Panasonic P11 Hands on Review: A Well Designed Mid Range Smartphone

Japanese powerhouse Panasonic, who has always been known for its Plasma TVs and Windows-powered Tough Books, recently made a debut as smartphone vendor. Earlier this year, Panasonic launched company's maiden flagship handset, the P51. Now the tech vendor has come up with yet another 5-inch 720p HD handset in the Indian handset market - Panasonic P11.

The Panasonic P11 boasts of a 1.2GHz quad-core processor powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 SoC coupled with 1GB RAM and 4GB of internal memory. The phone also features an 8MP rear-facing camera with HD recording and a 2MP front-facing shooter.

The Panasonic P51 has a refreshing design, which no other handset manufacturer is even close at making such a sturdy phone at a price point of Rs. 16,000. Moreover, the Panasonic P51 comes with excellent battery life which definitely makes it worthy enough to be considered over Samsung's Galaxy Grand.

The fascinating exchangeable back covers may tempt you to buy one, but do you really want this smartphone? Like every other mid-range Android powered smartphone, the Panasonic P11 is not a perfect device. There are some issues attached with the Panasonic P11 like it's not so appealing display and average performance.

GizBot has thoroughly tested the device for flat 20 days to get a fair basic idea about the P11. Here is our verdict on the Panasonic P11. Take a look!

Greatness by Design

If you look at the current trend most of the Indian and International tech vendors are not coming up with well designed smartphones. There's this myth that Indian consumers are price conscious and want cheaper quality smartphones. For a change, Panasonic is trying to fill the gap with the P51 and P11. Both of the handsets have great sense of individualistic styles and good quality construction.

Coming back to design, the Panasonic P11 is elegantly designed and easily beats other mid-range phones in the same price range. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Grand is price at a price point of Rs. 18,000 - but the construction is poor and you won't be swayed by the design.

With the P11, Panasonic introduces a new design language. The colorful exchangeable covers (black, white and fluorescent) come free inside the box. The black and fluorescent colored back covers have matte finish, whereas the white one comes with flossy finish.

The P11 reminds us of the typical Japanese car. The smartphone is incredibly comfortable to handle - the edges feel slightly sharp, but that's not the issue.

The phone has three standard Android capacitive buttons below the displays. On the right side, you will notice the power button and on the left of the phone has the volume rocker button.

On the bottom, except a microphone you won't find anything else. On the top of the phone comes a 3.5mm headphone jack alongside a USB 2.0 port. On the back, you will see an 8MP rear-facing camera with an LED Flash next to it. The speaker grill is at the bottom. Under the hood, the Panasonic P11 features two Dual SIM slots and only one of them supports 3G connectivity.

The lack of dedicated camera shutter key could dampen the overall experience. Overall, the P11 is insanely beautiful handset with a mix of contemporary and modern aesthetics.

The Panasonic P11 has a gorgeous 5-inch 720p HD display having a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The screen is large enough to experience movies and recorded serials without any disruption. The display has good contrast ratio and equally works fine under the direct sunlight. Thanks to the high brightness levels, you can use the phone outdoors. Everything is fine, except the display suffers with poor viewing angles. Thank god, the display is free from alloying fingerprints.