Gionee Marathon M5 Plus Review

Gionee Marathon M5 Plus Review: Last year in China, Gionee’s Marathon M5 Plus was launched. However, this year in April, the smartphone reached the Indian shores. To the Chinese manufacturer’s Marathon line-up, the M5 Plus is the sixth addition and the most expensive too.

Gionee Marathon M5 Plus Review

Gionee Marathon M5 is an upper mid-range smartphone bearing a price tag of Rs 26,999. As such, it is bound to face a tough competition from the likes of OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi Mi 5. Let’s take a look in detail.

Design and Display

The Marathon m5 Plus especially when compared to previous devices in Marathon line-up comes with a slightly tinkered design. The non-removable back of the device houses a rear-camera of 13MP module with the LED flash in the centre. The rear also has refreshed Gionee logo.

Gionee Marathon M5 Plus has a surrounded by a metallic frame, rounded corners and a 2.5D curved display. The front houses the usual array of sensors, a 5MP front camera and earpiece. There is also a ‘Home’ button, that is flanked by ‘Task Switcher’ and soft-touch ‘Back’ keys. During our testing, keys offered decent feedback. If you use the keys in the dark, then they may be proved to be a bit of a problem as the keys are not backlit.

Now coming on to the sides, the volume rocker, microSD card tray and the power button are placed at the right. On the other hand, on the right side the dual-SIM card tray is located. You will get a 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB port at the bottom.

The Gionee Marathon M5 Plus has a 6-ich Full HD AMOLED display with pixel resolution of 1080/1920, with the pixel density that is coming at around 368ppi. The display produced a vivid colours with the fair amount of accuracy, during our time with the phone. Viewing angles were really good, like was sunlight legibility.

High-resolution display and the unibody design can be definitely considered as highlights of the Marathon M5 Plus. But the 6-inch screen is quite a handful and is not that easy to use with the one hand.

Performance and Camera:

The key specifications of the Gionee Marathon M5 Plus are as follows:

Operating System: Android v5.1 Lollipop with the new Gionee Marathon M5 Plus has a curved display of 2.5D and it is surrounded by the metallic frame and the rounded corners. The front houses the usual array of the sensors, a 5MP front camera and the earpiece. There is also a flanked by soft-touch ‘Back’, ‘Task Switcher’ keys and ‘Home’ button. The keys offered decent feedback, during our testing.

Now coming to the sides, the volume rocker, microSD card tray and the power button are placed at the right. On the right side the dual-SIM card tray is located. At the bottom, you will get a microUSB port and 3.5mm jack.

The Gionee Marathon M5 Plus has Full HD AMOLED display of 6-ich with 1080/1920-pixel resolution and with the pixel density coming at around 368ppi.

The display produced vivid colours with the fair amount of accuracy, during our time with the phone.

The highlights of the Marathon M5 Plus are the high-resolution display and the unibody design.

Performance and Camera:

The keys specifications of the Gionee Marathon M5 Plus are as follows:

Operating System: Android v5.1 Lollipop with Amigo OS UI layer
In-built memory: 64Gb with the micro SD expansion
RAM: 3GB RAM
CPU: MediaTek 1.3GHz octa-core
Battery: 5,020 mAh
Connectivity options: Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, 4G and Bluetooth v4.1
Camera: front-facing camera of 5MP, rear camera of 13MP with LED flash and the phase detection auto-focus
The smartphone comes with a number of pre-installed apps like DU Speed booster, UC Browser and OLX
Call quality is good
It also has fingerprint sensor
The smartphone comes with a non-removable 5,020mAh battery

Verdict:

Gionee Marathon M5 Plus has a lot spec to offer. It comes with a massive battery, generally lag free-performance, an AMOLED display and decent camera experience. But all these does not justify the high price tag of Rs. 26,999. For those who are looking at the alternatives, then the recently launched Xiaomi Mi5, Samsung Galaxy A7 and OnePlus 3 are some of the good choices.