During the past year, chinese based smartphone company Elephone managed to stand out as a budget manufacturer with a low to middle class of everyday smartphones using the current MTK based SoC processor.

At the start of this Elephone G6 article I would just like to point out a more than solid manufacturer and user community on the manufacturer web site with a support forum on which for all models can be found the latest official ROM (also custom ones from user community) and official/unofficial technical support.

Today an indepth test of a model Elephone G6 is on the itinerary, so for starters the official specifications (by the manufacturer):

• CPU/GPU/Storage
• CPU: MediaTek MT6592 clocked at 1.7GHz Octa-core
• GPU:Mali-450mp (700 Mhz)
• Storage: RAM=1GB / ROM=8GB
• *Supports Micro SD (T-Flash) upto 64G
• Display
• IPS, 5.0inch 1280*720 pixels PPI:293
• Battery
• Standard battery content:2250mAh (removable)
• Positioning
• GPS A-GPS
• Operating system
• Android 4.4.2
• Sensors
• Gravity sensor;Distance sensor;Gesture sensor;E-compass;Acceleration sensor
• Features
• Fingerprint ID:support
• OTG:support
• FM:support
• Bluetooth:4.0
• Gesture Recognition:support
• Connectivity
• USB: Micro 5pin interface

• Wireless&Networks Frequency
• WiFi:802.11n wireless
• WCDMA:850/1900/2100 (HSDPA)
• GSM:850/900/1800/1900
• Dual SIM/Dual standby (regular/small)

• Camera
• Rear:13MP front:2MP

Elephone G6 is powered by upto 3G supported (no LTE speed) MTK6592 Cortex A7 CPU clocked at full speed with 1.7 Ghz with octa-core design (System on a Chip) which is more than capable for most of today 2D/3D games and any other system demanding graphic applications like image processing or video viewing/editing. Antutu score on several tests results even over 30000+. High demand gaming although can heat up the phone after prolonged usage, but not as serious as quad-core models.

Although a phone with installed 50+ games/apps (and some of them remaining in memory) losses its razorblade bechmarking touch.

The phone uses a 1 Gb of RAM and is ROM of 8 Gb total (to user is available just over 5 Gb-EMMC) with a supported capacity for MicroSD/TF cards of 64 Gb (somewhere 32 Gb noted) so a test for both will be done soon (current 16 Gb).

Display (HD-720P) offers an middle to upper class IPS display with a high DPI of 293 with a display angle of approx. 180° (horrizontally/vertically) with 24 bit color which offers sharp and crisp images indoors and outdoors with a higly clear image even in direct sunlight. Colors are correct and vivid with a correct saturation. The screen is of course capacitive and multi-touch (5 points) with proximity and ambient light sensor. The screen is protected with first generation Corning gorilla glass protection.

Battery of 2250 mAh is sufficient for a standard everyday user with talk time of 4,5 h on 3G (8-9 hours on 2G), music play of 8,5-9 hours and video play of approximate of 4 hours as the 5 inch display uses the most of the voltage as the CPU/GPU combination offer a low power consumption. Battery is removable so if the cells deteriorate there is always a possibility a replacement somewhere online.

Location positioning is regular for most of today’s smartphone models, GPS with A-GPS support (EPO). First positioning can take a while (up to 30 seconds) in crowded urban area but every latter attempt will result in a few second tops positioning with at least 7 satellites (for example Google Maps will position within one second).

Elephone G6 is running an AOSP version of Kitkat (Android 4.4.2) with a MIUI like main home launcher (support app drawer).

Android version is more-less a standardized version but with a couple of notable features which are:

-gesture sensing (Camera/Gallery)

-off screen gestures (kernel supported double tap to wake, etc.) with selection of predefined gestures for application shortcuts

-LED notification light support

-Flash alert (calls/messages)

-Fingerprint scanner (the lowest price smartphone with an active scanner), can be somewhat stubborn until you get the hang of the position and the speed for setting up but is functional and a more than praised worthy feature. The phone can come pre-rooted or if not the rooting process can be done by several solutions (example Kingroot).

During the test no force-closes or undescribed lags occured and Google Play managed to find and install any application/game requested, both on the phone and on Google play website (which recognized the phone correctly).

Phone supports gravity, light, gesture sensor, acceleration sensor and a function compass (unlike previous MTK SoC generations). Distance sensor is also included which surprises due to the smartphone price.

The connection is through a standard 5pin micro USB port with a 1A charger and a USB OTG support (through an adapter, which can be easily acquired for example on eBay for 1$) .

The Phone is capable for 2G/3G GSM speeds (HSDPA, at least 7,2 Mbps) with WiFi capabilites 802.11 (a/g/n) which offers a more than solid connection and signal coverage (50 meters from router base upto 60 % signal). Bluetooth 4.0 revision is supported with speeds upto 25 Mbps.

Elephone G6 has a dual-camera support with a symbolic 2Mp front one with a VGA recording support and a back camera of 13 Mp (information regarding sensor and manufacturer are unclear) with f/2.2 aperture, which most likely is OVT OV8865 (8 Mp sensor) so it could be that the camera picture is interpolated. Nonetheless the outside picture quality on both cameras is more that satisfying for the price range with a more than adequate night picture (with usage of LED flash).

Noticeable the back camera supports smile detection, 4x digital zoom, autofocus and an object traceable focus (touch/follow) which is more-less successfull .

Back camera supports HD video recording at 1920×1080 with video stabilization. Maximum camera driver supported bitrate at test was 8Mbps with 30 FPS, so the recorded video can easy replace a standard camera/photo device with 8/12 Mpx.

Phone is offering an excellent weight of only 125 grams with a leaflike thickness of only 7.7 mm so on the aesthetic side (including a modern logo design) the phone gives an impression of a more-costly smartphone model with a fluid silhouette.

Taking in consideration the current price range (below 130 $) and included configuration of the smartphone this is a middle to high-end capable smarthphone with a good clear outer speaker on which movies and music play is almost a joy with high output volume. FM radio with headphone antenna is a regular feature on this phone type.

Screen and the overall speed is fluent with no delay in tasks like application start/switch between active applications and accompanied with a good camera the phone is surely recommended.

Also a brand image and continuity on the market will add to the Elephone image which also will accompany for an easier accesory buying online. Good job.

The post Unboxing and Review of Elephone G6 appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have seen a number of devices from both Elephone and Doogee in the past few months. However, Elephone’s G6 and the Doogee DG900 have been particularly popular among buyers. That’s why we decided to put the G6 against the Doogee Turbo2 DG900 to see which one comes out as the winner.

We will be comparing both the devices on a number of different aspects like design, battery life, display etc. So, without wasting any more time, lets take a look at the similarities and the differences between the two Chinese handsets.

DESIGN

The first thing you notice about a phone is its overall design and hence, it seems right to start with this category first.

Elephone G6 and Doogee DG900 have two different design profiles, which make them harder to compare. While the G6 features a traditional design, that we have seen in many recent smartphones i.e. a rectangular body with soft touch plastic (quite similar to the OnePlus One), the Doogee DG900 comes with curved sides on a rectangular body. There are some additional lines on the back alongside the camera which gives it a distinct look.

So, on the design front, we can’t really pick out a winner. Both the devices are well built and looks premium too, hence we guess its a tie.

If you loved the OnePlus One’s design, you’ll love the G6. But if you like a Lumia kind of design, then you will most likely prefer the DG900.

DISPLAY

Now, lets take a look at the second most prominent part of a phone i.e. its display.

Both the smartphones come with a 5.0 inch display, however the resolutions are significantly different. Doogee DG900 comes with a higher Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution while the Elephone G6 just features a HD 1280 x 720 pixel resolution screen. So, DG900 is much more sharper than G6. However, even with a higher resolution screen, the colors on the DG900 looks washed out. On the other hand, Elephone G6’s display is more natural looking and rich in colors.

So even though the DG900 comes with a better resolution, we personally like Elephone’s 720p display. Therefore, this category goes to the Elephone G6.

There’s another reason we picked the G6’s display over DG900 but we’ll reveal that in the next section i.e. hardware.

Meanwhile, take a look at displays on both the devices. The left one is the Doogee DG900 while on the right is the Elephone G6.

HARDWARE & PERFORMANCE

Both the DG900 and the Elephone G6 sport similar hardware, but there are some areas where the DG900 has an edge over the latter.

Both come with Mediatek MTK6592 Octa Core CPU with Cortex A7 Cores clocked at 1.7Ghz. The G6 comes with a slightly better GPU– Mali 450 as compared to the Mali 400 found on the Doogee model. However, the DG900 comes with a much larger RAM module, a 2GB one unlike the 1GB found on the G6.

As for storage, you get 16GB on DG900 and 8GB on G6. Both have external memory card slots which support cards up to 64GB in size.

While the hardware on the DG900 is much better than on the G6, especially due to its 2GB RAM, the MTK6592 chipset on the Doogee phone struggles to power the Full HD 1080p screen. As a result, even with the extra RAM, on personal experience, we have seen that the G6 is much more responsive than DG900. There’s only a slight difference between the performance of the two, but its noticeable.

Also, with the extra pixels that the Doogee model has to power, the device gets heated up too pretty easily.

On our initial Doogee DG900 review, the Doogee DG900 scored well over 30,000 as compared to Elephone G6’s score of 25,886. However,to our surprise after a few days of usage, when we tested the phone again, the DG900’s Benchmark score fell to 25,227. That’s around 5000 points lower than the initial figure which worried us. Also, the phone became slower with use. It may have been an issue with this specific model but still we were dissapointed.

As a result, even with the better 2GB RAM onboard, we prefer the Elephone G6 when it comes to hardware and performance.

CAMERA

Camera is yet another important aspect of a smartphone and in this category, Doogee DG900 is slightly better than the G6. This is due to the fact that, DG900 comes with a 13MP Sony IMX135 sensor as compared to the 13MP found on the G6. For the front camera too, the former comes with an 5MP shooter while the latter comes with just a 2MP sensor.

Images from the DG900 are much better and natural looking than the G6. The images captured on the Elephone model are quite darker than the Doogee phone, so low light pictures especially look better on the latter.

We have included a few sample pictures below for comparison.

DG900

G6

DG900

G6

DG900

G6

DG900

G6

As you can see, the pictures captured by the G6 are not that bad and quite comparable to Doogee DG900, but still the DG900 takes better pictures majority of the time and hence, this section goes to the DG900.

BATTERY 

The DG900 comes with a larger 2500 mAh battery as compared to the 2250 mAh one found on the G6. But in real time usage, Elephone G6 managed to squeeze in much more than 7 hours that we got from the DG900.

However, the Doogee model does have a fast charge feature which enables it to charge fully within 2 hours.

It hard to pick a winner in this category especially because of DG900’s fast charge feature. So, we leave that for you to decide what you want, a slightly better battery or a faster charging option.

 CONNECTIVITY, SOFTWARE & FEATURES

Both the phones feature standard connectivity features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, AGPS, Proximity, Gravity sensors, 3G, Dual Sim support etc.

As for the software, both run on Android 4.4 Kitkat version.

However, the Elephone G6 does have an added advantage. It comes with a finger print sensor which clearly gives it an edge over the Doogee Turbo2 DG900. In fact, this particular features makes it a much attractive option than many other costlier alternatives in the market.

However, instead of a finger print sensor, the DG900 has a rear touch panel which can be used to open up the camera and click pictures.

OUR VERDICT

Both the phones have similar specifications with the Doogee DG900 having better specs in some areas. However, when it comes to real life performance, the cheaper Elephone G6 manages to match DG900’s performance. In fact, it’s even better than the latter in some areas like display, performance and battery life. Elephone G6 is priced at $119, which is almost $100 cheaper than Doogee DG900, if you don’t want to spent more for the same specs on a phone for it’s design, then Elephone G6 must be a good choice.

The post Elephone G6 vs Doogee DG900: In Depth Comparison appeared first on Gizmochina.