Elephone P9000 Lite 5.5" smartphone

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent budget smartphone

I was sent this phone for review and at this price I'm very impressed indeed. It has very good build quality and excellent specifications for the price.

When reading this review, please bear in mind that I am in late middle age and that my use may not be the same as many people's. I don't game or tweet, for example; I use the phone for calls and texts, music, checking email, some catch-up TV, occasional photos and occasional web browsing. I don't use data. All this means that I cannot advise on lots of technical specification and so on, but my personal take on the Elephone P9000 Lite is this:

I think the phone itself is attractive: it's stylish, slim and pretty light (about 140g), and it feels very nice in the hand.  It has a robust metal frame and a slightly rough-textured black plastic back.  This felt slightly odd to begin with, but I actually like the feel in my hand now.

The rest of the package is pretty basic: an EU-model wall charger, a C-type USB cable for charging and data transfer, a basic clear silicone protective case, a little pin for access to the card-tray and a pretty useless Quick-Start Guide.  The guide is pretty well my only gripe with this phone: it tells you nothing about the P9000 Lite itself, and I can't find an on-line manual either.  It took some determined googling to find out how to use it properly and I'm still not sure I've found everything.

Manual aside, it's a terrific phone,  think.  The specs are excellent at under a hundred and sixty quid (I have listed them below on this page) – including Android 6.0.  The 5.5" screen is excellent: bright, true colours, extremely tolerant of viewing angle, sharp definition and just a pleasure to use.  Battery life is very good with my modest usage – a couple of days at least.

Note that the P9000 Lite doesn't have fingerprint security.  This is fine by me, because I find fingerprint security an unreliable pain in the…er…neck and I always use PIN unlocking, but you may like to be aware.

Set-up was very easy. This is a dual-SIM phone (which allows either two SIM cards or a SIM card and a memory card to be installed).  Simple installation, and instant connection.  You will need to check whether the 4G band (FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B7/B8/B20 TDD-LTE: B38/B40) is supported on your network.  On Vodaphone I only seem to get 3G (not a problem for me as I don't use data) so make sure before you buy.

It's decently provided but not overloaded with pre-installed apps.  They include Google Play and new apps install very quickly and simply. In use, everything I want works very well. Wi-fi connection was very straightforward as was syncing with my account. Video plays and streams perfectly and the 4GB memory means that you can run several apps with no loss of performance.  The sound isn't bad for a smartphone (which isn't saying much, I know) and through headphones or an external speaker - both wired and via Bluetooth 4.0 - the sound is excellent. There's no NFC, but normal Bluetooth pairing is very quick and simple, and stable up to a decent range. The rear camera has a very good 13Mp resolution and the front camera has a pretty impressive 5Mp. I have found both to be fine, and other functions also seem very good.

I think this is a cracking phone, and excellent value at this price.  It does everything I want very well, it is simple to use, it seems robust and it looks good.  I am very happy with mine and I've now made it my main phone.  I can recommend it very warmly.

Amazon page HERE

Basic Information
Model: Elephone P9000 Lite
Band
4G: FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B7/B8/B20 TDD-LTE: B38/B40
3G: WCDMA: B1/B2/B5/B8
2G: GSM: B2/B3/B5/B8
Sim Card: Dual SIM card, Dual standby
Service Provided: Unlocked
Style: Bar
Color: Black, White (Optional)
Material: Plastic
Battery: 3000mAh (built-in)

System
OS: Android 6.0
CPU: MTK6755 Octa Core
ROM: 32GB
RAM : 4GB

Screen
Display Size: 5.5 Inch
Type: Capacitive touch screen
Resolution: 1080 * 1920px
Screen: OGS

Other Features
Format Supported: MIDI,MP3,AAC,AMR,AWB,WAV,FLAC/3GPP,MPEG-4,H.264.WMV9,VP9
Sensor: G-sensor, P-sensor, L-sensor, Hall
Shooting video quality: 1080p

General
Camera: 5MP front camera, 13MP back camera
Card Extend: 128GB
Smart key: Yes
OTG: Yes
GPS: GPS/Glonass
WiFi: Yes
Bluetooth: 4.0

Other Information
Product Size: Approx. 14.84 * 7.42 * 0.73cm / 5.8 * 2.9 * 0.3in
Product Weight: Approx. 139g / 4.9oz (Including Battery)
Package Size: Approx. 18 * 10 * 5cm / 7.1 * 3.9 * 1.97in
Package Weight: Approx. 400g / 14.1oz