Low-end Panasonic Eluga I5 smartphone hits India

In Western countries, it is often easier to find a custom gold-plated flagship than a Panasonic smartphone, but India is a market where this iconic Japanese brand seems to be doing all right. The new Eluga I5 handset comes out of the blue since it took Panasonic about a year to move from the Eluga I3 to its successor, and now this handset gets unveiled less than two months since the Eluga I4.

The Eluga I5 has a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 processor onboard, and it comes with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage just like the more expensive Eluga I4. While the Eluga I5 also has a microSD slot, it looks like the main camera has been pushed up to 13 MP (the Eluga I4 has an 8 MP camera on the back). 

One of the most obvious design changes is the fact that Panasonic decided to place the fingerprint reader on the back of the Eluga I5, also removing the home button. The Eluga I4 has the fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button. The connectivity features remain the same - 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB 2.0 OTG.

The battery of the Eluga I5 has only 2,500 mAh, while the Eluga I4 has a 3,000 mAh power pack. Since both handsets have a 5-inch HD display, we can only conclude that the Eluga I5 comes with a shorter battery life. At last, we should also mention that the Panasonic Eluga I5 runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

Those interested can already acquire the Panasonic Eluga I5 from Flipkart in black or gold for INR₹6,499 (about US$100). However, this is a temporary deal as the Eluga I5 has a regular price of INR₹8,990, which is slightly more than the INR₹8,290 required to purchase the Eluga I4.