Two phones which did not get much attention due to the launch of other hyped phones are the Karbonn Titanium S9 and the Lenovo S920. These are phablets from domestic manufacturer Karbonn, and Chinese giant Lenovo. While the Karbonn S9 features a slightly bigger 5.5 inch display panel, the S920 from Lenovo packs a 5.3 inch one at that. Karbonn is among the most well known domestic manufacturers in the country, while Lenovo is better known for computer peripheral and is currently in the process of making a name for itself in the smartphone market.
There’s very little difference between both these devices, however, if you’re looking for a phablet and have a budget of around 20,000 INR, this post will help you make your mind up, as to which one would suit you better.
Display And Processor
As mentioned before, there isn’t much to choose from in between these two phablets. The display on the Karbonn Titanium S9 is a 5.5 inch panel which packs a rather mediocre resolution of 1280×720 pixels. This means that pixel density won’t be as high as you’d like. What this also signals is that the phone isn’t meant to be used as a multimedia device primarily, but more of a device for utility/productivity. On the other hand, the Lenovo S920 packs a 5.3 inch panels which comes with the same 720p HD resolution as that on the Titanium S9. Keeping in mind the slightly smaller screen, we come to infer that the pixel density will be a little high on the Titanium S9.
Speaking of the processor, the Titanium S9 and the S920, both feature the MT6589 processor. The MT6589 from Mediatek is a low cost processor seen in almost all domestic and Chinese devices in this generation. However, you shouldn’t underestimate the power of the processor, given the low cost. The Cortex A7 based processor is fairly powerful and can handle most major apps of today.
Camera And Memory
Lenovo’s S920 features a combination of an 8 megapixel rear and a 2 megapixel feature. Given the price of the device, we have to admit that better imaging hardware was expected. Domestic manufacturers are offering 13MP cameras at 2-3,000 INR lesser than what Lenovo is asking for the S920. These very shortcomings are taken care of by Karbonn’s Titanium S9. The device packs a combination of a 13MP rear and a 5MP front camera. It can be said that this is what you can expect from a device costing almost 20,000 INR, given that the phablet comes from a domestic manufacturer known for providing low-cost hardware.
Another front where the Lenovo S920 falls short is the internal storage front, where the phone packs only 4GB of memory. This is something we see in devices costing 6-7,000 INR, and definitely not expected from a device costing almost thrice as much. The Karbonn Titanium, on the other hand, features 16GB of ROM, thus sweeping the stakes when it comes to camera and memory.
Both these phablets can accept microSD cards of up to 32GB in size.
Battery And Features
This is another department where the Lenovo S920 is made to look small by the Karbonn Titanium S920. The S920 features only a 2250mAh battery, which when compared to the 2600mAh unit on the Karbonn Titanium S9, is made to look miniscule. Given the screen size of the S920, it will be difficult to get a day’s use out of the 2250mAh battery, while the 2600mAh on the Titanium S9 should be able to do the same with a fair amount of ease.
Among other features, both devices can be found to support dual SIM support.
Key Specs
| Model | Karbonn Titanium S9 | Lenovo S920 |
| Display | 5.5 inches 720p HD | 5.3 inches 720p HD |
| Processor | 1.2GHz quad core | 1.2GHz quad core |
| RAM, ROM | 1GB RAM, 16GB ROM expandable up to 32GB | 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM expandable up to 32GB |
| OS | Android v4.2 | Android v4.2 |
| Cameras | 13MP rear, 5MP front | 8MP rear, 2MP front |
| Battery | 2600mAh | 2250mAh |
| Price | 19,990 INR | 19,999 INR |
Conclusion
As is pretty clear, the Karbonn Titanium S9 is definitely the better device out of the two. However, Lenovo is a well known international manufacturer, and it can be expected for the S920 to have a better build quality than the S9. But as far as the specs on paper go, the one offered by the Titanium S9 looks a lot better than the S920. If Lenovo do want to make a name for themselves in this price sensitive market of India, they will have to go much more aggressive on the pricing, or else domestic manufacturers will keep ruling the roost.
