After the success of M5, the company launched Marathon M5 Lite smartphone in January. The specifications and features of this smartphone are similar to the old M4 except for the new Android version and some new internal features. Is Gionee’s Marathon M5 Lite a phone worth buying? Today we will review this smartphone from Gionee.
Look and design
When it comes to the beauty of the Marathon M5 Lite smartphone, it is definitely better than the old Marathon smartphone. The phone is thinner than before and comes in a new color, giving it a more premium look. However, the phone is a bit heavy.
This smartphone from Gionee has a 5 inch HD IPS display and Dragontrail glass has been used to strengthen it. The pixel density of the screen is 300 ppi due to which pictures and text look sharp without any distortion. Gionee has once again disappointed by not providing backlight in the notification LED and capacitive buttons.
The power and volume buttons are provided on the right side of the phone, which makes the phone comfortable to hold in hand. But if you hold the phone from the edge, there is a fear of it slipping, although the phone can be held easily from the rear. The rear cover of the phone is removable but not the battery. The phone has two micro-SIM slots with 4G support. There is also a separate microSD card slot through which the phone’s storage can be increased up to 128 GB.
The Gionee Marathon M5 Lite comes with a charger, USB cable, screen guard, case and some instruction manuals. The accessories that come with the phone seem to be quite cheap and are not as good as the ones that come with the Marathon M4 and M5. The phone does not support fast charging and the 5 watt charger that comes with it is not good enough for the big battery.
Specifications and software
Like Gionee’s Marathon M5 smartphone, the Marathon M5 Lite also has a quad-core MediaTek MT6735 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. Considering the price difference between the two phones, these specifications can be called good. Apart from this, features like Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, USB OTG, FM radio, Miracast and GPS are also the same in both phones. The phone has a 4000mAh battery which is promised to last for several days.
The Marathon M5 Lite runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Gionee Amigo 3.1 skin on top.
The phone has a single layer stock launcher which allows you to customize the transition effects of the icons on the home screen. It would have been better if Gionee had provided an option to change the wallpaper on the home screen other than going to the Settings menu. Quick Settings can be accessed from the Control Center. The Settings app also has a smart gesture feature which lets you control media (photos and videos) and web browsing by just shaking the phone without touching it.
Most of the pre-installed apps on the phone can be removed. WPS Office, TouchPal 2015, DU Speed Booster, UC Browser and other trial games can be deleted.
Performance
Considering the specifications of the phone, it is no surprise that the M5 Lite handles most things with ease. General app performance and multitasking are great on the phone. Users always have 1.6GB of RAM to use. 4G works well on the smartphone and the phone heats up very little during normal use.
3D games like Dead Trigger 2 and Sky Safari 2 can be played smoothly on the phone without any problem. The performance of the phone in benchmark tests was also excellent.
The multimedia support of the phone is also good. The stock video player of the phone plays high quality video files easily. Apart from this, the video player is equipped with DTS audio. The rear mono speaker given in the phone gives great loud audio for music and videos. The headset that comes with the phone does not give good audio quality and it also does not fit to wear.
We faced some difficulty while taking pictures with the rear camera of the phone. The colours are too exaggerated in the close up shots taken with the phone. The pictures look good on the phone’s display but when zoomed in on a bigger screen, the lack of detailing and sharpness can be clearly seen. Different types of pictures can be taken with the shooting mode, Pro mode given in the camera app. Lack of detailing and autofocus was also seen in the pictures taken in low light.
The camera can record 1080p video which is not bad considering the phone’s software. In good light, the phone’s front camera can take good selfies.
battery life
Battery life is one of the most important features of the Marathon series smartphones. However, the battery life of the M5 Lite smartphone is not as good as we expected. In our video loop test, the battery of the phone lasted for 11 hours and 47 minutes, while during normal use the battery lasted for a day and a half. Battery performance is good, but considering it is a Marathon series smartphone, we expected better battery life. In our video loop test of the Oppo R7 Lite (Review), the 2320mAh battery lasted much longer.
What disappointed us the most was the charging of this huge battery, which the charger that came with the phone can fully charge in about four hours.
Our verdict
At Rs 12,999, the Marathon M5 Lite is expensive for its overall performance. If you get such battery life at this price, we would recommend buying the older Marathon M4. Apart from the look of the phone, there is hardly any major change that will attract your attention.
Apart from the slim and good looking body and the all day battery, there is nothing special in the phone. The accessories that come with the phone are also very bad compared to the previous Marathon smartphone.
Gionee recently launched the M5 Mini in the Marathon series after the M5 Lite. Instead of the huge success of a single phone, the company has launched several Marathon M5 variants in the market. We feel that the company needs to think afresh and develop good features in the smartphone according to the user.
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