NewGionee Elife5.5: 2014

Introduction to Gionee Elife S5.5

Phones like the Gionee Elife S5.5 have come a long way.We've seen good-looking phones made in China that are not the iPhone.Gionee Elife S5.5 is seriously good-looking too. Two Gorilla Glass 3 layers either side of a magnesium alloy frame is a combo we'd opt for in a heartbeat. The gorgeous super slim shell packs a beautiful 5" 1080p Super AMOLED screen, with an octa-core chipset ticking inside.

Gionee had a good look at Android Jelly Bean and went for a complete overhaul of the UI. It doesn't look bad at all.

FEATURES

5.0" Super AMOLED, 1080p, 441ppi, Gorilla Glass 3, ambient light sensor
Gionee's Amigo OS 2.0, based on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
MediaTek MT6592 chipset, octa-core 1.7GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Mali-450MP4 GPU and 2GB of RAM
13MP camera, single LED flash, 1080p video recording
5MP front-facing camera with 1080p video recording
16GB of built-in storage
Active noise cancellation with a secondary microphone
2,300mAh battery
Super slim and lightweight body made of premium materials

Main disadvantages

No microSD slot
No Android KitKat at launch
Non user-replaceable battery
No LTE connectivity
No NFC
Chipset is upper midrange at best (granted, you're not being charged a premium price)
Battery Back-up is not good at all

The Gionee Elife S5.5 camera uses a 13MP camera that shoots with a maximum resolution of 4208 x 3120 pixels.There is also a LED flash.
The camera interface is pretty much standard - you get three shortcuts on the left (settings, front camera switch, flash) and three controls on the right (switch to video, camera shutter, gallery).
The settings menu can be accessed either via its dedicated shortcut or with a swipe from the top of the screen. The default view has a feature-rich, yet awkward layout. It is only has a portrait orientation, which makes it even more confusing.
The topmost buttons set up geo-tagging, the shutter sound, face detection and the level meter. Resembling some real world DJ controls, the next toggle sliders allow you to adjust the resolution, white balance, exposure compensation and ISO. Next up you can set up the capture mode (Normal, Touch shot, V-sign shot, Smile shot) or set-up a self-timer interval. At the bottom there's the final rotary dial, which, much like a digicam's, sets the shooting mode (Auto, Sport, Night, HDR, or Panorama).
Thankfully, you can easily switch to a normal looking UI, but some of the manual settings are not available on this mode.