ocaholic - Accessories > Elephone Explorer 4K Review

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Preview

Page 2 - Preview

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Specifications

Model	Elephone Explorer Camera 4K
Image sensor	OV4689 16.0MP HD image Sensor
Processor	Allwinner V3 chipset
Angle lens	170°
Display	TFT LCD（960*240), 2-inch
Video Resolution	4K(38402160)15fps, 2.7K(26881520)30fps, 1080P(1920 x 1080)60fps/30fps,720P(1280*720) 120fps/60fps/30fps
Image Resolution	16M / 14M / 12M / 10M / 8M / 5M
Micro-SD	Micro SDHC (up to 64GB)
Input Interface	Mini USB
Output Interface	Mini HDMI , Mini USB
WiFi	Yes
Bluetooth	No
GPS	No
Battery	1050 mAh
Diemensions	59 x 41 x 25 mm
Weight	65 g
Bundle	Elephone Explorer 4K USB cable Accessory
Price	89.99 US-Dollar

Page 3 - Specifications

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Closer Look

The Explorer 4K is the latest action cam from Elephone. The small camera features an entry-level price and makes these products available to basically anybody. Like other Asian brands, also Elephone appears to be interested in the market for action cams. The Explorer 4K uses the classic and well-proven "brick" design, which has been combined with a rubber surface and high quality plastic. The action cam uses a 16.0MP OV4689 HD sensor paired with a low consumption Allwinner V3 processor. The Explorer is capable of recording 4K footage although in this case only 15 frames per second are achieved. Other than that 1080p @ 60 and 2.7K @ 30 are supported. All viedoes are encoded using the H.264 algorithm. Regarding connectivity, there is a mini-USB port, a mini-HDMI port and WiFi. Unlike other models, this camera is also equipped with a small 2 inch TFT display with 960 x 240 pixel resolution.

Inside the package there are a few interesting goodies providing you with a lot of flexibility.

Software

Although there is a useful display, Elephone also offers WiFi connectivity allowing to remote control the action cam via your smartphone or tablet. The application is free and available for Android and iOS. Once the WiFi on the action cam is activated, the pairing with your smartphone is as simple as it gets and you'll receive a live image feed from the camera. With the application it is not only possible view the live image, but also to change all settings and shooting modes.

Battery life

The battery is probably one of the best parts of this device since Elephone ships a removable 1050mAh battery pack. It makes the devices run for almost 2 hours recording in 1080p @ 60 fps. Unfortunately it takes the 1A charger rather long to recharge the battery. We actaully measured 2 hours.

Page 4 - Closer Look

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Camera

As we already mentioned the Elephone Explorer 4K comes with a OV4689 HD 16-megapixel sensor, which is capable of recording videos with up to 4K resolution. This sensor is also being used on other action cams. Nevertheless we want to underline that the sensor also doesn't make for great image/video quality. With the resolution set at 4K resolution the framerate is limited to 15 fps and only in FullHD you can get smooth video footage at 60 fps. Despite the fact that there is a 16MP sensor, this particular action cam is not meant for taking picures.

In our opinion color reproduction in videos is on a good level with a good and an overall quick compensation for huge differences in brightness (stepping into broad daylight for example). The image quality however is not on the same, good level. Taking shots indoors we see a lot of noise and outside colors are not as vivid as they should be and the contrast ratio is way too high. Apart from that the audio could also be improved, since it sounds very distorted and far from reality.

Below you can find footage shot from within a Lotus Exige Cup 300 with the action cam attached using a suction cup. In order to show you the best possible result we did not put the Explorer 4K into the waterproof casing. This way you hear exactly what the audio is like.

Page 5 - Camera

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Video sample

720p @ 120fps

1080p @ 60fps

2.7K @ 30fps

4K @ 15fps

Page 6 - Video sample

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Conclusion

Overall we believe that Elephone Explorer 4K is a good product if you want to don't plan on spending a lot of money on an action cam. This cam offers good connectivity and with the handy display it's extremely easy to capture movies without having to first connect the camera to a smartphone or a tablet. The video quality is pretty good, however, we recommend to shoot videos at 1080p @ 60fps, which will allow for perfectly smooth scenes. We appreciate that 4K is possible but 15fps is simply not enough to shoot useful videos. Apart from that we would really like to see the audio recordings improved.

The price of the Elephone Explorer 4K is about 90 US-Dollar on Pandawill and the camera is available in quite a few different colors. For this kind of money you get a very reasonable action cam and we really like that the there is an extensive bundle. The Elephone Explorer 4K receives 4 stars out of 5.