We get hands-on with new smartphones that beautify your selfies, from Chinese firm Gionee
With their large pixel counts and flashes for both cameras, plus sensors and algorithms that allow you to modify your selfies and portraits before you take them, the A1 and A1 Plus are aiming for the snap-happy
Love them or hate them, selfies have taken over the world. A recent report by Google stated that 24 billion selfies were uploaded to its Google Photos servers in 2016 … a scary number considering that Google can’t even run legally in the world’s most populous country.
It makes sense then, that mobile handset makers are paying more attention to the front-facing camera, especially lesser known brands that need something to appeal to consumers in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung.
Dongguan-based Gionee, China’s sixth largest phone company by market share, is doing just that with its latest phones, the A1 and A1 Plus.
Unveiled on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Gionee’s new line boasts a whopping 20-megapixel selfie lens for the premium A1 Plus model and a 13-megapixel one for the standard version. Both phones come with front-facing flash for selfies in low light situations.
But what if you’re not photogenic? Gionee has that covered too. “Everyone likes to take selfies, but not everyone looks perfect,” said Gionee president William Lu at the launch event, before transitioning to the phones’ other big selling point: its beautifying software.