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The phone has a single speaker on the bottom edge and overall I was quite impressed with the sound quality since this is a mid-range phone. However, don’t expect the same fidelity as a high-end flagship phone. Music can sound “tinny” and in general there is a lack of depth.

The P7000 is a dual SIM phone that offers quad-band GSM, which means 2G will work just about anywhere in the world; quad-band 3G, on 850, 900, 1900 and 2100MHz; and quad-band 4G LTE on 800/1800/2100 and 2600MHz. The 3G and 4G will work in lots of countries around the world, especially in Europe and Asia. In the USA you should get 3G coverage on AT&T and possibly on T-Mobile (as only one of the needed frequencies is supported), but no 4G.

The device comes with 16GB of flash and has a micro-SD card slot which can accept cards up to 64GB.

The GPS performance is fair. The device is able to get a lock outdoors and it can even get a lock indoors, however the indoor lock seems to fluctuate a lot. There were some moments when the lock wasn’t very accurate while I was using Google Maps outdoors, however there was also a thunderstorm brewing, so it is hard to tell who was to blame, the phone or the storm! For driving, I tested the P7000 with Nokia Here maps and Google Maps and I was able to use the turn-by-turn navigation without any problems.

It is worth mentioning that the P7000 doesn’t have a gyroscope sensor (but it does have an accelerator) and the result is that you can’t use the phone with Google Cardboard or other VR applications.

In terms of internal storage, the device comes with 16GB of flash and has a micro-SD card slot which can accept cards up to 64GB. Thankfully, unlike other MediaTek based devices, the internal storage isn’t divided up, you get access to the whole lot, which is around 12GB – once you leave space for Android etc.
Camera

This phone has a 13MP rear facing camera and a 5MP front facing camera. The sensor in the rear facing camera is the SONY IMX 214 and Elephone has coupled it with a large f/2.0 aperture lens. Overall the pictures are crisp, but they seem to lack punch even in good outdoor lighting. Using HDR can help in some situations, but it isn’t a cure all.

Elephone-P7000-33

However the low-light pictures are much better than I was anticipating, the combination of the f/2.o aperture and the support for ISO 1600 means that you are able to take pictures without the flash for many indoor situations. However the laws of physics still demand a certain amount of light to enter through the lens, so don’t expect wonders.

For those of you into video, the rear camera can capture in Full HD at 30 frames per second.

The included camera app at first glance looks like the standard AOSP app, however it seems to offer a few more features beyond HDR and Panorama. For example, the camera options include anti-shake, gesture shot, smile shot, 40 picture continuous shooting, and auto scene detection. The video options include noise reduction, EIS, and time lapse mode.

You can also change things like the exposure level, the scene type, the white balance, face detection and so on. Overall, the app is fairly comprehensive and includes some special modes like object/motion tracking.

Here are some sample shots, judge for yourself:

Software

The P7000 runs stock Android 5.0 Lollipop. You get access to Google Play and all of Google’s services like YouTube, Gmail and Maps, however most of them are not installed by default.

The device supports Over-the-Air (OTA) updates and since its official launch Elephone has made at least one new firmware release. However the default firmware on my review device had a glitch in that while it says it supports OTA updates, it actually doesn’t. The phone checks for updates and even downloads the new software but when it comes to actually updating it I get an error, “Your system was damaged, wireless update disabled!”

Elephone-P7000-OTA

Although it sounds serious the phone does actually continue to function normally. The solution is to download a new firmware and re-flash the phone. After the re-flash everything works as expected. A few days after I flashed the new firmware, Elephone released another OTA patch and this one downloaded and installed without any problems.

The supplied version of Lollipop is basically stock Android with the standard launcher and an app drawer! There are a few extras included for things like the fingerprint reader; the pulsing notification LED, known in the Settings as the Harlequin LED Notification; some Smart Unlock functionality, which unlocks the phone when you are near a trusted Bluetooth device; and the screen-off wake gestures, like double tap and ‘C’ for camera etc.

The fingerprint reader is located on the back of the phone just below the camera. It is a 360 degree reader which means it doesn’t matter how you place your finger on the sensor, it will still be able to read it and recognize it. This is particularly important since most of the time you will use the reader while using the phone which means you can’t see the reader and depending on how you are holding the phone your finger will be placed on the sensor at different angles.
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Elephone-P7000-fingerprint

Overall the sensor works well. The number of misreads is actually quite low and it will only grant authorization to store fingerprints (i.e. it isn’t easy to fool). The initial set up is quite easy and just requires you to place your finger on the reader several times until the fingerprint is registered. The default security mechanism is the fingerprint unlock, which only unlocks the phone with your fingerprint. You can also use the fingerprint scanner to lock individual apps, galleries, messages etc.
Price and Wrap up

To sum up, the P7000 is a 4G LTE enabled smartphone, with a Full HD display and a octa-core 64-bit CPU. The performance is great, and it is good to see Android 5.0 Lollipop here. You can pick up an Elephone P7000 for around $230, which when you consider the overall specification of the device, is a good price.