Although the Chinese manufacturer, Gionee is not as famous as other counterparts like Xiaomi or Huawei, the company is slowly building its presence in a number of emerging markets. The company’s Gionee Marathon series phones are known for its large batteries and has garnered popularity in some markets. So, it’s not surprising to see that the company has announced a new low-end variant in the series called as the Gionee M5 Mini.
Gionee could be looking to target the budget market with this device as the M5 Mini uses MT6580 quad-core chipset, which is pretty low-end. It comes with four Cortex A7 cores and Mali-400MP2 GPU. The highlight of the chip is its low cost, which means that the M5 Mini should be cheap. Unfortunately, the company is yet to reveal an official price tag for the device.
Other specs are also pretty modest. The Gionee M5 Mini comes with 2GB of RAM with 16GB of expandable storage, 5-inch HD 720p display and a large 4000mAh battery. At the back, the phone gets an 8MP sensor while up front, a 5MP shooter. Given the large battery in its compact 5-inch body, the thickness is about 9.6mm, which is a bit fat considering other budget devices, but still acceptable given its battery capacity. As for software, the phone runs on Android 5.1 with Amigo OS 3.1 on top.
The 4000mAh battery on board also supports fast charge. The company claims that 10 minutes of charging will give you two days of standby, 2 hours of music playback and 1.5 hours of talktime. You can even use the device as a powerbank for reverse charging other devices.
The phone seems to be a direct competitor to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 with its large battery and entry level specs. However, in the processor front, MT6580 is no way near Snapdragon 616. As for the pricing and release details, the company has only revealed that the phone will be available in Nigeria for now.
