We all think of Xiaomi when it comes to cheap but high-end smartphones. Ulefone is a brand to remember as well, specially the Ulefone U Pro. This model has some amazing specifications and is able to compete with the Samsung and Apple smartphones.
Introduction & Specifications
Looking for a smartphone that is comparable with the latest flagship phone, I ended up with the Elephone U Pro. This smartphone has some really good specifications and is performing really well when running the tests. For example they placed a Snapdragon processor in it, a 5.99″ AMOLED display and 6GB of RAM combined with 128GB of storage. If you ask me, this is a much cheaper options if we compare this to the Samsung or iPhone flag.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Device Type: | Smartphone |
| Brand: | Elephone |
| Model: | U Pro |
| CPU: | Octa Core 2.2GHz Kryo CPU Clock |
| Chipset: | Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, 64-bit Processor |
| GPU: | Qualcomm Adreno 512 GPU |
| Camera: | 13 Megapixel + 13 Megapixel Dual Rear Camera with AF & Dual-LED Flash | 8 Megapixel Front Camera |
| Memory: | RAM- 4GB/6GB LPDDR4x, 1866MHz | ROM-64GB/128GB and Supports MicroSD (TF) external storage up to 128GB |
| Display: | Screen size 5.99-inches AMOLED, FHD+ Curved Edge (2160 x 1080 Pixel) 18:9 Ratio, 10-point Display with Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Battery: | Non-Removable 3,550mAh Lithium-Polymer Battery |
| SIM: | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM) with Dual Standby |
| Networks: | Support 2G/3G/4G Networks with a speed of HSPA 21.2/5.76 Mbps in 3G Network and 450 Mbps Download and 50 Mbps Upload in 4G Cat-9 LTE |
| Sensors: | Gravity sensor, Proximity Sensor, Light sensor, Gyroscope Sensor, Hall Sensor, Compass, Fingerprint Scanner (Rear Mounted) |
| Color: | Black, Blue |
| OS: | Android 8.0 Oreo OS |
| I/O Interface: | 2 x Nano SIM, 1 x MicroSD Slot, 3.5mm Audio Jack, USB Type-C USB Port, Power Button, Volume Button, Microphone, Speaker |
| Variant: | 4GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB |
| Dimension: | 15.40 cm x 7.25 cm x 0.84 cm |
| Weight: | 166 Grams (Including Battery) |
| More Features: | Metal Mix & Glass Body, LTE Cat-9, AMOLED 10-point touch Screen, FM Radio, Gorilla Glass, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, Oreo OS, Bluetooth, GPS, GLONASS, 19:9 Full View Display, USB Type-C, Fingerprint Scanner, Triple Camera, Dual SIM |
Unboxing
The box is nice and black and has the logo on it in red. At the back we find the specifications of the Elephone U pro, like we see in almost all boxes. When we open the box, we see the smartphone first. When taking the smartphone out, there are 2 boxes inside the box left. There are also red markings on those boxes to give away what is inside.
On the first box we have the charger, a USB-C cable and USB-C to 3.5mm jack converter.
In the last box we find a very basic case, a plastic screen protector and some information.
Hardware & Design
Starting with the outside, the Elephone U Pro looks really good. It is easy to hold, there are no ghosts clicks on the sides with the curved display. The rear is a mix of metal and glass and it is easy to hold. Some smartphone are really slippery, but the Elephone U Pro is easy to hold and it does not feel slippery at all.
The Elephone U Pro has a small bezel on top where the front camera is situated and on the back we find the fingerprint scanner and the rear camera. I had to get used to the fingerprint scanner at the back, but once you use it for a couple of days, it is completely fine and super easy to work with.
The hardware specifications are really good. They placed a Snapdragon 660 processor which will give you 2.20 GHz of speed. There is 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage available, which is more then enough if you ask me. The GPU is the Qualcomm Adreno 512 is the GPU for mid-range smartphones, but is completely fine to game with. Inside they placed a 3550 mAh battery, which I hoped was a bit higher. Overall I’m really happy about the hardware used in the Elephone.
Display
The 5.99″ AMOLED full HD + display look really nice and has some rich colors. It is a curved display with Gorilla Glass 5, which makes it durable. Luckily the software is capable of remove the navigation button at the bottom, which gives you an ever bigger display to work with. The display is almost 6″ but it does not feel like that. Due to the minimal bezel of the Elephone U Pro, you get more display for the same size. This makes it easy to handle and a realy pleasure to look at. It is the same size of the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 but the display is remarkable bigger.
Want to buy the Elephone U Pro? Click Here!
In the settings you can set up the curved display feature of an extra menu. You swipe from the curved display to the center and it will open shortcuts or apps that you can add to the menu. Super easy and handy to switch apps real quick, which is possible due to the great Snapdragon processor inside.
You can activate it via the follow methode:
Software
The Elephone U Pro runs on Stock Android 8.0, which is pretty impressive considering that the flagship of Samsung is running on Android 8.0 as well. Most other Android brand run on Android 7.1.1 but Elephone is not doing the same. They are showing that they really want to make a good phone brand and are not cutting down the costs. This is a really good point for Elephone.
Stock Android
There is a light skin over Android 8.0 which does not make it really stock android, but it do feel like it. For example the navigation keys at the bottom of the screen are modified. The home button looks like the home button on the iPhone X and it perform the same action if you swipe up. You will get the App Tray. It works really well and I like the way it works.
You can also hide the navigation buttons. This means that instead of the buttons taking space of the display, you have to swipe up in the left corner, the middle of the right corner to activate the button. Default settings are: left corner is back, middle is home and right corner is the app tray. By hiding the navigation bar, you will make your screen bigger and profit even more from the 5.99″ display.
Audio
The speakers of the Elephone U Pro produce a lot of sound. They can go pretty loud and are able to give some nice and smooth music, however the bass is not good at all. Now I don’t use the speaker of my smartphone to listen to music, I use the KZ ZS6 for that. There are only a few occasions when I would use the speaker of the Elephone. For example when I need to make a phone call and I need both my hand to be free, I want to show a movie to some friends or in a game where sound is really important. For those scenario’s, the Elephone U Pro is perfectly capable of delivering sound that is pleasant to listen to.
Features
A smartphone now a days is capable of doing so much more then the first generation of smartphones. The Elephone U pro comes with a lot of features and I must say they all work really wel. Here are some examples of the feature of the Elephone.
Face ID
You can unlock the Elephone U Pro with the fingerprint, a patern or pincode or with your face. Now the last option is something that we see more often and it will replace the fingerprint on some phones, Luckily Elephone build in both options with the Elephone U Pro. I works, but I thought it would work better. For example my Xiaomi Mi Note 3 unlocks faster. Sometimes with the Elephone U Pro I have to use the fingerprint scanner because the face ID is not accepting my face. When it does recognize it, it unlocks super fast.
You can set it up via the following steps:
Fingerprint Scanner
All smartphones we see now have a fingerprint scanner. Either on front or on the back of the device and the Elephone U Pro belongs to the last category. A fingerprint scanner at the back is something you have to get used to, but after a couple of times you won’t notice the difference anymore. Specailly if it work like it should and that is the case with the Elephone U Pro. It works almost at an instance and it unlocked without an issue.
Fast Charging
If you need to power up your Elephone U Pro, you can do that really quick. With the fast charging technology you are able to charge it completely in 1.5 hours. That is super fast considering the 3550 mAh battery that is inside. Just before you leave to go home and you want some extra power? Just plug it in and enjoy the fast charging option.
Wireless Charging
We see this more often in smartphones now and I like the feature a lot. With the glass back of the smartphones, you can easiliy charge it without wires. That not only makes it super easy to charge but also super handy to do it everytime you sit behind your desk. Just buy a wireless charger and you are good to go! Super easy and I hope they will develop this feature more in the future.
Want to buy the Elephone U Pro? Click Here!
Performance
This is a high-end smartphone with the Snapdragon 660 in it and 6GB of RAM. I expect it to feel premium and give me some real working speed. This is a smartphone that comes with a price tag, but I can tell you already that it is worth your money. It feels like one of the top flagship smartphones. Let’s have a look at some of the score I got when running the Benchmarks.
AnTuTu Test
The Elephone U Pro scored an amazing 139.758 points! They beat the 73% of the AnTuTu users, which is pretty impressive seen the price of this smartphone.
Geekbench 4
With GeekBench the Elephone U Pro score 5836 points, which is a good score from GeekBench. It scores more then double the score of Samsung Galaxy S7.
On the CPU GeekBench test it score quite high as well. Specially on Multi-Core test. Again it scores better then the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
PC Mark
With the PC Mark benchmark we get a score of 6113. Seen the price of this device I must say I like the scores. It does not only look premium, but gives you some good speed as well.
Daily Usage
This is a premium phone. Period. It looks really good and it performs really well. The screen has amazing colors, the design is superb with the curved display and the hardware performed really well. It is super fast, it never froze on me, never had a software big or something.
If you are looking for an smartphone that will last and give you great power, the Elephone U Pro is something to check out!
Camera
Elephone really worked on the camera and it takes some amazing photos. There are a lot of filters that you can use and they work pretty good as well. I’ve added some of the photo’s on the next section to see what you can do with the camera’s filters.
Filters
There are numours filters available on the Elephone U Pro, which is a nice extra feature. The camera itself is pretty good and with the filter you can shoot Instagram ready photo’s without editing them on Instagram itself. Here are some examples:
Rear Camera
The 13MP rear camera makes some really clear and sharp photo’s. Even if you focus on an object or person close to the camera, the backgroudnstay sharp and focussed as well. I don’t have that great experience with camera’s on China Phones, but the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus and now the Elephone U Pro supprised me in a good way. Here is are some examples:
Front Camera
Being able to take a good selfie is almost as import now as having a good rear camera. Luckily the Elephone U Pro is able to provide decent quality selfies if you ask me. The Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus blew me away with the quality of the selfies, now let’s hve a look at some selfies taken with the Elephone U Pro:
Video Quality
Like I said, the camera is performing really well. Not only photo’s come out really good, but the video’s taken are also rich of colors and are super sharp. I tried capturing different video’s, here are some examples:
Battery
There is a 3550 mAh battery inside, which should be enough to last a day. Luckily the Elephone U Pro is able to give you a day of battery life. Being able to use your smartphone for at least a day, is the bare minimum for me. The Elephone U Pro is able to get me more then the bare minimum, which is a very good thing. This does not apply if you play games or it or have the screen on all the time.
The PC Mark test of the battery gave a score of 5 hours. Which is way less then for example the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus. If we just look at the score, the Elephone U Pro is not enough. Luckily the test results does not always give an accurate reading. I’m able to use the Elephone U Pro for a good day, but sometimes I have to charge it before the end of the day. If I played some games in the meantime or watched some YouTube, you see the battery drop faster.
Want to buy the Elephone U Pro? Click Here!
Daily Tasks
Using the Elephone U Pro for WhatsApp, Instragram of E-Mail is totally fine. Due to the great hardware you are completely fine doing so. The battery will last you a day, if not used heavily. When you play a game or watch a video online, you might not make it to the end of the day. If you want a long battery, this might not be the smartphone for you. Performance wise this is a great phone with great specifications and features.
Conclusion
I’m in love with the Elephone U Pro. This smartphone feels like I’m holding a Samsung smartphone, but for half the price. We have a big, curved display, a premium processor and 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. In daily usage this phone feels super good and I never had a software bug, a freeze or a restart. Elephone made this premium smartphone to last and they acomplished the task really well.
The battery last for a day, the software feels good and is based on Stock Android 8.0.0, there are no software bugs and the display is big and curvy. What else do we want? Maybe the fingerprint scanner in the display? Maybe we see that on the Elephone U Pro 2. For now, this is, without a doubt, one of the best China phones you can get now.
Ulefone U Pro
€390
Pros
- Hardware/Design
- Price/Quality
- Performance
- Display
- Stock Android
Cons
- Battery Life
- Face ID
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