Newsletter
During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, which is still ongoing, various companies introduced Android One and Android Go smartphones. HMD introduced the Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 6 (2018), and the Nokia 8 Sirocco Android One handsets, while Alcatel pitched in with the Alcatel 1X Android Go handset, and the same did HMD with the Nokia 1 Android Go smartphone. Having said that, General Mobile, a Turkish company, added two of its smartphones into the mix, the General Mobile GM8, and GM8 Pro. The General Mobile GM8 is an Android One smartphone, while the GM8 Go is an Android Go device, as its name suggests. As most of you know, Google kicked off the Android One project quite some time ago, and Android One devices actually ship with stock Android out of the box. Android Go is, essentially, a lighter version of stock Android, with special ‘Go’ apps that Google made. Now many of you outside of Europe heard of General Mobile, quite probably, though this company is quite popular in some regions, especially within Europe’s borders.
That being said, we have managed to get some hands-on time with General Mobile’s newest smartphones, which don’t exactly look the same. In any case, let’s kick things off with the GM8, shall we. The General Mobile GM8 comes with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM, while those two variants include 32GB or 64GB of storage, respectively. Having said that, this smartphone is made out of metal, it sports a single camera on the back, and next to it sits an LED flash. Below the main snapper on the General Mobile GM8, sits a fingerprint scanner, while the phone’s main snapper is not exactly flush with the phone’s surfaced. Both General Mobile’s and Android One’s brandings are present on the back of this handset, while a power / lock key sits on the right. Volume rocker buttons can be found on the left, where you will notice a SIM card slot as well. A 3.5mm headphone jack is also included here, it is placed on the top of the device, while the phone’s loudspeaker and charging port lie on the bottom.
Now, as far as specs are concerned, we can say that the General Mobile GM8 is an entry-level smartphone, or low-to-mid-range, at the very least. This device is fueled by the Snapdragon 435 64-bit octa-core processor, which is Qualcomm’s entry-level chip. The phone features a 5.7-inch HD+ (1440 x 720) IPS display, which is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass, though we don’t know which edition exactly. A 13-megapixel shooter (f/2.0 aperture) sits on the back of the General Mobile GM8, while a 13-megapixel snapper (f/2.2 aperture) can be found on the front side of both of the device. The device supports 4G LTE connectivity, both FDD-LTE and TD-LTE, while it also ships with a 3,075mAh non-removable battery. Android 8.0 Oreo comes pre-installed on the General Mobile GM8, while Bluetooth 4.2 is also a part of the package. As this is an Android One handset, only a handful of apps come pre-installed, Google’s very own applications. The General Mobile GM8 comes in two color variants, Gold and Space Gray, while it measures 154.2 x 72.7 x 7.96mm, and weighs 152 grams.
The General Mobile GM8 Go is a somewhat different story. This handset comes with only 1GB of RAM, and it features a 5.5-inch HD+ (1440 x 720) display. The phone is fueled by the MediaTek MT6739 64-bit quad-core processor, while it comes with a 3,500mAh non-removable battery. A 13-megapixel camera is included on its back, while a 5-megapixel shooter sits on its front side. Android 8.1 Oreo comes pre-installed on the phone, Android Go edition, while the device also offers 16GB of internal storage. The back side of this handset looks different to the General Mobile GM8’s backplate, though a fingerprint scanner is still placed there. Unlike the GM8, the GM8 Go is not made out of metal, it sports a rubbery material on the back, even though its frame is metallic. It is still unknown how much will these two phones cost, but their price points will differ from one region to the other. If you’d like to take a closer look at the two phones, check out the gallery down below.
General Mobile GM8
General Mobile GM8 Go
