Panasonic launches quad-core P55 for Rs 10,290 in India; Gionee's Marathon M3 available for Rs 13,499

Panasonic has further expanded its range of smartphones in the country with the launch of a new device. Christened P55, the smartphone runs on the Android operating system and sports a 5.5 inch display. Targeted at the mid-price range segment of the market, it has been priced at Rs 10,290 in India.

In addition, Gionee has also introduced the successor to its Marathon M2 smartphone. Called Marathon M3, this one is all about the battery- as the name already suggests. The device has a mammoth 5,000 mAh battery which Gionee claims will provide over two days of talk time and over a month of standby time. While the device is listed on the company's India website sans a price tag, it is available on e-commerce stores like eBay for Rs 13,499.

Here is a look at the specifications of the devices.

Panasonic P55 for Rs 10,290

This one sports a 5.5 inch HD IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display (720×1280 pixels resolution) and runs on the Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system. The smartphone is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 4GB, which can be further expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

P55 has an 8 megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED Flash that can also record full high definition videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second, and a 2MP front facing camera for video calling. On the connectivity front, it has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi & 3G, as well as a microSD card slot and a microUSB port. The dimensions of the device are 149.7 mm x 77 mm x 7.9 mm and its weight is 148 gm. Panasonic has provided a 2,500 mAh battery in the device, which also has FM radio with RDS. The smartphone comes with dual-SIM capability and GPS (with A-GPS support). It is available in black and pearl white colours.

Additional features of the smartphone include 'Tap Play', which enables users to double tap to wake-up the smartphone instead of reaching the power button every time. Likewise, the device can be returned to sleep mode with the same gesture. Gesture Play allows users to launch apps directly from the home screen, while 'Pop-i Player' lets them multi-task while playing videos. It also comes with a single hand operable music player called 'Music café'.

Gionee Marathon M3 for Rs 13,499

The smartphone sports a 5 inch HD IPS touchscreen display (1280×720 pixels resolution) and runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. It is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 8GB, which can be further expanded up to 128GB with a microSD card.

It has an 8MP rear camera with LED Flash that can record HD videos, and a 2MP front-facing camera for video calling. Additional features of the camera include face beauty, panorama (horizontal and vertical), face detection, geo-tagging, touch focus, gesture shot, and smile shot, among others. On the connectivity front, it has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, as well as a microSD card slot and a microUSB port.

The dimensions of the device are 144.5 mm x 71.4 mm x 10.4 mm and its weight is 180.2 gm (without battery). It comes with dual-SIM capability, FM radio and GPS (with A-GPS support). Gionee has provided a 5,000 mAh battery in the device that it claims will provide up to 32.4 (3G) and 52 (2G) hours of talk time, as well as 32.8 days of standby time. The smartphone is available in black and white colours.