Gionee Elife S5.5 first impressions: 'World's slimmest' boasts impressive hardware

Gionee has just **pulled the wraps** off their latest smartphone – the Elife S5.5. This is the first handset in the new ‘S’ series and the S5.5 gets its name due to the 5.5mm thickness. This makes it the slimmest Android smartphone yet. As usual, Gionee launched this phone with a grand affair in Goa and after witnessing the announcement, we had a chance to play around with the handset a bit. Here are our first impressions of the Gionee Elife S5.5. [caption id=“attachment_220790” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] The glass back is highly reflective but doesn’t attract smudges too easily[/caption]   The first thing that will strike you is the design. The S5.5 is a work of art and looks absolutely stunning in person. The pretty looks are backed up by a magnesium alloy chassis, which lends it strength and durability. [caption id=“attachment_220789” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] The S5.5 is deceptively thin[/caption]   The edges are tapered off which actually helps in providing very good grip despite the slim form factor. The phone has a glass front and back, which in most cases, would mean a perfect recipe for a fingerprint magnet. Surprisingly, that’s not the case here. The phone doesn’t hold onto smudges all that much which is great news, especially when you’re going to be using this phone in India. [caption id=“attachment_220791” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] Some shortcut widgets on the lockscreen[/caption]   One of the highlights of the phone is the 5-inch Super AMOLED display. The panel delivers rich colours and very good viewing angles. This being an AMOLED screen, one can also expect inky black levels. [caption id=“attachment_220786” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] Amigo 2.0 UI makes a reappearance[/caption]   The Elife 5.5 is powered by MediaTek’s octa-core SoC. The eight cores can scale up to 1.7GHz and there’s 2GB of RAM to accompany it. The phone also uses Gionee’s Amigo 2.0 user interface **which we absolutely loathe** . This is the same UI that was present on the Elife E6 and the Elife E7. Thankfully, it’s a bit more fluid this time around, at least on the units we have a chance to play with.  The Android version is still 4.2.2 however so hopefully Gionee updates this to 4.3 at the very least, if not KitKat. [caption id=“attachment_220784” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] Indoor shots are pretty good despite poor lighting[/caption]   Coming to the camera, we have the same interface once again here. The 13MP snapper manages some pretty good indoor and outdoor shots as well. We couldn’t get better shots since all the phones were tethered but we can safely say that the sensor is quite capable. We did notice that the area around the camera heats up a lot after shooting just a couple of pictures. Given how the S5.5 is even slimmer than the Canvas Knight, another octa-core phone plagued by this problem, there is a good chance that heating issues could be more severe in the S5.5. [caption id=“attachment_220792” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] The S5.5 captures good detail given the ideal lighting conditions[/caption]   Apart from the multitude of apps that come pre-installed, we also have the ‘Fake Call’ mode which can simulate a call from a number you assign it to.   The Gionee Elife S5.5 has launched at an MRP of Rs 22,999 but like most of their handsets, the phone should be available for lesser once it hits the store shelves. This puts it in **direct competition** with the Micromax Canvas Knight A350, which also happens to rock an octa-core CPU. We’ve **reviewed the Canvas Knight A350** and found that its design and camera are the two highlights. However, poor battery life and heating issues lessen its chances from being a good all-rounder. This is where Gionee’s Elife S5.5 could take the crown away from Micromax. The company has already established itself with successful launches like the E6 and the E7, and they’re hoping to repeat the same success with the S5.5.   Photography: Nimish Sawant