Gionee Elife E8 goes official with Quad HD display and 24MP camera

Gionee has today announced two new handsets at a special event in Beijing and the Gionee Elife E8 aims to tick every box on your wish list. Packed full of beastly specs, the Elife E8 combines premium specs with a price tag that puts rival devices to shame.

First things first, there’s a 6-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, which offers 2560×1440 pixels resolution and a pixel density of 490 pixels per inch. Sure it’s not as dense as the Galaxy S6 or LG G4 but the display is certainly one of the best on the market. Although Gionee hasn’t confirmed the exact dimensions of the Elife E8, the image above suggests a bezel-hugging display meaning it could have quite a high screen to body ratio.

Under the hood, the handset is powered by MediaTek’s new deca-core Helio X10 processor clocked at 2GHz, PowerVR 6200 GPU and 3GB RAM. The internal storage is vastly superior to most of its competition at 64GB and is expandable using a microSD card and while these specs are certainly impressive, the camera might be the best thing about the Gionee Elife E8.

The primary camera offers a jaw-dropping 24MP resolution, which is the highest pixel count in a major smartphone (excluding the Nokia Lumia 1020 and older Nokia PureView 808). Software processing allows the smartphone to produce images up to 120MP resolution, which is simply incredible in the current smartphone market.

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The camera app launches in just 0.8 seconds and using a phase-detection autofocus system, Gionee claims the Elife E8 focuses in 0.08s to 0.2s. The camera sensor sits behind a six-element lens with sapphire glass front and optical image stabilisation, which corrects shakes up to 1.5 degrees in angle. Other notable camera features include a dual-tone LED flash, lossless zoom (like the Nokia Lumia handsets) and 4K Ultra HD video recording.

Alongside the Elife E8, Gionee also announced the Marathon M5, which aims to fix one of the biggest problems in modern smartphones: battery life. Rather than use rechargeable batteries or fast charging like other handsets, Gionee have equipped the Marathon M5 with a couple of 3010mAh batteries, resulting in a jaw-dropping total battery capacity of 6020 mAh.

The handset supports fast charging and uses dual charging chips to charge both batteries at the same time, resulting in faster charging and less risk of overheating. There’s also software features to help prolong battery life, such as power consumption and background app management, which should mean the Marathon M5 can last four full days of heavy usage.

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Aside from the battery, the rest of the Marathon M5 is less innovative; there’s a 5.5 inch 720p AMOLED display, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, dual SIM support and a separate microSD card slot, a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front snapper. These specs certainly aren’t flagship but the Marathon M5 is designed for the power user who needs an impressive handset that can last for several days.

The Gionee Marathon M5 is set to launch on June 25 for CNY 2,299 ($370) while the Elife E8 is much pricier at CNY 3,999 ($645) and launches on July 15. It’s unlikely that either handset will be sold in the US or UK but as always, you may be able to import them.

Would you buy either of these handsets? If so, which one and why? Let us know your views down below!