Elephone S3 Smartphone Review

By Michael C. Smith On Jul 14, 2016

AT A GLANCE

72%

GOOD

The Elephone stands very well on it’s price range with a superb screen, good quality finishing and a decent performance. The smartphone is compatible with Global 4G networks with high speed downloading speed up to 150Mbps.

EDITORS RATING

Elephone continues to work hard to buy its way into the hearts of many smartphone users with the release of thinnest bezel less smartphones. The Chinese company appears to keep consistency in innovation with the release of the Elephone S3, a device with a finely built metal unibody for a firm and comfortable hands grip. The 5.2 inch Full HD bezel-less display comes with a resolution of 1920x1080p.

It is powered by MediaTek 64 bit Octa core processor clocked at 1.3GHZ alongside Mali T-720 GPU. There is also 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16GB of internal storage expandable to 128GB by the help of a Micro SD card. The phone runs on android’s latest operating system marshmallow 6.0 and comes with a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front Camera.

The smartphones draws power from a 2100mAh battery source and it is equipped with fast charge to give the weak battery a hand. The device packs well this features to handle daily tasks such as playing games, watching TV, and reading e-books.

Design

The Elephone S3 sports a metallic body with a good build quality and finish, slightly curved on the rear side. It measures 5.59 x 2.78 x 0.33 inches and weighs 167 grams. The weight is highly attributed to the almost bezel less screen which requires a strong frame. This bezel less smartphone has two classic bars, one is on the top with receiver and front camera, while the bottom bar has nothing. The handset is available in four different colors namely Black, Grey, Silver and Gold for you to choose from.

Performance

Under the hood, the Elephone houses a MediaTek 64 bit Octa core processor clocked at 1.3GHz and Mali T720 GPU. There is also 3GB of RAM system memory on board and 16GB ROM of internal storage. It boasts of fast read and write speeds of 142/148MB/s. You can expanding your storage to 128GB through a Micro SD to keep all your files, photos, music and documents.

This also double the running speed to do multi-tasking like playing games, watching TV, and reading e-books. The system 1.5 GB of RAM is permanently busy leaving you with another 1.5 GB for multitasking, which is sufficient. For gamers, you can play some games with occasional lagging such as the Modern Combat and Asphalt 8. It is advisable to run these graphically demanding games on medium graphic settings for them to run smoothly.

Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the Elephone comes with a Micro USB slot for connecting to a computer desktop. There is a TF or Micro SD Card Slot to expand your storage to a maximum of 128GB. To connect your headphones or earphones the handset comes with a 3.5mm audio port for comfort when listening to music. This is a dual SIM device, so it allows you to use Nano or Micro SD plus a Micro SIM.

This is a 4G device so it definitely supports the earlier 2G and 3G networks. For internet connection, there is Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n internet wireless, a standard connectivity for middle class smartphones. There is also Bluetooth 4.0 to connect to other Bluetooth devices such as Bluetooth speakers for music. You can as well connect to other devices to transfer and share photos, music and other media.

Display

The 5.2 inch device comes with full HD resolution of 1920x1080p with a good looking 2.5D curved glass. The display offers wide viewing angles with a good touch response and color reproduction. It has a strong contrast making it a suitable handset for reading texts, MS Office and E-book format documents. The fact that the display left and right has no edge, is a clear statement that the Elephone S3 is a special design

The Elephone comes with a rear 13MP camera with a Sony IMX135 sensor with good sharpness and color reproduction. The smartphone takes some good pictures during the day but in dim lit areas, the photos are of low quality. The Low quality is as a result due to a weak LED flash but this is understandable at this price range.

There is a 5MP front camera whose images are usable and useful when it comes to video calling and selfies. The camera can record Full HD video and it supports 3GP, AVI, MP4, and WMV video formats and BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG picture formats. All said, Elephone still have room to improve their Camera to take care of the photo enthusiasts.

Other Features

The speakers of the Elephone offer a clear and loud sound with no in-call speaker issues. The sound output when using earphones or headphones is relatively good compared with other smartphones. The non-removable 2100mAh battery is likely to give you between 3-5 hours of usage with non-stop heavy to moderate usage. The battery capacity of the Elephone is below the average of 5.2 inch smartphones. As such, users who are always on phone, especially those into gaming, will find this phone to be a disappointment.

Additional features worth mentioning include the accelerometer, light and proximity sensors. The proximity sensors detect the presence of the human ear and turns off the LED backlight. This reduces the display power consumption and disables the touch screen to prevent from unintended touches by the cheek. As such, the cheek won’t hang up the call for you inadvertently.

The fingerprint sensor is accurate, it unlocks the handset in an average of 2 seconds. This is a bit slow compared to other devices in the market that unlock in the blink of an eye, within a second. The Elephone S3 also comes with a unique Ruler Design USB 2.1 Cable, useable in measuring the height of Babies.

Conclusion

The Elephone S3 stands very well on it’s price range with a superb screen, good quality finishing and a decent performance. The smartphone is compatible with Global 4G networks with high speed downloading speed up to 150Mbps. The Elephone combines well decent features including a MediaTek 64 bit Octa core processor coupled with Mali T720 GPU, 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16GB of internal storage to offer a smooth performance. The manufacturers however stumbled on the battery by packing a below average 2100mAh battery that many smartphone users will find inappropriate. Despite the few flaws in the Elephone S3 such as a weak battery, this is a step towards the right direction.