Panasonic Eluga U first look: Decent specs, but may not woo users

Every time you see an ad for a Panasonic smartphone in India, you might mistakenly think that it’s some high-end luxury product, given the number of white, blonde and good-looking people that tend to dominate the ad. However despite the foreign touch to the ads, Panasonic is taking India very seriously when it comes to smartphones, according to the company’s executives during the launch of their new flagship in India, the Eluga U.

And what does Eluga mean? Well according to Panasonic, it stands for a rather complicated ‘Elegant User Interface Gateway.’ The price of the smartphone is Rs 18,990, much lower than the P51 (the first smartphone launched by Panasonic in India) which was launched for Rs 26,990 in 2013. 

The custom UI of the Eluga U

During the launch event Panasonic’s executives were keen to highlight that India as a smartphone market now matters to them. The company didn’t release any numbers on how its smartphones have done in India, but according to Panasonic’s India Managing Director, Manish Sharma, the country is now a separate region for the company, and it’s also the second headquarters for the company after Japan. India is the HQ for Panasonic’s global smartphone business, but manufacturing is not yet moving here.

So what’s new in Panasonic’s Eluga U? Sadly not much, which is a shame since it is a good looking device.

A 5-inch 720p display that trails the competition

The smartphone has a 5-inch HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a 13 megapixel camera with flash, a 2 megapixel front camera, a Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz quad-core processor along with 2GB RAM. It comes with 16GB of internal storage with a microSD card for expansion up to 32GB. In terms of battery life, its a 2500 mAh Li-ion unit but you can’t remove the battery.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS/ A-GPS. The smartphone is a dual-SIM one. It runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat out-of-the-box, although Panasonic has introduced its own UI called the FitHome UI. The Panasonic interface lets users access all installed apps on the homescreen itself. The apps are arranged in a little semi-circle grid and you can swipe down left and right to see all the apps. To be honest, some parts of the UI have a very Android Gingerbread feel, especially when it comes to the radio buttons or menu items in the homescreen editing menu.

Interestingly the phone lets users switch to the default KitKat UI if you don’t like the customised interface. Overall, it doesn’t look so drastically different from a stock Android smartphone, though. If you like your smartphone to look more like ‘pure’ Android device, then this isn’t a bad option, but the specs disappoint.

Nothing special

The problem is that there is nothing terribly exciting about this smartphone. Yes, its got a full-glass finish unibody and the back has a textured pattern to it, but the black and white look of the smartphone is nothing new. It doesn’t feel tacky, but there’s nothing exciting about it.

With competitors like Xiaomi Mi 3 entering the market and offering devices at the Rs 14,000 price point and a full HD screen in comparison to Panasonic Eluga U’s HD screen, users aren’t short of cheaper options with better specs. Plus if you want a more distinctive UI, Xiaomi’s MIUI is a different take on Android.

The 13-megapixel camera and a 2-megapixel shooter on the front are also pretty standard features now. Latest Chinese entrant Xiaomi has the same set-up, while the upcoming smartphone OnePlus One, which will hit India soon, also boasts a 13MP sensor on the back.

The list of competitors entering the market with new and exciting features is long and endless. Which is why Eluga U fails to shine. Maybe in 2013, Eluga U would have been an exciting smartphone at this price point but in 2014 when sub-$100 smartphones and Chinese brands raging strong, this is an average device that is not big on specs, and has the wrong price tag.