Gionee A1 Plus Review: Does Okay, Could Be Better

Gionee has recently launched its new smartphone Gionee A1 Plus at the price of Rs. 26,999. With a 6 inch screen and with 4550mAh battery and dual rear cameras and a 20MP selfie camera and powered by the octa-core MediaTek Helio P25 processor, this device looks promising. We had the device for some time with us and here is our review of the same.

Here are the key specifications of the smartphone.

Display 15.24 cm (6.0) Full HD Display

2.5D display with Gorilla Glass 3

OS Android 7.0 Nougat with Amigo 4.0
Camera 20 MP selfie camera with selfie flash

13 MP + 5 MP dual rear camera

Memory 4 GB RAM, 64 GB ROM, expandable up to 256 GB
Processor MediaTek Helio P25 Octa core processor clocked up to 2.6 GHz
Battery 4550mAh Li-Poly
SIM Dual hybrid SIM slot
Network GSM / CDMA / WCDMA / LTE
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4G ad 5G)
Bluetooth 4.0

When we first see the smartphone, it looks good but feels heavier and it is uncomfortable to hold in the hands. For people with small hands it will be tough to hold as the device is 9.1 mm thick and weighs 226 grams. As the device is made with metal, it looks sturdy.

A1 Plus has the display of 6 inch with gorilla glass 3 and the 20 MP Selfie camera and selfie flash is present in the front. The fingerprint sensor is placed in the front and the home button and the fingerprint sensor are the same. The fingerprint sensor is bit disappointing as it sometimes switches on faster and sometimes slower. Overall the fingerprint sensor is a hit and a miss. On the right side it sports power button and volume buttons and on the left side it has the hybrid SIM card tray. On the bottom it has micro USB port and speaker grills and on the top it has the headphone jack. The back of A1 Plus has dual cameras along with dual-tone LED flash and slightly bigger Gionee logo below the camera. The back of the phone is curved with two antenna bands, one on the top and the other on the bottom.

Coming to the display part, Gionee A1 Plus comes with a 6 inch display with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and protected by Corning Gorilla glass 3. The display is quite good and it is good in the outdoors as well. While playing games, the display looks sharp. As the Gionee A1 Plus uses an IPS LCD panel, it offers a balanced colour reproduction.

Gionee A1 Plus comes with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box with its Amigo 4.0 OS. Amigo OS is little confusing with the settings placed at the bottom and it has lots of bloatware with some unnecessary pre-loaded games which occupy space.

The smartphone comes with octa-core MediaTek Helio P25 processor clocked up to 2.6 GHz. The performance of the phone is good with this processor. There were no lag in the performance of the games and videos we played. The device did not heat up while playing games. We can do all the tasks we perform on a day to day basis without any problem. There was no lag or stutter seen when multitasking also.

The device also comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage and this can be expanded up to 256 GB using micro SD card. It comes with hybrid dual SIM slot. If we use a micro SD card we can use only one SIM. We prefer to have dedicated dual SIM slots.

Coming to the camera part, Gionee A1 Plus comes with a 13 mega pixel plus a 5 mega pixel for creating bokeh effects and it also comes with 20 mega pixel front facing camera with a selfie flash. The photos we took were good but they did not come out well consistently. We felt that some of the pictures were washed out. Low light photos also has its share of some hits and misses. The rear dual camera is more of a miss than a hit. The selfie camera also isn’t all that impressive.

Here are some of the camera samples.

The bokeh effect pictures were not that good enough. We had to make some changes in the settings to take the shots. This is not possible for a normal user who does not know well about camera settings and lenses. Below are the shots taken in bokeh mode.

The selfie we took also did not come out well. Overall the camera is very disappointing.

On the battery part, the device comes with 4550mAh battery and the battery lasts for about 2 days with a single charge and that is good enough. And A1 Plus comes with an ultrafast 18W charger which charges the smartphone within 2 hours.

In view of connectivity, Gionee A1 Plus supports 4G, VoLTE (which works on both the SIM’s), WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. Voice calls were clear and video and audio playback had no issues

VERDICT

Gionee A1 Plus looks sturdy, but it is on the more uncomfortable side to hold in one’s hands as it is heavy and messy to balance. The battery life is quite decent with 1 and a half to 2 days. The device has 20 MP plus 5 MP cameras in the rear, but the output of the pictures could be better. The display of the smartphone is good and the overall performance is good. The fingerprint sensor is also a bit disappointing with few hits and misses. With the price of 26,999 you can buy a better phone. While it is okay, it could do better given the price that it sells for. We wouldn’t recommend this one, rather give it a miss.

 

About Hema

Likes Food, Technology and Mobile Devices in that order. Started as a programmer, became an architect and now a blogger. Topped University Ranks once, been in tech for two decades. Wants to travel the world and climb the everest!

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