Look and Design
Gionee S6 does not have any unique identity of its own. The recently launched current generation Motorola got a lot of recognition due to its unique design but no one can easily recognize Gionee S6. huawei Or LEECO One can mistake it for a phone. But the truth is that this applies to almost all the smartphones launched recently by Chinese companies. Gionee has used an aluminium body in this smartphone and the phone looks beautiful in rose gold colour. The phone is comfortable to hold and its buttons have been designed in such a way that it can be operated well with just one hand.
The handset has a 5.5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) resolution AMOLED display. There is Gorilla Glass 3 for protection and the phone’s display can be seen in almost all kinds of light. The phone has non-backlight capacitive buttons for navigation at the bottom which work well. The buttons on the sides also work well. There is a Type-C USB charging point (USB 2.0 speed) at the bottom. At the back, there is a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. The front camera in the phone is 5 megapixels. The camera app will be equipped with night mode, panorama mode, burst mode, magic focus and many other features. Users will also be able to record videos in full-HD resolution.
Gionee S6 smartphone supports 4G dual SIM with VoLTE. The phone has a hybrid SIM tray which means you can use either the second SIM or a microSD card. This metal body smartphone will be powered by a 3150 mAh non-removable battery. The company claims that it will give up to 18.8 hours of talk time and up to 342 hours of standby time.
The phone comes with a 10W charger, data cable, in-ear handset, screen guard, silicone case and the usual warranty information booklet. The accessories of the phone are decent. The phone also weighs just 148 grams and is slim enough to fit in a skinny jeans pocket.
Specifications and software
It will run on the company’s Amigo 3.1 OS which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. To make the smartphone powerful, it has been given a 1.3 GHz 64-bit octa-core MediaTek MT67538 processor and 3 GB RAM has been used. But at this price, this processor is not so powerful as such processors have been used in smartphones costing half of this price. Mali-T720 GPU will be present for graphics.
The smartphone has an inbuilt storage of 32 GB which can be expanded using a microSD card (up to 128 GB). Talking about connectivity, Alfi S6 will come with Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, 4G LTE (Band 40), USB OTG and USB Type-C feature. The smartphone will be available in Gold and Platinum color variants. The dimensions of the handset are 151.9×74.6×6.9 mm and its weight is 147 grams. Gionee S6 smartphone supports 4G dual SIM with VoLTE which you will be able to use with Reliance’s Jio platform in the coming time.
The smartphone runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with 3.1 Amigo skin on top. Gionee has also provided options like AMI Note and AMI Lock in this smartphone but these applications were not present in our review unit.
In this Gionee smartphone, you can easily access your hidden photos in the gallery with a simple pinch. You can also disconnect the OTG device by tapping the button in the notification bar.
Performance
Despite the extensive skin, Android runs smoothly without any lags. With 1.6GB of RAM always available, multitasking and transition effects are very smooth. The phone does get a little warm when playing games or videos but never to the point where it becomes uncomfortable. Voice calls are also of decent quality but the earpiece is not as good during long calls. VoLTE is a feature that will also work with Reliance Jio network.
With smooth video playback of 1080p, multimedia files can also be shared easily from Gionee S6. To boost the sound, you can enable DTS audio with the help of the stock video player. The audio quality is good with the headset but apart from the job, the loud speaker is not very good when watching movies.
Gionee S6 has a 13-megapixel autofocus rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. The camera app will be equipped with features like Night Mode, Panorama Mode, Burst Mode, Magic Focus and many more. Users will also be able to record videos in full-HD resolution. The camera takes very good pictures in daylight. The camera can be focused quickly and captures a picture. The HDR mode of the camera is a little less fast as it refused to take an HDR shot. The quality of the pictures in low light was not very good. But overall the quality of the camera can be called good.
The camera can shoot in multiple modes including GIF, barcode reader and professional mode. The front camera takes good selfies indoors. The quality of the recorded video was also good.
Gionee S6 is a dual SIM device. It will run on the company’s Amigo 3.1 OS which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. It uses 1.3 GHz 64-bit octa-core MediaTek MT67538 processor and 3 GB RAM. Mali-T720 GPU will be present for graphics.
battery life
Equipped with a 3150 mAh battery, we were able to watch videos for 12 hours and 3 minutes on Gionee S6, which can be called good. With normal use, we were able to use the phone for one and a half days without needing to charge it. Although Gionee does not make any claim about fast charging in the phone, but with the phone’s 10 watt charger, its battery gets charged from 0 to 35 percent in about half an hour.
Our verdict
Gionee S6 is a well designed smartphone which is better than Oppo’s R7 Lite smartphone. It has double the onboard storage, and supports FM radio, VoLTE. But considering its price, it could have had a more powerful processor and better display. But it seems that Gionee has decided its price keeping the design and build in mind.
VoLTE is the most important feature of the phone which you will not be able to use at present. But when Reliance’s 4G network or any other network launches VoLTE service, you will be able to take advantage of this feature.
The Gionee S6 is a good phone that gives you great looks along with decent hardware. But it lacks some features like NFC and fingerprint sensor that could have made it more special.