Whenever I see a company announcing the newest smartphone that also happens to be the slimmest in the world I tend to roll my eyes immediately, thinking that device makers should first figure out how to deliver great smartphone battery life, and then further shrink down the size of their phones. It’s not even surprising to see that iPhone 6 owners wouldn’t mind the device being a bit thicker if that meant having better battery life.
But I will admit that I saw one product at MWC that made me understand why some of you want even slimmer smartphones.
FROM EARLIER: Apple doesn’t need to make the iPhone any thinner
Unfortunately, it’s the one product that you can’t easily purchase, unless you plan to go on a trip in China, India or any other Asian markets where the phone will be actually available in stores.
I’m talking about the Gionee Elife S7, the new Android beast that was unveiled at the show, which measures just 5.5mm in thickness.
Before anything else, you’ll have to know that the Elife S7 is really a monster of a phone when it comes to hardware. The device packs a 5.2-inch AMOLED display with 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) resolution, 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6752 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, no microSD card, 13-megapixel camera, 8-megapixel front-facing camera, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, dual SIM slot, LTE support, 2,750 mAh battery and Android 5.0 Lollipop.
In other words, the device should offer a great experience by today’s standards, so the company didn’t make a slim phone just to brag about that achievement while disregarding specs or design.
In terms of build quality the Elife S7 seems to be as sturdy as they get, though admittedly, I have no idea how such a slim device handles drops or bending. The company says it’s using an aviation-grade aluminum magnesium alloy for the phone’s chassis, which should make it even more durable and resistant to bending than competing products.
In addition to being just 5.5mm thin, the phone’s other measurements are 139.8mm (height), 67.4mm (width) and 126.5g (weight). Yes, it feels great in your hand, and I totally get why slimmer handsets are so appealing.
The front and back of the phone are protected by Gorilla Glass 3, and overall, the Elife S7 looks like a bigger, yet sleeker iPhone 4/4S version that’s very pleasant to handle.
With all that in mind, you shouldn’t expect the Elife S7 to be that affordable, assuming you can find one, considering it’s supposed to be a flagship device with great build quality. The gadget will be launched later this month, priced at €399 in Europe.
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