Android

US readers, the Gionee S6 could be your next cheap buy, and it's awesome

posted by Chris P. / Nov 16, 2015, 4:46 AM

US readers, the Gionee S6 could be your next cheap buy, and it's awesome

If you're a US native, it's unlikely that you've heard of Gionee — a Chinese company that has been pushing out some rather nice devices lately. But there's one very good reason you should get excited about its new S6 smartphone: it'll likely be re-branded under Miami-based BLU and sold on the cheap. Case in point: the Gionee Elife E8 flagship is available as the BLU Pure XL in the States, and we mostly liked what we saw in our review, especially at just $350 unlocked. There's a good chance the Gionee S6 will also receive a similar treatment, given the two companies' seemingly strong relationship.

Speaking of the Gionee S6, we've got a slim (6.99mm) phone made almost entirely out of aluminum (89% of it, apparently), weighing 147 grams, and packing a 5.5-inch, 720p AMOLED display. Underneath, Gionee has planted one of MediaTek's 64-bit, octa-core MT6753 processors, clocked at 1.3GHz and coupled with an ARM Mali-T720 GPU. In terms of memory, we're looking at 3 gigs of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable through the secondary, hybrid SIM card slot which also accepts microSD. As for imaging, Gionee is using a main, 13-megapixel sensor with very wide, f/2.0 lens and very quick phase detection auto focus, while a 5-megapixel selfie snapper sits up front.

Finally, the Gionee S6 is advertised as having a dedicated sound chamber that supposedly delivers richer sound. The phone is powered by a very large (relative to its size), 3,150mAh cell, which is topped off with the help of a reversible USB Type-C port, and Android 5.1 Lollipop with Gionee's custom UI on top of it on the software side. The phone is up for pre-orders in its homeland of China already, costing the equivalent of just $266 or so. Time will tell if BLU will see it fit to add the S6 to its portfolio, but if it does — it might be a pretty sweet deal for those of us on a budget.

Gionee S6

View more + 10 images

Gionee S6

Options

12 Comments

1. lallolu

Posts: 729; Member since: Sep 18, 2012

Sorry, it is not a great phine and it costs 266usd in China so it will be at least 300usd.

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 4:56 AM 1

4. Guaire

Posts: 850; Member since: Oct 15, 2014

Gionee E8's price is 4000 yuan ($630) in China, but same phone under Blu brand costs $350.

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 5:59 AM 0

5. Acer_Predator unregistered

it looks like iPhone

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 6:08 AM 0

6. sipha

Posts: 439; Member since: May 12, 2012

...said no one, ever!!!!

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 6:28 AM 3

7. Acer_Predator unregistered

iPhone 5

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 6:52 AM 0

2. Konsento

Posts: 139; Member since: Apr 10, 2015

Is this some kind of sponsored content?

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 5:50 AM 5

3. RebelwithoutaClue

Posts: 5485; Member since: Apr 05, 2013

Android 5.1 Marshmallow ??

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 5:50 AM 0

8. tokuzumi

Posts: 1800; Member since: Aug 27, 2009

5.5" screen? LOL....pass

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 7:50 AM 0

9. Donbenie

Posts: 248; Member since: Aug 04, 2013

And what's so funny about a 5.5"screen..

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 11:54 AM 1

10. Joshing4fun

Posts: 1244; Member since: Aug 13, 2010

That resolution is too low on a 5.5 inch screen. It should be 1080p.

posted on Nov 16, 2015, 2:19 PM 1

11. SamJasper

Posts: 12; Member since: Apr 06, 2015

may be cheap but not awesome IMO. And I am not a fan of MediaTek's chip. @PA for how long are you guys gonna display this Honor phone on my left and right edge of my computer's screen? it's now annoying!!!