The gionee m5 sees gionee launch the marathon series of smartphones in the lower mid range category. This sees improvement in the build quality, display quality/size and the camera department. I'll dive in to these in detail as we go further. The marathon m5 stands out from the older generations of marathons.
I got my unit for ₦42k

Whats awesome
-5.5 inch 720p AMOLED screen with gorilla glass 3 protection
-6000mAh li-polymer battery with fast charging
-13 MP camera rear camera with FHD video recording 5MP selfie camera.
- amigo 3.1 UI (Lolipop 5.1)
-2GB
-IR blaster
-amigo 3.1. smoothest amigo UI yet.

Whats not great
The weight (for me this is absolutely no issue. Except you have very small hands.)



Hardware and design
It comes in black(ink blue back), white or gold . For some reason Nigeria isn't getting the gold version.

The m5 weighs 211g and  measures at 8.5 mm in thickness, which is surprising for a 6000 mAh battery smartphone in 2015.
The 4.7mm edges compensates for the weight giving it a somewhat slim profile.

The device has  a very solid case and we'll built (like a tank) and it feels strong .it features a non removable metal back cover. It has a metal frame and it's quite comfortable to use with one hand.

-There is a 5mp front camera
status LED
At the back there's a main camera s5k3m2 sensor found on the galaxy s4,
- secondary noise cancellation microphone which some OEMs leave out.
- At the top there’s the audio port, infrared emitter
- while at the bottom there's the microUSB port and primary  microphone.
-It comes with a non removable battery. The back cover is non removable too. Everything is sealed in.
-The dual micro Sim tray is in the left while the memory card expansion slot is on the right. Both accessible using a sim ejector tool provided in the box.

Again the marathon m5 is very slim for its BATTERY.
It's a well built and  once it's in the  hand it doesn't feel cheap at all.

Display
The generations of  marathon series has seen a gradual increase in the size Of its displays. With the release of the marathon m5 Plus,it's going to get bigger.

The m5 features a 5.5 inch AMOLED OGS panel, with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution

The display is protected with corning gorilla glass 3 which is less prone to scratches (I personally removed the screen protector for this reason, I don't use cases too.)

It's also very bright which makes it VERY legible under direct sunlight. You don't have to squint to see what's on the screen when you are outdoors.
**this is a very big plus for this device.
 Overall, it's  very good display. AMOLED  is the way to go. I hope all OEMs adopt this too in their mid range devices.

audio quality
The hardware dts and smart audio amp  speakers  offers very loud and  clean sound output  and no muffled, distorted or  tiny sounds. Headphones bundled here have a long and anti tangle wire.
- They’re elegant, comfortable and offer great noise canceling and bass.
You don't need to be a audiophile to know how good the in-ear headphones are.

Battery and power consumption
As far as battery life goes. This device is a power bank. (literally).
After My normally daily moderate routine ;unplug at 7am. 3G on all day,surfing the web, auto brightness on, youtube, a few phone calls and a lot of texting (whatsapp and the rest)
I get average of 9-11 hours of screen on time.
I don't really game with my phone but for testing sake I tried out asphalt 8 for a few hours. The battery drop was very minimal. The same goes for other light games like candy crush and subway surf. You get the drift.

As for heating up.
From my observation The m5 only heats up (not burning heat) when I'm streaming videos for hours via mobile data while on WiFi the heat is almost non existent.
Let me announce that it heats up during the rapid charge stage 0-80%. But cools down when it is in the trickle charge stage 80-100%

It uses fast charge .
I got it from 0-100% in about 130-140 mins.
I wouldn't advice you charge it while using as the charging time will increase.
Just have patience. It'll fill up in no time then you can go back to whatever you were doing.
- standby time is also impressive. I go to bed , wake up in the morning. It looses just 1%.so if you are the busy type. you'll not have a any issue going with this phone for three days+ on a single charge.

performance
There's nothing much to say here.
The allocated  two 2GB of RAM holds up its own end .
Multitasking is seamless
no stutter when transitioning between home screens and the app drawer . You'll feel much at home with the stock launcher but I had to revert to my trusted nova launcher.

***The power saving modes do hinder the performance.

Finally

The camera
It features
a 13mp Samsung sensor(from the SG S4) with f/2.2 aperture with FHD video recording at 30Hz
  and a 5mp up front.

I'm guessing it's the same camera module found in the S plus.

What I noticed
-launching the camera is fast at 1-2 seconds
-when you are in the view finder you are greeted with a tonne of camera features
- auto focus works really well. Focusing on objects at less than 1/2 a second and also the same time between shots.
-pictures looks sharp and rich in detail.
-the flash is really bright.
-colours are punchy and accurate.

You'll have a fun time taking pictures with this phone no matter the lighting condition.

More indoor samples

Sure the highlight of the marathon m5 is its battery but that doesn't mean it didn't do well in other areas too.
So if you are having second thoughts. Just go get your hands on one. I'm sure you'll love it

selfie cam

Ave used tecno,infinix and innjoo next year am switching to gionee

Lol......go back to tecno

donholy28:
Ave used tecno,infinix and innjoo next year am switching to gionee

Hmm! Its quite awesome though...

wow cool review,,its still slim upon d big battery, getting dis device soon,wow and d front camera is very clear,just like some phone back camera

Totally agree with you. This phone is awesome.

kayswag726:
wow cool review,,its still slim upon d big battery, getting dis device soon,wow and d front camera is very clear,just like some phone back camera

Group selfies looks Great with this device.

donholy28:
Ave used tecno,infinix and innjoo next year am switching to gionee

and am sure you won't go back to any of them. The difference is clear. It has happened to me

Hotdiamond:
Sure the highlight of the marathon m5 is its battery but that doesn't mean it didn't do well in other areas too.
So if you are having second thoughts. Just go get your hands on one. I'm sure you'll love it

selfie cam

Check your mail sir

..

op is d bat3 removable

kayswag726:
op is d bat3 removable

Non user replaceable. Even the back cover is non-removable.

Tallesty1:
Check your mail sir

Seen

Hotdiamond:

Seen

check again

great device..... OP is my friend.. he's a freak ..stoping on this device means its good

Pls I need help. I just bought this phone but the data service is not working after putting my etisalat Sim. Need help pls

Anther gionee phone killing it as usual, its so obvious the camera of this phone can compete with the very high end mobile phones. rocking the splus, the gold one.

Annkorede:
Lol......go back to tecno

You wicked o, you mean back to Crap?No! ?

Hotdiamond:
Sure the highlight of the marathon m5 is its battery but that doesn't mean it didn't do well in other areas too.
So if you are having second thoughts. Just go get your hands on one. I'm sure you'll love it

selfie cam

Fine boy, good to bare your mind, fill 'em in!

mogreen22:
Anther gionee phone killing it as usual, its so obvious the camera of this phone can compete with the very high end mobile phones. rocking the splus, the gold one.

Enjoy your device

not only good battery, but also nice spec performance

Ryanxu:
not only good battery, but also nice spec performance

pls wen is dis device receiving marshmallow

kayswag726:

pls wen is dis device receiving marshmallow

According to gionee, march 2016.

Hotdiamond:
The gionee m5 sees gionee launch the marathon series of smartphones in the lower mid range category. This sees improvement in the build quality, display quality/size and the camera department. I'll dive in to these in detail as we go further. The marathon m5 stands out from the older generations of marathons.
I got my unit for ₦42k

Whats awesome
-5.5 inch 720p AMOLED screen with gorilla glass 3 protection
-6000mAh li-polymer battery with fast charging
-13 MP camera rear camera with FHD video recording 5MP selfie camera.
- amigo 3.1 UI (Lolipop 5.1)
-2GB
-IR blaster
-amigo 3.1. smoothest amigo UI yet.

Whats not great
The weight (for me this is absolutely no issue. Except you have very small hands.)



Hardware and design
It comes in black(ink blue back), white or gold . For some reason Nigeria isn't getting the gold version.

The m5 weighs 211g and  measures at 8.5 mm in thickness, which is surprising for a 6000 mAh battery smartphone in 2015.
The 4.7mm edges compensates for the weight giving it a somewhat slim profile.

The device has  a very solid case and we'll built (like a tank) and it feels strong .it features a non removable metal back cover. It has a metal frame and it's quite comfortable to use with one hand.

-There is a 5mp front camera
status LED
At the back there's a main camera s5k3m2 sensor found on the galaxy s4,
- secondary noise cancellation microphone which some OEMs leave out.
- At the top there’s the audio port, infrared emitter
- while at the bottom there's the microUSB port and primary  microphone.
-It comes with a non removable battery. The back cover is non removable too. Everything is sealed in.
-The dual micro Sim tray is in the left while the memory card expansion slot is on the right. Both accessible using a sim ejector tool provided in the box.

Again the marathon m5 is very slim for its BATTERY.
It's a well built and  once it's in the  hand it doesn't feel cheap at all.

Display
The generations of  marathon series has seen a gradual increase in the size Of its displays. With the release of the marathon m5 Plus,it's going to get bigger.

The m5 features a 5.5 inch AMOLED OGS panel, with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution

The display is protected with corning gorilla glass 3 which is less prone to scratches (I personally removed the screen protector for this reason, I don't use cases too.)

It's also very bright which makes it VERY legible under direct sunlight. You don't have to squint to see what's on the screen when you are outdoors.
**this is a very big plus for this device.
 Overall, it's  very good display. AMOLED  is the way to go. I hope all OEMs adopt this too in their mid range devices.

audio quality
The hardware dts and smart audio amp  speakers  offers very loud and  clean sound output  and no muffled, distorted or  tiny sounds. Headphones bundled here have a long and anti tangle wire.
- They’re elegant, comfortable and offer great noise canceling and bass.
You don't need to be a audiophile to know how good the in-ear headphones are.

Battery and power consumption
As far as battery life goes. This device is a power bank. (literally).
After My normally daily moderate routine ;unplug at 7am. 3G on all day,surfing the web, auto brightness on, youtube, a few phone calls and a lot of texting (whatsapp and the rest)
I get average of 9-11 hours of screen on time.
I don't really game with my phone but for testing sake I tried out asphalt 8 for a few hours. The battery drop was very minimal. The same goes for other light games like candy crush and subway surf. You get the drift.

As for heating up.
From my observation The m5 only heats up (not burning heat) when I'm streaming videos for hours via mobile data while on WiFi the heat is almost non existent.
Let me announce that it heats up during the rapid charge stage 0-80%. But cools down when it is in the trickle charge stage 80-100%

It uses fast charge .
I got it from 0-100% in about 130-140 mins.
I wouldn't advice you charge it while using as the charging time will increase.
Just have patience. It'll fill up in no time then you can go back to whatever you were doing.
- standby time is also impressive. I go to bed , wake up in the morning. It looses just 1%.so if you are the busy type. you'll not have a any issue going with this phone for three days+ on a single charge.

performance
There's nothing much to say here.
The allocated  two 2GB of RAM holds up its own end .
Multitasking is seamless
no stutter when transitioning between home screens and the app drawer . You'll feel much at home with the stock launcher but I had to revert to my trusted nova launcher.

***The power saving modes do hinder the performance.

Which phone did you used in snapping the GiONEE M5

There ain't any big deal in the specs, tho, am not condemning any phone. just observing.

helenmi:
There ain't any big deal in the specs, tho, am not condemning any phone. just observing.

Nice observation

donholy28:
Ave used tecno,infinix and innjoo next year am switching to gionee

No one will advice you to run back when Gionee finish you with lies

daphid25:

No one will advice you to run back when Gionee finish you with lies

tekino don pay your salary abi??

proffnico:
tekino don pay your salary abi??

I know say Gionee don pay you, tell them make dem stop to dey lie