Elephone M1 review

The Elephone M1 is a 64 bit quad core powered smartphone that sports a 5.5 inch screen with HD (720p) resolution and is packed inside a metallic body. The M1 is running Lollipop 5.1 with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage; it is priced at $160.

M1 Unboxing
Inside the box you will get the M1 handset, screen guard, data cable, user guide, SIM Tray ejector pin and travel charger (5V ~ 1A).

Design
The Elephone M1 looks awesome, specially the golden colour version. Handset is using a metal body with excellent build quality and finishing. The golden colour shades also gives a premium and unique looks to the handset.

Weight with battery is 162 grams and dimensions are 78.12 x 151.05 x 7.47 (mm). Overall for the price tag the handset looks really good and premium.

Power button and volume rocker are on the right side. There is a dual SIM tray on the left side. Audio jack is on the top and micro USB port, mic and speaker out is at the bottom. There is a single loud speaker and dual mics for noise cancellation.

This is a dual SIM handset with 4G LTE support – you can use two micro SIM’s and a micro SD card simultaneously.

There is no LED notification and there are just 3 sensors – accelerometer, light and proximity.

Display
This handset sports a 5.5 inch 2.5D curved screen supporting 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction and viewing angles are good. Touch is also smooth and responsive. There is a factory fitted screen if you want you can removed it, since the screen is curved around the sides no screen guard will fit properly – so better not use one. Screen is scratch resistant to some extent but be extra careful.

Memory, Storage and OS
The M1 is running Android 5.1 (32 bit) out of the box with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. On the first boot you will get around 12GB free space and 1.3GB free RAM. OTG is not supported and apps are getting installed on the internal storage by default.

Performance
The M1 houses the MediaTek 64 Bit MT6735 quad core processor clocked at 1.3GHz coupled with Mali T720 GPU. Performance is smooth, handset heat up is under control max temperature I encountered was 40 degrees.

Benchmark

Gaming
I installed Asphalt 8 (on internal storage by default). Game was playable in high visual quality mode though there was a very mild lag but acceptable. Check video review for gaming action.

Camera
Rear camera is 13MP with LED flash support and front camera is 2MP and also comes with front LED flash. Camera quality is average. Rear camera can shoot FHD videos. Do check the sample images and videos at the end of this review.

Others
Sound is loud and clear, in-call sound is also good, no issues. 4G worked I am using Airtel 2300 band. No issues with 3G, WiFi, GPS (fast lock) and Bluetooth.

The handset can play max FHD videos with ease.

Fingerprint Scanner
There is touch ID based finger print scanner that is pretty accurate. Though it takes a little more time processing, but well within 2 seconds. There is a fingerprint app that can be used to add fingerprint security for specific apps – i.e. once you tap of on the app, you will need to use your fingerprint to continue.

Battery
M1 houses a 2780 mAh non-removable battery that does okay job you can expect about 3 to 4 hours of continuous moderate to heavy usage. I got just about a day of mixed usage on a single charge.

Verdict
The handset is powerful and looks really good. It’s dual SIM and 4G LTE 2300 band works out of the box. Camera performance is average and battery is okay. For the price tag of $160 with fingerprint scanner feature this is not a bad option, however there are already low cost smartphones in India with fingerprint scanner for under ₹10K.

Rating 3.5 out of 5 (cannot use decimals in the rating box below).

Elephone M1 is available for $159.99 (approx ₹10,500).

Image Gallery

Video Review