Gionee’s Elife series has for the most time been a smartphone series targeted at the shutterbug. The newest installment from the Elife franchise — the Elife E8 lives up to the tradition.
The phone suffered a couple of leaks a few hours before its official unveil, but Gionee appears to have managed to keep the USP from leaking for the launch event… and that happens to be the phone’s ability to take 120 mega-pixel pictures. OPPO first surprised the tech world by announcing the 50 mega-pixel photo capabilities of the Find 7, but that is now trumped, and how.
The Elife E8, as speculated, is powered by the MediaTek MT6795 aka Helio X10 octa-core 64-bit CPU along with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of on-board storage. There’s also a microSD slot for when the provided storage isn’t enough. The star of the Elife E8 show, naturally, is the 24 mega-pixel main camera. If you’re wondering how the 24 mega-pixel sensor takes 120 mega-pixel photos, here’s your answer: software. The software on the E8 allows it to ‘stitch’ together super high res photos from the available hardware.
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The sensor takes advantage of PDAF (phase detection autofocus) to have a super fast focus speed, which according to Gionee lies between 0.08-0.20 seconds (that is crazy fast).
The Elife E8 has a 6-inch 2560 x 1440 pixel display and an 8 mega-pixel front camera, and is powered by a 3520mAh battery. Amigo UI 3.1 takes charge of software on the device, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. A fingerprint sensor sits beneath the 24 mega-pixel main camera of the Elife E8.
Now for the part that might be a little disappointing for some: price. The Elife E8 will set you back by 2299 Yuan (US$645) if you’re in China. Those in Europe can hope for Allview to bring the device to their markets in the form of the X2 Xtreme, but others will have to rely on Chinese resellers to get their hands on the Elife E8.
Gionee Elife E8 Gallery
“The Elife E8 will set you back by 2299 Yuan (US$645) if you’re in China”
That’s 3999CNY (645$) , 2299 is the price for the other new Gionee.
Interesting GSMArena (who published first) made the exact same typo with the price…
interesting how the price listed by anther source ( i think it was PA) said that the price was equal to USD $554 in romania. Funny how the chinese version is costing more.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Gionee-Elife-E8-unveiled-in-Romania-as-the-Allview-X2-Xtreme_id70286
Too rich for my blood, unfortunately.
120 Mp !!! YEah , like that , every photo i take will get 3 go of space !!! Sooo usefull x)
Anyway good phone
Mama Mia! That’s a lot of money for a MediaTek based phone! Sort of like putting a TATA engine in a Lexus. Even the soon to be introduced Meizu MX5 wouldn’t go near MediaTek and opted for the Exynos7420 instead. We’ll see who comes out on top in a few months.
Mediatek isn’t too bad these days , don’t under-estimate them pretty soon Qualcomm is bound to fail with their over-heating Snap-dragons , we need competition. The SD 810 is over-hyped and causing problems on pretty much every phone it’s on.
Yes exynos is the best right now , but unless your Meizu ,Samsung won’t let anyone use it.
I don’t get into the “X processor brand is the best/worst” wars, I think they all make good and bad SoC’s. The newest MTK Soc’s though are some of the best available on the market. They are no longer the cheap, underpowered devices people know them for.
As for Tata many of their engines are actually made by Fiat, who make some of the best engines in the world. Tata is aggressively moving to produce their own engines for two of their most famous brands: Land Rover and Jaguar (due to expiring deals with Ford soon). They already have on plant in the UK and are opening a second in the US to make nothing but engines for those two brands. Those engines would be more than powerful for a Lexus.
$645 … WOW!!!
Epic fail.
I wanted to comment on this article but I’ve become speechless after reading the price.
Very expensive phone. I have my doubts about 24Mpx camera, I need to see some low light photos. Also 100Mpx photos are a gimmick, look at Oppo’s 50Mpx photos, they are definitely not that good as you’d hope. I live in Romania, and I read somewhere that Allview will pre-sale this phone at around 550$. Still kinda’ expensive…
The 24mp is most likely the OV23850 (actually 23.8mp). Gionee almost exclusively uses OV sensors and every Gionee I have ever used has had a very good to excellent camera. I have no doubts this one will be amazing as well.
The previous Gionee (E7) had an OV camera with 16 Mpx and 1.3 microns per pixel. What specs does OV23850 have? I’m much more interested in pixel size than pixel count. And to be honest, 16 Mpx is already too much for a phone.
A man speaking my language. I am with you MP’s is one of the worst way to judge a camera. But people think bigger numbers means better, the same reason a lot of people quote Antutu for performance and think it means something.
As for the 23850 here is the product listing: http://www.ovt.com/products/category.php?id=35
hahaahaa.. 645$. For a chineese gionee phone with mediatek soc. U kidding me. LoooooL… 😀
I can get a note 4 for that price.! This phone and brand should be compiting with xiaomi and asus, with Sub 400 or max 450$.
Last year gionee was good because the launched e7 with sd800 at a good price.
This year, tey have been an epic fail at every phone launch with their ridiculas over pricing..!
you do realize this is faster than the SD 800 by almost 2x-3x in geek bench and Antutu , yes those benchmarks aren’t everything , but tell me what game your running that even needs this much power ? unless you bent on the snapdragon brand name , you won’t really get better performance with a SD 810.
P.S this should score above 55,000 on Antutu. faster than a SD 805 on the Note 4.
which is good enough for a flagship
I’m not defending Gionee ,Personally I’m no fan of Gionee’s especially the Amigo software, but just saying don’t underestimate the Helio chips they’ll probably beat the SD 810 , 820 thermal ovens.
SD vs Meditek is getting heated up, the days of SD dominating are over. wish people would stop being blind Qualcomm fans for no reason other than brand name.
Always love the “epic fail” comments from people have no clue what they are talking about.
Like Seven pointed out the SoC in this is a lot more powerful than an 800. The Note 4 with 64GB ROM retails for $749 according to Samsung. It as an excellent phone if you can get one for the same price as this go for it.
Neither Xiaomi or Asus have released a phone that can compete with this.
Helio x10 scores right about Note 4 in Antutu. And Helio x20 destroys Galaxy S6 did you know that? I bet no. Moreover: it doesn’t overheating and throttling like the shitty SD810 which Snapdragon never admitted was having a problems! Because they don’t care much about the market, they don’t see a competition in the face of MTK – unfortunately things has changed.
SD800 was a great chip at the time elife e7 was launched. -_-
2. Power vr6200 is worse than adreno 330 in sd801. + this is running Quad hd. Lol. u r makng it sound like 2k is a good thing for this phone with this soc. Lol.
3. Asus zenfone 2 with intel z3580 and 4gb ram scores around 50k on antutu. And is avail for less than 400$.!
4.Helio x20 is a diff chip. And its gpu performance wil
be similar to 1 year old adreno330 on sd801. -_-
5. By the time helio x20 i comimg out, u can forget compiting with snapdragon 820 and their custom cores.
CPU is capable of handleing things as every other soc. Screen resolution and gpu performance is what changing fast. This chip with quad hd screen. Nice joke.!
6. Gionee built a so called camera centric flagship with a helio x10 chip and all the have to brag is a soft that can stitch image? And PDAF thats avail. on other phones as well.
Were did the 1080P 480fps video go??
btw, whr is mediatek pump fast charge? a 640$ so called flagship without evn fast charge. Lol.
7. 3gb lpddr3 ram. For a price of 640$? wht r we in 2013? lol.!
4gb ram, 3gb lpddr4. Thats a 2015 flagship worthy of that price tag.!
+amigo ui is crap, with slowest updates ever.
Stop running around antutu. Every aspect of a soc shld be capable. Gpu is pathetic to say the least.!
In india, both note 4 and s6 is avail for under 700$. evn the sony xpria z3. And these are way more trsted brands than gionee.
Btw. helio x20 is not coming till 2016, probably till s7. Did you know that?
At this price point, its a complete epic fail.
In india, price of 40k for a gionee phone. Lol. Big joke.!
P.S – Oneplus 2 will launch for less price, meizu mx5 is rumered too. lenovo vibe x3 is due as well. wait for those device. xshot sucessor should come soon too i hope.
This untrusted, bd service, chineese phone is not worth the price tag. This should be at 450$ max.
i agree 810 hs issues, but both 808, 805 would hav had capable cpu and much much better gpus.
mediatek ruins soc with its gpu.
Boo!
The price counts me out, more than i ever imagined it would be, still nothing about the aperture size. Shame as i so wanted this phone.
Yeah, quite disappointing.
I hope it will be discounted like the Elife E7 someday.
All Gionee’s start out with a high price tag and eventually get discounted, usually when they are shipped out to Gionees rebrands (like Blu in the US) they drop the price.
Trouble is that won’t be till next year and I need a phone now! Lol
Where do you live?
I’m in the UK. Rarely get taxed on phones/tablets so I don’t take that into consideration when buying like some people on here seem to.
Yea I have had pretty good luck with customs in both countries I live (Thailand and the US). Thailand screens certain resellers but if I tell the reseller to use a plain box they usually will and I have no issues.
holy shiit I can buy jiayu s3 and a digital camera for that amount of money
or 33 chinese nokia 3310 XD certainly is not the same phone…
I’ll wait for it to be released as the Blu Life Pure XL 2 or whatever name they have planned and it costs $299.
That’s better! I really can’t tell one reason why I would pay $650 for a Gionee Elife E8 and not just buy the world’s most anticipated phone by now Galaxy S6 for $700……lol
My wife has the S6 and while it is a good phone it’s not as amazing as everyone is making it out to be due to two key flaws. The battery on it is horrendous, especially with a 2k screen, she is lucky to get through a full work day without needing to charge it. The camera is amazing as long as you have plenty of light. Once the light is gone so too is the amazing camera.
Yeah I was told by friends that the battery life isn’t that great. That’s a fact. I just used the S6 for example to show how the price compares to. If you ask me I would buy LG G4 all day long.
I love the G4 on paper and I love the camera. But that design is one of the most hideous things I have ever seen. I like leather, I like phones, I don’t like them together. The phone I would get above all others right now is the phone I already have, the Xiaomi Mi4. Whenever I think about a new phone I always come back to comparing it to my Mi4 and it never stacks up overall.
The whole reason i was interested in china phones is because of the cheap price they ask for there smartphones. That is why the one plus one was such a success, a phone that could keep up with the big boys for half the price. Now they become like every other mayor company that had a taste of success and like always raise there prices way up for specs that for now only look good on paper.
Gionee has never really been that cheap Chinese phone brand at least for flagships, they do have some decent cheaper offerings (but they are not flagship level). They are using some of the best components presently available which is why the cost is so sky high, it’s not like they are just charging for a brand name and releasing the same exact phone (with minor changes) as last year (like some of the big boys do).
But there are still plenty of cheap Chinese phones with quality specs like Jiayu, Asus, Elephone, Umi and Ulefone.
I cant remember a Gionee phone for $645,- but when they ask that price it doesnt come with the 2 year mandatory warranty like they have on the big boys where i come from (europe), They don’t come and pick my phone up at my house if it brakes down which they do here. have to send it back to china and pay for the schipping fee. And i cant put an insurance on my phone which i can do on one of the big boys for 9,- euro’s a month. Then even by my mistake will get replaced. Samsung Galaxy note 4 costs here 559,- note edge 625,- s6 607,- all under Gionee’s price
european laws offers you the 2 years warranty…not apple,samsung,etc… is the laws
The laws are put on the company’s, europe doesnt give you warranty or there laws, the company does if they want to sell there product in europe. You can not bring back an apple phone to brussel and say give me a new phone, you go to an apple store. Apple give’s or gave 1 year warranty in the U.S. for there products and wanted to do that in europe. But european laws forbid apple to sell anything here if they or there resellers gave the 2 years warranty. But my point was that the 2 year warranty doesn’t apply to the Gionee phone, so the price of $645 without the warranty is much of them to ask when with the other brands you will get that here.
“But my point was that the 2 year warranty doesn’t apply to the Gionee phone…” if they shell the phone in europe,yes.like apple,samsung,etc… if you buy it to a reseller in china no (like if you buy an apple or a samsung in a chinese reseller )
Yes that is why i put in my earlier post (mandatory) because it is mandatory in europe. they demand it from the company’s that they give the 2 year warranty. Or else they cant sell there products here. So i say it again Gionee sells there phones from china with so they dont give you these warranty’s because it doesnt apply to them, so for someone from here the price is quit expensive, especially when you put it next to the big brands with the warranty. Nothing more nothing less.
surely you can buy it stores like topresellerstore ( italy,2 year warranty ) technospain (spain,2 year warranty ) etc…they give you 2 year warranty too 🙂
Yes maybe you can but look what will happen with the price. it wont be for $645 anymore.
http://www.samsung.com/es/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/galaxy-s/SM-G920FZDAPHE?catnm=Galaxy+S6&catid=MC0106 s6 cost 699 euro ( 32 gb version )
the elife e7 ( launch 2013 price 525$ https://www.gizchina.com/2013/11/26/gionee-elife-e7-launched-full-specifications-perfect-camera-phone/ ) now 194 euro
the samsung galaxy note 3 ( launch 2013 price 900$ http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-review ) now 447 euro
and… if you buy the samsung in corea or china ( resellers ) whats the price diference whith the european version?? is the same price everywere?
You really don’t get it do you?
My point with the E7 was not the price drop but the difference in price from a reseller which you claim gives 2 year warranty. (194 euro)
Compaired with the price of a reseller that ships from china without the 2 year warranty (149 euro). so the $645 of the gionee will be even more expensive from a reseller that wil give that 2 year warranty.
And for me the s6 costs 607,-
http://www.beste365.nl/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=125
and my statement with that was the price/warranty/tech-support you get here from a big brand flagship phone compared to the E8 $645,- which makes it unappealing for me to even consider this phone.
Just looked it up for you, the older gionee e7 at techospain 194,- euro
http://www.technospain.es/buscar?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=gionee+elife&submit_search=Buscar
If you order it from china with free shipping it costs 149,- euro
http://en.efox-shop.com/gionee-elife-e7-qualcomm-snapdragon-800-22ghz-quad-core-55-zoll-fhd-bildschirm-android-44-3g-smar-g-298542
Thats a 45,- euro difference. more than $50
+tax if you buy it from china. So it’s about 22 – 25% in most cases, so let say 35$ more.
If you buy it in EU, for 15$ you are getting warrenty(if shop don’d close out in next 2years), you don’t have to wait month to have it, and you can easy take it back in7 days if something is wrong.
I would go for spanish option in this case
Yes i would so to but you are missing my point. i agree with you all but i will say it again, the already expensive price of $645 will be more expensive from european resellers who give warranty, so the price will even increase more over here which wil make it even less apealing to buy. Thats why i gave the Gionee E7 > example < from a european warehouse and the price of china direct shipping.
Gionee has several companies that rebrand there phones and offer a full warranty in those countries. Like Blu in the US.
Well if thats true then its definitely more appealing. But my reply was on the $645 of course and willing to risk that money without the warrenty’s. Just a price/risk calculation. Thats why most people here will go for a cheaper china phone because its worth the risk if its brakes down. And when they spend big money on a phone, the bigger brands are still more appealing compared thats why china phone reviewers like s7yler and itxtutor have the samsung s6 edge as there personal phones.
China reviewers have the S6 edge as their main pone because it is an amazing phone with amazing hardware, for guys who get free phones almost monthly a warranty was probably the last thing they thought of. I would own a Samsung if I didn’t hate their software and looks.
I can totally understand your point tho I would never spend $645 on something without a warranty. Although actually getting companies to honor warranties can be another nightmare in itself. Personally I would never spend more than $400 on any phone regardless of the brand, it is too easy these days to find something with comparable specs for a cheaper price.
Yes that whas actually what i was trying to say that in your case $400 is your limit you would spend en for that money you probably want to go with a china brand for what you get for it in return. Thats why i was shocked with the $645 even do it has killer specs, and as you mentioned they rebrand it blu… something and sell it for $299.
Blu is an American brand that sells Gionee phones as Blu phones. They usually get the latest flagship from Gionee about 6 months later and sell it for under $400. Think the most expensive one they had was $399 but that didn’t last long.
You re wrong – they re 2 completely separate things. Warranty is provided by the producer and it can only be one year, or can be more, for ex. 3 years.
Sellers responsibility for the iteam is guaranteed by EU and lasts 2 years.
yep… i say “laws offers” because if not they give us one year only,or not?
‘Not’ is the answer. They can easily offer more than two years. I’ve seen some Chineese re-branded phones with 3 years warranty in EU.
No but you also can’t remember a Gionee phone with 2k screen, 64gb rom (standard model) 3gb ram and a 24mp camera. Those all cost money plus the phone itself is bigger than anything they have ever released. More material costs more money.
Yes but you have to look at the specs for its time, earlier models did also have specs which where new at that time, you cant expect every time a company brings out a new phone with updated specs to constantly increase the price. That will leave us with $5000 phones in the next 5 years. And my point was that the price is to close compared to the big brand phones and the extra offerings and also mentioned the one plus one which was half the price of the big brands and made it very compelling to buy.
You also have to look at the value of the US dollar at the time those phones were released (adjusting for currency change a lot of the older models would have debuted for over $400 and $500 using today’s values) but those were also 5 and 5.5 inch phones which use less material than a 6 inch phone. A 6 inch phone uses more plastic, aluminum, glass etc to build it. And when you use high quality parts those prices add up very quickly. You also have to look at Gionee itself, it is becoming one of the biggest cell phone companies in the world. As a good friend (Maxpower) pointed out to me as these companies get bigger they have bigger operating costs, advertising, distribution etc. Those costs all have to be justified somehow.
One Plus One is a “startup” with a few dozen employees, one product and only one official way to buy it. Big brothers Oppo and Vivo sell their flagships for the same prices as Gionee. As OPO starts to get bigger so to will their prices. In fact there is already reports of the OPO 2 costs more this time around. Xioami who sells their phones with a very low price structure and hopes to recoup the prices through long term sales and the MIUI store. Their flagship the Note Pro was selling for over $500 at one point, resellers sell it for over $600.
“The Elife E8 will set you back by 2299 Yuan (US$645) if you’re in China” … 2299 Yuan = 371 USD …
“a lot of money” “very expensive” …. if they put an apple in the rear how much more the phone cost?? XD compare 5,5 full hd dualcore 1gb ram and a apple : 943 $ (only 830$ with the 16 gb rom version no sd )
nice one, but i would rather buy xperia z4 tablet, or some cheaper Pipo, Onda,Cube…
i mean, when i allready need to use it with two hends, at least it shoud be 8′
price more or less, for China it is ok for premium brand, but in Europe no one will buy it (ok, some will, when go to travel in China, buy it and not paying tax), but it is just to big to be smartphone and to small to be tablet.
645USD Hahahaha – I don’t see them selling tons of it. No way!
It will be a great phone to buy in 18months time, for great price – just like E7 now …
Can I say?
WOAH!
I know, it’s 100% sw, it’s f4ke, mpx don’t make a photo “good”,ecc but I’d like to try it, I just see that it’s already in europe (Romania) as Allview X2 Soul Xtreme, european warranty at 490€.
There are “better” (in terms of availability, after-sales support and build quality) for the same price
I love how this phone proves people here only want cheap Chinese phones. Even if the specs are identical or even better, everyone still abandons ship the second they become expensive as a G4, Nexus 6, S6 or Note 4.
Looks like the cheap stigma is sticking so Chinese brands still have their work cut out for them.
The specs are not very good. 7 months old ones have as good or better. For example Note’s Exynos (and probably the camera) is/are better while Nexus 6’s software (pure android) is better.
I have no problem with expensive devices as long as they bring sth genuinely new, this one doesn’t. It reminds me of iPhone 6 plus. Mostly flash , little substance.
I think that the price is only a part of the problem.
If you are comparing phones sold locally with a phones that comes from China here is what comes to my mind. I wouldn’t mind to pay $600/$700 or maybe more for a phone but you have to get some guarantees with that deal. If you buy the phone from a China reseller you basically have no guarantees that you receive an OK unit and then if the seller refuses to communicate with you, you are screwed and $600 or whatever is gone (ok, you might be covered with Paypal protection for DOA phones but what if it happens after that Paypal protection?).
I think in case of budget phones most people are willing to accept the risk that they will end up with a brick (instead of a phone) but they (and I also) are not willing to end up with an expensive brick… If the after sale service of China phones would be the same as for phones sold in your country then the situation would be different.
Well said, it’s always the risk if an expensive phone dies 6 months later and you have no warranty and you have to buy again. Hopefully we will start seeing more service centres in Europe over the coming years to deal with this issue, although I’m pretty certain the trade off for us consumers will be higher prices with Chinese phones retailing at similar prices to branded ones.
I had x1 xtreme ( gionee elife e7 i think ) bought in Romania from Allview, same gpu/cpu like samsung s5 but with 3gb ram. After 1 year i got a yellow stain on my display, i got the screen replaced in 4 days, they had Service in other town but they founded phone expedition to them and back to me. I was scarred because i heard alot of bad things about Allview customer service, but it turned ok to me , and overall the phone x1 xtreme was ok, i dont regret i bought it. For x2 xtreme i would not buy it because there are phones at same price range and better, like lg g5 for example.
i don’t like it that they make big news about the 100mpx foto’s.
it is just software. would you buy a phone with sensor 2,4Mpx to shoot photo’s of 12Mpx.
I don’t like this phone. 6 inch is too big just like the price. this phone is a fail
i look forward to the bluboo x500
With US$645 I can get an excellent branded phone with support and most importantly, a service center in my country. I am sure to have at least a year of warranty, one to one replacement within a few days, a pick up and delivery service for servicing. ANd I can inspect the phones personally before I put down the cash. 120 mp camera? Ah, forget it. A 20 mp photo is far more than enough for viewing and printing.
If chinese brands want to get acceptance and reputation in china it usually goes by a higher asking price as this oozes quality. its a different way of thinking..and china is with x billions their main market, they can’t afford to set up operations, tech and so on abroad or higher western style marketeers…
Gionees main market is actually India. But Xiaomi and Oneplus are proof that you don’t need to charge higher prices to have a reputation for quality.