 "Gionee Elife S7: Style and Substance")
If there’s one brand that seems to be obsessed – in a good way – with good-looking phones, then it is Gionee. In 2014, the company came out with the S5.5 and marketed it as the “world’s slimmest phone”. Then came the S5.1, which was also positioned on similar lines. So when Gionee launched Elife S7, we were expecting another sleek phone. The E7 doesn’t disappoint when it comes to looks -- it is slim, sleek and stylish and it weighs about 125 g and is 5.5 mm thick.
However, does it go beyond good looks and deliver quality performance as well ?
However, does it go beyond good looks and deliver quality performance as well ?
For starters, the S7 has a pretty “largish” screen (5.2 inch) and yet it fits easily in your pocket and is easy to handle. It boasts of a super AMOLED FHD screen (1920 x 1080p) and comes with an impressive 424 PPI. The display is really sharp and even in sunlight you won’t have to squint to read on the screen. The S7 runs on the Octa-core 1.7GHz, Coretx-A53) with 2GB of RAM. We certainly would not call it the fastest phone but it certainly gives satisfactory results.
Gionee Elife S7 runs the Amigo 3.0 OS skin based on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop. The flat icons and the use of pastel colours make the user interface pleasing to the eye. The S7 has an interesting app called Chameleon that uses the camera to select a colour from your surroundings and make it the default app colour for native apps. For example, if you see a fuschia cushion, you can simply point the camera towards it and select the colour. All the system apps will follow the same colour pattern.
The S7 has an efficient 13MP rear camera which allows you to take some very good shots. There is the professional mode where you can control the exposure, ISO, aperture and focus. S7 also has the Magic Focus mode where you can control precisely over a particular area of focus once photos have been clicked. A lot of phones are selling on the “Selfie” plank and its safe to say the S7 passes the selfie test with flying colours thanks to its 8MP front camera. The front camera also has a “beauty” mode which allows you to lighten your skin as well as make your face look lean. Well, to each his own is all we would like to say about this feature ! Though the front camera also scores high on good quality video calls as well.
The S7 being a slim device comes with a 2,700 mAh battery which is less than what other phones in the price ranger offer. However, the battery is clearly the S7’s strongest point. Even with heavy usage, the phones lasts on a single charge for the entire day. We watched videos, played games and used a host of apps and the S7’s battery managed to hold on its own quite comfortably. Eventhough while playing games, the phone does tend to heat up a little bit. Since, we are on the topic of heating up, the flashlight on the S7 gets really hot as soon as its turned on. Perhaps this was an issue just on the device we got for review.
Since, Gionee has always been adamant on how their devices look, they’ve given the Micro SD slot a miss on the S7. The device just has 16GB of memory, out of which you can use about 10 GB at the most. It’s a major drawback in what is an otherwise a pretty solid and impressive phone.
A good looking phone which delivers more than satisfactory results on all major perimeters – performance, camera, battery – the S7 is surely a phone which will make a lot of heads turn. But is it worth the money ? Priced just under Rs 25,000, the S7 is the ideal phone for those who prioritise looks over everything else. Not enough memory space and the heating issue, however, means that there are better options available in this price segment. It has enough substance but just not enough to make it a must-buy phone at its price tag.