Lenovo has today launched most affordable 4G LTE smartphones, Lenovo A6000 in India for a nominal price of 6,999 INR. This is a 64 bit handset and the admiration is partly because the India price is significantly lower than what was announced at CES 2015 ($169). We got to spend some time with Lenovo A6000 today and found it to be a pretty decent smartphone.
Lenovo A6000 Quick Specs
- Display Size: 5 Inch HD IPS LCD, 1280 X 720 resolution, 294 PPI
- Processor: 1.2 GHz Quad Core Snapdragon 410 processor with Adreno 306 GPU
- RAM: 1 GB
- Software Version: Android 4.4 KitKat based Vibe 2.0
- Camera: 8 MP camera, 720p video recording
- Secondary Camera: 2 MP, 720p Video recording
- Internal Storage: 8 GB
- External Storage: 32 GB
- Battery: 2300 mAh
- Connectivity: HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, aGPS, Micro USB 2.0, USB OTG
Lenovo A6000 Long Review, Unboxing, Comparison and Features Overview[Video]
Design, Build and Display
Lenovo A6000 has a soft touch matte rear finish back cover, which can be removed. The back surface gently curved towards the side edges, which are also plastic. The phone isn’t very compact, but feels just right when held in hands.
Both the MicroUSB port and Audio Jack are present on the top edge. The bottom edge is neat and clean with a tiny hole for primary microphone. Speaking of which, a sencondary Microphone is also present for noise reduction on the rear side. Dual digital dolby supported speakers are present on the back surface. There is no LED light for notifications.
The 5 Inch display has good viewing angles and reasonably sharp 720p HD resolution. Lenovo hasn’t mentioned any protective layer on top. Bezels along side edges are narrow. In our initial testing, colors and viewing angles seemed fine too. The capacitive keys below the display are not backlit. At this price point, we are quite happy with the display.
Processor and RAM
The chipset used is 64 bit Snapdragon 410, which is the 64 bit version of Snapdragon 400 SoC. The 28 nm process based power efficient chipset has 4 cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz and integrated CAT 4 LTE modem. Out of 1 GB RAM, 395 MB is available on first boot.
The Cortex A53 cores are faster and power efficient as compared to Cortex A7 cores in 32 bit equivalent. The Snapdragon 410 will be challenged by MediaTek MT6732 in upcoming next gen MediaTek smartphones.
Camera and Internal Storage
The rear 8 MP camera seems to be a decent performer. The rear camera can record 720p HD videos at 30fps, while the 2 MP fixed focus front camera can also record 720p HD videos at 15fps. Among the budget 8 MP cameras, we would rank it high. The performance seemed comparable to Redmi 1s, but we would like to test it further before giving our judgment.
Internal storage is 8 GB out of which around 4 GB is available at user end. There is no separate partition for apps. Apps can be transferred to and installed on microSD storage as well. This is again very good in this price range.
Lenovo A6000 Quick Camera Review, Camera Samples and Video Sample Front and Rear [Video]
User Interface and Battery
Software is Android 4.4 KitKat based Vibe 2.0 UI, similar to Vibe X2. We didn’t observe any lag on the UI, but it remains to be seen if the same will hold true in the long run. The interface is clutter free and resembles Xiaomi’s MIUI. There is no app drawer and you will have to organize apps in home screen folders. Lenovo hasn’t added a ‘do not disturb’ mode in the UI.
Battery capacity is 2300 mAh and based on official stats, this can last for 22 hours of 2G talk time and 11 Days on Standby. A battery saver mode is also present for extended usage under critical conditions. We will comment more on the battery backup after our full review.
Lenovo A6000 Photo Gallery
Conclusion
Lenovo A6000 is definitely represents the right approach for Indian market. Lenovo is trying to max out on hardware and experience in a tight budget. We will soon see other domestic manufacturers follow suit with arrays of MT6732 and MT6752 devices. In today’s market, Lenovo A6000 felt like a very decent budget smartphone. You can buy it exclusively from Flipkart starting from 28th January. Registration starts today.
