Gionee Elife S5.5 Price, Review: $375 Android 4.4 KitKat Handset W/ 0.21-inch Thickness No Longer World’s Slimmest Smartphone

The label for the world’s slimmest smartphone has officially been taken away from the Gionee Elife S5.5 handset. Announced for a price of around $375 the single-SIM handset has 5.5mm or 0.21-inch thickness that has made it the world’s slimmest handset for almost a year. It’s manufacturer, Gionee, has unveiled the Gionee Elife S5.1, which is 5.1mm or 0.20-inch thick, a full 0.01 inch thinner than its predecessor.

According to Load The Game, the Gionee Elife S5.1 has been officially recognized by the Guiness World of Records as the world’s thinnest phone. At the moment though, the device can only be found in China and is not compatible with international communications. The S5.5 remains the second thinnest handset in the world.

The Gionee Elife S5.1 and the S5.5 joins the rank of skinny handsets like the Vivo X3, Huawei Ascend P6, Sony Xperia Z Ultra, and Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

The Gionee Elife S5.5 comes with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box and features a 5-inch 1080 x 1920-pixel Super AMOLED display. Under the hood it sports an octa-core MediaTek MT6592 chip that clocks in at 1.7GHz and has 2GB of RAM on board. It has a 16GB built-in storage with no MicroSD supprt. GSM Arena notes that the S5.5 is upgradable to Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Camera feature for the Gionee Elife S5.5 includes a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front shooter. It supports 1080P video recording and provides auto-focus. The S5.5’s rear camera has been considered useful for taking outdoor shots, keeping the colors natural while keeping noise levels low.

In a review by the First Post, it notes that the Gionee Elife S5.5 works with a single micro-SIM and only supports GSM networks. The handset is also compatible with 3G HSDPA and HSUPA for high speed internet as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Overall, the Gionee Elife S5.5 sports some very basic and useful functions for a handset. It has been described by one review as “beauty with brains.” Though not exactly a budget friendly unit, the S5.5 is worth the dollar despite it being succeeded by a thinner and younger model.