Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega has been launched in India with a price tag of Rs 11,490 and the Japanese smartphone maker is playing it aggressive to compete in a market dominated by Chinese players. After launching the Eluga Ray X and Eluga Ray Max smartphones powered by Artificial Intelligence Arbo in the mid-range category, the company is back with another offering Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega which will be available in Champagne Gold, and Silver color options at Panasonic authorized retailers.
The highlights of the Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega are the 4000mAh battery with quick charge support and a uni-metal body that brings premiumness to the smartphone. Apart from that, it comes with modest specifications but a price tag worth giving it a chance for our test of time. Before that, we would like to mention that the Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega comes with bigger battery, an updated OS and more memory when compared to its predecessor but will it be enough to walk, or even crawl on the success path of this competitive segment? Let’s see!!
Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega Specifications
- 5.5-inch (1280×720) HD IPS display with 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass protection
- 1.3 GHz Quad-Core MediaTek MTK6735 processor coupled with Mali-T720MP2 GPU
- 3GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via microSD
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Android-For-Work Security
- 13MP rear camera with PDAF, pixel size of 1.12 µm, 80-degree wide angle and LED Flash
- 5MP front camera for selfies and video calling
- 4000mAh battery with quick charge support
- Dual SIM, 4G with VoLTE, WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, GPS, FM radio, a Micro-USB port, G-Sensor, Accelerometer, Proximity & Light Sensor.
- Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega weighs 180 grams and measures 154.6 x 77 x 9.4mm.
While there is nothing exceptional about Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega, what makes matters worse for the smartphone is the fact that it doesn’t feature a fingerprint scanner, Android 7.0 Navigate and nor 32GB of internal memory, the specifications that are said benchmarks in this segment.
Moreover, gone are the days when people bought smartphones just because the battery backup and one thing Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega could have done was the addition of Snapdragon processor for a better experience.
As of now, Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega is definitely not the best smartphone in this category as competitors like Lenovo A6 Power, Xiaomi Redmi 4A, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 offer a better package including a nice camera and a vibrant display. It feels like Panasonic Eluga I3 Mega has been launched just to fill a void in the mid-budget category. I mean, nobody can even think of buying a smartphone that doesn’t even has a freaking fingerprint scanner.
If this the best from Panasonic than the Japanese company is competing in the wrong era of smartphones.