While many believe that clamshell phones are passé, the leaks around the Gionee W909 generated quite a bit of interest.
The very phone, along with the stylish (and more modern) S8 has gone official in Gionee’s home country of China. Both phones feature MediaTek’s new Helio P10 processor.
The W909 comes with 4GB of RAM, 64GB on-board ROM, and two displays, each being 4.2-inches in size and 1280 x 720p in resolution. A 16 mega-pixel camera sits on the rear of the phone while a 5 mega-pixel shooter graces the front.
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Despite the not so trendy design (and not the latest version of Android in v5.1 Lollipop), the W909 features some new-age tech including a USB Type-C port. It is powered by a 2530mAh battery.
We’ve already taken a look at the S8 at the MWC this year. It comes with the same P10 processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM but a completely different form factor. Besides, the S8 features a pressure sensitive ‘Force Touch’ display and a larger 3000mAh battery.
The S8 is priced at 2599 Yuan ($400) while the clamshell W909 will go for 3999 Yuan ($615).
“Hey, german friend of mine, what do you think of w909’s design?”
I want one…kitsch personified… If that is possible? Where is Deidre. I miss her!
she doesn’t work with GizChina anymore!
Any chance Gizchina will actually review the S8? Past Gionee’s haven’t been reviewed….
We definitely will if we manage to get a review sample. Apologies to you and everyone else though for the previous reviews which should have been posted.
It’s all good little buddy!
Yeah we don’t hold any any hate for not reviewing the Elife E8 when I was almost ready many times…. Jejeje. Was a bit sarcastic, but for real we did wanted you guys to review that one. I got an update 3 days ago that gave me a visible kill all apps button and some more battery time
Yea I was seriously considering it but was waiting for the review from Yash, him and I have very similar taste/usage in phones. Luckily a friend at Blu let me test it out for a week (same friend also got me exclusive access to the Gionee S8 at MWC).
You would have been not disappointed if you took the plunge… Excellent phone. Only quirk is size, but then the size is good for media consumption … I even sold my laptop because found myself not usosng is anymore. (Have plenty of other PCs to do work anyways…)
The size was the only thing I didn’t like about it. It was just a bit too bulky for me. I have used nearly every Blu model (owned 3 of them) and a few actual Gionee models. They are all excellent build and high quality components, software is the one thing that usually lets them down but Blu has been breaking away from using Gionee’s UI more and more. A lot of Blu models come with near stock Android now.
i would also be interisted in a review as i’m more interisted with meizu/gionee and vivo this year after xiaomi dissapointed me a bit with the mi5.
The S8 looks and feels even better in person!
One of the most simplier yet appealing looking smartphone seen so far, along with one of the more “peculiar” and ugly phone in history… Gionee doesn’t really like grey areas! lol
I don’t really understand the clamshell monstrosity. I belong to a lot of Android forums, there is no demand for such a thing that I have seen.
I’m assuming it’s an eastern thing, not really meant for western markets: even samsung did something like that, and it was indeed only for asian markets
That’s the thing, I live in Asia most of the year it is a really small market for something like this.
“small market” better than “no market”, i guess? Such phones have a very specific market, and it’s small as well… I guess producers know that right from the start, so they don’t aim for big sales, they just want to cover every possible market’s segment!
Maybe that’s why all of them are running with such a high price tag!!!
They are charging a premium for them.
quite cheap. not!
The S8 is actually cheaper than originally planned. It was supposed to be around $450!
Gionee is overpriced.
Worth every penny. Gionee and Vivo are the only two brands I will pay more than $400 for one of their phones.
but $615 is an overstatment … you have to admit bro
I was talking more about the S8 than that other thing.
oh
I’m glad they are out there as they feed devices to almost 4 other companies that I’m aware of, like BLU, so I’m grateful to them, for this Pure XL has been by far my best smartphone experience.
glad to hear that.
whats your next move ?
Typical newb response only looking at a spec sheet. The S8 has a P10 SoC that is indicative of a sub $200 device. The quality of NAND flash is low even for last year. Mediocre camera sensor and sub-par battery life do not make it a good value. Xiaomi uses higher quality components at much lower prices.
“Typical newb response” A newb who has owned and used more Chinese phones than nearly everyone here with the exception of Andi. Now for a “newb” comment:
“The S8 has a P10 SoC that is indicative of a sub $200 device. The quality of NAND flash is low even for last year. Mediocre camera sensor and sub-par battery life do not make it a good value”
The SoC is one of dozens of components that go into a phone, it is not the determining factor for price, it usually isn’t even the most expensive component, the display is. Gionee flagships always feature very good camera’s and this one is one of the best sensors available on the market today and it includes PDAF and Laser Focus. This “newb” had exclusive hands on time with this phone at MWC and the camera blew away the camera from the LG G5. As for battery life I didn’t realize you already tested it out and know the battery life of it, why don’t you provide those results for all of us to see. Otherwise your comment is a typical troll comment.
balco, is the s8 camera really that good? it will be interesting
They are using one of the brand new OV RWB sensors. From my hands on time it was incredible, obviously more testing is needed but Gionee usually doesn’t disappoint when it comes to cameras.
then i will be waiting for the review
It isn’t bad price, but I’m not really sure it’s really worth every penny. The OS support is really bad. They practically give up developing their shell shortly after release. It’s with Lollipop and I doubt it will get anything newer than that soon. Then, even if it gets it, I doubt it will be well done.
It wouldn’t be a problem if their software was really so nicely finished, but it usually isn’t. Not sure how it was with the ‘S’ series, but for my E7 well known issues haved never really been resolved. ‘Stage fright’ bug has only been resolved recently (after such a long time!) and I cannot install it alone – have to go for the whole update, containing only more Gionee bloatware besides the bugfix.
cheaper than i expected actually
“Hey, german friend of mine, what do you think of w909’s design?”
I want one…kitsch personified… If that is possible? Where is Deidre. I miss her!
she doesn’t work with GizChina anymore!
Any chance Gizchina will actually review the S8? Past Gionee’s haven’t been reviewed….
We definitely will if we manage to get a review sample. Apologies to you and everyone else though for the previous reviews which should have been posted.
It’s all good little buddy!
i would also be interisted in a review as i’m more interisted with meizu/gionee and vivo this year after xiaomi dissapointed me a bit with the mi5.
Yeah we don’t hold any any hate for not reviewing the Elife E8 when I was almost ready many times…. Jejeje. Was a bit sarcastic, but for real we did wanted you guys to review that one. I got an update 3 days ago that gave me a visible kill all apps button and some more battery time
Yea I was seriously considering it but was waiting for the review from Yash, him and I have very similar taste/usage in phones. Luckily a friend at Blu let me test it out for a week (same friend also got me exclusive access to the Gionee S8 at MWC).
You would have been not disappointed if you took the plunge… Excellent phone. Only quirk is size, but then the size is good for media consumption … I even sold my laptop because found myself not usosng is anymore. (Have plenty of other PCs to do work anyways…)
The size was the only thing I didn’t like about it. It was just a bit too bulky for me. I have used nearly every Blu model (owned 3 of them) and a few actual Gionee models. They are all excellent build and high quality components, software is the one thing that usually lets them down but Blu has been breaking away from using Gionee’s UI more and more. A lot of Blu models come with near stock Android now.
The S8 looks and feels even better in person!
One of the most simplier yet appealing looking smartphone seen so far, along with one of the more “peculiar” and ugly phone in history… Gionee doesn’t really like grey areas! lol
I don’t really understand the clamshell monstrosity. I belong to a lot of Android forums, there is no demand for such a thing that I have seen.
I’m assuming it’s an eastern thing, not really meant for western markets: even samsung did something like that, and it was indeed only for asian markets
That’s the thing, I live in Asia most of the year it is a really small market for something like this.
“small market” better than “no market”, i guess? Such phones have a very specific market, and it’s small as well… I guess producers know that right from the start, so they don’t aim for big sales, they just want to cover every possible market’s segment!
Maybe that’s why all of them are running with such a high price tag!!!
They are charging a premium for them.
quite cheap. not!
The S8 is actually cheaper than originally planned. It was supposed to be around $450!
Gionee is overpriced.
Worth every penny. Gionee and Vivo are the only two brands I will pay more than $400 for one of their phones. Besides there aren’t many phones with 4/64 for around $400.
but $615 is an overstatment … you have to admit bro
Typical newb response only looking at a spec sheet. The S8 has a P10 SoC that is indicative of a sub $200 device. The quality of NAND flash is low even for last year. Mediocre camera sensor and sub-par battery life do not make it a good value. Xiaomi uses higher quality components at much lower prices.
“Typical newb response” A newb who has owned and used more Chinese phones than nearly everyone here with the exception of Andi. Now for a “newb” comment of someone who really only looked at the spec sheet but has zero clue about what she speaks of:
“The S8 has a P10 SoC that is indicative of a sub $200 device. The quality of NAND flash is low even for last year. Mediocre camera sensor and sub-par battery life do not make it a good value”
The SoC is one of dozens of components that go into a phone, it is not the determining factor for price, it usually isn’t even the most expensive component, the display is. Gionee flagships always feature very good camera’s (usually from Omnivision) and this one is one of the best sensors available on the market today and it includes PDAF and Laser Focus with an F/1.8 aperture. This “newb” had exclusive hands on time with this phone at MWC and the camera blew away the camera from the LG G5 and was on par with the Samsung S7. It also features a dedicated HiFi chip.
When it comes to storage, memory and displays Gionee uses Samsung as it’s supplier. As for battery life I didn’t realize you already tested it out and know the battery life of it, why don’t you provide those results for all of us to see. Otherwise your comment is a typical troll comment.
I was talking more about the S8 than that other thing.
I’m glad they are out there as they feed devices to almost 4 other companies that I’m aware of, like BLU, so I’m grateful to them, for this Pure XL has been by far my best smartphone experience.
balco, is the s8 camera really that good? it will be interesting
It isn’t bad price, but I’m not really sure it’s really worth every penny. The OS support is really bad. They practically give up developing their shell shortly after release. It’s with Lollipop and I doubt it will get anything newer than that soon. Then, even if it gets it, I doubt it will be well done.
It wouldn’t be a problem if their software was really nicely finished, but it usually isn’t. Not sure how it was with the ‘S’ series, but for my E7 well known issues have never really been resolved. ‘Stage fright’ bug has only been resolved recently (after such a long time!) and I cannot install it alone – have to go for the whole update, containing only more Gionee bloatware besides the bugfix.
They are using one of the brand new OV RWB sensors. From my hands on time it was incredible, obviously more testing is needed but Gionee usually doesn’t disappoint when it comes to cameras.
glad to hear that.
whats your next move ?
oh
then i will be waiting for the review
cheaper than i expected actually
My mum would like this, but hellish price.
The quality is worth it… I hope BLU keeps doing business with them so we on this side of the planet can keep getting quality devices with lower retail at amazon ?
Blu uses a number of OEM’s in China to produce their phones. The S8 will be the next Blu Vivo phone though, probably late summer/early fall. A bit of a wait but when Blu sells the Gionee S phones it’s always for right around $199 so it’s worth the wait.
im in love with clamshell desgin phones BUT the price is dastardly !
My mum would like this, but hellish price.
The quality is worth it… I hope BLU keeps doing business with them so we on this side of the planet can keep getting quality devices with lower retail at amazon 😂
Blu uses a number of OEM’s in China to produce their phones. The S8 will be the next Blu Vivo phone though, probably late summer/early fall. A bit of a wait but when Blu sells the Gionee S phones it’s always for right around $199 so it’s worth the wait.
im in love with clamshell desgin phones BUT the price is dastardly !