Gionee Pioneer P2 Review

The Gionee Pioneer P2 received a lot of attention lately due to the value-for-money proposition it offered. While it’s more expensive than the venerable Cherry Mobile Flare 2.0, it offers stronger battery and HSPA+ connectivity which makes it worth taking a look into. For those still clueless about Gionee, it is actually a Chinese smartphone manufacturer who has been around for 10 years (they’re pretty big in India). Anyway, we’ve had the Pioneer P2 for well over two weeks now and we’d like to share with you guys our full review.

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Before we proceed with the review let’s dig into the specs.

Gionee Pioneer P2 Spec Sheet

• 1.3 GHz dual core Cortex A7 processor
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB internal memory expandable via MicroSD up to 32GB
• 4-inch WVGA TFT display (480 x 800 pixels) 233 ppi
• 5 megapixel front facing, fixed focus camera with LED flash
• VGA front facing camera
• HSPA+, WiFi, WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0
• GPS
• 1,700 mAh battery
• Android 4.2 Jellybean
• SRP: P 4,490

Design and Build Quality

The Gionee Pioneer P2 feels very solid when holding it. It doesn’t feel cheap thanks to the delightful soft matte finish at the back. Not only does the finish make it look better, it also gives better grip. The device, being a 4.0-incher, is perfect for those who prefer to use compact smartphones. It might look small though to some people especially those who have been spoiled by the gigantic screens of phablets.

For display, the Pioneer P2’s 4-inch screen has a resolution of 800 x 480. The brightness and over-all vibrancy was actually impressive and we felt like we had a much more expensive smartphone in our hands thanks to the display quality.

Over-all the Gionee Pioneer P2 offers good and sturdy hardware despite the low price point.

Performance: Surprisingly Powerful

For a budget phone, we are happy to report that Pioneer P2 has a slightly faster 1.3 GHz dual core processor backed with 512MB RAM compared to 1GHz dual core processors found on other smartphones on this category. We were also surprised to get a score of 10,931 on Antutu Benchmark which is high which is high for this kind of chipset. Heck some quad-core devices with dated processors can’t even match this, hehe.

Normally, playing graphics-intensive games running on a dual core processor tends to be jittery and a major lag fest. That’s not the case with the Pioneer P2. Hardcore games are playable while the usual suspects like Minion Rush, Candy Crush, and others played smoothly.

If only for the much improved processor we have to give this device our stamp of approval in so far as value for money is concerned!

Camera: Could Use More Optimizations

We been very impressed from the Pioneer P2’s build quality, performance and HSPA+ connectivity. However, you can’t have it all. The 5 megapixel camera is one of our biggest gripes. The lack of autofocus made pictures dull, blurry at times and washed out colors. Here are some of our sample photos:

Battery: YAY!

The Pioneer P2 has a relatively large 1,700 mAh battery (most phones in this price range have less than 1,500). The battery will give you 1 day and a half with light usage. On heavy usage (playing games, videos, long calls and texts), the battery lasted for more than 7-8 hours! Definitely impressive!

Verdict: Good Quality Budget Smartphone!

Would we recommend the Gionee Pioneer P2? Absolutely! Having a more powerful processor, bigger battery, smooth performance, fast HSPA+ connectivity makes it a steal for Php4,490. If you are looking for a budget smartphone and you want get more out of your money, then the Pioneer P2 should be in your list.