As the name suggests, the A1 Plus smartphone is better than the A1. This phone has a big battery and dual camera setup on the rear. The specifications of the phone are also better than A1 but will this phone prove to be a winner in terms of price? Know in the review.
Gionee A1 Plus Design
The first thing that caught our eye is the large size of the Jio A1 Plus. It is a big device and feels heavy. The 6-inch display means that the A1 Plus is sometimes difficult to hold with one hand. The phone has a fingerprint sensor on the front and capacitive touch buttons are provided on the front. You can change the function of the capacitive buttons as per your convenience and they are not backlit which means they will be difficult to use in the dark.
The weight of this phone is 226 grams and it is heavier than the larger size Xiaomi Mi Max 2. The phone feels inconvenient while talking for a long time due to its heavy weight. The reason behind the weight of the phone is the 4550 mAh battery provided by Gionee. The rear panel of the phone is made of metal but its end feels plastic. The rear of the phone feels a little slippery, and due to its weight, you will need to be careful while using the phone.
Gionee has provided a power button in the phone but you will have to make some efforts to reach the volume button. The dual cameras on the rear are placed in the middle and there is also a soft LED flash for the front camera. At the bottom, the Jio A1 Plus has two grilles, the right one of which is a speaker. However, the phone has stereo output as Gionee has used the earpiece of the phone as a second speaker. The phone has a Micro-USB port for charging and data, which is a bit surprising as most devices these days come with a USB Type-C port.
In the box, Gionee has provided a plastic screen protector and a transparent case for the phone along with the phone. Apart from this, in-ear headphones and an 18 watt charger and SIM ejector tool will also be available.
Gionee A1 Plus Specifications
The 6 inch display given in Gionee A1 Plus attracts the most. Which comes with Full HD resolution (1080×1920 pixels). The display provides vivid colors and you can set them as per your convenience. While the viewing angles are good, the phone is very easy to use even in sunlight. The screen remains bright all the time, even when the brightness is reduced. Due to glass rear, smudges appear but fingerprints do not appear.
In A1 Plus, Gionee has chosen MediaTek Helio P25 processor which runs on octa-core processor. The phone has 4 GB RAM and 64 GB inbuilt storage which can be expanded up to 256 GB via microSD card. However, to increase the storage, the second SIM card will have to be removed as the A1 Plus has a hybrid dual-SIM tray. The first slot will require a micro-SIM card while the second slot will require a nano-SIM card. 4G VoTe support is available in the phone.
Gionee A1 Plus software and performance
Talking about software, Gionee A1 Plus runs on Android 7.0 with custom Amigo UI on top. This UI does not have an app drawer and all the icons are placed on the homescreen. Swiping from the top down on the screen will reveal notifications and swiping up from the bottom can provide quick toggles from an iOS-like panel. We found that the Settings app is reorganized, so you’ll have to work a little harder to find different options in Settings. There’s also a tab called ‘Features’ in Settings that provides guidelines for gestures that can be used for phone features.
Apps like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Amazon, Saavn, Zeder, Truecaller and TouchPal Keyboard come pre-installed in this phone. We found the TouchPal keyboard spammy because it would load a web-based game onto the phone and create a floating widget on the screen. Peel Remote is a remote app and is kind of an added feature since this phone doesn’t have an infrared ammeter. Apart from Google Play Store, Gionee has also given its own G Store. Overall, the UI is different and may take some getting used to.
We tested the A1 Plus on benchmark data. The phone’s performance is decent for everyday use and the 4GB RAM helps a lot when switching between apps. During use, we found that even after a day of use, about 2 GB RAM was empty.
The phone has a 4550 mAh battery with which the phone can easily last for one and a half days. We found that the phone’s battery drains quickly while playing games. The phone’s battery lasted 14 hours and 43 minutes in our HD video loop test. With an 18-watt charger, the phone gets charged in two hours and the phone also gets charged during charging.
Gionee A1 Plus Camera
Continuing the trend of dual rear cameras, the Gionee A1 Plus sports a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 13-megapixel and a 5-megapixel. The camera app has a professional mode that gives more controls for camera settings. There are many filters available in the camera app.
Photos taken with Gionee A1 are very average. Color reproduction is also not good. We saw purple color in many pictures. When pictures are taken from a short distance, there is a severe lack of detail in the pictures. Photos taken in low light came out dark and lacking in detail. Switching the camera to night mode helps but adds extra noise.
The secondary camera works only in portrait mode where it is used for depth calculations. After which the blur effect is artificially included. Video recording is limited to 1080 pixels, whereas the similarly priced Moto Z2 Play offers 4K recording capability at 30 frames per second.
The phone has a 20-megapixel sensor with a soft selfie flash. The phone takes good pictures but looks flat. The surprising thing is that it does not have beautification mode, so you may be disappointed. But before taking a selfie, you will get the option to apply filters.
our decision
The Gionee A1 Plus is not for everyone due to its size. It is not easy to hold it in hand and you will need a big pocket for it. However, the phone has a big battery and good performance for the price. The UI is usable. In this you will not get the fun like stock Android, so some people may not like it. Camera performance is very average and the secondary camera works only in portrait mode.
If you’re looking for a big screen phone with a big battery, the A1 Plus is one to consider. However, Xiaomi Mi Max 2 is a better option due to its lower price. Additionally, you can also consider the Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro or the lower-cost Moto Z2 Play. Or you can also buy OnePlus 3T (Review) by paying a slightly higher price.