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Gionee Elife 7 price slashed to an unbelievable $182

Ying HuaFebruary 4, 2015

The flagship Gionee Elife E7 is now on sale at an amazing sub $200 price tag! Is this Snapdragon 800 phone still worth a shot?

Last year Gionee launched their flagship Gionee Elife E7. The launch was a big shock to Chinese phone follows as not only did Gionee ditch Mediatek for Qualcomm, but they also packed their then new phone with an amazing 16 mega-pixel rear camera.

The Gionee Elife E7 was and still is a great package, but when it originally launched it had some really hot competition from Xiaomi, Oppo and plenty of other phone makers meaning sales were a little thin on the ground.

International reseller prices were also high at launch too, which didn’t help the phone sell with customers from around the world.

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At it’s new retail price of only $182 though, the Gionee Elife E7 might have another shot. For a sub $200 phone to ship with a Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB RAM, 16 mega-pixel rear camera, 8 mega-pixel front and 5.5-inch FHD display is pretty rare. In fact only the JiaYu S3 comes close, but at that price you are only getting 2GB RAM and no NFC.

There is the issue that the phone has just Android 4.2 and doesn’t support LTE, but for the hardware and rear camera alone the Elife E7 is a great deal.

Would you consider buying this last-gen flagship at a it’s new mid-range price point or do you prefer to stick with the new breed of Chinese smartphones?

[ Efoxshop ]

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About the author
Ying Hua
I'm an avid gamer and a bit of a Ninja when it comes to gadgets and technology. When I'm not busy with the latest Android and iOS games and I can be found writing at Gizchina.com.

- Manos
  February 4, 2015
  Just 2500!! I don’t know too many phones and have great performance this year and yes this is better than Jiayu S3 for sure. For all the gods update the phone!
  - Luciano Gerace
    February 6, 2015

Steve B
February 4, 2015
- Muhammad Yasir
  February 5, 2015
  - Steve B
    February 5, 2015
    I took a gamble on the Ecoo Aurora in the vain hope the camera would live up to the rest of the specs (and it’s available in a couple of days, not weeks/months like P7000). There are now some sample from Coolicool, file link in description at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE71KMX42Z0. Pics look OK, but quite noisy even in daylight so possibly interpolated from 13mp and would need to see true 13mp pics to judge better.
    But I have used an Iuni U2 recently and the pics from that blew me away, so this Gionee (for pics at least) should be sweet.
    - Muhammad Yasir
      February 5, 2015
      well , i hope the aurora serves u well and the camera is better than ever. obviously we cant say right now , whether the camera is interpolated or not but the SoC in the phone definitely supports 16 mp TRUE camera. so we’ll have to wait for that.
      on the bright side , Ecoo is newer tech and has 4G plus the 64 bit procc and upcoming android 5.0 ota update , all of which will never come to elife 7.
      I’d love to hear about your experience with the Ecoo aurora. DO tell us how’d u fare once your receive your phone!
      - Steve B
        February 5, 2015
Riccardo Benzoni
February 4, 2015
a no-brainer for 160€, almost half the price of the nexus 5 and very good camera. Custom roms take care of android version!
- 2s4you
  February 4, 2015
  - RoS
    February 5, 2015
    - 2s4you
      February 5, 2015
      Yep, and on the beginning of the clip stay:….Android 4.4 System.
      I can’t find any KK version on Gionee E7.
      But I found this:
      Chetan Bhawani Mod Jayaprakash Pk • 16 days ago
      ”We’re told the latest that KitKat is due this month or in Feb.”
      If KK realy come on Gionee E7, then is Riccardo B. absolutely right.
      I prefer stable KK above Lollipop with bugs.
    - jalebi Singh
      February 24, 2015
      there is the old version with 2/16, and a refreshed version 3/32. under $200 for the 3/32 version
  - Riccardo Benzoni
    February 5, 2015
    - 2s4you
      February 5, 2015
      Could be … but the seller is the clip uploader and there stay Android KK.
      That why i’m confused.
      I think, if the seller come with clarancy about what EXACTLY he have to sell,
      than I’m seriously interested in Gionee E7.
  - Leslie Lee
    February 6, 2015
    - 2s4you
      February 7, 2015

Ricardo
February 4, 2015
do you know if it will ever be updated? at least to kit-kat?
ferdi
February 4, 2015
are there good custom ROMs out for this? the “fake call” function I laighed at but it is handy to have for excuse to get out of a sticky situation haha
Rob
February 4, 2015
I’m pretty sure it’s only $164 so even better value as I was tempted this morning.
- RoS
  February 5, 2015
  - Rob
    February 5, 2015
    - Steve B
      February 5, 2015
      - Rob
        February 5, 2015
        Yes it’s gone up today! There is a $6 voucher available though, possibly more if you search. There conversion rates (to UK £) I find is pretty generous though!
        Luis Silva
        February 5, 2015
        Use my antelife cupoun for 5$: antelifecoupon5 🙂
        Rob
        February 5, 2015
- Leslie Lee
  February 6, 2015

Roger
February 4, 2015
- RoS
  February 17, 2015
Roger
February 4, 2015
Sadly, just like the new Jiayu phone I can’t use this as has no WCDMA 850Mhz support.
Having said that, the past few Chinese phones have officially supported the 850Mhz band but reception on this band has been absolutely abysmal.
- Mik
  February 6, 2015
  which countries use the 850mhz band? I always find it difficult to find up to date tables with required bands.
  - MaxPower
    February 9, 2015

Abir
February 4, 2015
Have the 2gb version lying infront of me. Everything is awesome and built to industry leading standards. Only problem- Gionee themselves, they shaft us by providing no updates what so ever and the “AMIGO UI” will drive you nuts at times.

SpeedinDeath
February 5, 2015
I have the 3 GB version for the past one year. The best part is the camera. It takes mind blowing pictures most of the time and much better than recent flagships out there even in this day. Hardware capabilities are of no concern for this phone as everything is well taken care off. The only cause for concern is that there is still no update to kit kat and i suppose there will never be one. And another thing to add, there are no such custom roms which will help you to upgrade to kit kat..
Oh and if you want specifics of the camera, then i would say though it takes very good pictures, it has a big shot to shot and this handset has a tendency to lower the shutter speed to 1/12 or 1/8 or sometimes even 1/4 seconds to grab more light, especially in the dark surroundings. You will have to have a very stable hand to get a blurless shot and have to be patient too since you might have to take 3 – 4 pics to get the best one. but when it does, it takes a hell of a picture.
At this price cut its much better than any phone in the market in the similar price range. Just prepare your mind that it will forever be stuck at android 4.2.2. I currently own a Oneplus One, but i still miss my gionee e7 camera for its sheer quality.
- Steve B
  February 5, 2015
  - SpeedinDeath
    February 5, 2015
    Yes, its same for the other apps, unless you are shooting specifically in sports/action mode, but in that case, resolution gets lowered to 4 – 5 mpixels. Another thing i noticed, the best processing of the pictures after they are taken is done by the the default camera app(excellent noise reduction and clarity), the other third party app cannot compete in that regard, except they have more functionalities.
    - Steve B
      February 5, 2015
      Thanks for the reply. So I guess then the Iuni U2 might be the better choice for this camera combo as, as well as 60fps video, it might have other improvements as well.
- Kleautzak
  February 10, 2015
Nicola
February 5, 2015
- Leslie Lee
  February 6, 2015
  if you live in Europe I would recommend you Z5S because efox-shop.com has it in their DE warehouse
  - Nicola
    February 7, 2015

Venci
February 5, 2015
eeh 4.2 is just too old for me
desponent
February 5, 2015
Ugly design with toy like colors.

Lazar Prodanovic
February 5, 2015
Well the good old S800 is still quite good performer!
Krait 300(&400) CPU cores give 3.39 DMIPS/MHz compared to 2.3 of A53. It’s not a real hi end any more but who cares. The front where S800 still represents brake true compared to any MTK or even Exynus is a GPU. The A330 is still fantastic performer in mobile front. Now when you can even find S800 based phones in lower mid range for around 250-300€ they represent absolute best buy (in this moment).
If you want a phone that will last long with software updates & costume ROM’s support (not to Mention bands) stick to famous brands. For instance I managed to find a Xperia Z Ultra for as little as 243€ (for in cash payment) its hugest phablet up to date with bad camera & Preaty good quantum dot IPS. I also found Xperia Z1 for 300€.
They still have official Sony’s support with Lollipop coming & official support for AOSP & CM.
Then again Allview (Rumunia EU) have two really interesting models the: X1 extreme (299€) & X1 extreme mini (249€). The mini one is particularly interesting & probably best 4.7″ phone currently available on market.
They come with Kit Kat & have Allview support but don’t expect miracles, their is no costume ROM’s for them but they are genuine EU product’s & competitive one’s.
I especially wanted to mention Allview as they are one of rare EU phone makers that mostly use MTK SoC’s & are high competitive even to Chinese manufacturer’s.
- Lukas
  February 5, 2015
  allview X1 etreme mini is rebranded iuni u2, which you can get for about 190 $ on aliexpres and the non mini X1 is rebranded elife E7 🙂
  - Lazar Prodanovic
    February 5, 2015
    You are totally right about it! We just made a brake thrue! We actually found a Kit Kat 4.4.2. For Elife E7 & one with probably better localization. I am also pretty much shore that iso snoap of radio/ baseband partition could resolve LTE problems. 😉
    Still with this one no SD card support is a real deal breaker (to big for me). They had to blow it up to save 50¢ & this is somehow topical.

Tas
February 5, 2015
Guys I am new here and on the Chinese made phones. I found a very good deal online and the specs look amazing. How come noone mention a phone like that? Can you please check the link and let me know what you think and if i should buy it? I really like the 2000+ screen Thank you
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/free-shipping-new-phone-2015-mobile-phone-andriod-Eight-core-processor-5-7-Inch-4GB-RAM/32253071110.html
hah , got it from Antelife. I love it so much. cool phone with best camera.

Leslie Lee
February 6, 2015
yes efox-shop! I got my e7 from efox-shop.com because of this man!!!hahahhaha!!
BUT he seems to have a gf………………..sign…….
http://en.efox-shop.com/gionee-elife-e7-qualcomm-snapdragon-800-22ghz-quad-core-55-zoll-fhd-bildschirm-android-44-3g-smar-g-298542?home_A1
efox-shop
February 6, 2015
Here a pic from rear and front camera I took.
Building is shot by rear and the chocolat sauce by front camera.
Because of compress to upload the pic they maybe worse then they really are.
Liam
February 7, 2015
Housing is identical to Jiayu G6
pedro
February 7, 2015