Even with less than a week to go until we usher in the new year, Chinese manufacturer Gionee saw fit to announce the M2017 smartphone, which packs not one, but two 3,500mAh batteries.
Gionee did not say what sorts of tricks it pulled to get the two batteries to talk to each other, but we assume the power packs work similarly to portable power packs in that the batteries are treated as one. Regardless of how they work, the batteries add up to a sizable 7,000mAh of capacity that Gionee promises will deliver up to nearly 26 hours of continuous video playback, a little over 38 days of standby time, and over 31 hours of talk time. Thanks to Quick Charge 3.0, you will not wait too long for the batteries to charge, but given the huge combined capacity, do not expect any miracles.
The other parts of the M2017 will either contradict or polarize, the latter certainly being true when referring to the phone’s design. The dual-edge, 5.7-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 resolution display certainly impresses on paper, but the M2017’s aesthetics on the rear panel will win some fans and push others away. The dual-camera setup, with one sensor at 12 megapixels and the other at 13MP, looks to satisfy smartphone shutterbugs, with the selfie shooter weighing in at 8MP.
As for the contradicting piece, the M2017 might pack 6GB RAM, but the 1.95GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 processor is one usually found in midrange phones on the cusp of flagship status. Furthermore, the M2017 packs plenty of courage and does not feature a headphone jack or a MicroSD card slot to enlarge the 128GB or 256GB of built-in storage, but it does feature a home button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor.
Finally, the M2017 will run Gionee’s Amigo 3.5 skin on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Speaking of money, the M2017 starts at around $1,007 for the 128GB version, with the price shooting up to around $2,446 for the 256GB variant. As the prices indicate, the phone is not aimed at the general Chinese population, but rather the select few with that much money just lying around. Gionee did not talk about when or if the M2017 will leave mainland China, so, importers, take notice.
