Gionee Dream D1 Review

The smartphone market now is more like a battlefield as most small time handset manufacturers are seen showing off their powerful multi-core Android handsets. Moreover, the success of Micromax’s Canvas 2 and the Canvas HD has further influenced the market with their dual and quad core processors respectively. Manufacturers such as WickedLeak, Karbonn and Spice too are not far behind with their multi-core processor handsets. While the war for the cheapest and most powerful handset is on, Gionee has entered the Indian market to give its contenders a very tough competition. The Dream D1 from Gionee definitely has a unique spec sheet and price and is sure to turn heads for now. Read on to find out how the Dream D1 fares.

Design and Build

Definitely the best build quality in the budget series handsets we have seen, the Dream D1 takes the cake here. The entire handset is encased in a chassis that is just 8.6 mm thick and is built with a rugged plastic frame. The rear panel is a thin clip-on plate, similar to the Galaxy series' rear panels, and has a matte-finished exterior. The bottom on the rear side is part of the chassis which houses the onboard speaker. The rear sports the main camera with an LED flash. 

The phone will remind you of the Samsung Galaxy S2 or the iPhone 4 except for the missing large home button below the screen. The front is a plain panel with absolutely no buttons on it. All that is visible on the front panel is the camera, the ear piece and a window with a few sensors beneath it. The volume rocker and the power/standby button are placed on the right and left sides respectively. Lastly, the top features the micro USB slot and the 3.5-mm headset jack is located on the bottom

Pull open the rear panel and the housing reveals the dual SIM slots, micro SD slot and the non-removable battery. Yes, that’s correct—it looks as though the battery can be removed, but it is fixed and cannot be removed. In fact, the battery does not need to be removed as the SIM and micro SD slot are placed above the battery compartment. The manufacturer seems to have missed attaching a warning sticker to keep users from trying to pry out the battery thinking it can be removed. 

The entire chassis, apart from the rear panel, is a highly-glossy graphite black which is a fingerprint magnet. The manufacturer has also bundled along two rear clip-on back covers sporting a rubberised matte-finished exterior. The idea is to protect the phone from the rear and sides in case it has to take a fall. Sadly, the case itself started cracking after a few days of use. However, the clip-on cover does give the phone an elegant look apart from protection. The phone weighs just 132 grams and has a very firm grip. 

Features
We must admit, Gionee has managed to design one of the finest dual SIM budget handsets in the market. The Dream D1 has the highest feature-set and is one of the cheapest Android handsets in the budget series (based on the feature-set). The D1 is powered using an MT6589 SOC, which features a powerful quad core ARMv7 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz and a PowerVR SGX544MP graphics processor. The hardware is supplied with 1 GB of RAM and the internal storage is a total of 4 GB with 1 GB expandable to 32 GB via the micro SD card slot. Bundled along with the phone is a 16 GB micro SD card for free.

Micro USB on the top, audio jack on the bottom



The Dream D1 is also one of the first budget handsets to sport an HD AMOLED display. The display is a 4.65-inch HD super AMOLED Plus with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 316 ppi. It also sports a Gorilla Glass 2 sheet glass which is meant to be thin, strong and scratch resistant.

The rear shooter is an 8 MP camera with an LED flash. The front camera is a standard 1 MP camera for video calls. Connectivity options include 3G, Bluetooth v4.2 with A2DP and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n. Other features include GPS, compass, sensors for proximity, light and gravity, FM radio with recording and call recording. To complete the specifications, the Dream D1 runs on the Android Jelly Bean v4.1 operating system and is fuelled by a 2100 mAh battery. The overall aesthetics of the phone is also good and it will definitely appeal to you at first glance.