Chinese mobile company Gionee has revealed plans to set up an R&D team in India apart from releasing its Elife S7 smartphone at a competitive price of Rs 24999. The new ultra-slim phone has been launched amidst other rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy A7 and HTC’s Desire 826.
The manufacturer who had started the world’s slimmest phone wars, says that the slightly thicker 5.5mm width of the Elife S7 compared to its thinner predecessor the Elife S5.5, is meant to give consumers an easy grip and make the device more visually appealing. The frame features sturdy airplane-grade Al-Mg alloy and a U-shaped microgroove pattern to fit the curvature of the finger while holding the smartphone.
The Gionee Elife S7 has a 5.2-inch full HD Super AMOLED touchscreen and is powered by the Android Lollipop-based Amigo 3.0 OS. It runs on a 1.7GHz octa core 64-bit MediaTek SoC and is supported by a Mali-T760MP2 graphics processor. It comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, but surprisingly does not support external memory. The handset houses a 13MP rear camera with LED flash, while there is a nice little 8MP front lens available for selfies. The snapper has some special touches like ‘magic focus’, ‘take anytime’ and ‘chameleon’.
The last option allows you to apply any color captured and use it for the phone’s theme and UI. This Gionee device has dual SIM capability along with standard connectivity options like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB OTG and A-GPS. It is powered by a 2750mAh cell with a battery saver mode which turns on a black color theme and is claimed to enable the phone to run at 10% charge for 24 hours. For audio quality, the smartphone possesses in-built DTS technology along with a 3.5mm headphone jack commonly not seen in such ultra-slim phones.
Gionee Elife S7 specifications:
Display: 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920p w/ Corning Gorilla Glass 3
OS: Android 5.0-based Amigo 3.0
Processor: 64-bit MediaTek SoC 1.7GHz octa core CPU
Graphics: Mali-T760MP2
Memory: 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, no microSD card slot
Camera: 13MP rear camera w/ LED flash and auto focus, 8MP front camera
Connectivity: Dual SIM, 3G, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, USB OTG
Speaking of Gionee’s investment in R&D, it intends to add more members to its team of 12 employees who are currently working to personalize the smartphone experience according to local needs. The company wants to hire at least 18 more people for this purpose by the end of 2015, according to The Economic Times. As for the Elife S7, we’ve already mentioned that it costs Rs 24999 in India.