Gionee makes some long lasting phones, but it appears as though good looks are what the company is after with its new range of phones.
The Gionee F103 is the first phone from the company’s ‘fashion and lifestyle’ F series of phones. It comes with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor of unknown make, which we’re assuming is the MediaTek MT6735 considering the 10,000 INR (US$150) price in India.
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Full specifications of this new fashion phone include a 5-inch 1280 x 720p display, 2GB of RAM, the aforementioned quad-core processor, an 8 mega-pixel LED flash assisted rear camera, a 5 mega-pixel front facing camera and a 2400mAh battery.
The F103 comes with dual SIM dual 4G support, and is among the few devices in its price range to offer the feature. It seems as though availability will be restricted to the Indian market for now, but we’ll try and get a word from Gionee on that regard.
Buyers in India will be able to purchase the phone starting this week for 9,999 INR (US$150) in three color options including Pearl White, Dawn White and Black.
Gionee is quite a known name in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India with an offline-first approach, something that contrasts the style of other Chinese OEMs.
This company will soon seize to exist. 150 USD for that crap.
Hehehe. They’re thinking like Oppo/Vivo, unfortunately even Vivo/Oppo are not finding it funny.
Oppo and vivo are great brands – actually i can compare now BBK to lg – they make actual high quality consumer products and they own Vivo Oppo and 1+
I know about the BBK brothers. By “they own” who are you referring to? BBK or Gionee?
Nah basically BBK owns oppo and vivo and oppo owns 1+ but still – it is a bit confusing nothing to do with gionee
but its hard to say but gionee is a bigger company than oppo or vivo or 1+ because it owns a $#itfull of subbrands or rebrands (at least 30) for different countries – Fly , allwinner , blu etc…
Eye opener. Thanks. Although fly is a crappy brand.
Agreed aparently they di these brands for different countries/zones – fly is a low level brand for russia/ukraine/moldova
allview is for romania polonia
hungary and they actuqlly begin to integrate it in moldova and kill the fly brand
That is not entirely correct info. Gionee doesn’t actually own many of those brands. A lot of them are independently owned but have a partnership with Gionee. Basically when Gionee develops a new phone they all split the costs for R&D. Gionee handles production, marketing and shipping and in exchange they get exclusive rights to each new device for a set amount of time. Gionee then gets a set percentage of sales from those companies as well as manufacturing costs etc. Gionee has four parts to their business which is why overall they are one of the biggest companies in China:
1. Phone Sales under the Gionee brand
2. Phone Sales under the sub brands (Allwinner, Blu etc).
3. OEM – Gionee has two or three factories that build phones for a variety of brands including HTC.
4. ODM – Gionee has an ODM side that designs phones for other companies.
gionee is still an OEM for HTC? Lol – no f@cks given
It’s one of the biggest companies in Chinese phones. You don’t buy a Gionee for the specs, you buy them for amazing build quality, excellent looks, excellent cameras and good customer service.
As long as this isn’t the main source of their income (which I think OEM builds are) they can afford high prices and low sells, but the fact that they’re reaching for designs from lower shelf tells me it bothers them now.
As per the excellent cameras, it seems to get lower since the times of E7/Iuni U2.
The design actually isn’t all that bad see the link i posted above. The back is a mirrored finish. It’s really all personal opinion on any phones style. To me this is a lot more high class looking than a phone made of plastic.
As for low sells, you really have little clue what you are talking about if you think Gionee doesn’t sell well. Everything Gionee does these days is for the Indian market which has become their main focus. They are #1 in sales for India among Chinese brands. In 2014 they sold 3.8 million devices in India, next closest was ZTE with 1.8 million. To put that into perspective that is 3x as much as Lenovo and 4x as much as Xiaomi. This year they are projected to sell almost 8 million units in India alone.
The E7 was their last flagship, their next one the E8 is reported to have an even better camera and we will see when it released next week. But even the S7 has an excellent camera.
What!!!! More like $110. That’s realistic.
For another company, yes. For Gionee this is a $150 pone. Sometime its worth it to pay a little more to know your getting a well built phone. Unlike a $110 phone from say Elephone with these same exact specs, this phone will last you 2+ years.
Gionee has expectional build – bad software – if they would imprive the rom and would hire a guest star (like micromax did with hugh jackman) Count me in – I would gladly pay 30-40 more bucks for the solid hardware
Yea software has always been their Achilles heel. It seems like with each new release Amigo gets worse. It’s time to abandon it and either hire an independent ROM development team, ship with stock or use one of the well known Chinese ROM’s.
is there any chance Gionee will ever come to my country ???
is there any legal wrangles halting their arrival ???
what if a 3rd party (like online reseller) can sell Gionee Mobiles here ? will that violate any TnC of PTA or Qmobile ???
please please please answer … ur the only person i believe has adequate knowledge of these concerns!
The following article kind of explains why its so tough for foreign businesses (specifically Chinese and Indian) to sell their products in Pakistan:
http://www.theigc.org/blog/shutting-competitors-out-pakistans-non-tariff-barriers/
Pakistan has several trade barriers against importing goods, I’m not sure if cell phones are included in them but I think I remember reading they are. The good news is, it is a lot easier today than it was 10 years ago to enter the Pakistan market. I did some work once with a large HVAC firm from India who wanted to enter Pakistan. And at that time it was near impossible due to trade restrictions imposed by the EU and US during the war. All of those have long expired or been lifted. Hope is not lost completely. It is the 6th biggest country population wise, that is a huge potential market than can only be ignored for so long. As companies look for new markets to enter Pakistan will be on the top of the list. The best chance you guys have is someone like Xiaomi entering and opening a factory there.
well then … looks like im gonna have to wait more and more -_- …
thanks for the informative rep tho…
Exactly, and that’s the reason why their phones cannot be this expensive anymore. KK ROM for E7 is very good, unlike the stock one, but there’s been rumours they already ditched idea of devoloping Lollipop, even though it’s been promised already.
I can understand the prices of Xiaomi and Meizu, because they provide more than decent user support. I don’t get the idea of Gionee pricing.
I remember you mentioning their outstanding customer support, but I wonder whether it is the same in every country they re present at …
Would they be same helpful to me (customer from deepest west of EU) if I had a problem with my E7? I don’t know.
BTW. I bought my E7 after it was discounted below 50% of the initial price.
Software seems to have a very little effect on how much phones sell for, if it did Oppo and Huaweii wouldn’t cost that much either. Their software is just as bad as Gionee’s. I pay more for Gionee because I know what I am getting, every Gionee phone I have bought has been built like a tank, even a $100 one I used as a travel phone.
As for customer support I never heard of them turning anyone away regardless of where they lived or bought it from. My very first Gionee was bought from a market in China and I lived in USA at the time which had no official presence, even Blu (Gionee subrand) didn’t exist then. Any issues I had their customer service was prompt to help me with.
my dissapointment is with only A-GPS and not inclusion of actual GPS/GLONASS…otherwise almost my next phone…Also waiting for Gigaset phones which are already released.
Gionee’s biggest problem is their software support or the lack there of. Even their flagship devices live E7 dont see any updates. In today’s day and age I find this unacceptable, but their device quality is top notch.
This company will soon seize to exist. 150 USD for that crap.
Hehehe. They’re thinking like Oppo/Vivo, unfortunately even Vivo/Oppo are not finding it funny.
It’s one of the biggest companies in Chinese phones. You don’t buy a Gionee for the specs, you buy them for amazing build quality, excellent looks, excellent cameras and good customer service.
Oppo and vivo are great brands – actually i can compare now BBK to lg – they make actual high quality consumer products and they own Vivo Oppo and 1+
I know about the BBK brothers. By “they own” who are you referring to? BBK or Gionee?
Nah basically BBK owns oppo and vivo and oppo owns 1+ but still – it is a bit confusing nothing to do with gionee
but its hard to say but gionee is a bigger company than oppo or vivo or 1+ because it owns a $#itfull of subbrands or rebrands (at least 30) for different countries – Fly , allwinner , blu etc…
Nah basically BBK owns oppo and vivo and oppo owns 1+ but still – it is a bit confusing nothing to do with gionee
but its hard to say but gionee is a bigger company than oppo or vivo or 1+ because it owns a $#itfull of subbrands or rebrands (at least 30) for different countries – Fly , allwinner , blu etc…
Eye opener. Thanks. Although fly is a crappy brand.
Agreed aparently they di these brands for different countries/zones – fly is a low level brand for russia/ukraine/moldova
allview is for romania polonia
hungary and they actuqlly begin to integrate it in moldova and kill the fly brand
That is not entirely correct info. Gionee doesn’t actually own many of those brands. A lot of them are independently owned but have a partnership with Gionee. Basically when Gionee develops a new phone they all split the costs for R&D. Gionee handles production, marketing and shipping and in exchange they get exclusive rights to each new device for a set amount of time. Gionee then gets a set percentage of sales from those companies as well as manufacturing costs etc. Gionee has four parts to their business which is why overall they are one of the biggest companies in China:
1. Phone Sales under the Gionee brand
2. Phone Sales under the sub brands (Allwinner, Blu etc).
3. OEM – Gionee has two or three factories that build phones for a variety of brands including HTC.
4. ODM – Gionee has an ODM side that designs phones for other companies.
That is not entirely correct info. Gionee doesn’t actually own many of those brands. A lot of them are independently owned but have a partnership with Gionee. Basically when Gionee develops a new phone they all split the costs for R&D. Gionee handles production, marketing and shipping and in exchange they get exclusive rights to each new device for a set amount of time. Gionee then gets a set percentage of sales from those companies as well as manufacturing costs etc. Gionee has four parts to their business which is why overall they are one of the biggest companies in China:
1. Phone Sales under the Gionee brand
2. Phone Sales under the sub brands (Allwinner, Blu etc).
3. OEM – Gionee has two or three factories that build phones for a variety of brands including HTC.
4. ODM – Gionee has an ODM side that designs phones for other companies.
As long as this isn’t the main source of their income (which I think OEM builds are) they can afford high prices and low sells, but the fact that they’re reaching for designs from lower shelf tells me it bothers them now.
As per the excellent cameras, it seems to get lower since the times of E7/Iuni U2.
The design actually isn’t all that bad see the link i posted above. The back is a mirrored finish. It’s really all personal opinion on any phones style. To me this is a lot more high class looking than a phone made of plastic.
As for low sells, you really have little clue what you are talking about if you think Gionee doesn’t sell well. Everything Gionee does these days is for the Indian market which has become their main focus. They are #1 in sales for India among Chinese brands. In 2014 they sold 3.8 million devices in India, next closest was ZTE with 1.8 million. To put that into perspective that is 3x as much as Lenovo and 4x as much as Xiaomi. This year they are projected to sell almost 8 million units in India alone.
The E7 was their last flagship, their next one the E8 is reported to have an even better camera and we will see when it released next week. But even the S7 has an excellent camera.
gionee is still an OEM for HTC? Lol – no f@cks given
What!!!! More like $110. That’s realistic.
For another company, yes. For Gionee this is a $150 pone. Sometime its worth it to pay a little more to know your getting a well built phone. Unlike a $110 phone from say Elephone with these same exact specs, this phone will last you 2+ years.
Gionee has expectional build – bad software – if they would imprive the rom and would hire a guest star (like micromax did with hugh jackman) Count me in – I would gladly pay 30-40 more bucks for the solid hardware
Yea software has always been their Achilles heel. It seems like with each new release Amigo gets worse. It’s time to abandon it and either hire an independent ROM development team, ship with stock or use one of the well known Chinese ROM’s.
my dissapointment is with only A-GPS and not inclusion of actual GPS/GLONASS…otherwise almost my next phone…Also waiting for Gigaset phones which are already released.
is there any chance Gionee will ever come to my country ???
is there any legal wrangles halting their arrival ???
what if a 3rd party (like online reseller) can sell Gionee Mobiles here ? will that violate any TnC of PTA or Qmobile ???
please please please answer … ur the only person i believe has adequate knowledge of these concerns!
The following article kind of explains why its so tough for foreign businesses (specifically Chinese and Indian) to sell their products in Pakistan:
http://www.theigc.org/blog/shutting-competitors-out-pakistans-non-tariff-barriers/
Pakistan has several trade barriers against importing goods, I’m not sure if cell phones are included in them but I think I remember reading they are. The good news is, it is a lot easier today than it was 10 years ago to enter the Pakistan market. I did some work once with a large HVAC firm from India who wanted to enter Pakistan. And at that time it was near impossible due to trade restrictions imposed by the EU and US during the war. All of those have long expired or been lifted. Hope is not lost completely. It is the 6th biggest country population wise, that is a huge potential market than can only be ignored for so long. As companies look for new markets to enter Pakistan will be on the top of the list. The best chance you guys have is someone like Xiaomi entering and opening a factory there.
Exactly, and that’s the reason why their phones cannot be this expensive anymore. KK ROM for E7 is very good, unlike the stock one, but there’s been rumours they already ditched idea of devoloping Lollipop, even though it’s been promised already.
I can understand the prices of Xiaomi and Meizu, because they provide more than decent user support. I don’t get the idea of Gionee pricing.
I remember you mentioning their outstanding customer support, but I wonder whether it is the same in every country they re present at …
Would they be same helpful to me (customer from deepest west of EU) if I had a problem with my E7? I don’t know.
BTW. I bought my E7 after it was discounted below 50% of the initial price.
Software seems to have a very little effect on how much phones sell for, if it did Oppo and Huaweii wouldn’t cost that much either. Their software is just as bad as Gionee’s. I pay more for Gionee because I know what I am getting, every Gionee phone I have bought has been built like a tank, even a $100 one I used as a travel phone.
As for customer support I never heard of them turning anyone away regardless of where they lived or bought it from. My very first Gionee was bought from a market in China and I lived in USA at the time which had no official presence, even Blu (Gionee subrand) didn’t exist then. Any issues I had their customer service was prompt to help me with.
well then … looks like im gonna have to wait more and more -_- …
thanks for the informative rep tho…
Bemused with the pricing strategy of Gionee. Even $120 is wayyy too much to ask for this hardware but know Balco’s unending love for Gionee :p , i can say they make some reliable hardware … so maybe that surety comes at a premium , a costly one at that !
What is so lifestyle to it ? It looks very casual and boring … like any other Gionee phones ! 100$ for the best . Or you can buy a Redmi Note2 with 120 which is better .
Gionee’s biggest problem is their software support or the lack there of. Even their flagship devices live E7 dont see any updates. In today’s day and age I find this unacceptable, but their device quality is top notch.
Bemused with the pricing strategy of Gionee. Even $120 is wayyy too much to ask for this hardware but know Balco’s unending love for Gionee :p , i can say they make some reliable hardware … so maybe that surety comes at a premium , a costly one at that !
What is so lifestyle to it ? It looks very casual and boring … like any other Gionee phones ! 100$ for the best . Or you can buy a Redmi Note2 with 120 which is better .
Did Gionee just pay Huawei a back handed compliment in design
Not really it has a similar design to the Gionee 5.1 and S7.
Did Gionee just pay Huawei a back handed compliment in design
Not really it has a similar design to the Gionee 5.1 and S7.
You can see the pictures of it on the Gionee India site as well as all the specs. The back is a mirrored finish.
http://global.gionee.com/product_f103.php
You can see the pictures of it on the Gionee India site as well as all the specs. The back is a mirrored finish.
http://global.gionee.com/product_f103.php