Elephone S1 First Impressions, Premium And Secured On A Budget!

Earlier, Elephone was officially launched here in the Philippines in style. One of the handsets that caught my attention is the Elephone S1, the most affordable of the bunch. What made me conclude that the said device was special is its unprecedented premium feel for a budget phone.

Elephone S1 in the flesh

Related: Lazada Officially Introduced Elephone In PH, Launches S1, P8000 And P9000!

Elephone S1 Specs

Display: 5 Inch HD IPS On Cell 1280 x 720 resolution

CPU: 1.3 GHz MT6580 quad core processor

GPU: Mali 400

RAM: 1 GB

ROM: 8 GB expandable via micro SD card slot

Back Camera: 13 MP Sony IMX149 sensor w/ LED flash 

Selfie Camera: 2 MP

Battery: 1,800 mAh

OS: Android 5.1 Lollipop

Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, HSPA+, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, A GPS, dual SIM (micro + nano)

Others: Fingerprint sensor

Dimensions: 138.9 x 69.6 x 6.7 mm

Weight: 142.3 g

Price: 3,999 Pesos

Build Quality / Design

Glass back, fingerprint sensor and 13 MP Sony camera

The Elephone S1 looks and feels like a well crafted premium device. It boast an all metal chamfered frame that doesn't cheap all. As a matter of fact, the alloy used here feels even more premium than  the pricier Lenovo K4 Note. The gorgeous looking rear panel with an actual fingerprint sensor at the back is protected with Gorilla Glass just like its glass touch screen panel.

3.5 mm jack and antenna visible lines on top

Below, there's a single mic, micro USB charging port and speaker grills

The eject-able dual SIM slot found in the left side

The power button 

Moving to the looks of this handset, it's undeniably the most beautiful phone on a budget yet. It looks super slim at 6.7 mm, there are good rounded corner curves and the it has the slimmest screen bezels I've seen on a 5 inch phone yet.

Ergonomically, it feels great to hold even for one handed use which is not heavy on the hands. I also like most of the standard button and ports placement which generally feels easy to locate. I just have one comment, I find the power button on the right side too small at times.

Overall, the S1 has some combined resemblance with the S7, iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia in terms of design in a great way.

Camera Samples

Rear camera test

Selfie with beautify

Specs and features analysis

Elephone S1 uses an Android 5.1 Lollipop OS w/ Freeme OS 5.3 skin

The Elephone S1 isn't the most powerful budget phone out there, but it's got some fairly decent configuration. You'll get a 1.3 GHz MT6580 quad core processor paired with Mali 400 GPU and 1 GB of RAM that handles most casual to moderate task very well as long as you won't open that much apps all at the same time.

It also got an 8 GB of ROM where you can install your files, games and multimedia. If you find it lacking, there's a micro SD card slot that may help as well. The 13 MP rear camera performed nicely in our initial look as well.

Anjie of Teknogadyet also found out in his test earlier that the 360 degrees fingerprint sensor found with this device performs accurately with good speed too. Software-wise, I looks telepathically great, smooth overall and with little bloats.

So far the only slight downside I can foresee here is the lack LTE connectivity, the 2 MP rear camera which beautifies too much on first try and the fairly small 1,800 mAh of battery.

Anyway, for a phone that's built this well, that's just nitpicking on my part.

Related: Elephone P9000 First Impressions, The Most Affordable 4 GB RAM Phone In PH At 11499 Pesos Only!

As of the moment

As early as now, I'm sold as Elephone clearly created a bargain with this one. Not just because its one most affordable phones with fingerprint sensor and capable specs, but it's due to its unprecedented looks for the price. It's not for everyone, but for those who wanted to get a hold of a premium machine on a budget, this one is a winner.

Hopefully, we'll get a chance to fully review this unit.

Where to buy this? Click Here!