Gionee W909, S8 go official in China

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).

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

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Yash Garg
Yash is a blogger by profession, builder of things by passion and foodie by birth. You'll usually find him talking about technology, music, travel and the game of cricket on the streets of Pune when not busy writing or speeding his way through the country! Read more on retro handheld gaming on RETRO91

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“Hey, german friend of mine, what do you think of w909’s design?”
The Special Juan
March 29, 2016
- - - March 29, 2016
      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.
      - balcobomber25
        March 29, 2016
        It’s all good little buddy!
      - Joel Adames
        March 29, 2016
        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
        
        balcobomber25
        March 29, 2016
        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).
        Joel Adames
        March 29, 2016
        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…)
        balcobomber25
        March 29, 2016
        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.
    - SnowyCat
      March 29, 2016
      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.

balcobomber25
March 29, 2016
- MattD
  March 29, 2016
  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
  - balcobomber25
    March 29, 2016
    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.
    - MattD
      March 29, 2016
      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
      - balcobomber25
        March 29, 2016
        That’s the thing, I live in Asia most of the year it is a really small market for something like this.
        MattD
        March 29, 2016
        “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!
        Joel Adames
        March 29, 2016
        Maybe that’s why all of them are running with such a high price tag!!!
        They are charging a premium for them.
SPLEND1D
March 29, 2016
Karly Johnston
March 29, 2016
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  Worth every penny. Gionee and Vivo are the only two brands I will pay more than $400 for one of their phones.
  - Muhammad Yasir
    March 29, 2016
    - balcobomber25
      March 29, 2016
      - Muhammad Yasir
        March 30, 2016
    - Joel Adames
      March 29, 2016
      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.
      - Muhammad Yasir
        March 30, 2016
  - Karly Johnston
    March 29, 2016
    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.
    - balcobomber25
      March 29, 2016
      “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.
      - Andy Chan
        March 30, 2016
        balcobomber25
        March 30, 2016
        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.
        Andy Chan
        March 31, 2016
        then i will be waiting for the review
  - VMortens
    March 30, 2016
    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.

Assefa Hanson
March 29, 2016
cheaper than i expected actually
MattD
March 29, 2016
“Hey, german friend of mine, what do you think of w909’s design?”
The Special Juan
March 29, 2016
I want one…kitsch personified… If that is possible? Where is Deidre. I miss her!
- Yash Garg
  March 29, 2016
  she doesn’t work with GizChina anymore!
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  Any chance Gizchina will actually review the S8? Past Gionee’s haven’t been reviewed….
- Yash Garg
  March 29, 2016
  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.
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  It’s all good little buddy!
- SnowyCat
  March 29, 2016
  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.
- Joel Adames
  March 29, 2016
  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
- balcobomber25
  March 30, 2016
  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).
- Joel Adames
  March 30, 2016
  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…)
- balcobomber25
  March 30, 2016
  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.

balcobomber25
March 29, 2016
- MattD
  March 29, 2016
  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
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  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.
- MattD
  March 29, 2016
  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
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  That’s the thing, I live in Asia most of the year it is a really small market for something like this.
- MattD
  March 29, 2016
  “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!
- Joel Adames
  March 29, 2016
  Maybe that’s why all of them are running with such a high price tag!!!
  They are charging a premium for them.
SPLEND1D
March 29, 2016
Karly Johnston
March 29, 2016
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  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.
- Guest
  March 29, 2016
  but $615 is an overstatment … you have to admit bro
- Karly Johnston
  March 29, 2016
  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.
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  “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.
- balcobomber25
  March 29, 2016
  I was talking more about the S8 than that other thing.
- Joel Adames
  March 30, 2016
  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.
- Andy Chan
  March 30, 2016
  balco, is the s8 camera really that good? it will be interesting
- VMortens
  March 30, 2016
  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.
- balcobomber25
  March 30, 2016
  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.
- Guest
  March 30, 2016
  glad to hear that.
  whats your next move ?
- Guest
  March 30, 2016

Gionee’s clamshell W909 goes live in China along with the S8

Gizchina News of the week

Yash Garg

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