The Elephone P8000 is now available on Snapdeal.com at a price of Rs 14,990. The phone is being sold by Indian distributor Auxus without the Elephone branding.
The P8000 holds several distinctions. It is the cheapest phone with a fingerprint sensor and, at 4.2 Ah, has one of the biggest batteries on any smartphone in India.
For a prce of Rs 14,990 for the 16 GB version, it is Rs 3,500 cheaper than the Moto X Play, its closest competitor.
Of course, a direct comparison with Moto X Play may not be fair, as Moto X Play has 2 GB of RAM, while the P8000 has a 3 GB. Moto X Play also does have a fingerprint scanner unlike the Elephone, but offers a water-resistant build.
In fact, the major attraction of P8000 over cheaper phones like Lenovo K3 Note and Meizu M2 Note are the bigger battery and the fingerprint scanner.
Many people who want a fingerprint scanner on their phone often look at the OnePlus Two – priced at Rs 23,000 for the 16 GB version. The P8000 is also the only phone (other than the Meizu MX5) that offers 3 GB RAM at a price less than Rs 20,000 in India.
The rest of the spects of the device (available on Snapdeal as iberry Auxus Prime) are what you’d expect in this range.
Display is 5.5-inch and 1080p, protected by Gorilla Glass. Camera is 13 MP+5 MP and processor is octa-core 1.3 GHz.
In terms of specs, therefore, it is really difficult to beat this phone. However, it does have a key shortcoming – lack of brand trackrecord.
Both Elephone and iBerry are relatively unknown brands in India. However, globally, Elephone is considered one of the top six emerging Chinese smartphone brands, along with Xiaomi, OnePlus, Meizu, Vivo and Oppo.
Elephone started their India website earlier this month on which the P8000 is given as unavailable. However, the company can be expected to launch devices under its own branding here soon, given that it had tried to launch the P8000 directly before tying up with Auxus.
For the value-conscious buyer who is looking for a full-HD 4G phone with fingerprint scanner and a big battery, the Elephone / iBerry P8000 is really difficult to beat in India right now. If these features are not a strict requirement, the Meizu M2 Note will be the most attractive.
Unlike Xiaomi, Meizu, Vivo, Gionee and Oppo, Elephone does not try to make phones that have the latest and greatest specifications. Instead, they aim to make phones using components that are in their maturity style — thus saving money and passing on the benefits to its customers.
So, instead of a quad-HD display, you’ll get a full-HD one, and instead of Snapdragon 820, you get MediaTek 6752. That also explains why the Elephone P8000 — arguably its flagship phone — is priced 25% lower than the Meizu MX5, also a flagship from an upcoming Chinese brand.
For example, Elephone P9000 will be launched in mid-October with a 10-core MediaTek Helio X20 processor and 4 GB of RAM, but display resolution is likely to remain full-HD. The company will debut its first quad-HD model with the launch of the Vowney.
