Few weeks back, we received the Swipe Elite Plus, the latest smartphone from Pune based Swipe Telecom & the journey of it’s usage has been great so far. The review is based on the useage of the phone [as Primary Device] for more than three weeks. Today we have a detailed review of the Swipe Elite Plus, so let’s get started…
Swipe Elite Plus : Overview
Swipe Elite Plus is a Android [5.1] Lollipop based smart-phone that runs on the Freedom OS [tweaked version of Android]. Freedom OS offers an extremely personalized experience. The device sports a 5 inches Full HD IPS Capacitive Touchscreen with pixel resolution of 1920*1080.
Swipe Elite Plus : What’s in the Box
The box consists of the following items:
- Handset
- USB Charging cable
- Travel Adapter
- Quick Start-Guide
There are no headphones included in the box !!
Swipe Elite Plus : Specifications
- Display : 5 inch Full HD [1920*1080] IPS Capacitive Touchscreen
- OS : Android 5.1 Lollipop with Freedom OS
- CPU : 1.5 GHz QC Snapdragon MSM8939 Octa-core Processor
- GPU : Adreno 405
- Storage : 16 GB internal memory [Expandable upto 64 GB]
- Cameras : 13 MP Rear Camera with LED flash + 8 MP Front Camera
- Connectivity : Wi-Fi, Dual SIM (LTE & GSM), GPS, Bluetooth 4.0
- USB : No USB OTG Support
- Battery : 3,050 mAh
- Dimensions [W*H*D] : 69.6*139.8*8.9 mm
- Weight : 131 grams
The Swipe Elite Plus is available exclusively on Flipkart and the 16 GB version costs Rs 6,999 [Without Exchange] and Rs 5500 [With Exchange].
Swipe Elite Plus : Design
The Swipe Elite Plus is sleek and has a light body. The phone weighs around 131 grams which makes it very light in your hands. Since the device sports a 5 inch display hence, it can easily fit in your pocket. The back of the smartphone is made up of plastic and the center sports the Elite branding in a metallic like circular frame. Though the back cover is removable, the battery is non-removable. The device has a metal frame around it in grey kind of gunmetal colour.
The phone supports Dual SIM, only one SIM slot supports 4G. The device has 16 GB internal memory that is expandable upto 64 GB via a micro-SD card. The Back & Menu button are Back-lit whereas the Home button has a Sliver ring around it. Overall from the design point of view, the phone looks elegant [even though there is an era of Metal Body phones] as Swipe Elite Plus is light weight and comfortable in your hands.
Swipe Elite Plus : Memory
As discussed earlier, the device comes with a 2 GB RAM and 16 GB ROM. Swipe Elite Plus comes with a micro-SD card slot and the maximum expandable memory is 64 GB. The Freedom OS looks very breezy and there was no lag observed while using the phone. By default, the phone comes with Swipe Elite Plus’s proprietary launcher called the ‘Swipe Launcher’. The launcher is very similar to the Nova Launcher or the Google Launcher and hence there is no learning curve involved in getting used to the features of the Launcher.
There is some bloatware in the phone with Pre-installed apps like DailyHunt, Swipe Elite PlusBox [Swipe Elite Plus’s Own version of store to download apps]. As seen in the Swipe Elite Note review, this phone also comes with Swipe Elite Plus Finder which searches for content on the phone as well the internet.
At times, we observed some apps getting automatically installed on the phone or some random advertisements opening in the Browser as soon as the phone is unlocked. Looks like this is due to a service com.sts that is part of the ROM, hence it is advisable to kill it as soon as you power up the phone !!!
Swipe Elite Plus : Display
Swipe Elite Plus sports a 5 inch Full HD [1920*1080] with IPS Capacitive Touchscreen. Dragon trail glass on the display ensures that there are no scratches, we used the phone without any screen guard under tough conditions but there was no wear & tear of the display. The display has amazing clarity, great picture quality [both indoors and outdoors] and viewing angles.
We enjoyed watching 4K & HD videos on this device since the experience becomes better due to the amazing display of Swipe Elite Plus. Touch Screen is very responsive and we did not face any lags during normal operations of the phone.
Swipe Elite Plus : Camera
Elite Plus has a 13 MP f/2.0 rear camera and 8 MP front camera. On the outset, there are lot of improvements in the Camera when compared to the Swipe Elite Note. There are different camera shooting modes namely Auto, Panaroma, Manual etc. Auto Focus on the phone is pretty quick. Photos captured in the HDR Mode come out really well. There is also a QR code scanner in the camera app. Photos clicked in daylight are of good quality though the quality deteriorates a bit in low-light conditions.
The 8 MP front camera is a treat for all the ‘Selfie lovers’. Photos clicked using the front camera are of awesome clarity. Overall, we are thoroughly impressed with the improvements on the Camera front on Swipe Elite Plus, definitely a big Thumbs Up !!!
Some of the sample images are below:
Swipe Elite Plus : Battery
Swipe Elite Plus is packed with massive 3,050 mAh battery unit which is great for a 5 inch smartphone. The phone lasted for around 16~17 hours on moderate useage [with 3G ON] and minimal amount of gaming. Due to the Adreno 405 GPU, even 3D gaming was a delight on the phone. The device did get over-heated at times when it was continuously used for a huge amount of time especially with GPU intensive apps like 3D games.
Major downside is that the device does not support ‘Quick Charge’ [though there are very few devices in this price segment that support Fast Charging]. Charger that comes along with the phone only has output capacity of 1A and hence takes more than 2 hours for full-charge.
Swipe Elite Plus : Software
The Swipe Elite Plus runs on the Freedom OS [customized version of Android] though there are traces of stock Android. The launcher used on the device is the Swipe Elite Plus Launcher which used to show some lags when there are apps running in the background. Talking about the Freedom OS, it comes with lot of customizations. You can add your picture on the App Drawer Icon, change text colors, background colors etc.
Having reviewed the Swipe Elite Note, we definitely see that Swipe has again done considerable amount of work on the Freedom OS and made it much more snappy. We liked the default Icon Pack as well, Icons look nice and crispy.
There are handful number of pre-installed apps on the phone – DailyHunt, Swipe Elite PlusBox, Swipe Elite Plus Finder etc. As mentioned earlier, Swipe Elite Plus Finder searches for content on the phone as well on the internet. We saw considerable amount of lag when Swipe Elite Plus Finder was running in the background and once that app is killed, there was good improvement in the device performance.
Swipe Elite Plus : Connectivity
The Swipe Elite Plus comes with Dual-SIM [One SIM with 4G LTE support, other SIM with 3G support]. It has WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. The USB port on the device is not OTG compliant which was bit of a let-down since now all sub 5K phones also come with OTG capability.
The device comes with Accelerometer, Light Sensor, G-Sensor, Proximity Sensor. We were able to use the device for 14~15 hours while on 3G with stable network conditions. There were no call-drops observed when 3G Data was ON while the calls are active [which made 3G much more usable].
Swipe Elite Plus : Suggested Accessories
Screen Guard – Option 1
Back Cover – Option 1, Option 2
Swipe Elite Plus : Verdict
Vibrant display quality, great camera unit and good battery backup makes Swipe Elite Plus a good buy at Rs. 6,999. Given that the device comes with micro-SD card slot [expandable upto 64 GB] ensures that the user is left with more internal memory.
As discussed earlier, after disabling Swipe Elite Plus Launcher, Force Closing some in-built apps; performance of the Swipe Elite Plus was even better !! We even tried the Swipe Elite Plus Customer Service and their response was very prompt. We visited one service center in Marathalli and staff there was good. After sales-service is very ciritical for the success of any smartphone.
Pros
Vibrant 5 inch 1920 x 1080p Display
Good Camera
Excellent Battery life
Availability of FM Radio
Free 100 GB Cloud Storage (through Swipe Elite PlusBox)
Cons
No USB OTG Functionality [I personally use it a lot :))
No fast charging
Barring aside couple of minor issues, Swipe Elite Plus is definitely worth a buy !!!
