Gionee E8 sports 24-MP rear camera but is a bit pricey

Since its launch in India a couple of years ago, Gionee has been offering some great devices at competitive pricing. But its latest flagship, the ELife E8 at Rs 34,999 is the company's most expensive offering in India till date.

Can the Gionee E8 take on the competition? Let's take a look.

Display and Design: The Gionee E8 doesn't look like any of its predecessors. Indeed it has a premium design. The display size has been increased from the 5.5 inch (as on the E7) to 6 inch and a 2k display over the full HD display, which made everything look good and bright. It has great viewing angles too. There is a metallic frame added to the sides and the curved corners complement the design. The sides are neat - the power key, volume button and the dedicated camera key - all added to the right panel. The E8 has a fingerprint scanner too, which has been placed at the rear panel, just below the camera module. Ginoee has done a good job with the rear panel. Even though it is made of plastic, it doesn't feel like one. Overall, the E8 is slightly a bit too big to hold, at least for my hands. At 210 gm, it is heavy to hold too.

Camera: The highlight of the E8 is its 24-MP rear camera with features such as Optical Image Stabilization and modes including Touch Focus, Face/Smile Detection, Panorama, HDR, Professional, Magic Focus, Face Beauty, Pic Note. The UltraPixel mode can be used to capture images at 120-MP resolution at five times higher resolution. The images captured on the normal mode are impressive. It offers great colours and details. However, in low light, there is visible noise but the dual LED flash comes to the rescue. There is also a pro mode where one can further adjust focus and exposure. For selfies, there is an 8 MP camera that does a decent job.

Performance:  Thanks to the big and bright display, I enjoyed watching movies and playing games on the E8. It handles basic functionality such as fetching emails, browsing the web and streaming videos from YouTube without crashing or slowing down. It is powered by a 2-Ghz octa-core processor and is paired with 3 GB of RAM, which pushes it enough to perform. Gionee smartphones come loaded with the custom UI and the one on the E8 is Amigo 3.1 interface based on Android 5.1. There isn't any app tray and all the apps are scattered on the homescreens. The phone also has a fingerprint scanner at the rear, which is becoming common these days. It is quick and accurate. One good thing about the Gionee E8 is the 64-GB internal storage, which can be further expanded up to 128 GB. This is a dual SIM smartphone and has LTE support.  

Battery:  Even with the 3500-mAh battery onboard, the E8 only lasts a day. Lower the brightness and it will last slightly longer.

Online only: Until now, Gionee was launching all its smartphones in offline retail but the E8 will be available exclusively at Snapdeal. It has been priced on the higher side too - Rs 34,999.

Bag it or Junk it: A great device but will get competition from the recently launched Nexus 6P, which is priced slightly higher than the Gionee E8.

Rating: 4.5/5
Plus: Display, Camera
Minus: Battery, weight