Gionee M6 Review and Unboxing Images

Hello guys, here comes the unbiased review of Gionee Marathon M6; a mighty beast of a smartphone from the Chinese Shenzhen company which Gionee claims to be "world's safest smartphone". A lot has been said of this phone ever since it surfaced online towards the end of last year but having finally gotten and used it for a while now, I will be taking you through a very detailed review of the phone here on this blog wizytechs.com .

Gionee is a Chinese smartphone producing company located in Shenzhen, Guangdong. The firm which was Founded in 2002 has grown to be one of China’s largest mobile phone manufacturers. According to stats from Gartner, its market share in China was 4.7% in 2012, now it has extended into other markets, including Nigeria, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines and Algeria.

Gionee started getting much recognition in Nigeria when they launched the Marathon M2 after releasing Gionee P2. The M2 was really a success in Nigeria as it was the first smartphone then to come with long lasting 4,000mAh battery capacity which can also charge other phones via OTG support. Since then, Gionee has continued impressing the smartphone industry with series of wonderful devices and of cause, extension of the Marathon series.

After the M2 smartphone, the Chinese top OEM released the Gionee M3, Gionee M4, Gionee M5, Gionee M5 Mini and M5 Plus in that order. The later became fans favorite because of the enormous features and powerful battery backup but surprisingly, another monster device was announced last year and made available last month. The monster goes by the name Gionee M6. Here is all I know about the Gionee Marathon M6.

GIONEE MARATHON M6 FEATURES and FACTS
✔ In Gionee, the letter "M" means "Marathon", it is used in the series that comes huge long lasting battery.

✔ The M6 is the first mass produced phone in the world to have a 128-bit hardware encryption chip. This is why it is known to be world's most secured smartphone. Other acclaimed world's secured phones are; BlackBerry DTEK50, Boeing Black, Turing Phone, and Solarin phone.

✔ Gionee M6 is lighter than the M5 Plus. It weighs 180g

✔ HAS DYNAMIC FREQUENCY SCALING
Dynamic frequency scaling is a technology that allows the processor to conserve power and reduce noise when it is under a light load.

✔ HAS NX BIT
NX bit helps protect the phone against malicious attacks

✔ SMART SECURITY
It uses the fingerprint, face, voice or body movement of the owner to unlock the screen.

✔ DIRECTX VERSION
DirectX is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.

✔ HAS A CHILD LOCK
A child lock enables adults to prevent or restrict children’s use of the device.

✔ IR BLASTER
Gionee Me can be used as remote control for your electrical appliances such as DVD, TV, Washing Machine, Fan, TV Box, Radio etc. I love this feature

✔ Gionee M6 charges other phones (reverse charging)

✔ HAS A GYROSCOPE
A gyroscope is a sensor that can be used to either measure or maintain the orientation of a device. Traditionally, they were built using a spinning rotor to detect changes in orientation, eg. twisting or rotation.

✔ It supports fast charging (full charge takes just 1hour, 30min

✔ The M6 packs 64GB of internal storage and 4GB RAM

✔ Unlike other phones like Tecno Phantom 6 that uses hybrid SIM slot, Gionee M6 uses separate SIM and SD card slot. So you don't have to forfeit SIM 2 in order to use and SD card.

✔ The M6 uses AMOLED Display (5.5-inches). I will tell you more about this display later on this article.

✔ The M6 uses Fingerprint scanner

✔ HAS A BSI SENSOR
A BSI (backside illuminated) sensor is a camera image sensor which captures better quality images in poor lighting conditions, and offers better overall sharpness and image quality.

✔ The M6 has LED notifications light

✔ SUPPORTS OPENGL ES 3.0, ALLOWING FOR IMPROVED GAME GRAPHICS

✔ HAS A BUILT-IN HDR MODE
It can automatically shoot pictures with a higher dynamic range (HDR).

✔ The M6 supports 4GLTE VOLTE

✔ The web browser has automatic word wrap when zooming, the user can easily read long lines without scrolling horizontally.

✔ It has double LED FLASH

✔ HAS A COMPASS
A compass is useful in games, map and navigation software.

✔ CAN CREATE PANORAMAS IN-CAMERA
It allows you to take multiple photos capturing different parts of the scene, and then joins them together into a single photo. Also has GPS

✔ HAS A CELLULAR MODULE
Devices which use cellular technology can connect to mobile networks. Cellular networks have much wider signal coverage than WiFi.

✔ CAN BE UPDATED OVER-THE-AIR
It can be updated over the air (OTA) w/o connecting to a computer

✔ SUPPORTS 64-BIT
A 32-bit operating system can only support up to 4GB of RAM. 64-bit allows more than 4GB, giving increased performance. It also allows you to run 64-bit applications.

✔ ..... In fact, enough of the facts and features, if i continue writing about the features of this phone here, I will take all your time. But if you are interested in knowing the full specifications of this device, kindly click here

Some people are confused on which phone to go for... Either Tecno Phantom 6 Plus or Gionee M2, well relax, at the end of this review you should be able to tell the difference and know if M6 is better than Phantom 6 Plus or the reverse. Having said that, let's take a look at the M6.

UNBOXING GIONEE M6 (the beast)
Here is the carton of the phone. It is beautifully designed with a strong 💪 material and very easy to carry around. Nice material.
Gionee M6
Now let's open the carton. Yea here you have it. The M6 in its glorious appearance. Although by mere looking at it, one won't know the powers of the phone unless someone tells you or you handle it.
Gionee M6 unboxing
Below are the accessories that accompanied the monster device.

GIONEE M6 ACCESSORIES (inside the box)
  1. The M6 device itself
  2. One micro USB cable
  3. One Noise cancelling stereo headset
  4. One 2A power adapter
  5. One flip case
  6. One screen protector (not glass)
  7. The SIM and SD card port key
  8. One user manual
  9. One warranty card
Gionee m6 accessories

DESIGN
The M6 looks like the Gionee M5 apart from few upgrades. It is a premium device with premium body build. Unlike many other Chinese phones, the M6 is fully designed with metal case with lines at the back for the antennas and diamond curves. The device is available in two colours - gold and champagne. Gold is the most preferred phone color though Nigerians seems to prefer black or white phones.
Gionee m6 camera
Another interesting fact is the M6 is slimmer than its predecessor - the M5 with
152.3 x 75.3 x 8.2 mm, the M6 is also lighter in weight with 180g, 25 grammes lighter than the M5. You can feel this when you hold the phone by the sides.
The back glass curves inward at the edges and also at the front with the 2.5D glass construction- which was available in the M5 mini.
gionee marathon m6
Another thing i noticed is the aluminium at the back doesn't attract fingerprints at all but the glass up front attracts a lot of fingerprints and smudges but this is not really an issue since a simple wipe would take that all away.
the M6 feels more compact considering the fact that it has the same screen size as its predecessor.

PORTS AND PARTS
Many phones with 64GB of internal storage doesn't have external SD card slot and those that have it share it with SIM two (hybrid slot) but Gionee being the masters of design included SD card slot so that you can use a memory card if the huge 64GB isn't enough for you. Isn't this wonderful? Here is the side view where you should insert your memory card. Remember you need to use the Key or an office pin 📍 to open the slot in order to insert the SDcard.
m6 sdcard slot
The same thing applies to the right side of the phone, this part has the power button, the volume+, volume- buttons, and the micro SIM slot. It uses two slots for SIM 1 and 2. You can as well open the port with the Key or pin 📍.
gionee m6 sim slot

Then under the phone, you will see the speakers, USB port (normal and reverse charging) and the microphone.
I am not the type that always put on Earpiece to listen to music with phone but this M6 has changed my decision after i tested the way music blasts on the earpiece. Oh my... Gosh! The sound surround is amazing. The base is out of this world. In fact, it's the best I have noticed so far in any phone. The closest is the Tecno Boom J8. Although the sound 🔊 output from the loud speaker is not that impressive but it's just okay.
gionee m6 charging port and speaker

At the top, we see the 2.0 earphone 🎧 jack port (this isn't available on Gionee M6 Plus) and the Infrared Blaster (IR sensor) used for converting the phone to a remote controller.
m6 audio jack and IR blaster

Other parts of the phone is the "home button" which also serves as the "fingerprint scanner" for smart premium security. This button is flanked by the "recent task button" at the left and the "back button" at the right.

SEE ALSO... Gionee M6 Full Specs and Price

Meanwhile, at the very top, we see LED notification light, front camera, receiver and light sensor. See full parts of M6 in the image below.
parts of gionee m6

DISPLAY
Display
The gionee maratho M6 sports a 5.5 inch AMOLED display with FHD(1080 x 1920) resolution at a pixel density of 401ppi which is an impressive number. Stats shows that majority of phone users prefer the 5.5" screen size. Someone recently asked me the meaning of AMOLED and how it differs from IPS. Well let me use this opportunity to explain these types of phone screen display.

Characteristics Of AMOLED Displays
  • Deep blacks
  • Vibrant colors
  • AMOLED displays conserve battery life
  • Better viewing angles
  • Thinner displays
  • AMOLED displays degrade over time, resulting in reduced colour saturation
  • Gionee usually make use of this display.
Characteristics of IPS LCD Displays
IPS LCD also known as In-Plane Switching "Liquid Crystal Display" are commonly used by Tecno and Infinix manufacturers.
  • Bright whites
  • Better daylight readability
  • Sharper text and images
  • IPS LCD displays are more power hungry
  • They also tend to be bulkier

gionee m6 display
gionee m6 display
gionee m6 display

PERFORMANCE REPORT
In this part of the review, i will show you how some of the features of this phone works. I will show you both the good and the bad side of Gionee Marathon M6 android phone.

CAMERA
Taken of pictures is one of the features people love so much, hence we always go for phones with better camera pixels and features. Gionee M6 comes with 13MP back camera with double LED flash and 8MP front selfie camera without LED flash but uses screen flash. What do I mean? When you take selfies at night or dark area, the phone screen shines brighter like a LED to brighten your face but it's not impressive for me. I prefer LED light. Taking selfie in dark areas with this phone produces poor result but when it's done on a well lit area or outdoor, my dear, it's a wonder.

Also, the back camera is dope. It gives a lot of details about the object captured both in the day and at night.
Here are some samples of pictures taken during the day by M6 at
Gionee M6 camera
flower
chibyke filling station
road
This one was taken at night.
room
You can see the pictures are cool especially during the day.

MEMORY
Another reason why i so much like this device is the memory. Gionee did it in a way that users of this device will never lack space to store virtually anything. It uses a dedicated 64GB of internal storage which can be even expanded up to 256GB with an external SD card that has its own dedicated slot. So it doesn't share slot with your SIM 2 just like other phones.

The M6 also packs 4G RAM. No wonder it's so fast on my hand. Very responsive and seamless in multitasking. Although am not the phone gaming type of person as i prefer playing games with laptop when i want to. But when i tried playing FTS soccer on this phone together with Football manager and huge apps like Facebook, LinkedIn and snapchat, i didn't notice any lag. Although the battery started dropping faster than usual. In other words, Gionee M6 is great for gaming, multitasking and doesn't lag.

OS & PROCESSOR
M6 runs on Android Marshmellow under custom skin amigo 3.5.0. this may not be the greatest UIs but it is an improvement upon the older versions - 3.1 and 3.2.
it is powered by Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10 with Mali-T860MP2 chipset. One of the major advantages of this processor over its Snapdragon counterparts is that MTK Hilio P10 conserves battery more. But in overall performance, Snapdragon is the best although always battery hungry.
gionee m6 multitasking
BATTERY
The phone comes with huge non-removable long lasting battery capacity of 5000mAh with fast charger which charges it from 0% to 100% under 1hour 30 minutes. Meanwhile, when it's fast charging, the phone gets hotter so Gionee provided an option where you can turn ON or OFF the fast charging if you aren't comfortable with the temperature.

On normal usage, it last for two days but in heavy usage, it's about 20 hours. Well, "heavy" depends on what you are doing. The time may differ from mine. I also noticed that playing music non stop with this phone without doing any other thing can take you up to two and half days. My experience though. But when data, Wifi, Bluetooth, Facebook etc are turned ON, expect the battery to go down under a day.

MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
✔ Split screen (allows you run two apps at the same time in same windows. For instance, chatting on whatsapp and also reading stuffs on WizyTechs Blog
✔ Bluetooth 4.0 (one of the latest Bluetooth versions)
✔ 4G LTE cat 6 (LTE support for many 4G bands)
WIFI 802.11 b/g/n, cast screen
USB connectivity
✔ IR blaster (your phone turns to a remote controller)
✔ fingerprint (safer and quicker unlocking)
✔ Screen recording

DISADVANTAGES OF GIONEE M6
Nothing is perfect in life although this phone wanted to be nearly perfect all through but the main problem with it is this; at some stage, it gets hot especially when multitasking with many connectivity options turned ON. Not too hot shaa.
Another disadvantage is the high price, although when looking at the specs, i think it Worth the price. (recession also contributing)
It doesn't come in black or white colors.
This are the disadvantages i noticed so far.

HOW MUCH IS GIONEE M6?
At the moment, the price of M6 is N120,000 Naira in Nigeria.

WHAT ABOUT M6 PLUS?
Both M6 and M6 Plus are similar phones. The major difference are the 6020mAh battery, absence of audio jack port, and bigger 6" display size on the M6 Plus. When i contacted Gionee, they said M6 Plus won't be coming to Nigeria but it's available in India, China as well as some online stores in those countries.

WHERE CAN I BUY GIONEE M6 IN NIGERIA?
It is available in smartphone stores nationwide including Finet, 3C hub, slot, etc. You can also get the phone on Konga or Jumia at 120k

30 comments:

  1. Looks awesome bro, Nice mobile. I loved it

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  2. Kindly check the battery capacity of GIONEE M2.IT'S 4200mah and not 4000mah.

    Check under IR BLASTER
    Edit the Me to read M6

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice phone shaa.. tho no b small moni d involve

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  4. do u guys expect gionee flagship device 2 b mediocre

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice specs but far too costly for a 13 MP rear and 8MP front

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  6. Very nice review, well done... Dunno if you could do it for zero 3,infinix.................. Krobo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Infinix Zero 3 review will be done here as soon as I lay my hands on it

      Delete
  7. pls do u know wen d m6plus will b available in nigeria

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  8. The phone na real beast no need 4 introduction.... Jst hope i can get ma hands on one tho

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  9. @Wizytechs, are you the Gionee M6 or Gionee M6 mirror?

    I'm asking this question because it's time for me to step up my game

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for the review.I really liked it's specifications.Best regards.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I had to return back to this post cos am still confused on which device to go for this December.

    ReplyDelete