This year itself, Panasonic launched its Eluga Arc handset for Rs 12,490. Although its specifications are those of an entry-level smartphone, the company has tried to give something new to the user in terms of security by providing a fingerprint sensor. It also looks good. Let us tell you about it Panasonic Eluga Arc Let us tell you about it in detail through this review.
Look and design
The most important feature of Eluga Arc is the design which we liked. The front glass is slightly curved at the edges. This gives the phone a stylish look to a great extent. The phone is not metal built, but its plastic unibody gave us the feel of metal. To put it simply, it is a great looking smartphone from every angle.
The size of the phone also works in its favour. The screen of Eluga Arc is 4.7 inches. Due to this, the phone is easy to hold and grip in hands. The power and volume buttons are on the top right. The micro-USB port is present at the bottom. The SIM tray is on the left side. And the IR emitter and 3.5mm socket are on the top.
There is a speaker at the back of the phone. Apart from this, the camera, flash and fingerprint sensor are also placed on the rear. The phone is always active when switched on. As a result, you can unlock the phone directly from standby mode. The fingerprint sensor can store five fingerprints at a time. It is very easy to use. It was very accurate and worked almost every time, but it is not very fast. You will notice that it takes a little time to place your finger on the fingerprint sensor and unlock the phone.
The screen of Panasonic Eluga Arc is an IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 720×1280 pixels. It is neither too bright nor too sharp. The color tone is a bit odd. If you are going to use your phone for gaming and videos then Eluga Arc is not the best option for you.
Specifications and software
Although its price is close to Rs 11,000, but the specifications of Panasonic Eluga Arc are generally available in even cheaper phones. It uses a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset, which is two years old. But it is known for low battery consumption. It also has 2 GB of RAM. The inbuilt storage is 16 GB (microSD card support up to 32 GB) and it is equipped with a 1800 mAh battery.
The primary SIM slot of this dual SIM phone supports 4G. It has Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, USB OTG and FM radio connectivity features. You will also get a 5 watt charger in the box of the handset. This is not a capable charger by any means.
The phone runs on Android 5.1 with a custom interface on top. You will have the standard Lollipop launcher and Fit Home to use. We liked the Lollipop launcher because we are used to using it. This does not mean that Panasonic’s own Fit Home interface is bad. The company has kept it very simple. The settings are very basic, meaning you will not be able to get much control over your phone.
Swiftkey or Android keyboard has been used in Panasonic Eluga Arc. Apart from this, WPS Office is present for reading and editing documents. There are many useless apps present on the phone, the good thing is that you will be able to remove most of them. Only 11 GB of internal storage will be available for use. In such a situation, you will need a microSD card. It should be known that the phone comes with a hybrid SIM slot, that is, if you increase the storage, you will not be able to use a second SIM card.
Camera
Panasonic Eluga Arc has an 8-megapixel primary and 5-megapixel front camera. Users will be able to record videos of 1080 pixel resolution with both the cameras. You get flash with the rear camera. Let us tell you that panorama and slow-motion video modes are not provided in the phone’s default camera app. You will be able to use it for regular photos and videos. There is a pro mode which gives you more control over the pictures. We tried using third party camera apps, but the phone app either does not allow access to the camera, or it crashes repeatedly.
The camera takes average quality photos in daylight. The colors are dull and there is a lack of detail. The photos are grainy and cannot be called anything but satisfactory. Even in good indoor lighting, there is no detail in the photos. The photos appear out of focus. Noise and grain are more visible at this level.
It is better not to say anything about the photos taken in low light. According to us, this was the worst output ever in this price range. The same can be said about the video output. The output of this phone is nowhere near the output of other smartphones in the range of Rs 10,000.
Performance
The Panasonic Eluga Arc was the biggest disappointment when it came to performance. During our time with the phone, it crashed repeatedly even during simple and less demanding tasks. We can’t say with certainty that this issue is specific to our review unit.
The phone runs very slow when it is not crashing. Unlocking the phone, using the interface, running apps and browsing the internet, everything is slow. Based on the benchmark test results, we can say that almost all the smartphones in this price range were better than this Panasonic handset.
Call quality is satisfactory. The sound from the rear speaker is a little weak. The phone supports 4G networks and is well connected to 4G networks. The battery of Eluga Arc lasted 8 hours and 9 minutes in our video loop test. In normal use, it barely lasted a full day.
Our verdict
Panasonic Eluga Arc looks good and has a good build quality. Its size will attract many users. We cannot say more than this in praise of the phone. It is an average device in every department – screen, performance, software, battery life and camera. We cannot recommend this phone to you at this price because there are better options available.
The biggest problem is that the phone is not reliable. It used to crash frequently while performing even small tasks. You can get this phone at a lower price than this Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 ,Review) which is a much better device.