Nepali Times

If you thought the iPhone 6 was slim and light, wait until you get a hold of Gionee’s Elife S5.1. It is 0.4 mm thinner than its already thin predecessor Elfie S5.5 and is the latest model from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer (released November 2014). It is nearly impossible to tell if you are indeed carrying one in your pocket because it weighs less than 100g.

Design and look wise, the Elife S5.1 is up to par with far more expensive and big-name smartphones and can be best described as a combination of iPhone 5s and Xperia Z3 though it does bear much resemblance to iPhone 6. The phone uses Dual Gorilla glass 3 design and aluminium frame which is slick and gives it a high quality finish, and many will agree when I say that the Gionee Elife S5.1 is one of the most attractive looking phones in the market today.  While the Elife S5.1 does have a slim and attractive exterior, the shaving away of few inches has also let the phone to compromise on some components. The 4.8” screen AMOLED display has a lower resolution of 720x1280 instead of 1080p as in S5.5. Although a little lacking in pixels (306ppi), it manages to produce impressively sharp images.

There are some downsides, of course. You do not get a lot of space to play as expandable storage is not available. The phone has 1GB RAM, 16GB internal memory and no slots for memory cards that might explain the presence of a USB cable adapter as its tag-along companion.

Powered by the Mediatek chipset with an octa-core processor and a quad-core graphics accelerator, the phone is not a pure Android device and uses Amigo (Gionee’s customised OS).

Now here is the fun part, the 8MP rear camera does its job pretty well except in low-light conditions. The front 5MP cam is impressive and will make you look pretty (or handsome) so this little Elife S5.1 is very selfie-friendly.

One positive surprise for the reviewer was the phone’s battery life. Once fully charged, the battery lasts almost eight hours in regular use and has a shorter battery life if used for gaming and entertainment as with other phones.

The Elife S5.1 may not be the best phone in terms of performance, but if you are looking to actively use your device for social networking and are in the market for a stylish handset, you will definitely give it a second look.     Yantricks Verdict: It may not be the phone for those who want to enjoy their Android experience to the fullest, but will satisfy users who prefer form over function.

4.8” 16M-color 720p Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen

Android OS v4.4.2 KitKat with Amigo OS v2.0

Octa-core processor

5.2mm body, 97.7g

8MP camera with LED flash, 5MP front camera

16GB inbuilt storage, 1GB RAM

Read also:

Slimmer and better, Yantrick