[OT] Eluga: Panasonic's First Android Phone in Europe

The new waterproof ELUGA by Panasonic

TI 1Ghz dual-core, 1GB ram, 8GB flash,
4.3" 16:9 qHD 960x540 capacitive OLED
Gingerbread (2.3.5) & ICS (4.0) in Spring 2012
Waterproof/dustproof, IP57 (1.5m deep for 30min)
103g, 7.8mm thickness
NFC, HSPA+ 21.1 Mbps
1150mAh battery, 300h standby, 4h talktime
auto ECO Mode - when battery is below threshold it reduces LCD timeout, terminates background apps and certain functions, reduce CPU frequency
1 (one) 8MP autofocus back camera, no front one ??

What do you guys think ?

 

Nice protection rating, but overall I think it makes too many sacrifices for the sake of being thin. It has just 8GB of flash memory, and apparently no option to expand this with microSD cards. This will quickly fill up with music, video, applications etc. My current phones have 32GB (SE Xperia Active) and 64GB (Nokia N9), 8GB would feel like going back five years.

The battery is very poor with 1150mAh. Even my little Active has a bigger battery, and its screen (usually the biggest consumer) is tiny compared to that of the Eluga. Phones of that size usually have around 1800mAh. Consequently, the Eluga's talk time spec is about half of what other phones of that size have (and even their users often complain about barely making it through the day on one charge).

And not only is the battery too small, it is also integrated, so you can neither carry a spare battery, nor replace it easily when it has decayed a bit - and with the battery that small, even a small degradation will be noticeable.

I cannot find anything on the touchscreen working when wet, so I'm going to assume it won't, because companies will usually advertize this kind of feature.

Lastly, it is coming with an outdated version of Android. Yes, it is supposed to get an upgrade in June, but such claims have been traditionally unreliable with Android phone manufacturers. Maybe Panasonic will be better, but for now, if I strictly needed Android 4.0, then I would not buy this before it actually comes with 4.0 out of the box.

I guess I will keep waiting for a real Android ToughBook phone.

 

You're right about that, 8GB and no expansion, small integrated battery, no back camera, and an unsure ICS update. It's a start, though.

Xperia Active was my first thought for a robust smartphone, until I held one today in my hand, and the side bottom plastic cover has enough play when pressed, creating a gap to the display, that you can insert a flat screwdriver in there, let alone sand/water....

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I'm using a Sonim XP5300 since 10.2011, which is IP68 & more, but although they advertise 1500h standby, 22hrs talktime (2G) or 12 (3G) I couldn't get more than 5days of (very) light use out of it. And it has a 1950mAh battery.

I'm more or less disappointed because of this, because it was one of the main reasons I paid ~400euro's for it.

Although it seems to be built like a rock, since 2months ago, smth. happened to the speaker (not the earpiece) and everything sounds muffled or very distorted at mid-high volume.
Hands-free operation is at best barely usable, but right now I cannot afford to send it in for service, and wait 2 or 3 weeks to be shipped back from the only authorized center, in Belgium or Holland. They do not allow the local dealers to service it, so they require them to ship it to the center.

It has a proprietary OS (MediaTek platform), although it supports J2ME apps (including Gmaps, Gmail, Facebook, etc), the interface is lacking in functions, has weird menu choices sometimes, and stupid limitations.
It doesn't lag, though, and has the basic tools & features.

Sorry for this semi-offtopic rant about it, I still like it, it's my ToughPhone, and I don't see a real alternative to it, in this segment.
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Hopefully, Panasonic would eventually release a ToughBook grade (smart)phone, in the near future.

 

WOW! I WILL switch providers to get this... I'll keep you guys in the loop!

 

That's true, but you have to keep in mind that this cover basically just serves to make the phone smooth and provide some secondary protection against knocks or whatever. There is another cover underneath it, and that one is actually sealed.

Interesting to read about the Sonim. I've been looking at them every once in a while. I wish they made one with Android, while keeping the physical keys.

 

Stepping backwards indeed. The design looks like they took an iPwn 3G and knocked the round corners off just enough to prevent a lawsuit; the Vol/Vibrate button configuration is the same, as is the very annoying lack of Flash for the camera.

I work with my iPwn, so I don't keep a lot of crap on it. I have a few Disney movies to keep the kids occupied while we wait at doctors' offices and the like; a couple dozen small apps and a couple days worth of music. Still, even that would probably fill this thing to near capacity.

The IP57 rating isn't that impressive; 1.5m for 30 min. You can get that from one of the adsorbtive sprays we were talking about in another thread. And the NFC "feature"... that is a TOTAL non-starter for me; I will NOT own a phone with this in it. I've worked with the technology; even when it's turned OFF, it's NOT really OFF.

The battery is exactly the same as my iPwn 3GS; today's LED backlights are a bit more efficient than mine, so I'm pretty sure backlight draw will be comparable, even with the slightly larger display.

Bottom line: It looks like Panasonic built a contender for the last generation iPwn, almost 2 years after the release of the current generation. Added to that is the name which has unfortunate similarity to other words with negative connotations; I fear that enough people will be calling it the EULA that we'll need to deliver the eulogy on this product before it's even launched.

mnem
*Underwhelmed*

 

Sorry, this phone does not do it for me!

I hate integrated batteries and always carry a hot high capacity spare battery for my HTC Touch Pro 2.

My next phone with be a Motorola Proton in about 45 days. I next the combination CDMA and GSM feature with my travel for work.

 

Nope, I'm not falling for this. My Moto ES400 will do until AdZero arrives.