Elephone S3 review – almost Bezel-less screen

The Elephone S3 is powered by octa core processor and the unique thing about this handset is that it comes with an almost bezel-less screen, looks awesome. Read the Elephone S3 Review to know more.

S3 Unboxing

This handset is packed inside a plastic box that itself looks quite attractive. Inside you will find the S3 handset, user guide, SIM tray ejector pin, travel charger 5V/2A (fast charger), data cable that can also be used a measuring tape – avoid using the tape when charging, and the final content is the plastic case with nice textures.

Design, Display and OS

The Elephone S3 is using a metal body, with a very good build quality and finishing, mildly curvier on the back side. Handset is a bit heavy at about 167 grams and the reason I guess is the almost bezel less screen – to achieve that a strong frame is needed. Dimensions are 69.40 x 141.72 x 8.99 (mm). S3 is available in Gold, Silver and Grey color options.

Elephone S3 review and unboxing

Power button and volume rocker is on the right side, audio jack is on the top, SIM tray is on the left side and at the bottom there is mic, micro USB port and speaker out. There is secondary mic on the rear side.

Elephone S3 back panel

This is a dual SIM (hybrid) handset you can use Nano SIM or Micro SD card + Micro SIM. There is LED light (notification) but that lights up only when you connect the charger. S3 is loaded with accelerometer, light and proximity sensors.

Elephone S3 5.2 inch 2.5D screen with FHD resolution

Screen (LG make) is 5.2 inches supporting full HD resolution 1920 x 1080p. It’s Incell fully laminated and using 2.5D curved glass that looks great and makes the handset look almost bezel less. Viewing angles, color reproduction and touch response are very good.

Elephone S3 is running Android Marshmallow 6.0 out of the box with ELE UI (ELE Launcher) – check video review.

Memory and Storage

There is 3GB RAM, 16GB ROM and 128GB external micro SD card support. On the first boot you will get around 1.8GB free RAM and around 11 GB free space. OTG is supported.

Performance

The S3 is packed with MediaTek MT6753 64 bit octa core processor clocked at 1.3GHz coupled with Mali T720 GPU. Performance is smooth, handset does heat up, battery temperature should be under 40 to 42 degrees (benchmark apps were not showing correct battery temp).

Benchmark

Quadrant – 22541
Antutu (64 bit) – 36990 | 3D score – 5442
Nenamark 2 – 61.0fps
Internal storage Speed – Read (151MB/s), Write (49MB/s)
Multi Touch – 5 Point

Gaming

I played Modern combat 5 (MC5) and Asphalt 8. MC5 played well, but it did lag occasionally, at higher levels it is going to lag more frequently. Asphalt 8 was not at all smooth in high visual quality mode, but in medium visual quality mode the game played well.

S3 Camera

A 13MP camera using SONY IMX 135 sensors is packed on the back with flash support and on the front there is a 5MP camera. Rear camera can shoot full HD videos. Camera quality is average, it could have been better – the only issue is the pinkish tint that you can clearly see in the camera samples listed at the end of this review. It can be fixed via software updates.

Elephone S3 13MP camera and finger print sensor

Others

Speaker sound is clear and loud, no issues with in-call speaker. When you connect any headphones / earphones the sound output is really loud compared with other handsets. I did not find any issues with 4G signal / network signal quality etc. WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth worked well.

The finger print sensor on the rear is accurate though it does take some time to unlock the handset about 2 seconds. Once unlocked you can use the finger print sensor for browsing though the menus (check video).

Battery

There is a 2100 mAh battery with fast charging capabilities. Battery life is okay – you can expect 3 to 5 hours of non-stop moderate to heavy usage on a full charge.

Elephone S3 Battery Performance (time / battery % drop / estimated battery temperature).

Running Benchmark app – 11 minutes / 4% / 37 degrees
Played MC5 + Asphalt 8 – 23 minutes / 10% / 41 degrees
FHD video playback with full brightness (WiFi /4G on) – 30 minutes / 9% / 38 degrees

It took me 1 hour 22 minutes to charge the handset using wall charger from 15% to 100%.

Verdict

The S3 is a beautiful handset look even more beautiful without the border on the screen specially the left and the right side that actually seems to touch the frame. Handset is comfortable to hold, looks smaller in size and performance is good. Camera is average can be improved and when it comes to gaming you will need to reduce the graphics quality.

Apart from that the handset is a beauty and a very good buy for the price (it is not available in India).

Rating 4 out of 5.

Elephone S3 is priced at $149.99 (approx Rs. 10,100) – available from their official website.