Gionee launched an all-new Gionee M7 Power smartphone last month as its latest budget offering in India. Not to be left behind, Gionee brought in the 2017’s trendy bezel-less display design for its line of devices. Packing in Full View 6-inch 18:9 aspect ratio screen and an impressive 5000mAh battery, 4GB RAM, the M7 Power (first impressions) comes with everything that other devices in the mid-range offering. But with a price tag of Rs 16999, is the M7 Power really worth buying? Here what we liked and disliked about the latest Gionee offering.
Let's first begin with things we liked in the Gionee M7 Power
1) Display
The front panel of the Gionee M7 Power packs a big 6-inch HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 18:9, and it sports extremely thin bezels on the sides. There’s no physical home-button at the front, so you have a whole screen for yourself. The HD screen resolution may seem pixelated at times, but overall, it’s consistent at different viewing angles.
The display of the M7 Power is certainly satisfactory as it delivers optimum colours and brightness. Sunlight readability is not a problem which we definitely consider a plus point. The 18:9 aspect ratio enables watching videos and other multimedia a good experience and multitasking with split-screen feature easier.
2) Battery Life
As the name itself suggests, the Gionee M7 Power is definitely a battery powerhouse packing a hefty 5000mAh battery. One can easily manage to last the device around two days with a single charge. Despite some heavy to medium usage performing all kinds of tasks, the M7 Power is still left with enough juice to last.
In an idle mode, the smartphone can last longer than a week. The only problem is the Gionee doesn’t pack in fast charging with M7 Power. It takes around three hours to fully charge the 5000mAh battery.
3) Reverse Charging
The Gionee M7 Power also supports reverse charging. This means you can use this smartphone as a battery backup/power bank in order to give juice to your other smartphones. This has been one of the best features of the M7 Power for the last few years.
Things we didn’t like Much
1) Poor Performance
The Gionee M7 power is equipped with an octa-core Snapdragon 435 SoC coupled with 4GB RAM. The processor isn’t exactly entry-level but comes below in options, when compared to the other smartphones in the same range. The M7 Power is as such is no powerhouse and result is visible while using the device.
The phone can perform basic tasks such as calling, social media, internet browsing and running most apps with ease but it stutters when it comes to playing video games or watching HD movies for extended hours. Due to a weak GPU, the M7 Power lags a lot when playing graphics-intensive games such Nova 3, Riptide GP2.
2) Preloaded Bloatware
The Gionee M7 Power ships its own Amigo 5.0 UI on top of Android Nougat. This includes Gionee’s Music, Video, Gallery, Theme, User Centre and more such apps embedded into the smartphone which takes a little getting used to for a stock Android user.
Gionee's Amigo UI comes bundled with a lot of bloatware, and most of them cannot be uninstalled. Applications such as Xender, UC News, UC Browser, Messenger, Truecaller, Gaana, Flipkart, etc. comes preinstalled on the smartphone. On top of those, there are some demo versions of games as well.
Due to the heavy UI and the bloatware, performance of the smartphone takes a hit. The smartphone would have provided even much greater battery life, had it not been for these useless gimmicks.
3) Poor Camera Performance in Low-Light
The M7 Power bears a 13MP autofocus camera with a f/2.0 aperture and a single LED flash on the rear and an 8MP sensor with a f/2.2 aperture up front. The camera app is basic and comes with usual modes like Panorama, Face Beauty, Group Selfie, and a Card Scanner mode.
If battery life impressed us, the optics of the device disappointed us a lot. While the camera does a commendable job in well-lit conditions, the low light photos are well below average. The 3D Photo mode barely works using artificial stitching a number of times. The front camera is no better either, and the selfies that are taken indoor appear a lot grainy.
Verdict
The Gionee’s M7 Power can’t be ignored due to its stylish looks, Full View screen, and a longer lasting battery. Still given the competition in the segment, Gionee isn’t the best choice among likes of Xiaomi A1, Honor 7X which offer better performance and come with QHD screens. At the end, if the battery is your thing, you should definitely go for the M7 Power.
