Gionee launches the all metal Elife S8 with pressure-sensitive display

1906

8

2016-02-23 00:15

"The Elife S8 sports a 5.2-inch 1080p display, a MediaTek Helio P10 SoC, 4GB of RAM and 64 gigs of storage"

Close on the heels of all the flagship launches here at MWC in Barcelona, smartphone manufacturer Gionee just announced its new top-of-the-line smartphone, the Elife S8. The latest Elife offering flaunts a slim, all-metal build with chamfered edges giving it a premium feel. The S8 is the world's first smartphone to feature an invisible loop antenna, which maintains the uniformity of the design, while delivering excellent signal strength. The home button on the Elife S8 doubles as a fingerprint scanner.

On the back, the camera module is placed at the top-left corner with the imaging lens protruding out a bit. The Gionee Elife S8 also parades the manufacture's new modernised logo on the back.

The Gionee Elife S8 sports a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display with 2.5D curved glass on top. The phone's screen is also pressure-sensitive like the 3D Touch feature found on the latest Apple iPhones, and can sense three levels of force, to either select, preview or launch an application. The Elife S8 is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 and 4GB RAM. For storage, the device gets 64GB of non-expandable internal memory. The 4G LTE enabled smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the latest Amigo v3.2 UI running atop, which will soon be updated to v4.0. It is fuelled by a 3,000mAh battery that supports fast charging. The dual-SIM device supports 4G on both its SIM slots. Interestingly, the device enables users to use two WhatsApp accounts on their phone.

One of the most promising emerging brands in India, Gionee has shifted its focus from producing slimmer handsets to those that provide an enhanced photography experience with the Elife S8. The first smartphone with RWB technology, S8 sports a 16MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, 6P lens, and fast double focus (PDAF + laser autofocus). For selfies and video calling, it gets an 8MP front facing shooter. The screen of the device can be used as a flash to capture better low light selfies. To take the shooting experience up a notch, the company has upgraded the imaging software to Image+ 2.0.

The Gionee Elife S8 will be available for purchase in key markets by the end of March 2016 for a price of €449, which roughly translates to Rs 33,900. The phone will be available in pink, gold, silver and white colour options.