Button, port and speaker positioning is fairly standard for a mid-range device, with the power and volume keys on the right, USB at the bottom, 3.5mm at the top and the speaker at the rear. The three Android soft keys sit below the screen, while the front camera is just off-centre at the top. The primary camera and printed Gionee logo are in the top half of the rear.
The screen of the Gionee F103 is a 720x1280 pixel ( 294 pixels per inch) affair, which is disappointing considering that less expensive smartphones such as the Phicomm Passion 660 and Yu Yureka Plus offer full-HD resolutions. The screen itself is acceptably decent, although colours seem a bit muted and lacking in vibrancy. There are also slight issues with smoothness of motion with video and animations in games and apps.
Specifications and software
The Gionee F103 features the 64-bit MediaTek MT6735 SoC, which has four CPU cores clocked at 1.3GHz and a Mali-T720 GPU. This is a relatively new SoC with 4G support, and the Gionee is compatible with India’s popular band 40 LTE frequency. It has a 2400mAh battery, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage ( expandable by up to 32GB) and runs on Android Lollipop.
The F103 is a dual-SIM device with a separate slot for expandable storage, so you don’t have to choose between having two SIMs or extra storage space. All of these specifications are more or less on par with what is offered by other smartphones in the price range plus 4G, so the Gionee doesn’t have anything that helps it stand out in an already crowded and competitive market.
Gionee’s custom overlay, Amigo OS 3.0, is one of our least favourite Android-based user interfaces. It’s confusing from the outset, changing the positioning and working of too many typical Android functions without good reason. Although version 3.0 has improved the UI vastly, there are still far too many limitations and problems, from poor translations to badly placed menus and settings.
There is a fair amount of bloatware, but fortunately, most of this can be uninstalled. The standard tools function well, with the exception of some silly language which is sure to give you some laughs. Too much focus is laid on themes, with three separate bloatware apps dealing with themes and appearance. Speaking of appearance and look, this is possibly the only aspect of the user interface that is appealing.