Elephone is a relatively new Chinese manufacturer trying to make a mark in the over-crowded sub-Rs. 10,000 bracket. The given price segment has some outrageous competition in the country, as both local and Chinese manufacturers are churning phones that pack some high-end specs.
The newly announced Elephone C1 Max is the latest phablet from the Chinese manufacturer. Currently available via Indian e-commerce websites for Rs. 9500, the highlight of the device is its dual-camera setup. Now, this makes it one of the few phones to come with twin rear cameras at this price point. Besides, it also comes with a massive 6-inch display which is also rarely seen at such a price. We’ve been using the device for around a week now. We’ll try to find out if it’s a worthy buying option in our detailed review of the Elephone C1 Max.
Box Contents:
- Elephone C1 Max handset
- Wall Charger
- User Manual
- SIM Ejector PIN
- Silicon Protector Case
Build and Design
Despite the budget price tag, the device feels rather premium and well built. Our review came in a subtle red color variant which looks pretty appealing. The device feels nice in the hand and the overall build quality is pretty satisfactory for a budget phone. That said, given its massive 6-inch display the phone isn’t easy to hold and operate with one hand. Also, it feels quite bulky in the hand or in your jeans pocket. But it still relatively light-weight for a 6-inch phone. Apart from this, I was rather satisfied with phone’s build quality and design aesthetics.
Display
The Elephone C1 Max boasts a larger 6-inch display. And thanks to relatively small bezels, the screen is great for binge watching your favorite TV shows or movies.
As far as resolution goes, the Elephone 1 Max is sadly limited to just a 720p display. That being said, the screen still manages to churn out decent brightness levels. Colors look decent enough. Also, there’s good of amount details while watching videos or photos. However, don’t expect anything spectacular given the phone’s massive screen size and the rather limited 720p display. All in all, the phone’s display does a decent job and offers decent sunlight legibility even in bright Indian summers.
Hardware, Performance, and OS
Nothing exciting to talk about when it comes to phone’s hardware. The Elephone C1 Max gets powered by the entry-level MediaTek MT6737 processor bundled with Mali-T720 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It handles everyday tasks such as open and closing apps, web browsing, a fair bit of multitasking at ease. And despite the rather mid-ranger MediTek processor, the phone surprisingly runs even high-end games like Asphalt 8 rather well. I didn’t come across any noticeable lags or stutters while in-game or during switching between menus. All in all, the Elephone C1 Max is totally capable of churning out a decent performance across the board.
In our synthetic benchmark tests, the Elephone C1 Max scored 32439 points in Antutu. While in GeekBench 4, the smartphone managed to pull-off single and multi-core scores of 535 and 1517 respectively.
Elsewhere, the Elephone C1 Max comes with a fingerprint scanner which is quite impressive. It easily detects and unlocks the phone in less than half a second. Accuracy levels are pretty spot-on, and I had no issues unlocking the phone with the integrated fingerprint scanner on the back of the device.
Also, the phone’s ships with a stock version of the latest Android Nougat 7.0. Now, this comes as a surprise as most Chinese phones come with a heavily-skinned version of stock Android. Though, that’s not the case with the C1 Max as it rocks a completely stock version of Android Nougat. And as expected, performance is super smooth and snappy as the UI is well optimized with the phone’s stock Android interface. Apps open snappily and navigating around the phone’s Home Screen feels pretty smooth for the most part.
Cameras
The dual-camera setup is definitely a high point, but it’s not dutifully conveyed through the images shot with the phone’s primary camera. The device’s 13MP+5MP camera setup belts out fairly detailed and crisp and photos in well-lit conditions, but we were expected time a lot more. Shots captured do pack in some details, though colors appear rather washed out and unsaturated. While images shot indoors or in low-light conditions clearly exhibit a fair amount of noise levels.
But the phone’s ability to produce a bokeh effect is pretty neat. Users have control over the amount of blur they want in an image’s background. As far video quality goes, the phone is capable of recording Full HD videos. But what you get is grainy and shaky videos which aren’t good enough for your social media needs.
On the front, there’s a 5MP selfie-snapper which again isn’t good enough to produce Facebook and Instagram-worthy selfies.
Battery
The Elephone C1 gets fueled by a 2800mAh battery which isn’t really a workhorse. For a heavy user like me, the battery runs out of juice fairly quickly. I got around 12 hours of heavy usage with the battery. But light users can eke out a day’s worth of battery life on the Elephone C1 Max.
Verdict
For Rs. 9,500, the Elephone C1 Max is a fairly decent smartphone but just fails hit to the spot. The phone’s dual rear cameras clearly leave you wanting for more and its 2800 mAh battery isn’t good enough to last an entire day of usage.
That’s said, what the Elephone C1 Max brings to the table is its 6-inch display which is great for watching movies and TV shows. Also, its super fast fingerprint scanner manages to unlock the device every time in less than half a second. Not to forget, it ships with a stock version of latest Android 7.0 Nougat which happens to be a neat addition. All in all, the Elephone C1 Max is just a decent phone at best.
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