Gionee Pioneer P4 Price Php 6,999, Initial Review, Complete Specs, Unboxing, Antutu Benchmark Score

The two best-selling Gionee handsets in the Philippines currently are Gionee Elife E6 and Elife E7, which are both high-end and quite pricey flagship releases. A lot of Pinoy gadget consumers are checking out these smartphones not only because they look great but because they have powerhouse innards and imaging capabilities.

If you're a big Gionee Fan and you want to experience Amigo UI and all the cool features and functionality that the Chinese company brings to the Android platform but you're not quite ready to shell out a borderline exorbitant amount on a phone, then Gionee Pioneer P4 is perfect for you.

Priced at only Php 6,999, P4 is the most affordable quad core Android smartphone in Gionee's product line-up in the country as of today. And for that amount, you already get a device with fairly large display, good main camera, wide-angle front cam, great internal hardware, simple yet attractive design, and an intuitive user interface.

Before I show you the handset itself, its benchmark score, and some shots of the Gionee Amigo UI, let's do a little unboxing and check out all the items that join Pioneer P4 inside its cool packaging.

Gionee Pionee P4 ships with this simple orange box.

Why Orange, you ask? Well, it's the main corporate hue of Gionee and you'll find it in all of the brand's marketing collaterals, manuals, and product packaging.

If you have time to read it: There's the P4 user manual.

The warranty certificate guarantees after-sales support your Gionee smartphone in case you require it in the future. I believe there are already more than 15 authorized Gionee service centers around the country, which I will list down in a separate entry soon.

Gionee generously added a free screen protector and cleaning cloth in the package -- so you won't have to purchase them separately.

We have the travel charger that's small enough to fit in your pocket.

The microUSB to USB cable that allows you to connect your handset to your computer. Of course, you'll also need this for charging your phone.

The standard earphones with built-in microphone, which means that you can conveniently use the pair when making or receiving a call.

The 1,800 mAh Li-Ion battery pack that - I find - delivers around 12 hours of uptime with mixed usage, including playing non-specs intensive games, updating social networking accounts, sending text messages, browsing my fave sites, taking more or less 30 photos, and making calls.

Just like Samsung phones, Gionee handsets have this protective sticker on top of the touchscreen right out of the box, flaunting a list of the device's key technical specifications.

The plastic back plate is removable; Giving you quick access to the Dual SIM slots (Regular SIM and Mini SIM) and the microSD card slot -- and letting you do a battery pull in case you need to.

All Gionee phones available in the Philippines are approved by NTC and have safety features that are in compliance with EU legislation for all products sold in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Alright! Let's turn on Gionee Pioneer P4 and take a look at some sections of the Amigo user interface. Amigo is Gionee's official skin for Android -- kinda like Samsung's TouchWiz or Sony's Xperia UI.

Amigo on Gionee Pioneer P4 looks almost like Android's vanilla or default user interface with very subtle customization here and there -- most notable of which are the cute MIUI-and-iOS-like icons.

Here's something you won't get in the default Android 4.2 Jelly Bean UI; The ability to group icons in the App Tray into folders. Pretty neat, eh?

Check out the drop-down notifications tab and the quick controls for turning on or adjusting certain connectivity options and settings.

You don't have to go to P4's About Phone section to check for system updates. The handset has a pre-installed app from Gionee specifically for that.

Gionee also has a cool app that lets you connect with your friends and quickly send content - like videos, files, and photos - from your phone to theirs over WiFi or mobile connection. Sweet!

TouchPal supporting Swipe Input is Gionee Pioneer P4's default keyboard. It's nice but if you don't like it, you can always install a new one from the Google Play Store.

As I've said, Gionee Pioneer P4 has a simple yet attractive design language. As you can see, there are no unnecessary frills or embellishments on the device. At the back, you'll find the 5 MegaPixel autofocus camera with LED flash at the top section and the loud speaker at the bottom.

The power button and volume rocker are conveniently located on the right panel of the handset for quick access using your thumb when holding the phone. Good ergonomics!

P4 sports a 4.5-inch FWVGA display panel, which - while not IPS - has good color accuracy and gets bright enough for squint-free viewing outdoors under direct sunlight.

Above the display, you'll find the light sensor and the 2 MegaPixel front cam with wide-angle lens allowing your friends to join in your selfie shots without you having to over-extend your arms when taking them.

The 3.5 mm audio jack is located on the top panel while the microUSB port is at the rear, which I appreciate since it keeps the wires out of the way when I'm using the phone while it's charging.

Sleek and svelte!

Like what I said at the top of this initial review, one of the highlights of Gionee Pioneer P4 are its powerful internal specifications that are great for HD and 3D gaming. The device runs on a Quad Core 1.3 GHz ARM Cortex A7 and Mali-400MP based MediaTek MT6582 chipset (the quad core latest SoC from the Taiwanese company), efficiently handles multitasking with 1 GB of RAM, and has 8 GB of internal storage that you can beef up using P4's microSD card slot.

The combination of these stellar innards gave Gionee Pioneer P4 a score of 17,235 when I ran Antutu Benchmark app on the device. This is already quite high for a handset in this price echelon.

That's it for now, TP Friends. I will post sample photos taken using the phone's camera as well as a few hands-on and demo videos in my follow-up review entry. Kindly stay tuned! For now, in true TechPinas fashion, let me share with you Gionee Pioneer P4's complete technical specifications:

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name	Gionee Pioneer P4
Type	Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category	Lower Midrange
Dimensions	135 x 66.5 x 9.05 mm
Weight	129 grams
Available Colors	White, Black
Operating System	Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Display	4.5 inches, FWVGA, VN, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Processor	Quad Core 1.3 GHz ARM Cortex A7 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, MediaTek MT6582 chipset
RAM	1 GB RAM
Internal Storage	8 GB of ROM, expandable via microSD card slot supporting up to 32 GB
Camera	Main: 5 MegaPixels, 2592 х 1944 pixels, Autofocus, LED flash Front: 2 MegaPixels, Wide-Angle Lens
Video Capture	HD 720p 30fps (TBC), TBD for front camera
Audio and Video Playback	MP4, DivX, Xvid, FLV, MKV, H.264, H.263, MP3, WAV, eAAC+, Flac (TBC)
Ports	microUSB v2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth, 3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, HSPA+;
GPS	Yes, with A-GPS
Sensors	Accelerometer, Proximity
Network	2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
SIM Card Type	Dual SIM: microSIM and Regular Mini SIM
Battery	Removable Li-Ion 1,800 mAh battery
Uptime	TBD
Value-Added Features	Amigo UI, Good Innards, Front Cam Wide-Angle Lens
Announcement	Philippines: June 2014
Availability	Philippines: June 2014
Price	Official SRP: Php 6,999