Gionee Marathon M5 Plus Review: Big Screen and Big Battery

Gionee Marathon M5 Plus is the successor of the Marathon M5 that cuts down its predecessor on heft and battery, but with some new upgrades in both software and hardware. The two USPs of this phone are a 6-inch AMOLED display and 5020mAh battery which is slightly lower as compared to M5 (its predecessor). Big screen and the mammoth battery isn't always appreciated by consumers. So let's check out where it scores well. 

The Marathon M5 has a metal body that feels sturdy and premium when you hold in your hands. The back panel is placed between two plastic pieces that are a little bit odd. The front panel has a 2.5 D glass that provides it a glossy and polished look. It has a pressable home button on the bottom front of the phone like the Samsung and iPhone models, which is flanked between two capacitive touch buttons. The left one is for the recent tasks and the right one is for going back. Also, the fingerprint sensor is placed under the home button for better reach and ease. The right side comprises of volume key, power on/off and the microSD slot; using a separate slot for SD card and not having a hybrid slot is a refreshing change. The left side of the phone has dual Sim card slot while the bottom has USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, and microphone.  The weight of M5 plus is 208g which is lighter than the predecessor M5 (211g) but still, very heavy.

Great display and camera

The Gionee M5 Plus display is also big with a 6.0" full HD AMOLED display which is very sharp and vibrant with deep blacks. The viewing angles are very good to watch videos and games no matter whether you are on your bed or couch. The brightness level of the display is awesome and easily readable under bright sunlight with LUX value of display at 638 lx.

Coming to the camera, the Marathon M5 Plus has a 13MP primary sensor (PDAF) with a dual LED setup and phase detection autofocus and a 5MP package on the front for selfies.  The camera app features Geo-Tagging, Panorama, HDR, Face Beauty, Filter, Night Mode, Ultra Pixel, Smart Scene, Scan, GIF and more. The pictures captured in daylight produce a decent amount of details and color but the Amoled screen peeps out the pictures with more saturated colors and clarity. It can shoot FHD videos at 30 frames per second (FPS). The PDAF technology works perfectly with the phone and can lock the autofocus in low light and also it is able to shift the focus from one object to another instantly.  The selfie camera is good and can fulfill  the daily requirements of selfie enthusiasts but the image quality suffers in low light. 

High performer

Under the hood, it runs on Media-Tek Octa-core Cortex-A53 1.3Ghz processor along 3GB RAM. For gaming, it has Mali-T720MP3 GPU while for storing your files it provides onboard 64GB memory (expandable up to 256 GB). From browsing, to watching videos and playing games everything runs smoothly in M5 Plus without any hiccups but the negative point which we find in this phone is that it heats up while calling. 

It runs on customized Amigo 3.1 OS based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. There are plenty of pre-installed apps to accomplish your daily needs like Gionee Xender, Whatsapp, Facebook, Du Speed Booster, Du Battery Saver, 360 Security Lite, OLX, TouchPal 2015, Wifi Master Key, and Holiday.  However, Gionee is still using Lollipop in M5 Plus when Marshmallow is available and Android Nougat is about to come. The OS is inspired by iOS, as to access the settings shortcuts you have to swipe upwards from the bottom edge of the screen. Also, there is no app drawer.

As the phone carries a huge amount of battery power i.e  5020mAh Li-Ion, in our video loop test it stands tall at 16 hours 45 minutes. Also, it provides power management option which intelligently saves your battery. With normal usage, it will easily last for 2 to 3 days.