Gionee made the K3 Pro official in China today, and we can’t decide what’s weirder about it: the fact that it runs Android 9 Pie or the location of its fingerprint sensor.
Let’s elaborate. It’s 2020, and Google is going to release Android 11 in a few weeks. And yet this phone ships not with last year’s Android 10, but Android 9 Pie from 2018, for some reason.
Next – the fingerprint scanner. Look at the image above and try and guess where it’s at. If you were thinking it’s the bottom right circle in the camera island, you were right. We’ve seen scanners sort of integrated with camera islands before, but of the elongated variety, and crucially – islands that were centered on the rear. This one is neither.
So that’s probably not going to be a very smooth sailing unlocking experience every single time. The design is ‘smart’, as in yeah, sure, it is cleaner than with a centered sensor outside of the island, but usability-wise, this seems like a huge downside.
Anyway, the phone is powered by MediaTek’s Helio P60 chipset (none of that Dimensity 5G action here), paired with 6 or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage.
The screen is a 6.53-inch HD+ 720×1600 IPS panel, with a 13 MP selfie snapper housed inside the teardrop notch. On the rear you get a 16 MP main cam, alongside two other unknown shooters – although we’re assuming one is a depth sensor.
The Gionee K3 Pro has a 4,000 mAh battery with 10W charging. Its dimensions are 164.3 x 77.6 x 9.7 mm, and it weighs 205g. Pricing starts at CNY 699 ($101 or €85) for the version with 6GB of RAM, and goes up to CNY 899 ($129 or €110) if you want 8GB. Colors on offer will be Jade Green and Pearl White.
Haslinda has worked with some of the largest telcos in North America and Asia. She loves tech and doesn’t like iPhone
