Review: Elephone ELE Explorer 4K Ultra HD WiFi Action Camera

Sunny

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,095
Reaction score
1,739
Location
Colorado
Country
United States
Dash Cam
More than I can review. ;)
Thank you @GearBest for providing sample.
It's available in many different colors at Gearbest site:
Wi-Fi App download link: click here to download XDV APP for Android
*****************************************
Summary: Overall, pretty good for the price.
4K mode looks choppy due to 15fps but it's great in other resolutions.
Daytime as well as night time videos are pretty good.
Wi-Fi works great.
It is good alternative for drones due to its lightweight and small body.
Works great as dashcam as well with the provided frame but there is no feature to auto start recording.
*****************************************
Detail Review:
Main Features:
This camera is based on Allwinner V3 Chipset and OV4689 16.0MP Image Sensor.
OV4689 16.0MP CMOS image sensor
Wide Angle: 170 degree wide angle
Supporting Micro SDHC up to 64GB (not included in the package)
Screen: 2 inches TFT LCD, 960 x 240
Removable and rechargeable 1050mAh Li-ion battery, working time about 2 hours at 1080P
Battery charging time about 2 hours
Video Resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160) 15fps, 2.7K (2688 x 1520) 30fps, 1080P (1920 x 1080) 60fps / 30fps, 720P (1280 x 720) 120fps / 60fps / 30fps
Image Resolution: 16M (4608 x 3546), 12M (4000 x 3000), 10M (3672 x 2754), 8M (3264 x 2448), 5M (2560 x 1920)
Audio System: Built-in microphone / speaker (AAC)
30m waterproof with waterproof case (not included in the package)
Support XDV APP for WiFi function
Perfect for outdoor sports, extreme sports, water sports, etc
*****************************************

It's very light to use with quadcopters and comes with a lot of mounting accessories.
It's almost same physically as SJ7000.

Package Contents:
  1. 1 x Sports Camera,
  2. Waterproof case.
  3. 1 x micro USB Cable,
  4. Handlebar mount.
  5. Dashcam frame mount.
  6. 1 x Waterproof Back Cover,
  7. Bunch of other mounting accessories...
Unboxing video:

All contents displayed:
DSC03440-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg

Side by side with SJ7000, Git1 and Firefly 6S:
Front:
DSC03450-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg

Top:
DSC03451-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg

Left side: Micro USB, micro SD and micro HDMI:
DSC03447-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg

Back:
DSC03448-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg

Right side: Wifi/up down buttons.
DSC03449-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg


Bottom:
DSC03452-Elephone-ELE-Explorer-4K-WiFi-Action-Camera.jpg

More soon...
 
Last edited:
Hi hi Sunny,

Thanks for your update~!;)

You have so many action cameras. That looks cool.

I am waiting for your deep review~!:D
 
Elephone ELE folders and files:
The SD card has the following folders :
lock: for triggered files.
photo: for photo mode.
video: for videos.

Videos have date and time so it's easy to find a particular file.

ELE Folders and Files.jpg


File size and VBR:
A 3 minute video file at 4k (15fps) is around 450 - 460 mb in size.
Overall bit rate is 21.0 mbps with VBR of 21.0 mbps and very small audio bit rate of 15.6 kbps.
Video resolution as per mediainfo and VLC player both is 3840 x 2160p so this maybe true 4K. ;)

General
Complete name : F:\video\20150101_160552A.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 450 MiB
Duration : 3mn 0s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 21.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3mn 0s
Source duration : 2mn 59s
Bit rate : 21.0 Mbps
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 15.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.168
Stream size : 450 MiB (100%)
Source stream size : 450 MiB (100%)
Language : English
mdhd_Duration : 180023

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 3mn 0s
Source duration : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 15.6 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 8 000 Hz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 342 KiB (0%)
Source stream size : 343 KiB (0%)
Language : English
mdhd_Duration : 180023


Will you start them all recording then play some flamenco for us? :D
I'd love to play flamenco but that may need few years of practice. ;)

Test samples soon...
 
Daytime Screenshots with some before/after snow pictures:

Before snow:
23429356869_0f89e7a71d_o.png

After snow:
23797310135_808c61fefe_o.png


Before snow:
23714877361_21b2abca9c_o.png

After snow:
23429365499_6792c7ac27_o.png

*****************************************
23797312945_ac37a9467d_o.png


23501608310_811058754e_o.png


23429364239_8d22070121_o.png


23688868832_1bac84a0b3_o.png


23169161874_6741603802_o.png


Underground parking:
23771201326_0cd77d1826_o.png


23797303995_67ed629dac_o.png


Videos coming soon...
 
Daytime videos:
Videos are of good quality with all areas in focus. Not super sharp though.
Audio is very low at times. One annoyance is the mic is off when it first starts so need to remember to press the down button to enable the mic.
That may have been the reason of low volume but will confirm with more tests.


Same street after snow: 00:10 almost a collision when the white SUV tried to come into the black SUV's lane. Honking was loud but not audible in the ELE.

I got into a sticky situation @ 2:00 mark. :(
Audio replaced...

Sunshine after heavy snow: Probably the heaviest I've driven here. From residential streets to highways, lanes and roads are completely white...

Night video tests as soon as I get a chance to drive at night. ;)
 
Last edited:
Looks like this guy is on his break
150506Mr_Plow.jpg


Do hope we get a lot of the white stuff this year, but truth be told we proberly get 5 inches beating last winter with 2 inches, and it will be gone in a fjew days anyway.
 
How beautiful the snow is !

It seems like that Elephone action camera is a good action camera.

Let me show you Forbidden City Snow.

8yfjyjpnYCDuosmBzvt5_O-Y5Cjk3kCUYNltAj_Y-rt5z2nkhVqM9g2LoWUckcKPJ2wu2KK5TCnKTEXA6nRJH_Jz478S6oU1ICWUAAFc4bAbgOD9UEKyLd14A-nGQd1wizIucBU9ljg7xNM47V4_yTgFMvveZPpGoB2wrwfwZRVTMxDnCqN_mvE00tXftR8IYjwty05dc7n7U3fjQG0myliL8s6dEAub-1vB5AkJr_DBCgLLeNwSam_4LBGk6nZSEHKz-8USGBnoqjL6j2F2E7ZOg8GHOYdpKv8mf3UvQLvLa7ylihwTQTRBctMK7-kRy50h816gVhRv2XGf0k8jGTjRNv6fXHYksB0PJPpoDfDjmDRan5B9S6islL2kGbZLhBIBFoPnI6p14LuONZ1jumYmRgCWTR0TXm2gmZ7gURlGQ-AUb2G74wpYRNbiBtA04PbDheV8vBxWSW7vbtHtLoH4KJB_AF8Tp1BT-Dt-MK4KgQqgBePkHI6wYhKIoY2qC3-wONidzHKxRRHickenUSB-UQ9_Kd348LD8dpQIGwTWemJ4_Y3DKxcEyEWny0nU3p-4=w1432-h955-no
 
2.7k video VBR and file size:
The VBR and file size are much larger at 2.7k than at 4k. :eek:
Not sure how that happens.

2.7k video in the menu records at 2304x1296p and a 3 minute file is 675 MB in size.
Also, the VBR is very high at 31.4 mbps compared to 21 mbps in 4K mode.


ELE-Folder-files-2.7k-30fps.png



Sample video at 2.7K resolution @ 30fps:
Horrbile snow even after two days.
Denver usually cleans road quick but not this time.


The Wi-Fi app works great and no need to even enter the password each time.

Screenshot_2015-12-16-16-47-00.png
 
The 4k will be some sort of interpolated value
The images look like real 4K, you can actually read USA number plates which is very good for a dashcam!

Does it have all the necessary dashcam features like loop recording and auto start?
 
The images look like real 4K, you can actually read USA number plates which is very good for a dashcam!

Does it have all the necessary dashcam features like loop recording and auto start?

The resolution is 4K verified from mediainfo as well as VLC but it's at 15 fps so the files are smaller than 2.7k @ 30 fps.
4K doesn't necessarily mean it's great quality due to hardware such as lens quality so this is definitely not the same 4K we see from 4K samples done by professional cameras.

As shown in the Wi-Fi app screenshot above, it does have looping function.
I'm using 3 minutes but it doesn't have auto recording at start option.
I just press the shutter to start recording and it records until it has power or until stopped manually.
 
so this is definitely not the same 4K we see from 4K samples done by professional cameras.
...
Yes, well we can't expect a $75 camera to match a professional $7500 camera.

But the images actually look quite nice to me even if the quality isn't brilliant and it's done quite well with the snow which can be difficult so for applications where 15fps is sufficient it might be worth considering. Pity it doesn't have auto start though, sort of rules it out as a cheap plate catching dashcam.
 
File size and VBR at 1080p @ 60fps:
File size for 3 minute clip is around 391mb and VBR 31 mbps.


ELE-Folder-files-1080p-60fps.png

Screenshots from 1080p 60fps videos:

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-11h47m17s104.png

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-11h49m01s513.png

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-11h49m22s783.png

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-11h49m51s984.png

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-11h47m32s637.png

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-12h39m37s882.png


Looks like
that black car is missing the whole front end...

ELE-1080p-60fps-2015-12-18-11h48m44s611.png

********************************************************************
 
1080p @ 60 fps sample videos: Daytime video quality is very good.
Audio is much lower volume than normal.

Walking around the icy downtown: It's horrible this time. Road crew usually clean quick afterwards but it's been 3 days and looks like they sent drivers too early for holidays this time.


My usual morning drive...
1.

2.
 
This camera is based on Allwinner V3 Chipset and OV4689 16.0MP Image Sensor.
OV4689 16.0MP CMOS image sensor
Elephone and Gearbest can lie about specifications but dashcamtalk users should not. We should not promote the companies which are lying with important features like MP of sensor like the just to sell their product.

http://www.ovt.com/products/sensor.php?id=136

enjoy,
Mtz
 
Elephone and Gearbest can lie about specifications but dashcamtalk users should not. We should not promote the companies which are lying with important features like MP of sensor like the just to sell their product.

http://www.ovt.com/products/sensor.php?id=136

enjoy,
Mtz
4 megapixel is not the samething as 4K. sigh... i had somewhat good expectations for this camera as the Elephone smartphones seemed like decent devices from what i'd seen (though i hadn't seen one in person, but was considering buying one if i could find one that worked on t-mobile LTE)

yes, it's higher resolution than 1080p (which only needs a ~2MP sensor), but this is kinda sad.
 
Back
Top