First revealed through TENAA, China’s version of the Federal Communications Commission, the W909 features two 4.2-inch displays on the front and back of the phone, with both offering a 1,280 x 720 resolution. A 16-megapixel camera sits above the fingerprint sensor, which is quickly becoming a common feature in modern smartphones but is incredibly rare for a flip phone. Meanwhile, a 5MP shooter sits above the interior display, though it probably would have made more sense to have it sit above the exterior display.
Under the hood, the W909 packs an octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor, which is paired with 4GB of RAM, an amount of memory that is still confined to the upper echelon of smartphones. The generous 64GB of built-in storage is supplemented by the Micro SD card slot, while the 2,530mAh battery should keep the lights on all day long. The W909 even includes a USB Type-C port, utilized by a very small subset of products compared to the majority.
Finally, and most disappointingly, the W909 is stuck with Android 5.1 Lollipop, with Gionee’s custom Amigo UI layered on top. We’re not sure when, or if, the handset is supposed to receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The smart flip phone may pack powerful internals, but its price tag of 3,999 Yuan — roughly $615 — certainly matches that power. As for availability, don’t expect the W909 to make its way outside of China, though you could certainly import one, if you really wanted to. Regardless, the W909 seems to put Samsung’s latest flip phone, the W2016, to absolute shame, for whatever that’s worth.
