Review: Gionee Elife E6

Gionee Elife E6 was launched in India a month back at a very unique launch event. Gionee is a Chinese company which recently arrived India. Gionee is known to manufacture their own devices themselves at a plant in Shenzen, China like other companies which get this job done by someone else. Gionee right now targets the budget and mid-range segment of the Indian market. If you ask me, I shall suggest you to at least check out their smartphones in whatever range your are looking for. They develop some of the beautiful devices with the same specifications as others but a better build in some cases. Going by their recent devices, Gionee Dream D1, Elife E3, Elife E5 and now this Elife E6, all have solid builds. Elife E3 and E5 has some good options as well to target all kinds of people.

We received an Elife E6 as testing unit from Gionee which we reviewed and the results are as below.

Build:

Gionee has always been a master when it comes to build and display. With it’s first flagship device in India which was the Dream D1 to Elife E6 which is the present flagship model, Gionee has been distinguising themselves on the basis of build quality. Other manufacturers also have the same chipset, display resolution but what they usually lack is the build quality, the ergonomicity of a device which is very important for a consumer especially is he/she is technically not sound. Gionee Elife E6 though is a solid rectangular slab available in matte black and glossy white, but has been beautifully build. It has curved edges like what we felt with the Xperia Z. This design might not look ergonomic at first but it gradually grows on regular usage.

There is an unboxing video which we shot when we received the device which was been uploaded on our YouTube channel and can be watched below. It gives a better sight of what’s inside the box and the design with placement of keys and ports.

Display:

Gionee’s smartphones undoubtedly features the best displays amongst the mid-range players. Their flagship devices always been able to somehow impress me and the primary reason for that is the display. Sharp, clear, bright and good color reproduction levels makes sure you aren’t left with any reason to blame it. Elife E6 is the first smartphone from Gionee to come with a full HD 1080p display and during the course of testing, I shall claim it as one of its USP. E6 has One Glass Solution (OGS) display that has a bonded glass and display pane which ensures better viewing angles and brighter colors.

Hardware:

Gionee Elife E6 is also the first smartphone from Gionee and infact amongst all mid-range players to arrive with the MediaTek MT6589T Turbo chipset first which features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. It does not allow any further memory expansion but I think 32GB will satisfy most of the consumers. On the connectivity side, it supports WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, microUSB, and GPS. It supports a single micro SIM card.

Software:

Gionee has their own in-house build custom UI on Android 4.2.2 called Amigo which is kinda similar to what we see on other Chinese manufacturers like Zopo, Oppo, Xiaomi, and earlier MIUI builds. Honestly, this is the only section where I would ask for a change. Gionee’s custom UI kinda lags and works with a little delay though features lots of flashy animations. You might like it at first but eventually would want to switch. Nova Launcher or Aviate Launcher works like a charm and seems to be the most suitable options if you want to tweak. But this will not solve everything as Gionee doesn’t have this applied to the launcher only. It’s the whole ROM what is different from usual stock Android. Below are the attached screenshots to show you the difference.

Starting with the lock screen, the lock screen is fairly simple yet pleasant. Though it might not work with those who are used to lock screen widgets and other information right on the lock screen. Alike iOS, unlocking the device takes you to the app grid so there is no home screen which means no widgets. You have the customize desktop theme and transitions but that’s too limited up to a level. The multitasking menu is too similar to the iOS 7 or let me say Windows Phone. You can see our software review of the device which has been attached below.

Camera:

Camera on the Gionee Elife E6 is average. It features a 13MP rear camera module from Sony having the Exmor R sensor with a second generation BSI technology for better low light imaging. The camera struggles to capture all colors but somehow manages to reduce noise which as a result in average clicks. The macro shots surprisingly can give much better results when the camera is steady. Video quality is decent with the EIS instead of OIS which manages to handle little shakes. Some samples along with a camera review video has been attached below.

Performance

Talking about the performance of the smartphone, we did some benchmark test and have attached the screenshots as accordingly.

Coming to the real user feel, the GPU on the smartphone seems to struggle to adjust the output on a full HD screen. This is not an issue with this smartphone specifically it shall remain persistent to all phones using a full HD screen and a MediaTek 8569T Turbo chipset because the chipset has PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU which juggles to provide the best possible output. We have attached our gaming review video below to show you how the gameplay works on this smartphone.

Casual games usually run good but the problem occurs with the high end gaming. The game lags because the same issue and it can be resolved if the game allows to reduce the gameplay resolution settings alike what we do on a PC. This issue also affects Amigo UI and results in lags which is why third party launchers work better.

Verdict:

Gionee Elife E6 the latest flagship device from the Chinese manufacturer is available for ₹22,999 best buy price or even low from online retail sites and stores across the country. Gionee has been progressing rapidly and we really look forward to their devices. They are the ones which are known for hardware and build of their devices amongst the other players in the same range. Gionee Elife E6 proves all these points for Gionee once again. E6 is beautifully crafted with top notch visual appeal and solid build. The performance though is a little hampered which is limited to the Gionee’s custom home build ROM called Amigo because of the GPU incapability to pump the full HD screen. The applications normal and have no complaints as such but gameplay is little affected. The camera produces pictures between average to decent range results and works well for macro shots. For the price we would absolutely suggest you to look at this handset because the build and the hardware it packs can make it worth the money. You may not find a perfect handset at this price range so you have to make compromises in any case.

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