Gionee's A1 flagship looks and feels like good value for money

This is the first time I will ever be reviewing a Gionee device of any kind. In fact, I barely knew anything (beyond its Chinese roots) about the company. Now that I’ve had an encounter with the brand [via its latest ‘flagship’ — my word not theirs — A1 smartphone], I have a few things to say.

The Gionee A1, I reviewed came in a sturdy White box which had the Gionee brand name and logo and an inscription of what I presume to be Sheyi Shay’s signature all inscribed in Gold, and an image of the phone with Sheyi Shay seemingly taking a selfie on it. All other specs and device are listed on the back of the box.

Inside the box is the Gionee A1, an earpiece, a power brick (charger), USB 3.0 cable, a SIM tray opener, an extra screen protector and some paperwork (warranties and all that). Overall, the packaging is well done and direct.

The phone itself packs some flagship specs. It carries a 5.5-inch FHD IPS display made of 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a 16MP selfie flash front-facing camera and 13MP rear camera, 4GB of RAM and a 32GB ROM which is expandable up to 256GB, an octa-core processor running at 2.0GHz, a 4010mAh battery, 4G LTE support, a fingerprint scanner (also the Home button), Bluetooth 4.0, and an Android 7.0 Nougat operating system.

My review unit is black — very black and the build feels really premium to the touch. Despite the fact that the A1 is not a small phone, it does have a great form factor. Its curved back and rounded screen/edges make it feel slimmer than it actually is.

ALSO READ: Chinese smartphone maker debuts new flagship exclusively on Konga

The glossy finish of the screen makes it a fingerprint magnet but I don’t mind wiping it off every now and then because the A1’s 5.5-inch FHD screen more than makes up for it. The design of the back of the Gionee A1 is very HTC-esque though, which does not win it any points in my book.

One design element that felt weird [especially when you’re holding it] is how the screen sits ontop of the A1’s main frame. It kind of feels like Gionee had finished building the phone and then remembered they had not tacked on the screen.

The On/Off button does have a nice wine accent to it which is a nice touch (and the only part of this phone that is not awesomely black) and it sits just below the volume rockers on the right side of the phone. The SIM tray and memory card slot are located on the left side of the A1.

The A1 has two speaker grilles at the bottom though only one contains an actual speaker while the other houses the microphone. The other microphone (for listening) rests atop the display between the front-facing camera, the sensors and the flash. Both the back and multi-window buttons are capacitive and rest on either side of the physical Home button, which also doubles as the fingerprint scanner, at the bottom of the display.

First Take: Gionee tells me the A1 will cost N95,000 and it does feel like a bargain when you juxtapose the cost versus what you are getting. It feels much more expensive in the hand, that’s for sure. I like the minimalist design, although I could do without the HTC looking back. I like how Gionee layered its Amigos skin on the Android Nougat — it isn’t in the way. The big battery seems like a good prospect and 4GB of RAM should make for a powerful device. More on all of that in the full review. In the meantime, you can get the Gionee A1 here.