The entry level and mid range smartphone market in India is too competitive and each brand is trying to get its share in this segment. F103 is one such device in this price range from Gionee new fashion range of smartphones and we are reviewing the 2 GB variant of the same today. Gionee F103 also comes in two other variants with 1 GB and 3 GB RAM. We have used Gionee F103 for almost a week and this review is based on that.
Gionee F103 Specifications
- Display : 5-inch HD IPS display with Dragontrail glass protection
- CPU: 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 64-bit processor
- GPU: Mali-T720 GPU
- RAM: 2 GB
- Storage : 16 GB, MicroSd support
- OS: Android 5.0 Lollipop with Amigo UI 3.1
- Dual SIM with Dual Standby
- Camera : 8 MP Auto Focus, LED flash, f/2.2 aperture and 5 MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture
- Dimensions: 146 mm × 70.3 mm × 7.95 mm
- Connectivity : 4G LTE / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
- Battery : 2400 mAh battery
Design, Hardware and Build Quality
In terms of design and build quality, it looks much better many smartphones in same price range. The outer frame of the device is of metal. The build does looks a bit premium from front & the metallic frame, but it also appears a bit thick just by design. The device is almost 8 mm thick which can’t be considered bad though. The plastic back cover can be removed giving you access to dual sim card slots and microsd card slot. The battery too is removable. The back plastic cover comes with a glossy finish and feel like glass. The 8 MP rear camera with LED flash is located at the top and the speaker grill at the bottom along with the usual Gionee logo in the middle.
Both the Power button and the volume rocker buttons are located on the right side of the device with no buttons on the other side. The 3.5 mm audio jack is on the top and micro USB at the bottom with mic.
As it comes with 5 inch display,it feels compact and easy to hold with just one hand.
It is powered by 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 64-bit processor with a Mali-T720 GPU along with 2 GB of RAM giving it good enough power to run it smoothly under different conditions.
The navigation buttons are not backlit and it may cause a problem if you are using it in dark surroundings.
Gionee F103 Gallery
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Display
Gionee F103 sports a 5-inch HD IPS display with Dragontrail glass protection. The display appears good and clear with good Colour reproduction, but not so good if you are using it outside in direct sunlight. The viewing angles are good and we didn’t face any issues in terms of viewing angles. The ambient light sensor with adaptive brightness works great which lets you use the device in different lighting conditions.
Performance, Gaming and Benchmarks
During our review period of one week, we didn’t encounter any major issue like lags in the UI or any other problem which hangs up the smartphone. But yes, it is not fast as you may expect a good mid range phone should be. The device worked without any lag in normal conditions, but you will see some lag or random frame drops while playing graphics intensive games like Asphalt 8. The graphics and color reproduction during the game play is was just OK and not too good. Similarly if you are multitasking and too many apps including some heavy games are open, then you see a lag in performance.
In terms of heating, after playing for 15-20 minutes of Asphalt 8 continuously there was a temperature rise of ~10 degree centigrade which is more than normal .
In terms of Benchmark scores, it came out with a score of 26,800+ score which is decent Antutu score, but there are any devices in this price range which gives you a better antutu score.
It comes with 16 GB internal storage along with support for expandable memory via microSD card. Approximately 10-11 GB of storage space is available for the end-user as almost 5-6 GB is used by Android operating system and other pre-installed apps. It also supports USB OTG devices and hence you can add external storage using USB OTG flash drive to expand your storage along with the micro SD card.
It comes with Dual SIM with Dual Standby with 4G LTE support. We were not able to test the 4G speeds as no 4G sim was available to use while testing.
The sound from speakers are decent but not too much loud.
Camera
Gionee F103 comes with 8 MP Auto Focus main rear camera with LED flash and f/2.2 aperture. We took out pictures with the main camera under different lighting conditions and the total experience was mixed. The camera produced some decent shots when the lighting conditions were good. But when the lighting conditions were a bit dynamic (with mixture of shadow and sunlight) or poor light or low light or dark, then the shots were not so good. Also, the closeup shots were decent enough.
The front camera is good enough for selfies only or for posting shots on the social network.
The camera app came with different modes for clicking pictures which do help you click some good shots under different conditions.
Check out the gallery below to check out the actual full resolution images.
Gionee F103 Camera Samples
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Battery
The device is powered by a 2400 mAh Li-Polymer removable battery. In terms of battery life, the performance was good and we were able to use it easily for a full day under our usual usage of browsing, twitter, Facebook, emails and whatsapp etc along with the usual calling. Under moderate or heavy usage, it didn’t last full day but yet it was good enough for the day.
Operating System and UI
We at Androidpure always prefer a stock Android operating system on a smartphone instead of OEMs own custom UIs. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with Amigo UI 3.1 and it does come with some nice features such as theme park and Amigo paper. It also comes with a Chameleon feature which lets you theme the smartphone based on anything. Just click the picture and Chameleon feature will create the UI based on the colours of the clicked pic. We prefer a launcher which comes with an App drawer, which the Amigo UI lacks. We did install a launcher for using the phone, but your choice may be different.
Conclusion
In short, Gionee F103 turned out to be decent device but at a price of Rs. 9,999 it may be left out if you look at the devices such as ASUS Zenphone Laser 2, Lenovo K3 Note at the same price. There is too much of competition at this price and Gionee needs to do better if it wants to compete at this price range.
