Gionee has listed Elife S5.1 on its India website without a price tag. The handset is no longer the slimmest smartphone in the world with OPPO R5 (4.85 mm) already announced, but yes it’s still ultra slim at 5.1 mm and of course the difference won’t be noticeable. Getting down from the “slimmest” high horse, let’s take a look at the hardware.
Camera and Internal Storage
This time Gionee has opted for a smaller 8 MP sensor (compared to Elife S5.5 and OPPO R5), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can shoot 1080p full HD videos and there is LED flash for low light support. Software set includes Charm Camera, Panorama, face detection, burst shot, gesture shot, etc. The selfie cam remains same as Elife S5.5 with a 5 MP sensor.
There is no MicroSD card slot and that’s an obvious price to pay for the slim and slick profile. You will have to with 16 GB native storage and USB OTG for external storage.
Processor and Battery
Gionee is sticking to 1.7 GHz MT6592 true Octa Core SoC in this one as well, but the RAM capacity has been halved to 1 GB. This also means a significantly reduced price tag. The important issue to look out for is heating.
Elife S5.5 had some heating issues due to its slim profile, Metallic exterior and octa core CPU. Gionee hasn’t mentioned how it’s going to dissipate heat this time. OPPO R5, another slim smartphone, boasts of a phase shifting material inside to get rid of the heat. It remains to be seen how each one of the two performs in real world scenario.
Battery capacity is 2050 mAh and again we didn’t expect any more juice as space is a constraint here. Gionee claims this can last for about 10 hours of talk time and 4-5 days of standby time which seems average.
Display and Other features
The display used is 4.8 Inch super AMOLED panel with 720p HD resolution amounting to 306 pixels per inches. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is also present on top to make this more durable. Super AMOLED displays are generally slimmer than IPS LCD panels due to lack of backlight and thus are preferred in slim smartphones. This also means awesome blacks with good contrast and popping colors.
Software is Android 4.4 Kitkat with Amigo 2.0 UI on top. Other features include include USB OTG, Noise cancelation, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi and AGPS.
Comparison
Gionee Elife S5.1 will compete against phones like OPPO R5, Gionee Elife S5.5, Asus Zenfone 5 and Moto G in India
Key Specs
| Model | Gionee Elife S5.1 |
| Display | 4.8 Inch , HD, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Processor | 1.7 GHz octa Core |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Internal Storage | 16 GB, Non Expandable |
| OS | Android Kitkat based Amigo 2.0 |
| Camera | 8 MP/ 5 MP |
| Battery | 2050 mAh |
| Price | To be Announced |
What we Like
- Slim profile
- Gorilla Glass 3 protection
What we Don’t Like
- Average Battery Backup
Conclusion
If you compare it with S5.5 on paper, the trimmed down specifications invariably points to a significantly reduced price tag. This could work for Gionee in price sensitive Indian market. Holding the slimmest title would have worked in its favour, but that ship has sailed. If you awe wooed by slim profile and prioritize it in your next smartphone, Elife S5.1 is worth considering. We expect this to be priced around 15,000 INR in India.
