed, so chose Ecoo in April. IT GOT DELAYED TOO! Received it mid May 2015.
Got the phone, opened the box, got rid of the cover protecting the battery cell, installed it in – can’t get the phone to switch on for 15 minutes.
Got frustrated and kept it on charge for a couple minutes, the screen lit up and I got it to switch on.
Same night, left it charging for half an hour, it was super hot from the back, and as I turned on the screen went into static. Wouldn’t turn off from the power button. Had to remove battery to reboot. This was fairly regular, whenever waking the phone up, or when a notification lit the screen up, or while charging. Very annoying because it would reset the date & time and any settings to default.
Told Ecoo that my phone is buggy, they said it’s a minor error in the circuits. BUT THEY WOULDN’T TAKE IT BACK NO MATTER WHAT.
Then more problems showed up, the SoC was a champ, tbh.
MTK6752 > MTK6753. I could play almost any game and it wouldn’t lag or lose/skip any frames at all. But it would heat up after 10 minutes of gameplay. Found that X10 was the real successor to the 6752, similar gameplay experience on the Letv X600.
Screen would flicker from time to time, but it wasn’t noticeable for anyone else.
Which would subsequently cause the battery to drain whenever it hit the early 20’s. So I had to keep it charged well above 70% to get some gaming time.
It would take 2+ hours for a full charge. None of the fast charging methods worked, at all!
Finally, in May I dropped it trying to take it out of my pocket.
Fell vertically, shattering the glass, not the display panel, from the home button in its first fall.
Kept using it until it fell again, cracked open the display a little bit.
Kept using it still, until the screen stopped responding to touch.
Later in July, I took it to Karachi to hope for a repair so I could use it as a backup. It spent the entire night charging, and went missing under mysterious circumstances.
Can’t track it to this day. Tried all tracker services but it either hasn’t been turned on, or maybe someone did a hard-reset.
P.S. If it was selling for $100 now, I’d buy it just for the gaming experience.
woah … that’s some timeline of events. sorry for your loss.
and im dead sure the repair guy or someone else at the shop swiped it … prolly thought of it like a high-end flagship and decided it would be better off being sold .
on a more serious note , it makes me a bit apprehensive to order from china now. since any imported phone showing even a FRACTION of these problems would signal a visit to the local mobile repair shops and that’s the LAST thing i want to do.
i guess elephone and ANYTHING else even remotely related to it shouldn’t even be thought about when buying a handset
Haha, you’re right. Somebody definitely thought they hit the jackpot.
What I’ve noticed and learned so far… avoid Elephone, UMi, Doogee.
And I think it’s not even worth mentioning Doogee, nobody takes them seriously. Overpriced F7 Pro failing to sell online, other MTK6753 models are piss poor in performance.
Ulefone, Oukitel, Blackview are very reasonable. I’m using an Oukitel U10 right now, for almost 4 months now, it works
Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi, LeEco, ZTE are more trustworthy in that respect.
Vernee are building a name for themselves but I find them a lot similar to Elephone with their statements and features.
Oppo, stylish and youthful – very reliable but comes at a steep price.
Did you check out the R7 Plus? It has reasonable specs and sells for cheaper in Pakistan than it does even in China.
OnePlus is brilliant in all aspects, but I just don’t find it that appealing, to be really honest.
imo Vernee are still raw at the core … it’ll take them another year to fully show their true colors but they look promising. time wil tell.
Oukitel are reliable , a bit gritty… but i wouldn’t order one just to be safe atm. im not that much in mobile gaming atm … casually maybe a bit.
Doogee are a joke tbh. i was thinking of the UMi Max … but i guess i’ll pass now.
Oneplus are a niche brand sort of … they’ll only be making flagships from now on (no more OPx sort of phones) , last i heard.
can you tell me the price of R7 plus in Pakistan ?? if its within my price range i’ll defo give finding one a shot..
but i’d also like to know about those shops selling Xiaomi phones in Karachi …
EDIT : im looking for a 2016 phone btw (but will also see how cheap can the r7 plus be had) … slightly down to personal preference , as im computer engg undergrad , that sort of makes me a specs geek :p
I should buy a phone right now, but I’m still not sure about which one I should get.
My current options are either one of the three from Honor 8 series, Zuk Z2 Pro, Nubia Z11 Max, or to wait for the Mi Note 2 or the Pro 6S.
I don’t want the Le Max 2 because of the IPS screen and no protection at all, and I think they’re continuing with the same panel for the Le Pro 3 as well. If it’s more attractive, maybe I’d get it with the ugly shockproof Thor case which protects the phone from all angles.
P.S. I’m not a fan of the big black bezels, even though I’ve learned that we would ignore them completely within a couple days of use. But I just can’t convince myself to overlook it yet.
Nubia looks good … but a bit steep in terms of price. if i had the money , i’d wait for the Mi Note 2 and then observe the market first.
I did not mean the Nubia Z11 flagship, I mean the Snapdragon 652 powered Nubia Z11 Max. But I haven’t made any decision yet.
Z11 – LCD IPS 5.5″.
Z11 MAX – Super AMOLED (Samsung) 6″.
Better screen, better protection, better value for money. Cheaper than the high-end Mi Max variant, in fact.
Xiaomi is definitely very promising, but I think the resellers would again hike the price up for the black Mi5S/Mi Note 2. I wouldn’t mind buying a white but the fluctuation in price bothers me a great deal!
@tahazaffar:disqus tum apna Facebook nahi dekhte 😀 ?
wait for the mi note 2
@tahazaffar:disqus , btw did u import the chinese phone to UAE or to Pakistan ?
if you did it in Pakistan , can you guide me a bit ?
I got it in UAE without any import duties, but my friends are Xiaomi fans who keep ordering from GearBest, AliExpress & Banggood. They say it’s better to ask the site staff for help but if you don’t have that option, i.e. there’s a flash sale, priority line, AliExpress shipment, and DHL can bypass most countries’ customs easily.
im thinking of importing from AliExpress … but i have zero idea on how to bypass the damn customs. any tips would be HIGHLY appreciated.
you’re saying the site staff can’t help if there’s a flash sale … hmm , i’ll have to look into it.
any idea how your friends imported phones to Pakistan from aliexpress… esp the xiaomi phones (cos they’re banned in Pakistan) ??
Yeah, they take like 5 minutes to respond. But the thing is they can change your shipping according to what you want, so in the case of a flash sale, just buy it asap. And then contact them saying you want to avoid customs, they would know what to do.
I’d have to ask that… no idea they were banned. I found some shops in Karachi selling them, maybe refurbished, but the Redmi Note 3 very definitely packed and new!
woah .. wait.
Redmi Note 3 in KARACHI ?! the Snapdragon version ?? i’d love to buy one !!! im yet to own a smartphone and a Xiaomi bought from Karachi would be IDEAL !
maybe you can tell me about these shops ?? in Private if you feel comfortable ??? (on FB??)
also , how much are they charging… hopefully the markup is not much??? i’m not v.rich so to speak but im willing to buy a good budget/mid range phone if the price is right