I’ve been packing the Elephone Vowney with me since it arrived for our review, and I’ve snapped a few sample photos and video with the rear 21 mega-pixel camera check them out here.
Elephone’s Vowney packs a lot of hot hardware in to one device. Upfront there is a 5.5-inch 2K display, there is a fingerprint scanner, 4GB RAM, Mediatek Helio X10 chipset, 32GB memory, 4000mAh battery and decent cameras.
Over the past few days I’ve snapped a few photos in bright sunlight and during the night, plus a short video to see if the rear Sony IMX230 21 mega-pixel camera is working how it should. The results are below.
Elephone Vowney Daylight Photo Samples
Elephone Vowney Night Photos Samples
Photos taken in the rain at night.
Elephone Vowney Video
Note: Towards the end of the video the exposure changes, this is because I touched the display changing the focus and exposure point
Gizchina News of the week
Elephone Vowney camera conclusion
Elephone have given the Elephone Vowney a sorted 21 mega-pixel camera from Sony, but I didn’t really expect the performance to be as good as it has been. We’ve seen decent camera’s on Elephone phones in the past which have suffered poor optimisation and lenses, but the Vowney is working better right out of the box.
Daylight photos are a surprise and the level of detail and the colour reproduction is far beyond what I expected the Vowney to be capable of. Night images are good too, but the camera does slow down a lot when there is less light about. To get the images I shot here required a second or so for the camera to focus, capture and save, where as photos shot in good bright conditions are snapped and saved almost instantly.
I hope Elephone keep optimising the camera software to improve low-light speed, and I also hope to see some added features and changes to the camera app. For example I can’t seem to find the promised slow motion video feature, and the stock camera app is just your standard Android camera. A sensor this good could really shine with additional features.
Overall I am quite impressed with the image quality from the Elephone Vowney camera, but after seeing the samples above do you guys agree?
Would be nice if you could make a blogpost about the best camera phones for 2015. Is there any phones that take good low light photos?
The 2015 price reduced Gionee Elife E7 (from 2013) would get my vote.
Thanks Steve, would be nice if there was any with 4G and 64bit chip.
What band do you require for 4G? The Vivo Xshot would be my pick, it’s not 64 bit but that really shouldn’t be a reason not to get a great phone. 64 bit has it’s advantages but a lot of them still are years away from being clear cut advantages.
If i would go all in for 4G it would be 1/3/7/20 but i think more and more that maybe a great camera would be more prio. It seams hard to find stores selling it (for a decent price). Would you choose the 2Gb version for 290 or add 100 more for an used Samsung S6 (if camera is prio)? http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Vivo-Xshot-X710L-Qualcomm-801-CPU-3GB-RAM-32GB-ROM-5-2IPS-Optical-image-stabilization/1961790949.html?spm=2114.01020208.3.1.IX0RZw&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_1,searchweb201644_1_10001_10002_10005_10006_10003_10004_62,searchweb201560_8,searchweb1451318400_6151
Band 20 is hard to find in Chinese phones, it’s not widely used outside of Europe and most of these phones don’t have an official presence there so they don’t include it. The S6 has a good camera (my wife has one) but the battery life is horrible on it. Some others with good cameras are Meizu Mx5, OnePlus 2 and LG G4. Any one of these you can take some spectacular photos with the right conditions.
If flash is great does it still counts as low light??? This thing Elife E8 has me impressed as it turns complete darkness into a great picture. 4g+64bit+64gb+expandableROM just expensive as… But my BLU came at $350…
Looks really good. Has it been confirmed 100% the Lite has the same camera setup?
Photos look terrible for that sensor. You are impressed by these?
Pray tell what’s wrong with them?
A lot of them lack detail, color depth, sharpness. The ones that do look sharp the colors are muted. And then there is the night photos which are abysmal. Most phones don’t do take good night shots, but these are even worse than the norm. These look like they were taken with any number of a budget phones with cheap camera sensors. They aren’t the worst but they are far from impressive, especially for this price point and given the sensor they are using. Either they lied about the sensor or they are using very cheap optics and have terrible optimization issues.
This phone’s camera are definitely not good for it’s price.The sony IMX 230 sensors are above average quality. Motorola X play and force has better camera with same sensors. Only the low light images suffers a little bit. Elephone is definitely using cheap lenses and the camera image quality is being held back. Such a shame really.
Most phones I have seen with the, 220/230 have better images than this. Which makes me wonder if it really is a 230.
I think maybe you needed to let the image load completely as that was my initial reaction until 4 seconds later the image was completely different.
balco, how to install mx5 with International language update, my flyme only install the 5.1.2.0A , i need 5.1.2.0G but never install, not work.
I just used update.zip and it worked. Where did you download it from?
yes update.zip but last version flyme official page never install. only Flyme OS 5.1.2.0A, i need install it global(international)
5.1.2.0A is the most recent build, that’s what I use. That is the international build
but only english, flyme home page have 5.1.2.0G , it have all language right ?
No just English and Chinese,
how to all language ?
No clue.
you like camera mx5 ? cant see 60fps 1080p and i think lost quality photo vs mi4c , redmi note 2 prime show better too with software camera slow motion120fps time.lapsed video better result. miuiOS very clear without program chinese by miui home page, mx5 just normal phone.
I have never had a need for slow motion so that doesnt bother me. As for the MX5, the video quality is good but there are better out there.
Most 21 mega-pixel phones have really poor optimisation so I expected really terrible photos but these aren’t bad.
Fair enough.
so more like … he’s happy to be on the safe side , rather than be risky and expect epic results ?!
More like i still disagree with his assessment but understand his point of view.
i see…
Hahahaha very clever
Not worse pics ever (elephone has done way far worse than this) but for that sensor it’s still “meh”, and for that price it’s totally not worth it… I’ve seen better photo samples from Letv le one in similar conditions
I have seen a lot better at this price point. If this was a $150 phone I would say they look good. I will say the shadows in these photographs look very good, shadows is something a lot of phones struggle with.
Shadows are ok, but colors seems unnatural in most pictures and it really lacks details if you zoom a bit (don’t know if pics got compressed when uploaded).
And I’m not really into night pics so I can’t judge, but really don’t seems that good either
I think that’s a software issue (or choice), I’ve seen the same almost vector effect on other phones recently including Inew L3. Sony actually introduced this effect on the M series in a recent Lollipop update as they said it makes the image look better on the (phone) screen and most people would prefer it. A few Sony users have disagreed quite strongly so Sony will fix it with next update.
To me though these look absolutely fine for a 21mp 1/2.4 sensor unless you pixel peep.
Sw is no good, lens doesn’t seems to be that good either… And it’s not ok for a 300$ phone with a good sensor, i think :-/
The lens does have some good qualities, I really like the out of focus areas bokeh, especially for a f/2.2
Sure i think overall the Vowney (standard) won’t impress for the asking price, but the Lite always seemed the better package to me if it is as advertised.
“If it is as advertised” That is the key to any Elephone product.
Im Impressed Elephone ! maybe you finally learnt a lesson ?!
altho still not sooo good for such a steep price :/
keep improving !
The photo’s look like professional magazine shots.
ok , how much did Elephone pay you -_- …
come on man … srsly !
Just look as the colours and lighting. You can see they are professional class. I’ve also been thinking that the quality is so good on the video captures that you wouldn’t need a GoPro. The camera handles the movement and panning great in that helicopter footage.
Professional class? The Elephone front man continues his comedy routine. They aren’t even budget class.
You’re just hurting. Face the facts, the phone brands you buy will probably have the same camera component next year and you’ll be praising it.
I will be praising it because the pictures will probably look great. The pictures here are terrible.
You’re being bias. The photo’s Andi took were unique, colourful, and crisp. The qualities needed for professional production.
The only one showing bias is you. I am being objective the only thing unique about those photo’s are that they are noticeably worse from similar photos with the same sensor. You are so in love with Elephone you can’t see any of their many faults.
Name another phone with the same specs and price field and I’ll praise it.
So your praising it so much because of the specs it offers, regardless of the performance of those specs or the quality of the brand?
Nubia Z7
Blu Pure XL
Nexus 6
Galaxy Note 4
LG G3
Lenovo Z2 Pro
And those are just phones with a 2k display, if we include phones with a 1080p display that list would be over 100 strong.
Vowney 2K = 64bit SoC, 21/8MP cam, 4GB S-Ram, 2K Screen. $299USD. SUCCESS.
Blu Pure XL = 64bit SoC, 24/8MP cam, 3GB S-Ram,2K 6″ Screen. $350-422USD. SUCCESS. I do praise this phone.
——–
Nubia Z7 = 32bit SoC,13/5MP cam, 2GB S-Ram,1080p Screen. $345USD. FAILED cam,32bit,ram,screen,price.
Nexus 6 = 32bit SoC, 13/2MP cam, 3GB S-Ram,2K 6″ Screen. $230-325USD (used). FAILED cam,32bit,price,aged.
Galaxy Note 4 = 32bit SoC, 16/4MP cam, 3GB S-Ram,2K Screen. $350-500USD (used). FAILED 32bit,price,aged.
LG G3 = 32bit SoC, 13/2MP cam, 2GB S-Ram,2K Screen. $248USD. FAILED cam,32bit,ram.
Lenovo Z2 Pro = 32bit SoC, 16/5MP cam, 3GB S-Ram,2K Screen. $366-485USD. FAILED 32bit,price.
What is the clear advantage of 64 bit when it comes to Android,? And what makes any of these cameras a “fail” in your view? Please don’t tell me your basing it off MPs, especially the Z7 and G3, which are much better in the camera department. As for RAM most people will never need more than 3GB on Android, those that do will have a phone with horrible software, like an Elephone and the extra gig won’t mean a thing.
64bit SoC’s inherently means newer faster architecture. There are other major improvements with 64bit cpu registers including optimised development for 64bit vs 32bit.
More ram is better for multitasking and preloading content brining a smoother experience. A user may also want to load a large dataset rather and put memory management under strain.
So how is 3GB RAM a plus for the Blu but a minus for the rest? Seems to be a lot bias in your views. And you have to explain the camera’s being a “fail”.
At the end of the day the Vowney is the greatest phone in the world to you, to everyone else it is an average phone at best.
I only put a FAIL for ram on those with 2GB or less. You’re Vowney comment is bias.
Every one of those phones is a 3GB model and everyone of those is available for between $300-350 online.
It’s burning you up that after months of waiting and speculating for your mega phone it was finally released and really isn’t any better than current flagships offered at the same price. You look at camera samples that everyone else agrees are very average looking at best and think they are the greatest pictures ever. You have built this phone up in your head so much, it’s near impossible for you to see any faults with it. But 7 months from now when components start to fail and you haven’t received a single update to fix the numerous bugs a light will turn on in your head and you will realize your mistake.
Anyway Elephone has to pull their finger out as they still haven’t got the Vowney out to customers. The Black version is being delayed for two-three weeks I hear for new orders. Elephone are sacrificing the Vowney for their hopes on the P9000 series which is a big mistake.
Elephone is purposely not releasing the Vowney because they are waiting for component prices to drop so they can make more money on each Vowney they sell. Right now assuming the parts are all genuine (which is always a question mark with Elephone) the cost to build a phone like this would be around $230-250, leaving very little room for profit. This is why this phone was “Delayed” for 8 months, they were hoping component prices would fall. With MWC right around the corner they have a very short window to trick people into buying this phone, before much better phones from much better brands are released.
The delaying is a similar tactic that OnePlus and Xiaomi use with their invite system and flash sales respectively. The difference is both of those phones are worth waiting for.
I think he means that you should opt for the newer option if both socs are on the same page, like mt6595 and mt6795, (though I still find the little big architecture to be better) but anyway, agreed the samsung note 4 is still very tempting to buy despite being a bit old. From camera shots I saw, they seem really good.
But on the vowney topic, camera doesn’t look too shabby, shots look good, I think that 20 megapixel cameras are still a bit far from utilizing their full potential.
Every single one of those has a 2k screen and can be found online brand new for under $350.
Why are they failing based on them being 32bit? I’m still using my OnePlus One with it’s 32bit SD801 and I’m still well happy with it’s performance…
Apart from 64bit registers working in harmony with many multimedia, security, and vector based computation, 64bit processors are most likely more modern than 32bit SoCs and therefore improved features and speed. High level languages may also be optimised for 64bit algorithms. Consider Android/Linux/Java JIT compilers, etc vs 32 builds.
Lollipop being Android’s first 64bit OS version.
Try again. 64 bit does offer some advantages on Android but so far they aren’t fully realized. A processor isn’t faster just because it is 64 bit. There are some faster and some slower, it’s more the individual chip. ARM V8 has the potential to be faster and more efficient but it comes down to the actual cores used. The 64 bit SD410 is not faster than the 32 bit SD801 for instance. Lollipop is written for both 64 and 32.
I also like how 3GB RAM is negative to you on most phones but a positive on the Blu.
You’re being ridiculous. If a Customer has a choice of 64bit vs 32bit, should buy the 64bit in preference. That’s the initial argument. Buy new, buy best.
You are aware that the Android Runtime is optimised for 64bit since Lollipop?
So if a customer has a choice between a phone running a SD410 or a SD801, he should buy the SD410 just because it is a 64 bit? Should that customer completely ignore the fact that the SD410 is one of the slowest chips released last year? What if that customer is a gamer? He should avoid the chip with the more powerful GPU because its “only 32 bit”?
You are aware that ART is optimized to run on 32 or 64 bit? The biggest advantage of a 64 bit platform is increased memory. 32 bit can only support a max of 4GB RAM. Since memory on Android isn’t upgradeable this is really a non factor right now. There are very few phones released with more than 4GB, and most will never need that much RAM.
I clearly stated that when given the choice of 32bit vs 64bit and the topic of a 64bit SoCs most likely being more modern, then get the 64bit. Your example is a bad one.
I also deliberately haven’t mentioned indexing of memory as like you said it’s not important.. Still the Android Runtime does like to have more free ram to compile in and that helps to run fast executables so if you can get 4GB vs 3 or 2 then jump at it.
The fact is Android Lollipop upward targets 64bit. The ART has replaced Dalvik, and it’s optimised for 64bit. 64bit core is downward compatible, where a 32bit SoC is restricted – an ability argument.
What a customer wants is what they want. When I shop I aim for the best latest features and hardware at the best price. The Vowney meets that even though I dislike Elephone’s methods and design.
If you want to bag out Elephone do it on their quality of service and workmanship, not the components they get off the shelf that maybe identical to 700$ phones. Example the Vowney camera component is excellent, and you have dogged it. It’s a standard Sony item.
My example is a bad one? SD801 (32 bit), SD410(64 bit). Is it bad one because the SD801 is a much faster and better chip and proves your argument wrong?
I also deliberately haven’t mentioned how terrible Elephones optimization and software has been, which completely kills any advantages that 64 bit would offer. Or that a visit to anyone of the major Android forums will show you how great their quality is, on most phones components start to fail after 6 months.
So now they are using the same components as a $700 phone? Which phone? I don’t know too many $700 phones with a Helios X10, I know plenty of $300 and under phones with that SoC. And I guess you did a full tear down and have pictures of all the components used on the inside to verfy what supplier each one came from and that they are authentic? Given Elephone’s history of lying about specs and components failing after only a few months it’s pretty safe to say the components are the same as those of a cheap phone. Not all 4GB RAM is created equal.
A bad one as it was an extreme scenario.
Anyway I don’t want to argue. I hope you’re not upset.
Why would I be upset? I enjoy having debates about phones.
At the end of the day you love the Vowney, I don’t. We just have a difference of opinions.
I think that balcobomber25 works for one of the competitors of elephone. I wouldn’t waste my breath talking to him. Elephone can bring out the best phone ever made and he’d say it’s garbage.
Maybe with the 3gb thing he wants to defend me buying BLU HAHAHA,
But maybe on the 64bit thing he is referring to future proof for programming language for the devices… That’s the only thing I find relevant when thinking 64bits.
Right now 64 bit is great marketing, most people think they need it because it is the latest and greatest buzz term in the industry. It does hold some key advantages in theory but that doesn’t mean every 64 bit SoC is better than every 32 bit SoC, it still comes down to each individual CPU/GPU and the users needs in question. Android is still years away from being fully 64 bit, unless you plan on keeping this phone for 3+ years, which being an Elephone you are lucky if it will last 3+ months, future proof really isn’t relevant.
3GB is suffice. There are specific benefits for 64bit in speed and scope. The benefit of 32bit is that it enforces small register scope/data so at times it can be efficient and less storage needed to store code. Vectors and SIMD instructions (NEON), and codecs work better with 64bit/128bit registers. Sound may also benefit from 64bit.
It’s all a subjective argument… and I haven’t even mentioned battery savings with 64bit SoCs.
Because he is trying so desperately for his Vowney to be declared the greatest phone ever. Just like his cameras are a “fail”. The G3, Vivo Xshot and your Oneplus all take much better pictures than this despite older sensors or less MP. He is too busy looking at the raw specs but he really has no clue what they actually mean.
Nubia Z7 is much better and cheaper ($US 190 form Merrimobile) .
I’ll wait for you to go and take some shots on your 13MP cam $500 phone to blow away the Vowney results.
My camera is an IMX220 on a phone that currently sells for around $289 and blows the above pictures away. I would take my cheaper MX5 over a Vowney any day of the week. I know with my phone I have excellent build quality and I get a software update just about every 2 weeks.
I can think of several phones with 13mp sensors that all sell for under $300 which take better pictures.
“and I get a software update just about every 2 weeks.”
Wow there must be a lot of problems.
Obviously quality is in the eye of the beholder.
Nope there isn’t any problems, Meizu is just constantly making things better. Every good phone receives regular updates.
LMAO im always seeing you and this person battling it out saying he/she is an elephone employee its really funny XXD
When he makes claims like this it’s hard not to wonder how much Elephone is paying him.
LMAOOOOOOOOOO XDDD
Just excuse him, he already said he hates the Elephone and their Marketing ways, HAHAHA if he is happy with his and you happy with your MX5, then we all happy ?
I am never happy with a phone, I am always on the hunt for my next one haha.
Then we are a lot alike in that regard.
Don’t get me wrong I love my BLU PURE XL and I got used to the 6″ amazingly fast even to my surprise, but PERFECT IT IS NOT., ie.: back-lit buttons and better use of big size to cramp in a 4200mah battery ?would have been near perfect to me. That MX5 of your was a great option but wanted a more vanilla sperience from the OS (even though I would not really use it, ?, as I usually go after NOVA, 5 minutes after opening boxes HAHAHA…
I have high hopes for that oukitel k6000premium on delivering on their promise…
…
…
…
I DECLARE IT AS THE 2016 UNICORN WE SHOULD BE AFTER
DECENT SPECS AND 3 DAYS TO ENJOY THEM WITHOUT RECHARGING.
actually , this is the FIRST time i have fired shots here … its usually balco :p
oh sorry lol
No.
You might want to get a pair of glasses or a refund on your magazines.
he has been praising this phone since it was only a concept.
Not even Rosalia and Dolores have gone that far
Yea he wants so badly for it to be the greatest phone ever that he has convinced himself it is completely faultless and everything is grand.
some people have really low standards
I am sitting in my hotel room right now in Vegas! CES tomorrow for me. Unfortunately I will be working behind the scenes most of the day, I have about a two hour window to explore the show floor.
bring some good news because I’m getting disappointed already
Yea from what I read today there isn;t a whole lot of good coming from it.
the m2 camera was alright too maybe they are unto something
any phone of respect have record at 1080p @ 60fps
They are going in the right direction, but I still am far from being excited with it.
Besides, it’s just Elephone – it will not be half that exciting as their marketing materials claim.
Heads Up : Most Elephone Retailers have sold out of their Vowney Golds. The Vowney Lite and Vowney 2K in Grey wont be available till somewhere between the 15th to the 31st of January. Elephone is pushing in P9000 series production even though Vowney has customer goodwill. It’s stupid but they think they are going to get large US sales in the P9000.