Each person has a different set of criteria for what’s important when shopping for a smartphone. Some value a large, high-resolution display that’s suited for media consumption, some prefer a solid camera that’ll boost their social media presence while others need a handset with a long runtime between charges.
If any of these are high on your list of priorities, Chinese smartphone maker Gionee’s recently announced phones are certainly worth considering.
Mobile camera aficionadas will no doubt appreciate the 23.7-megapixel camera of the Gionee Elife E8. It’s able to launch in just 0.8 seconds and includes snappy phase detection auto-focus, optical image stabilization and the ability to record 4K video. There’s even software that claims to produce images of up to 100-megapixels (think Nokia PureView).
The rest of the phone is equally as impressive. Buyers will get a 6-inch, quad-HD AMOLED display (490 PPI) that’s powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor clocked at 2.0GHz alongside 3GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of internal storage that’s expandable via microSD card slot and will run Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box.
The aptly named Marathon M5, meanwhile, aims to tackle a pain point in the industry: poor battery life. Instead of relying on replaceable batteries, Gionee has loaded the Marathon M5 with two massive 3,010mAh batteries for a total capacity of 6,020mAh. That’s roughly the same size as the battery you’d find in an average 8-inch tablet.
The phone is said to feature rapid charging and there’s two charging chips onboard so you can charge both batteries at once. With heavy use, Gionee says the Marathon M5 can last up to four full days. Perhaps most impressive is that the phone measures just 8.5mm thick.
Unfortunately, the M5’s supporting specs – its 5.5-inch, 720p display, quad-core 1.3GHz SoC and 2GB of RAM – are pedestrian at best.
The Gionee Marathon M5 is set to launch on June 25 and will set you back $370. The higher-end Elife E8 will command $645 once it ships on July 15.
