Micromax is a couple of months late but it has finally launched its MT6589T chipset phones in India. A couple of months in tech world is equivalent to an year, but thanks to the Micromax Branding and attractive marketing, Micromax Canvas Magnus (Quick Review) and Micromax Canvas Turbo (Full Review) have managed to pull the crowd. Gionee Elife E5 (Full Review) was released few months back and a well established MT6589T phone from a lesser known brand which enjoyed favorable reviews. Let’s put these phones against each other to know which one is a better option for you.
Weight and Dimensions
Gionee Elife E5 has a plastic Unibody design and weighs 133 grams. The device is quite sleek with thickness of only 7.27 mm. The full body dimensions are 137.95 x 69.98 x 7.27 mm. The Micromax Canvas Magnus on the other hand features an Aluminum body design and weigh 141 grams. It is however thicker at 9 mm. complete body dimensions are 144.42 x 74.06 x 9 mm. as you can see, Magnus is bigger and broader in spite of the same display size.
Display and Processor
The Display of both of these phones is 5 inches in size and sports 720p HD resolution and this plays to the advantage of gamers as MediaTek MT6589 can handle these many pixels better with a frame rate of around 60fps ideal for gaming, instead of full HD resolution. The color depth in Micromax Canvas Magnus is 16.7 M (True color) instead of 16 M in Gionee Elife E5.
Both of these displays will be very different. The Micromax Canvas Magnus sports a IPS LCD display which will give you large viewing angle and better whites. IPS LCD displays are brighter than Super AMOLED displays due to the presence of back light.
The Super AMOLED display will give you darker darks and better contrast. The pixel is completely turned off while displaying black colors and this means you also save considerable power by keeping back ground close to black. These displays are better suited for watching Videos rather than IPS LCD displays which are better suited for reading. The Canvas Magnus display sports more responsive 10 point multi touch where as Gionee Elife E5 comes with 5 point multi touch display.
The Processor used in both of these smartphones is same. Both of these phones are powered by MT6589T 1.5 GHz quad core processor assisted by PowerVR SGX544 MP GPU ticking at 357 MHz. The processor will give you smooth UI transitions and processing power that will be sufficient for most users.
Camera and Memory
Gionee Elife E5 has a 8 MP camera at the back which is capable of full HD 1080p video recording but the frame rate will be 15 Fps, which will lead to deterioration in video quality. In our time with the device we found the camera performance adequate and above average.
The Micromax Canvas Magnus has a 12 MP camera at the back with LED flash support. This camera will expectedly give you more details in good lighting conditions. The camera is capable of full HD recording at 30fps.
In the memory department, Gionee Elife E5 will offer you 16 GB of internal storage out of which 13 GB will be available to you. The storage cannot be extended. The RAM capacity is 1 GB and out of this around 580 MB will be free for you.
The Micromax Canvas Magnus has 4 GB of internal storage with around 2.5 GB available at users end. You can also install Apps to the SD card, which is supported up to 32 GB. The RAM capacity is again 1 GB and out of this 640 MB will be free for you.
Battery and Features
Gionee Elife E5 comes with a 2000 mAh battery which will last one day of moderate usage. The Micromax Canvas Magnus comes with a similar 2000 mAh battery which will give you similar back up. Micromax claims this battery will provide you with 7 hours of talk time and 180 hours of standby time which is average. Gionee Elife E5 will give you slightly more back up.
Canvas Magnus runs on Android 4.2 jelly bean o.s. and comes loaded with various gesture features like blow air to unlock, Video pause, etc. The Gionee Elife E5 comes with Amigo UI based on Android 4.2 O.S. which will not give you very smooth UI transitions. Thus Micromax Canvas Magnus will be a preferable option as far as software goes.
Key Specs
| Model | Gionee Elife E5 | Micromax Canvas Magnus A117 |
| Display | 5 inches 720p HD | 5 inches 720p |
| Processor | 1.5 GHz quad core | 1.5 GHz quad core |
| RAM | 1 GB RAM, | 1GB RAM, |
| Internal Storage | 16GB | 4 GB ROM, MicroSD support |
| OS | Android v4.2 with Amigo UI on top | Android v4.2 |
| Cameras | 8 MP rear, 5 MP front | 12MP rear, 2MP front |
| Battery | 2000 mAh | 2000mAh |
| Price | around Rs. 17,000 | Rs. 14,999 |
Conclusion
Both of these phones sport good body design. The Micromax Canvas Magnus will give you a IPS LCD display with powerful performance, better multitasking due to free RAM, extendable storage and better camera. The Elife E5 will give you darker darks and slightly powerful back up. If you are a gamer, Micromax Canvas Magnus will be a better option.
If you like watching videos on your smartphone too often, Gionee Elife E5 will give you better experience. The Micromax Canvas Magnus is also less expensive and provides with an advantage of Non removable battery, which will be a very important factor if you plan on using your device for long time.
