Lenovo K3 Note Review:
The company is breaking new ground in terms of value for money, but not so much in terms of strategy. The K3 note is available only in limited numbers and only through flash sales through an exclusive tie-up with a major online retailer. It will be in demand because of the specifications it promises; according to Lenovo nearly 50,000 of them were grabbed in just over five seconds in the first flash sale.
With online-only availability, buyers don't get the chance to try out products unless they know someone who has already taken the chance. They often go by blind faith and brand reputation alone. Luckily, we've been able to spend quite a lot of time with a review unit, and can bring you our detailed observations and test results.
Look and feel
Phones in and around this price range seem to have settled on a uniform look: flat back fronts with white shells covering the rear and sides. Shapes and sizes vary, but we've seen this formula applied dozens of times now and it doesn't help Lenovo stand out. The only difference is that the rear shell has a slightly satiny texture. If you want something more distinct, go with the black or yellow options rather than white.
The front is plain other than a slightly raised lip around the edges. There isn't much space above or below the screen which is a good thing because this is a still a large, wide phone thanks to its screen.The power and volume buttons are on the right, and both the 3.5mm audio socket and Micro-USB port are on the top. This leaves the left and bottom entirely blank, other than a tiny mic hole. You'll find the camera lens and twin-LED flash in one corner of the rear, along with another mic hole, speaker grille and a large Lenovo logo. The battery is removable and you'll have to take it out when swapping SIM cards. There's also a microSD card slot for storage expansion.
Specifications
We're looking at a Rs. 10,000 powerhouse here. Lenovo really wasn't kidding when it set out to one-up Xiaomi, Yu, Coolpad and others. At its core, this phone has a MediaTek 6752 SoC, with eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores all running at 1.7GHz, and integrated Mali-T760 MP2 graphics. There's also 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, with support for 32GB microSD cards.The screen measures 5.5 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1080x1920, or full-HD.Lenovo has gone with a 13-megapixel rear camera capable of 30fps 1080p video recording. The twin-LED flash looks like something you'd find on high-end phones, but both are the same - you don't get the adaptive dual-tone type of flash that makes shots look more natural. The camera in front can take shots at up to 5-megapixels.
Software
On the software side, the Lenovo K3 Note comes with Android 5.0 but is also saddled with Lenovo's VibeUI skin. Thankfully, a lot of the underlying Android style and functionality has been left untouched and the enhancements add features and functionality. The main change, which a lot of people will not like, is that all icons for installed apps live on the home pages; there is no dedicated app drawer. This has been a popular approach from Chinese vendors for a long time, but some are beginning to realise that we want the option to turn it back on.Lenovo has also implemented a "secure zone" feature that lets you hide certain apps, files and notifications with a unique lock code. Ultimate Power Saver disables every function other than calling and messaging, with the claim that standby time will increase to "several days". This could come in handy in emergencies.
Performance
We found the Lenovo K3 Note generally very easy and pleasant to use. Apart from its physical size making single-thumb use difficult, we had no trouble getting used to it. Performance was generally snappy throughout, with zero lag even when multitasking. Heavily encoded HD video files played without a hitch.Graphics could have taken a hit thanks to the high-density screen, but we were happy to see 15fps in GFXBench and 6,667 overall in 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme.The phone's screen is really good, and we liked what we saw of its viewing angles, colour reproduction and sharpness. It even did relatively well outdoors. Sound from the rear speaker was pretty full and loud, but muddled and sometimes indistinct.The camera was a bit of a mixed bag for us. Due to the placement of the camera lens right in one corner of the rear, we often found our fingers getting in the way, and had to hold the phone only by its edges. Lighting played a huge part in the outcome of our tests - photos taken on cloudy monsoon days definitely didn't come out as well as those taken when the sun was shining brightly. Detailing wasn't very well defined when we reviewed our photo samples at full size, but things looked fantastic on the phone's own screen. Colours were generally good and close-ups fared a lot better than shots of faraway objects. At night, we only got usable results if there was a direct source of light shining on our subject.
Good
-Great performance
-Lots of software tweaks
-Good screen and sound
Bad
-Average camera quality
-Battery life could have been better
Overall 08/10 Excellent
With online-only availability, buyers don't get the chance to try out products unless they know someone who has already taken the chance. They often go by blind faith and brand reputation alone. Luckily, we've been able to spend quite a lot of time with a review unit, and can bring you our detailed observations and test results.
Look and feel
Phones in and around this price range seem to have settled on a uniform look: flat back fronts with white shells covering the rear and sides. Shapes and sizes vary, but we've seen this formula applied dozens of times now and it doesn't help Lenovo stand out. The only difference is that the rear shell has a slightly satiny texture. If you want something more distinct, go with the black or yellow options rather than white.
The front is plain other than a slightly raised lip around the edges. There isn't much space above or below the screen which is a good thing because this is a still a large, wide phone thanks to its screen.The power and volume buttons are on the right, and both the 3.5mm audio socket and Micro-USB port are on the top. This leaves the left and bottom entirely blank, other than a tiny mic hole. You'll find the camera lens and twin-LED flash in one corner of the rear, along with another mic hole, speaker grille and a large Lenovo logo. The battery is removable and you'll have to take it out when swapping SIM cards. There's also a microSD card slot for storage expansion.
Specifications
We're looking at a Rs. 10,000 powerhouse here. Lenovo really wasn't kidding when it set out to one-up Xiaomi, Yu, Coolpad and others. At its core, this phone has a MediaTek 6752 SoC, with eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores all running at 1.7GHz, and integrated Mali-T760 MP2 graphics. There's also 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, with support for 32GB microSD cards.The screen measures 5.5 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1080x1920, or full-HD.Lenovo has gone with a 13-megapixel rear camera capable of 30fps 1080p video recording. The twin-LED flash looks like something you'd find on high-end phones, but both are the same - you don't get the adaptive dual-tone type of flash that makes shots look more natural. The camera in front can take shots at up to 5-megapixels.
Software
On the software side, the Lenovo K3 Note comes with Android 5.0 but is also saddled with Lenovo's VibeUI skin. Thankfully, a lot of the underlying Android style and functionality has been left untouched and the enhancements add features and functionality. The main change, which a lot of people will not like, is that all icons for installed apps live on the home pages; there is no dedicated app drawer. This has been a popular approach from Chinese vendors for a long time, but some are beginning to realise that we want the option to turn it back on.Lenovo has also implemented a "secure zone" feature that lets you hide certain apps, files and notifications with a unique lock code. Ultimate Power Saver disables every function other than calling and messaging, with the claim that standby time will increase to "several days". This could come in handy in emergencies.
Performance
We found the Lenovo K3 Note generally very easy and pleasant to use. Apart from its physical size making single-thumb use difficult, we had no trouble getting used to it. Performance was generally snappy throughout, with zero lag even when multitasking. Heavily encoded HD video files played without a hitch.Graphics could have taken a hit thanks to the high-density screen, but we were happy to see 15fps in GFXBench and 6,667 overall in 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme.The phone's screen is really good, and we liked what we saw of its viewing angles, colour reproduction and sharpness. It even did relatively well outdoors. Sound from the rear speaker was pretty full and loud, but muddled and sometimes indistinct.The camera was a bit of a mixed bag for us. Due to the placement of the camera lens right in one corner of the rear, we often found our fingers getting in the way, and had to hold the phone only by its edges. Lighting played a huge part in the outcome of our tests - photos taken on cloudy monsoon days definitely didn't come out as well as those taken when the sun was shining brightly. Detailing wasn't very well defined when we reviewed our photo samples at full size, but things looked fantastic on the phone's own screen. Colours were generally good and close-ups fared a lot better than shots of faraway objects. At night, we only got usable results if there was a direct source of light shining on our subject.
Good
-Great performance
-Lots of software tweaks
-Good screen and sound
Bad
-Average camera quality
-Battery life could have been better
Overall 08/10 Excellent
No comments:
Post a Comment