After launching the Marathon M5, Gionee has launched a lighter version called the Marathon M5 Lite. This is a quad core powered handset with 4G LTE support. It sports a 5 inch screen and is packed with 4000 mAh battery. M5 Lite is priced at ₹12,790.
Marathon M5 Lite Unboxing
Box pack content : Handset, screen guard, user guide, warranty card, data cable, standard quality earphone, travel charger (5V/1A) and plastic protective case. SAR Value : 0.375 W/kg@ 1g head and 0.535 W/kg@1g body.
Design
The M5 Lite is ultra slim using a full metal unibody mirror design. Very good build quality and finishing. I got the golden colour handset for the review, the colour itself gives a royal feel. The sides have shiny parallel borders. M5 Lite weight with battery is 181 grams and dimensions are 69.86 x 142.88 x 8.40mm.
Power button and volume rocker is on the right side. Audio jack is on the top and micro USB port is at the bottom. Back panel can be removed but it is not that easy removing it. This is a dual SIM handset – there are 2x micro SIM slots and a 1x micro SD card slot.
4G is supported and works on both the SIM slots. The Gionee Marathon M5 Lite also supports CDMA networks (mentioned on the box pack). Unfortunately I still don’t have a CDMA SIM to test it.
There is no LED notification and the handset is loaded with accelerometer, light, proximity and magnetic sensors.
Display
This smartphone sports a 5 inch IPS screen protected with dragontrail glass and supports 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction and touch response is good and viewing angles are decent enough.
Memory, Storage and OS
M5 Lite is loaded with 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM. You will get 22GB free ROM and 2GB free RAM on the first boot. OTG is supported and apps are getting installed on the external storage.
This handset is running Amigo UI 3.1 over Android Lollipop 5.1.
Performance
Inside the hood the M5 Lite houses 64 bit MediaTek MT6735 1.3GHz cortex A53 quad core processor with Mali T720 GPU. Overall performance was smooth. Hardware performed well and battery temp was well under control. Max battery temperature I encountered was 41 degrees.
Benchmark (in performance mode)
- Quadrant – 13054
- Antutu (64 bit) – 1st time 29860, 2nd time 33248
- Nenamark 2 – 61.4fps
- Internal storage Speed – Read (181MB/s), Write (134 MB/s)
- Multi Touch – 5 Point.
Gaming
I was able to play the Asphalt 8 game in high visual quality mode with ease. Game was smooth and lag free.
Camera
There is an 8MP camera on the rear with LED flash support and it can shoot FHD videos. Front facing camera is of 5MP resolution.
Camera quality is above average, shots turned out great in good lighting conditions, however in low-light conditions the output was not that impressive.
Check the sample images and video listed below.
Rear Camera Sample
Front Camera Sample
M5 Lite Camera Sample video FHD
Others
Speaker sound is loud and clear, in-call sound quality and clarity was also great. I did not find any issues with network signal. 4G, 3G, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth worked well without any issues.
Battery
There is 4000 mAh non-removable battery that does a very good job. You can expect 5 to 9 hours of moderate to heavy continuous usage on a full charge. With normal to moderate mixed usage the handset will easily last for up to 2 days.
Battery Performance
- Running Benchmark app – 16 minutes / battery % dropped by 4 / battery temp = 39 degrees.
- Played Asphalt 8 – for 17 minutes / battery dropped by 5% / battery temp = 41 degrees.
- Watched FHD video with full brightness (WiFi /4G on) – for 49 minutes / battery dropped by 9% / battery temp was 35 degrees.
- Handset charging (wall charge) it took me 2 hours to charge from 54% to 100%, estimated charging from 0 to 100% is under 4 hours.
Verdict
The Gionee Marathon M5 Lite as the name says is a lighter version of Marathon M5. It is powerful, camera quality is above average and battery backup is very good. This handset is cheaper than the M5.
A good buy for the price.
Gionee Marathon M5 Lite is priced at ₹12,785.
Image Gallery
