Gionee in a cell phone

MANILA, Philippines - Oh, the joy of testing new cell phones never ceases to amaze me. Even after reviewing cellphones for more than 10 years now, every new phone I get my hands on is always a fresh, new experience waiting to be discovered.

Just recently, the international mobile brand Gionee, which has been turning heads since it started stepping up its game in the smartphone race, was recently launched in the Philippines. From what I have read, its  cell phone Elife S5.5 has been bagging more than a handful of world records, including being declared the World’s Slimmest Smartphone by CBS Interactive ZOL.

But, as they say, the proof of a good cell phone gadgets is in the using — so I was more than excited when I got to test run the Gionee Elife S5.5 recently.

Open the box!

The Gionee Elife S5.5 comes in a cool cardboard box, packed with a bigger than usual set of accessories. Our unit came wrapped in with white flip case that doubles as a stand. 

As is standard, that box had a charger and a USB cable. You will also find an in-ear headset, a SIM ejection tool, a microUSB to USB adapter enabling USB OTG and USB Host.

The biggest come-on for the Gionee Elife S5.5 is that it is the slimmest cell phone on the market. So, I put it beside my own cell phone — and I must let you know that it’s true. Yet, in spite of its slimness, the phone is built around a magnesium alloy frame with Gorilla Glass on both the front and rear — making it sturdy and slim at the same time. Cool.

 The Corning Gorilla Glass covers the entire front and rear of the Gionee Elife S5.5. I read that the glass is pressure-resistant. But it is the strong metallic frame and the thin Super AMOLED panel that helped Gionee claim the world’s slimmest smartphone title for their Elife S5.5.

There is no removable battery in this cell phone — which for some people is good and for heavy cell phone users not that good. Yet while the Gionee Elife S5.5’s five-inch screen is by no means small, the phone’s ultra-slim unibody feels refined and solid, yet surprisingly light. 

Get to work

 The Gionee Elife S5.5 feels amazing in the hand, and the extra slim body helps single-handed use in portrait. 

Above the Gionee Elife S5.5’s five-inch Super AMOLED screen, there is an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor and a wide-angle five-megapixel front-facing camera.

There is also a control deck of three capacitive keys below the display. Unfortunately, when the backlighting is off, the keys are virtually invisible. I noticed that there is no option either to set the backlight to always on. The three keys are: Apps, Home, Back left to right.

The Elife S5.5 left side has the volume rocker and the power/lock key. The microSIM compartment is on the left and you’ll need a pin to eject it.

The Elife S5.5 sports an octa-core chipset at 1.7GHz, a processing power. With such strength, this smartphone can play high-definition movies while using high-end apps simultaneously without any lags.

I was not disappointed when I gave this feature a test at home. Indeed, there were no lags in either the movie or in getting to the app I needed while watching the movie. Even cooler.  Multitasking on this cell phone is truly fun. 

The microUSB port is alone at the top of the phone. The port supports USB on-the-go and USB Host, which means I was able to connect various accessories such as keyboards and mice, as well as USB memory sticks.

Go Ahead, Shoot

The 13-megapixel camera lens, the single LED flash and the secondary microphone are placed in the top left corner of the phone’s back. Their surrounding plate is part of the magnesium frame instead of the rear glass and is slightly bulging. The loudspeaker grille is carved out of the rear Gorilla Glass 3, near the bottom.

I used the rear camera to take a few shots of my doggie companion Vodka the Bichon. The 13-megapixel camera did a mighty good job at getting the many fine features and antics of Vodka.

 But at the end of the day what matters to most is the speed of connection. The Gionee Elife S5.5 supports quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G with up to 42Mbps of download speed. The rest of the connectivity features include dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n and Wi-Fi Direct.

Connecting to the Wi-Fi network at home, I liked how quickly the Elife S5.5 found and got into the connection. Although, I was disappointed at the slow speed of my Wi-Fi connection, I was happy with the fact that I was able to quickly switch between 3G and Wi-Fi with the Gionee when the need arose.

Elife and Ellen Adarna

Launched last July 13, the Elife S5.5 proves that being the sexiest Android phone around isn’t an excuse to compromise substance and power. 

The Elife S5.5 was launched with its Philippine brand ambassador, rising star Ellen Adarna. The two own up to the hashtag #LiveSexy, which means to be consistently in touch with what makes you feels good inside and out. The slim smartphone comes with Beauty Apps that serve as guides to living healthy, fit and fab. It is also available in five colors — black, white, blue, pink, purple — to suit your taste and mood.

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The Elife S5.5 is available at a retail price of P21,999.