Panasonic P51: First Impressions

Panasonic, a company that has established a name in India with air conditioners, TVs, and other home appliances, has now forayed into the Indian smartphone market, with the launch of the P51. The handset boasts of dual-SIM capabilities and has a 720p HD 5-inch IPS display. It has a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU with the MediaTek MT6589 SoC and 1GB of RAM. A 2,500mAh battery powers the package and the smartphone has 4GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card.

The P51 also comes with a capacitive stylus bundled. There is no place on the device to house the stylus, which means that you will probably lose it in a jiffy. The stylus on the P51 brings nothing new to the table nor are there any exclusive apps for the same. The Samsung Galaxy Note and Note II brought the stylus back in fashion on a smartphone with the S Pen, with a number of apps that exploit its capabilities. There is no such act on the P51. The stylus is quite small and has a rubber tip with which you interact with the display.

The Panasonic P51 smartphone also comes with flap cover, which magnetically clings onto the device. This is a good thing because you can attach and remove the flap cover as per your convenience – a lot like the smart cover found on the iPad. However, closing the flap on the P51 doesn’t put the display to sleep.

With the accessories out of the way, here is a quick glimpse at what we thought of the Panasonic P51 after spending some time with it. To start with, the build of the smartphone is very good. It has a unibody design, which means that you do not have access to the battery and the back cover isn’t removable, and that’s acceptable, looking at the myriad such devices in the market today. The smartphone is also very slim, measuring in at 8.5mm in thickness. It fells sturdy and premium in ones hands.

The right spine of the Panasonic P51 smartphone has the volume rocker whereas the headphones jack and the power button rest on the top. The left of the P51 has the slot for the two SIM cards as well as the charging port.

Overall the design of the P51 is premium and one of the best we have seen. The black back has a matte finish, and the entire phone is solid and comfortable to hold despite having the large 5-inch form factor.

The interface of the Panasonic P51 is stock Android for the most part but it does have a light skin overlaying it. There is no custom launcher present on the P51. Since it runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, you have access to a bunch of cool features such as access to the camera from the lock screen, lock screen widgets, the revamped drop down notifications, and more.

The 5-inch 720p HD display on the P51 has a Dragontrail glass along with oleophobic coating to give users a smooth interface and make the device scratch resistant. The display looked vibrant and crisp and the interface was smooth although the animations used had a stiffer interface when compared to the one available on the Nexus 4. The black levels of the P51 looked questionable but that is a judgment we will reserve for our final review of the P51.

There are no physical buttons on the Panasonic P51 smartphone and the back; home and multitasking buttons are on the touchscreen, just like the Nexus 4. The keyboard on the P51 is stock Android and very comfortable to type on. The smartphone has support for an FM radio as well.

The camera app on the P51 gives users access to a bunch of features such as GPS, exposure, scene mode, white balance and more. The camera app also has smile detection, multi-angle viewing image, HDR and more modes to shoot with.

The Panasonic P51 is priced at Rs. 26,900 and the smartphone will be available starting next week. We have seen quite a few smartphones launch in the Indian market running on the MediaTek SoC and all of them have been priced under the Rs. 20,000 price point. Some quad-core smartphones priced under the Rs. 20,000 mark are the Xolo Q700, Spice Stellar Pinnacle Pro Mi535, Xolo Q800, Micromax A116 Canvas HD and the Lenovo K860.

If you are in the market to pick up a smartphone in the Rs. 25k budget, you have quite a few options to choose from. To start with, you have the LG Nexus 4, which is now officially available in India for Rs. 25,990. The Nexus 4 is Google’s flagship device and is available online in India. The Samsung Galaxy S III, the Korean giant’s last-generation flagship smartphone, is also available for Rs. 27,500. Both the Nexus 4 and the S III boast of a more powerful quad-core CPU.

Whether the Panasonic P51 is a worthy contender to the S III and the Nexus 4 at similar price points is something we will comment on once we have put the P51 through its paces. Until then, here is a quick look at the specifications of the three smartphones. Do let us know what you think of the Panasonic P51 in the comments section below. Has Panasonic made a smart pricing decision for what is obviously quite a capable handset, perhaps placing it in the wrong segment?