At its winter launch event in Shenzhen, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Gionee looked to catch up with the latest trend in the smartphone industry by showcasing eight FullView smartphones across different product lines and price points. Gionee’s FullView smartphones, don’t quite sport the ‘all screen’ look seen in some rival smartphones, but they have a higher screen-to-body ratio compared to the company’s other devices. Out of the eight smartphones showcased at the event, one – the Gionee S11 – will head to India in the next couple of months, while another, the Gionee M7 Power, was launched in India earlier this month.
The first device unveiled at the event was the Gionee S11S, which comes with a 6.01-inch FullView full-HD+ (1080×2160 pixels) AMOLED display. The body of the Gionee S11S is made out of glass and metal, featuring a “shiny” finish with optical nano coating and a “3D-curve” design that’s apparently inspired by cars. It packs a stainless steel frame and dual camera setups at the front and back – 16-megapixel+8-megapixel at the rear and 20-megapixel+8-megapixel at the front – with real time bokeh effect and Face Beauty 4.0 that’s capable of applying different effects based on skin colour and face shape. The front camera has a field-of-view of 105 degrees. The phone is capable of creating “3D photos” by stitching multiple images together. The selfie camera can be triggered via the fingerprint scanner at the back, which can also be mapped to trigger different apps.
The Gionee S11S, like other phones showcased at the event, runs Amigo 5.0, Gionee’s heavily customised flavour of Android. A new game mode will stop notifications from coming in when you are playing a game or watching a video. A new location-based service will push promotions to you when you walk into a restaurant or shop, and show you maps when you are at the airport, features that will be available only in China. All phones showcased at the event are dual-SIM devices with support for expandable storage and come with FM radio, 3.5mm audio jack, and a Micro-USB port.
In terms of specifications, the Gionee S11S comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It packs a MediaTek Helio P30 SoC and comes with NFC support. The S11S is powered by a 3600mAh battery with 18W (9V/2A) fast charging support. The Gionee S11S launch price is CYN 3,299 (approximately Rs. 32,250).
The Gionee S11 shares the same design as the S11S and comes with dual front and rear cameras (16-megapixel+8-megapixel at front, 16-megapixel+5-megapixel at rear), Helio P23 SoC, 5.99-inch full-HD+ display, a 3410mAh battery, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The Gionee S1 launch price is CYN 1,799 (approximately Rs. 17,500), and like we mentioned earlier, it will launch in India soon.
Next up is the Gionee M7 Plus that comes with “dual security encryption chip” that can be used to encrypt contacts, photos, and messages, if you want. It comes with a live fingerprint ID scanner, which is capable of checking for a “live” fingerprint by looking at things like blood flow, in addition to pattern matching. It comes with a leather finish at the back that’s been treated with a 105-step process with quality at par with various luxury brands, Gionee says. The frame is made out of stainless steel with 21K gold coating.
The Gionee M7 Plus feature a 6.43-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 86 percent. It packs a 5000mAh battery and support for 10W wireless charging. The M7 Plus comes with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and Snapdragon 660 SoC. It has a 16-megapixel+8-megapixel rear camera setup and an 8-megapixel camera at the front. The Gionee M7 Plus is priced at CNY 4,399 (approximately Rs. 43,000).
At the event, Gionee also announced that the Gionee M7, originally unveiled in Beijing in September, will now be available in Maple Red and Amber Gold colour variants as well.
Gionee also launched two new members in the F-series, the Gionee F6 (aka Gionee S11 Lite) – which comes with a 5.7-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) display, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, 2970mAh battery, Snapdragon 435 SoC, 13-megapixel+2-megapixel rear camera setup and 8-megapixel front shooter, – and the Gionee F205 – which packs a 5.45-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) display, 8-megapixel and 5-megapixel rear and front shooters, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, MediaTek 6739 chipset, and a 2670mAh battery. The Gionee F6 and Gionee F205 are priced at CNY 1,299 (roughly Rs. 12,700) and CNY 999 (roughly Rs. 9,750) respectively.
The last new launch of the day was the Gionee M7 Mini which comes with a 5.5-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC, packs a 4000mAh battery, and has 8-megapixel front as well as rear cameras. The phone is priced at Rs. CNY 1,399 (approximately Rs. 13,650).
The eighth FullView device showcased at the event was the Gionee M7 Power, which was launched in India recently.
Gionee says it worked with developers to make sure apps optimised for the FullView18:9 aspect ratio displays are available via various app stores in China, with over 2,000 optimised apps and over 1,900 optimised games already out there. The company claims to have done the same with various video streaming services as well.
Disclosure: Gionee sponsored the correspondent’s flights and hotel for the launch event in Shenzhen.
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