Gionee’s Marathon M3 is a phone that can also charge your devices

China’s Gionee today introduced the new Marathon G3 smartphone with a massive 5,000 mAh battery for India. Priced at INR 12,999 (US$212), the Marathon G3 will compete with popular mid-range smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi3 and Motorola Moto G 2nd Gen available in India at a similar price.

Gionee is addressing the need for an affordable mid-range smartphone with a long lasting battery. That’s why M3 aims to beat the 4,000 mAh battery backing the Lenovo S860 and Xolo Q3000.

The Marathon M3 features reverse charging that enables it to act as battery pack to charge other devices via a USB cable. That means one can let friends charge their phones by connecting them to the M3.

Here are the Marathon M3’s specifications:

• 5.0-inch IPS LCD display with 1280×720 resolution
• Quad-core 1.3 GHz MediaTek processor
• 1 GB RAM, 8 GB built-in and 128 GB micro SD support
• Android 4.4.4 KitKat with Amigo UI
• 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
• 3G, 2G, dual SIM support
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with A GPS
• 5,000 mAh battery
• 144.5mm x 71.45mm x 10.4mm
• 180.9 grams

MediaTek’s HotKnot, integrated in the Marathon M3, allows data transfer when the screens of two compatible devices are brought together. HotKnot is MediaTek’s own solution that competes with the current NFC technology.

The company claims that the M3 will offer talk time of up to 33 hours on 3G networks and 51 hours on 2G networks. Gionee will sell the M3 in white and black color options.