Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro review: A decent package, but can it compete with rivals?

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro price in India: Rs 27,480 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage model

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro: What’s good?

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro features a glass-encased body with chamfered edges. The flagship phone from Panasonic is one the first to offer a stainless steel frame in this price range. The design looks premium and the smooth curved edge and tapered back do offer a better grip on the phone.

The front panel is layered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for added protection against smudge and scratches. The display has a large cutout on top that houses the front-facing camera and other sensors. The volume keys and power button sit at the right side of the phone while the microSD/SIM tray is placed on the left side.

At the bottom, you will find the speaker grille and USB Type-C port. The Eluga X1 Pro does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack, however, Panasonic has bundled a USB Type-C adapter to enable users to connect their headphones.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro features a 13MP+5MP dual rear camera

The new Eluga X1 Pro sports a 6.18-inch full HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a notch on top. The display has a resolution of 2246 x 1080 pixels and pixel density of 403ppi. The screen on the Eluga X1 Pro is quite bright and the colours are pretty vibrant.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro sports a minimal bezel notch-style display.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro is powered by MediaTek’s Helio P60 octa-core processor, the same chipset found on the budget smartphones Nokia 5.1 Plus and Realme 1. The SoC is paired Mali-G72 MP3 for graphics rendition.

Coming to the Eluga X1 Pro’s performance, the phone manages to handle most apps and graphic-intensive games. While running Asphalt 9: Legends, Alto’s Odyssey and Mini Militia for around 30 minutes each we did face any stutter or lag and graphics rendition was smooth.

We did not have issues with multitasking as well. In the benchmark tests, Eluga X1 Pro scored 1,36,591 points on AnTuTu. The phone earned 1501 and 5761 points respectively in Geekbench single-core and multi-core test.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro benchmark tests

On the software front, the new Panasonic phone ships with Android Oreo OS. Thankfully, the phone does not a lot of bloatware. The Eluga X1 Pro provides a bunch of features, for instance, tweaking the navigation buttons layout, adjust the colour temperature of the display (Settings> Display> LCD effect).

It has a Suspended option which is similar to Xiaomi’s Quick Ball feature. The option allows you to have quick access to Home layout, one-handed mode, lock screen etc. The phone offers a few smart gestures.

The UI of the Eluga X1 Pro is quite simple and you get an app drawer as well. Panasonic has added its custom AI assistant Arbo that you can access via the Arbo Hub app. The app has integration with online payment and rides services like MobiKwik, Ola, Uber etc.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro a bunch of features like Facemoji. Suspended option, gestures etc

Talking about the imaging sensors, the Eluga X1 Pro houses dual cameras at the back comprising of a 13MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary camera for depth effect. The dual cameras on the phone yield decent coloured photos under bright light.

The colours pop out nice and bright and the image processing is quite fast as well. While capturing macro shots, the camera software tends to add a fine bokeh effect in the background. The cameras lock focus accurately in good lighting condition and the HDR mode switches automatically while taking pictures in bright light. Even while trying out some indoor shots, the camera managed to handle colours well.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro managed to handle Apshalt 9: Legends

The Eluga X1 Pro comes with face unlock support. During our usage, we found the feature to be quite responsive even under dimly-lit condition. The front 16MP selfie camera renders decent portrait and good detail images under bright light. The Eluga X1 Pro carries a 3000mAh battery that provides nearly a day’s worth of backup with moderate usage. The phone comes with wireless charging support as well.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro review: Camera samples

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro bright light sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro outdoor sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro portrait camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro indoor camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro indoor camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro indoor camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro indoor camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro low-light camera sample (Image resized for web) Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro night camera sample (Image resized for web)

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro: What’s not good?

While the new Panasonic flagship phone has a few good aspects underneath its glass hood, the handset carries a few cons as well. The foremost being the display that gets reflective while viewing it from certain angles.

Moreover, the screen tends to stick to the cooler tone. Even while switching it to warm tone we observed blue tint on the display. The icons on the phone appear a tad old than ones we have seen on other mid-range smartphones.

The cameras fail to render good images in low-lighting condition. The native camera offers Backlight mode that tends to brighten a shot under low-light, however, the end result appears to be washed off.

While capturing landscape shots we observed the cameras losing out on detail and a fair amount of noise in low light photos. The Eluga X1 Pro struggles to deliver decent videos as well. The phone lacks EIS (electronic image stabilisation) and the footage rather turns out to be shaky even with slight moves.

The stock camera app offers a somewhat blatant copy of Apple’s Animoji feature, the Facemoji. The feature offers a bunch of characters, for instance, a fox, a T-Rex, a robot etc, however, the Facemoji could not capture expression accurately in most scenarios.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro’s display is reflective on certain angles

We faced heating issues as well near the camera module while playing games for extended hours. Further, the battery performance in our review unit was a bit inconsistent. Even while keeping the phone idle for about two hours we observed battery draining out to nearly 10 per cent.

Panasonic Eluga X1 Pro review: Verdict

The flagship Eluga X1 Pro offers a few decent features for its price. It comes with a good build quality. The stainless frame provides good sternness and the glass body does give a premium feel. The phone supports wireless charging which is hard to find in this price bracket. The UI on the phone is quite intuitive as well.

However, the Eluga X1 Pro becomes a hefty proposition if one compares its specifications for the price. The phone has a mid-range Helio P60 SoC which is found on the budget phones as well. With options like Xiaomi Poco F1, in the market, the Panasonic phone has a tough time standing out.