Gionee had already launched the mini version of the Elife E7; but it took a lot of time getting it into the Indian markets. The Gionee Elife E7 Mini comes powered by octa core processor and is priced at approx Rs. 17,500. The key highlight is the single 13MP AF camera with a 180 degrees rotation.
E7 Mini Box pack Content
Inside the Box you will find the handset, a free flip cover made of artificial leather, 2 screen guards, customer service center list, user guide, warranty card, travel charger, earphone, data cable and micro SIM tray ejector pin.
Design, Display and OS
The Gionee Elife E7 Mini is packed in a uni-body design. Handset is slim and has got an elegant, premium look. The rotating camera module adds more glamor to the handset. The in-call speakers are placed on both sides of the rotating camera module. Rear side is black color with matte finish. Build quality is very good.
E7 Mini weight with battery is 145 grams and thickness is 8.29mm (dimensions – 66.14 x 139.67 x 8.29mm). The SAR values are 0.61 W/kg@1g (head) and 0.52 W/kg@1g(Body). The volume rockers and power button are on the right side. The mic, 3.5mm audio jack and micro USB port are at the bottom. The top side comes with a 180 degrees rotating camera. The sensors however are placed on the front screen just below the rotating module.
This is a dual SIM handset – the Micro SIM slot is placed on the left side. The SIM tray can house 2 micro SIM cards.
E7 Mini sports a 4.7 inch screen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. The viewing angles and colour reproduction are very good. Touch is smooth and responsive. Here are the list of sensors – accelerometer, gyro, proximity, light and magnetic sensors.
The Mini runs on Amigo UI based on Android 4.2. There is gesture control and OTA updates are supported.
Memory and storage
There is 16GB on-board space of which 10 GB is the free available internal space and 2.7GB is allocated for apps. Of the 1GB RAM free RAM is 331 MB (on the first boot). OTG is supported. There is no micro SD card slot and hence you cannot add external storage space.
Performance and Benchmark
Elife E7 Mini is powered by ARM Cortex A7 octa core processor clocked at 1.66GHz. It uses the Mali 450 MP GPU. The chipset is MediaTek’s MT6592. Performance is smooth, though it might take a while getting used to the Amigo UI. The UI also seem a bit slow because of slower transitional effects.
Benchmark scores
- Quadrant Standard – 13959.
- AnTuTu – 26573.
- Vellamo – HTML5 2026, Metal 607.
- Nenamark 2 – 60.1fps
- Multi touch : 5 points.
Camera and Entertainment
This is the center of attraction. The camera of 13MP AF with LED flash can be rotated, it can act as a front camera or as a rear camera and you can even place it at any angle between 180 degrees. The still camera quality and the 1080p video recording are pretty good.
The camera application can also be opened by simply rotating the camera. Full HD video recording and playback is supported. Check the sample images at the end of the review.
Gaming
I installed the MC4 and Asphalt 8 on the internal storage and both the games played really well. Asphalt 8 was set to the highest visual graphics mode. Check the gaming part included in the video review.
Others
Did not find any issues with 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. GPS lock is fast. Speaker sound and in call sound is loud and clear. Handset does get heated up when playing heavy games but that is normal.
Battery
There is 2200 mAh non removable battery. I used (heavy usage) the handset for about 34 minutes the battery dropped by 10%. You can expect 4 to 5 hours of backup time with heavy usage (like playing games).
Verdict
The Gionee Elife E7 Mini is one of the best handset in the octa core category with a price tag of approx Rs. 17,500. Would have been better if the RAM was 2GB, but nevertheless it does well and the rotating camera is the center of attraction.
Gionee Elife E7 Mini available for under Rs. 17,800.
Image Gallery
Sample Images
Gionee Elife E7 Mini review – handset and gaming
Full HD video sample shot using the E7 Mini handset
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