While smartphones with 6-inch displays may sound unwieldy for most, there is still a sizeable demand for large screen phones. The new Gionee Elife E8 caters to that segment. After the fate of Nexus 6 in India, not many have dared to launch big screen (above 5.5-inch) smartphones of late. However, with consumers getting comfortable with screen sizes ranging between 5.5-inch and 5.7-inch now, the 6-inch Gionee Elife E8 might get good traction. Gionee Elife E8 comes with top end specs and competes with the likes of Samsung Galaxy A8, Nexus 6P, Motorola Moto X Style among others. So, should you look at the Elife E8 while spending around Rs 35,000 on a new smartphone? Here is the review. Gionee Elife E8 Gionee Elife E8 tries to woo consumers with a premium design backed by top of the line hardware. Like Elife E7, the focus here is on the camera again. It comes with a 24 MP rear camera and claims to be the first Android smartphone to offer lossless zoom. Running Android 5.1 Lollipop OS, it is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 CPU with 3GB RAM. On the software front, the device runs Gionee's Amigo 3.1 interface. It also has a fingerprint scanner at the back. Specs: 6-inch WQHD Super AMOLED Display | Amigo 3.1 UI based on Android 5.1 OS | 2 GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 CPU | 3GB RAM | 64GB internal memory expandable up to 128GB | 24MP rear camera with dual tone Flash | 8MP front camera | Dual SIM | 4G support | NFC | fingerprint scanner | 3,500 mAh battery with fast charging | Gionee Elife E8 full specs Price: Rs 34,999 What is good? The device comes with a good display which is essential for a big screen smartphone. The viewing angles are good and sunlight visibility is decent. While the display is quite bright; it doesn't hurt the eyes. The star feature of the Elife E8 has to be the camera. Gionee Elife E8’s 24-megapixel rear camera. The camera is fast and colours are pretty accurate. Coming to the 'lossless zoom' feature, the device does well but there is obviously grains visible while shooting at full zoom. The front camera is quite pleasing too. On the performance front, the Elife E8 is a delight. You won’t face lags. Games run smoothly and multi-tasking is not a problem. Another good aspect of the Elife E8 is that it comes with ample storage. It offers around 53GB of internal storage which can be further expanded to 128GB via microSD card. What is not that good? There is nothing much to complain about the device, but Gionee could have certainly come up with a better design. It is heavy and weighs 210 grams and the sharp edges make it difficult to operate with one hand. The battery life of the device is not something to boast about. The 3,500 mAh battery can last a day at max. Verdict If you are looking to buy a 6-inch smartphone, then the Elife E8 is no doubt a good choice. It's a complete package in itself. However, the ambitious Elife E8 at a price of Rs 34,999 may not make the cut especially while competing with the likes of Motorola, HTC, Samsung or even an older iPhone.
