If you ask general populace, what is the single most important feature for them in a smartphone, most will ask for a brilliant camera. Lenovo Vibe Shot is a camera centric premium phone which further strengthens Lenovo’s reputation as an innovative company. This point and shoot smartphone will cost $349 or Apprx 21K, which seems a reasonable price consumers won’t mind laying out for the said features. Let’s discuss.
Lenovo Vibe Shot Quick Specs
- Display Size: 5 Inch IPS LCD Display with 1080p Full HD Resolution
- Processor: 1.7 GHz Octa Core Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 with Quad core 1.7 GHz Cortex A53 and quad core 1.0 GHz Cortex A53, Adreno 406
- RAM: 3 GB
- Software Version: Android 5.0 Lollipop based Vibe UI
- Camera: 16 MP rear camera, OIS, 1080p Video recording
- Secondary Camera: 8 MP, 1080p Video recording
- Internal Storage: 32 GB
- External Storage: 128 GB MicroSD support
- Battery: 2900 mAh, Non Removable
- Connectivity: 3G/4G LTE, HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, GPS, Dual SIM
Design, Build and Display
Lenovo Vibe Shot has Gorilla glass 3 on both front and back and includes a polished metal frame. The rear side has been designed to look like a camera, and this is achieved by running a different texture strip through the length of the device, which houses camera lens and triple LED flash.
It’s a camera centric phone alright, but approach is different than, say, Lumia 1020 or Zoom moniker phones that we have seen in the past. There is a dedicated shutter key with good feedback and a slider which lets you conveniently and efficiently toggles between Auto mode and Pro mode.
It’s a light weight (145 grams) smartphone and the material used doesn’t feel cheap, but isn’t premium grade either. Construction is well balanced, slim (7.3 mm) and feels well suited to be used as a point and shoot camera in landscape mode. Front side looks and feels like a regular smartphones with beefy vertical bezels.
The display is 5 Inches in size and it’s a good quality crisp 1080p full HD display, well suited to be a just viewfinder for the rear camera and for general activities as well.
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Processor and RAM
Processor used is 1.7 GHz Octa Core Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 with Quad core 1.7 GHz Cortex A53 and quad core 1.0 GHz Cortex A53, alongside Adreno 405 GPU and ample 3 GB RAM.
This is enough horsepower for a 20K INR device and we will test how the SoC handles full HD resolution after our full review. The SoC should suffice for day to day usage and efficiently handling highlighted camera.
Camera and Internal Storage
The rear 16 MP camera sensor also includes OIS and Infrared Auto Focus, which is again impressive in this price range. Tri color LED flash is another valuable addition. The pro mode allows you to change ISO settings, white balance, exposure, etc.
Since the whole smartphone is centered around camera optics, we have very high expectations from camera performance. There is an 8 MP selfies snapper too, which should be a delight for selfies lovers.
Internal storage is Ample 32 GB and this can be further extended by another 128 GB using MicroSD card support. This implies there will be no shortage of storage space to stack all your photography experiments.
User Interface and Battery
The user interface is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, but resembles what we have seen in past Lenovo devices, that is, stock lollipop features aren’t readily visible. The company however is working on a light skin for future which will be transferred to Vibe Shot and other phones shortly.
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Battery capacity is 2900 mAh, and the battery is sealed inside. This seems good enough to smoothly cope with even demanding users. We will analyze and judge battery performance only after we get our review unit.
Lenovo Vibe Shot Photo Gallery
Conclusion
Lenovo Vibe Shot is a much needed camera centric smartphone, which can potentially be very successful among buyers if camera performance turns out to be significantly better than other phones in its class – just as advertised, and if Lenovo is aggressive with the pricing.
