Gigaset ME Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
Welcome to the smartphone market, Gigaset. One of the first devices from the Munich-based manufacturer is the Gigaset ME (but still “Made in China”). The smartphone is available in subtle black or white and does not want to reinvent the wheel at a first look but convinces with sophisticated features and a reasonable price of 469 Euros (~$512). The best way to get the device right now is Gigaset's own online shop; the big online shops currently do not list it (yet).
The 5-inch smartphone has to compete with other well-built devices in this price range like the Asus ZenFone 2 Deluxe, the Motorola Moto X Style and the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact.
Case
The Gigaset ME cannot really distinguish itself from the omnipresent iPhone design. Thanks to metal and glass, it looks very noble and the tactile feeling is very sophisticated. The chassis could provide better grip for our taste, because the smartphone is quite slippery. At just 7.7 millimeters, the Gigaset ME is a very slim smartphone and feels good in the hand with its rounded corners and the weight of 160 grams.
Another noteworthy aspect is the box, which is very noble with a magnetic catch and a folding mechanism. There is also a dedicated compartment for each accessory, which are also nicely designed.
Connectivity
The eMMC storage of the Gigaset ME is generously sized at 32 GB and you can also expand it by up to 128 GB via microSD-card. There is a USB Type-C port, where the connector can be attached in both directions, and an infrared port, so you can use the smartphone as a remote.
The Gigaset ME supports two SIM cards, but you cannot use a microSD-card when you use two SIMs. Both slots support LTE.
A fingerprint reader at the back provides comfortable unlocking; it works very reliably and even includes a heart-rate monitor.
Software
Gigaset uses the operating system Android 5.1.1 in a visually customized version. The design of the user interface is pretty restrained and usually uses dark backgrounds and soft fonts, but the control elements are sometimes a bit small.
There is some additional software preloaded like the app for Gigaset's own smart home product lineup Elements, Amazon Kindle as well as an app with a remote functionality to control external devices. You can launch a virus scan or remove rights for apps in the Security Center. The "Power Saver" offers settings to increase the battery runtime.
Communication & GPS
The wireless features are very good and you get all the modern standards including very fast LTE Cat. 6. Gigaset does not give us any specific information about the supported frequencies of the Gigaset ME, but our review unit uses the same SoC as the HTC One M9, which can be used pretty much all over the world.
The Gigaset ME supports all current Wi-Fi standards up to the modern 802.11ac for both 2.4 as well as 5 GHz networks. Bluetooth 4.1 is available as well, just like Wireless Display and Wi-Fi MiMo. The signal quality, however, was pretty weak at a distance of 10 meters to the router and through two walls, and we sometimes lost it completely. We got the full signal close to the router.
Telephone & Voice Quality
Gigaset also slightly changed the design of the phone app, but this should not be a problem for Android users. New users will quickly get used to the three tabs "Favorites", "History" and "Contacts" as well. It is also possible to enter a name via search or just enter the number via the number pad.
We are not so convinced by the voice quality: The integrated speaker sounds very dull and our call partner also reported a very dull sound from the microphone. The speaker of the hands-free feature on the other hand sounds very clear, but we can also hear a clear noise in the voice.
Cameras & Multimedia
At the back is a 16 MP camera with an aperture of f/2.0 and a pixel size of 1.34 µm. It can either be triggered via touchscreen or the fingerprint scanner and is supported by a dual-LED flash. Some of the comparison devices have sensors with higher resolutions (Sony Xperia Z5 Compact: 23 MP), the Asus ZenFone 2 Deluxe on the other hand only comes with a 13 MP unit.
But not only is the number of pixels important. The pictures of the Gigaset ME convince at a first look, they look sharp and the colors are good. However, there are significant quality differences when you zoom in, compared to the camera of the iPhone 6S Plus, for example: Edges look much blurrier on the pictures of the Gigaset ME and it is not as sharp in general. Videos can be recorded in the 2K resolution, which is roughly four times the Full HD resolution (around twice as wide and high). The videos are sharp, but the autofocus is sometimes too slow.
The front camera takes pictures at 8 MP and the results are pretty sharp but a bit too dark.
Color Accuracy & Sharpness
We also evaluate the color accuracy and sharpness of the main camera under controlled lighting conditions. We take a picture of the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. The colors are much darker and usually more saturated compared to the reference colors. Yellow tones appear strangely damped.
We take a picture of our test chart to evaluate the sharpness and enlarge the center area: Here we can see the previously mentioned problems with the sharpness. The colors also tend to become paler towards the edges.
Input Devices & Handling
Gigaset does not use Google's standard keyboard but installs the popular alternative "SwiftKey". The keyboard actually offers many options, but purists will still favor Google's clearer lettering. The general typing experience was reliable. The touchscreen also worked well in the corners and peripheral areas. The control buttons at the lower display frame are implemented as software buttons, while the physical buttons are limited to the side of the smartphone: They feel sophisticated and have a well-defined pressure point.
Display
5-inches, IPS, Full HD – the display specifications of the Gigaset ME do not stand out from the masses, but everything is sharp and the subjective picture impression is good. At up to 471 cd/m², there are even brighter panels, but the luminance is easily sufficient for the majority of scenarios. The more realistic APL measurement in the center determined 450 cd/m² and is therefore slightly higher compared to the standard measurement.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 445 cd/m²
Contrast: 1171:1 (Black: 0.38 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.29 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.86
ΔE Greyscale 4.97 | 0.09-98 Ø5.1
Gamma: 2.57
| Gigaset ME Adreno 430, 810 MSM8994, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Sony Xperia Z5 Compact Adreno 430, 810 MSM8994, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Motorola Moto X Style Adreno 418, 808 MSM8992, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML PowerVR G6430, Z3580, 128 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | -22% | 1% | -25% | |
| Brightness middle | 445 | 547 23% | 538 21% | 425 -4% |
| Brightness | 456 | 532 17% | 528 16% | 395 -13% |
| Brightness Distribution | 93 | 94 1% | 92 -1% | 88 -5% |
| Black Level * | 0.38 | 0.54 -42% | 0.66 -74% | 0.5 -32% |
| Contrast | 1171 | 1013 -13% | 815 -30% | 850 -27% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.29 | 7.37 -72% | 2.63 39% | 7.05 -64% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.89 | |||
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.97 | 8.39 -69% | 3.24 35% | 6.38 -28% |
| Gamma | 2.57 86% | 2.28 96% | 2.17 101% | 1.63 135% |
| CCT | 7625 85% | 9074 72% | 6906 94% | 6776 96% |
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 99.9865 |
* ... smaller is better
The display of the Gigaset ME can actually convince in terms of black value as well as contrast ratio and surpasses the comparison devices: A contrast of 1171:1 is a result of the low black value at 0.38 cd/m². This means black surfaces are pretty dark and the colors are rich.
We use the software CalMAN and a spectrophotometer for a detailed analysis. The deviations compared to the reference color space sRGB are already surprisingly low ex-works, only a slight blue cast affects the picture a bit.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 28 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 11 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 17 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 69 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (20.6 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 50 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 26 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 24 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 85 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.3 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8426 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
The glossy surface and the decent luminance of the display contradict each other outdoors, but you can still ensure an acceptable visibility in brighter environments when you slightly adjust your position.
Thanks to the IPS technology, we do not have to speak a lot about the viewing angles: Everything is fine, even from very flat angles.
Performance
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994 is an SoC that has been used for many high-end smartphones recently. The Xperia Z5 Compact is one of the comparison devices with the same SoC. It is therefore surprising that the Gigaset ME has a hard time to compete with Sony's smartphone. The case temperatures suggest that Gigaset has problems with the cooling and the chip throttles under load.
All in all, you can use the Gigaset ME very smoothly, but the comparison devices are often even faster. There are also occasional hiccups in practice, which are not dramatic, but surprising considering the specs.
The microSD-slot supports cards up to 128 GB. We checked the performance with our reference card Toshiba Exceria SD-CX32UHS1 (up to 95 MB/s read, 60 MB/s write). Our review device managed read rates of up to 19.42 MB/s, which is rather disappointing when you consider the possible speeds. The write performance was also pretty poor (10.9 MB/s).
| Geekbench 3 | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| 3DMark | |
| 2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| 2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| 2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Physics (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| GFXBench 3.1 | |
| on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| 1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| GFXBench | |
| on screen Car Chase Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| 1920x1080 Car Chase Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| AnTuTu v6 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| PCMark for Android - Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
| JetStream 1.1 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Gigaset ME | |
| Sony Xperia Z5 Compact | |
| Motorola Moto X Style | |
| Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML | |
* ... smaller is better
Games
Despite the throttling, you can also play fast titles like Asphalt 8 smoothly at the highest details, because the SoC is still powerful enough. Angry Birds 2 is no problem anyway. The controls via position sensor and touchscreen worked very well.
Emissions
Temperature
The Gigaset ME is a pretty hot device under load: We can measure up to 50.3 °C at the upper left front. This is too much, especially since the comparison devices are at least 9 degrees cooler. You can also feel the warming over the whole chassis surface. The temperatures are inconspicuous while idling.
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 50.3 °C / 123 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 47.2 °C / 117 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 31.8 °C / 89 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speakers
Despite the two grilles at the bottom, only the left one covers a speaker. It still manages a decent maximum volume at almost 81 dB(A), but the sound is focused on the high tones, so music and movie playback is not very enjoyable. The sound is pretty good with the attached headset though.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The idle consumption is average within the competition, but there are outliers under load, where up to 12.75 Watts is too high. The standby consumption is also too high at 0.3 Watts.
| Off / Standby |   0.08 / 0.3 Watt |
| Idle |  0.75 / 1.7 / 1.84 Watt |
| Load |
7.18 / 12.75 Watt |
    
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Gossen Metrahit Energy | |
Battery Runtime
A 3,000 mAh battery is standard in this price range and for a 5-inch smartphone, and Gigaset also uses one for its smartphone. 12.9 Wh is the capacity, which is sufficient for 6:30 hours Wi-Fi surfing. The competition is on a similar level. However, the Gigaset ME does not last very long under load due to the enormous power consumption.
The smartphone is equipped with Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology and the manufacturer promises 9% battery charge in 5 minutes and 16% in 10 minutes. We can support this after three charging cycles.
| Gigaset ME Adreno 430, 810 MSM8994, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Sony Xperia Z5 Compact Adreno 430, 810 MSM8994, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML PowerVR G6430, Z3580, 128 GB eMMC Flash | Motorola Moto X Style Adreno 418, 808 MSM8992, 32 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 102% | 7% | 83% | |
| WiFi v1.3 | 393 | 440 12% | 420 7% | 400 2% |
| Load | 83 | 242 192% | 219 164% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Gigaset’s ME is a successful first attempt for the smartphone market, but there is still room for improvements. The device is not too expensive at 469 Euros (~$512). It offers high-end specs and even the support for two SIM-cards. The unpacking is also an enjoyable experience thanks to the nicely designed box. The smartphone has a nice design and a thin chassis.
The battery runtime is reasonable, the display convenient, and 32 GB storage with the possibility of additional storage via microSD-card are convincing arguments for the Gigaset ME.
The ME from the German manufacturer Gigaset is a worthy alternative to the established brands when you are looking for a nice smartphone. Good software and the noble design can compensate for some drawbacks.
The chassis is a bit slippery and we can only recommend a grippy cover. The biggest issue is the temperature development of the device under load though, which likely causes a throttling of the core components as well. This means the Gigaset ME is not quite as powerful as other devices with the same SoC. You will also have to live with sharpness deficits for the camera pictures and the Wi-Fi signal isn't always very good.
Gigaset ME
- 02/21/2016 v5 (old)
Florian Wimmer
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