Panasonic Eluga review

Slimline and waterproof Android smartphone

Panasonic Eluga review
The Panasonic Eluga is the brand's first Android smartphone of 2012

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There's nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the playback of your media files, with Panasonic playing it safe with both the stock Android video and music players built in to the Eluga.

For a company that specialises in AV equipment, we would have liked to have seen a more intuitive music and video setup, with freshly designed apps. Maybe too much time was spent redesigning the camera interface.

Panasonic Eluga review

The stock players don't spoil the experience, however. Android's standard players are perfectly fine, and we found that the Panasonic Eluga was more than capable of handling a wide range of media file types straight out of the box, although you will need to visit Google Play in order to make the Eluga all singing and all dancing.

On the music front, it played MP3 and lossless WAV files without any bother, although it didn't want to know when we tried to play a lossless FLAC file.

Panasonic Eluga review

For video, MOV and MP4 files (even 1080p ones) are fine from the off. It played WMV films too but the action was choppy, and you'll need to download and install an app such as MX Player if your digital movie collection includes MKV, AVI or OGG files.

As previously mentioned, though, the onboard storage is a paltry 8GB and there are no expansion options, so you probably won't be able to store your entire digital collection - especially if you're an HD or lossless aficionado.

Panasonic Eluga review

And you'll need to plug your headphones into the 3.5mm jack - as with calling and ringtones, the media playback volume is way too low. In fact, it's not really loud enough for our tastes even using our earbuds.

YouTube playback, even in HQ, is good - whether through the website or the pre-installed app. DLNA streaming is also supported, but there's no HDMI action, unfortunately.

Gaming on the Panasonic Eluga is a hit and miss affair. At times it breezes through demanding titles such as Temple Run with ease, but at other times it's a laggy, frustrating experience.

The power from the dual-core 1GHz CPU should mean that choppy gameplay isn't an issue, but sadly, we have to report that it is.