Lenovo K900 Review

Lenovo pumped their newest flagship smartphone, the K900, with an Intel Atom processor instead of the more popular chips like Mediatek or Qualcomm Snapdragon. This drew both praises and criticisms especially from those who used to number of cores. Check out our full review of the Lenovo K900 if it did make the cut.

The Lenovo K900 is one of several flagship phones that touts a full HD 1080p display. However, the engine that powers it is made by Intel, a fairly new player in the smartphone market.

Design and Construction.

Compared to a lot of flagship smartphones in the market, Lenovo went out with a different approach with the K900 — a full metal construction in a unibody design, an fairly new processor from Intel, all in a very thin 6.9mm profile.

The result is like a combination of the Xperia Z and the HTC One but with a more industrial look.

At 6.9mm, the Lenovo K900 is the thinnest flagship smartphone in the local market today. It’s also one of the most affordable of the the lot (based on SRP). Intel obviously had a hand in this — a huge Intel logo actually appears during boot-up, even ahead of the Lenovo logo.

Even the packaging has a huge “Powered by Intel” label in it and the back side of the device also has an “Intel Inside” logo.

With a 5.5-inch display, the K900 is huge and a bit unwieldy with one-handed operation. With its size, it’s already in the league of the Galaxy Note series and the Optimus G Pro. The silver, metallic chassis with brushed metal finish gives it a raw appeal.

The power button is situated on the right side of the handset along with the micro-SIM card slot (comes with a pin to po-up the slot) while the volume controls are on the left side.

At the bottom end, the micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack are both found along with the microphone. A secondary noise-canceling mic is found on the back side, near the LED flash.

Since there’s no microSD card slot for storage expansion, the K900 supports USB On-the-go. The polished finish of the back panel also makes the device a little slippery on the hands, especially when you have sweaty or oily palm.

The front panel is completely covered with Gorilla Glass but allows enough space at the bottom corner for the soft keys (Menu, Home and Back).

The only downside of the metal body is that it gets easily warmed up when the device is running on full power or when connected to mobile internet. At the same time, it cools down pretty quickly as well because of the highly conductive material.

Display.

The K900 uses a full HD IPS LCD display, giving it one of the best displays around. The screen pixel density is at 401ppi, similar to that of the Optimus G Pro. The large, bright display is equally sharp and clear with really good viewing angles.

The screen brightness is a few notches higher compared to the Xperia Z and gives it better outdoor visibility and not much glare or reflection. The 5.5-inch display is more than ideal for watching movies, browsing the web and playing games.

The display has a narrow bezel but there’s a wider gap at the top and bottom corner to make room for the front-facing camera and sensors as well as the soft buttons for Android navigation.

OS, Apps and UI.

Lenovo has been using the Lotus UI for some time now in their smartphone and tablet line-up but the customizations they’ve done on the user interface in the K900 has somewhat actually matured (Lenovo calls it the Le Phone theme which separates it from other Lenovo handsets). You will really notice the efforts they made in putting an identity to the software layer of the device.

The lock-screen represents a lutos formation, the native icons are rounded, and the transitions are 3D-animated as if it was borrowed from one of the popular launchers in the Play Store.

The gray, shadowy theme of the UI also adds to that industrial design feel as if it smoothly extends from the polished metal finish of the materials right into the UI of the device.

The virtual keyboard and the keypad dialer are both basic, simple and laid out evenly with large, fat individual keys. There’s also the TouchPal keyboard that’s ready to be activated if you wish to do so.

Lenovo pre-installed a number of native apps of its own on the K900. There’s Lenovo Power which is a feature-rich power management app, a UC Browser and Kingsoft Office for productivity, and a SuperCamera app and SuperGallery app that reminded us of the HTC Zoe.

Of course, since you have access to Google Play, you can customize all these and download hundreds of thousands of apps, themes, widgets and games on the Play Store. Lenovo made sure it had the latest major version of Android (v4.2) running on the K900.

Camera and Multimedia.

The K900 is a beast in the multimedia department — the large full HD display is really great for watching 1080p videos, the speakers at the back does a really good job at providing enough volume for the audio (although it sounds a bit flat and lacks even a hint of bass).

There’s a built-in stereo FM tuner but you will still need the earphones to serve as antenna in order for it to work.

The K900′s 13-megapixel camera does a great job at snapping hi-resolution photos. The camera sensor is actually quite fast, captures enough light and does not tend to over-saturate the colors of the subject.

Low-light performance is also good as you will see in the sample photos below:

The camera will sometimes get a hit or miss in the white balance of the subject, especially under artificial light, but once it does it right the results are actually impressive.

Here’s a sample clip we recently took while playing around with the Parrot AR Drone 2.0:

We had some issues with focusing when recording videos (there were instances when the camera would just would not focus on our moving subject) but it was nothing too serious.

Performance and Benchmarks.

Despite the dual-core processor, the K900 is no slouch in terms of performance. Intel’s Atom Clovertrail processor has multi-threaded capabilities making it look like there are 4 cores running instead of just two. This has resulted in much higher scores on our test benchmarks.

The K900 scored 6,051 in Quadrant and 21,205 in Antutu Benchmark. These numbers are actually way higher compared to the Mediatek MTK6589 1.2GHz quad-core processor we’ve been seeing in a number of local phone brands.

The dual-core Clovertrail chip performs in our benchmark with scores as high as a Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5GHz quad-core.

As for the PowerVR SGX544 graphics chip, our NenaMark 2 gave it a score of 59.9fps which is pretty good considering the display is full HD.

Over-all, the handset is very snappy and fluid, thanks to the 2GB RAM. There were instances that transitions and animations would seem to lag but its actually just the normal behavior of the UI.

Call Quality, Connectivity and Battery Life.

Call quality of the K900 is decent although in several occasion that we made calls, the voice on the other line is not as loud as we wanted them to be. It’s possible this was an isolated issue or a network-related behavior but everything else seems fine. SMS messages are sent and received on time and 3G/HSPA+ connections are decent, though not the best we’ve seen around.

The K900 lacked two of the newest connectivity features that are becoming very common in flagship handsets nowadays — NFC and LTE. We were willing to forgive the absence of NFC but LTE is something we think is more important to have.

Unfortunately, Intel’s Atom chip doesn’t come with LTE modem yet so Lenovo will need to source it from another supplier and that could have also added between Php2k to Php3k to the price of the device.

In our standard battery test, running a full HD 1080p movie in a loop at 50% brightness and 0% volume, the K900 lasted a little over 8.5 hours on a single full charge. This is already a pretty good time considering the large full HD display of the handset and the very thin profile that only allowed for 2500mAh of battery.

Conclusion.

There’s no doubt the Lenovo K900 is one of the very few sexy Android smartphones out there, tucked somewhere between the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z. Lenovo has successfully imbued their own design signature with the K900, and positioned the device just at the right spot so the differentiation is more evident.

A combination of a good hardware, great design, capable OS and impressive camera makes the K900 an easy pick among the dozens of selection in the market. The lack of LTE connectivity and expandable storage are its only Achilles’ heel (and we know there’s a variant that comes with a microSD card slot, though not the one released in the Philippines) but its a weakness that many might not reconsider or simply overlook.

Lenovo K900 specs:
5.5-inch IPS LCD display @ 1080 x 1920 pixels, 401 ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 2
Intel Atom Z2580 2.0GHz dual-core CPU
PowerVR SGX544
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band
Bluetooth 3.0 w/ A2DP
13 MP camera w/ dual LED flash
1080p video capture
2MP front-facing camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
FM Radio tuner
Android 4.2 Jellybean
Li-Po 2,500mAh battery
157 x 78 x 6.9 mm (dimensions)
162 grams (weight)

The Lenovo K900 has a suggested retail price of Php22,990 and is available in Lenovo stores and dealers nationwide.

What we liked about it:
* Large full HD display
* Very good camera performance
* Premium build and materials
* Affordable than most flagship handsets

What we did not like:
* No LTE connectivity
* No expandable memory card slot

The post Lenovo K900 Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Lenovo K900 unboxed, first impression review

We’ve had several encounters with the Lenovo K900 before and now that it has been officially released in the Philippines, we immediately purchased a unit so we can do a review here on YugaTech.


The combination of polished aluminum and solid glass is what got us attracted with the Lenovo K900. It has almost the same materials used as the equally gorgeous HTC One.

At 5.5 inches, we thought the K900 would be unwieldy for single-handed operation but that really depends on the size of your hands. In our case, we found that making calls is still doable with one hand while composing text messages will require both hands.

Although the K900 sports a seemingly unibody design, the back plate is actually removable once you unscrew the four (4) hexalobular socket screw drive (we think you’d void the warranty if you try to open it though).

While the entire front panel is mostly covered with glass and protected around the edges by a metal shell, the back side is covered by two distinct aluminum alloy — the base chassis is slightly darker, more polished and has a soft matte finish while the battery plate has a brushed metal look and lighter hue.

The large Lenovo logo is carved into the backplate, the speaker grills are at the bottom end while the camera and dual-LED flash is found at the top end.

The handset is very thin, among the thinnest we’ve ever seen in any handset we’ve reviewed and it’s short of sexy.

The power button is situated on the right side of the handset along with the micro-SIM card slot (comes with a pin to po-up the slot) while the volume controls are on the left side.

At the bottom end, the micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack are both found along with the microphone. A secondary noise-canceling mic is found on the back side, near the LED flash.

Since there’s no microSD card slot for storage expansion, the K900 supports USB On-the-go. If there’s one thing that most people would look at as a deal-breaker for the K900, it would be the lack of expandable microSD card slot.

Having used a number of Lenovo smartphones before, we’ve notice how their custom UI has improved over time.

The native icons are circular and even the app drawer will scroll thru the app list even if you swipe vertically or horizontally (a simple UX tweak that makes a lot of sense).

There are also a number of usability and power management features added into the system by Lenovo.

Although there are only two (2) physical CPU cores on the K900, each core can simultaneously run 2 threads which helps make the device perform like it has 4 virtual cores.

Lenovo K900 specs:
5.5-inch IPS LCD display @ 1080 x 1920 pixels, 401 ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 2
Intel Atom Z2580 2.0GHz dual-core CPU
PowerVR SGX544
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band
Bluetooth 3.0
13 MP camera w/ dual LED flash
1080p video capture
2MP front-facing camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
Android 4.2 Jellybean
Li-Po 2500mAh battery
157 x 78 x 6.9 mm (dimensions)
162 grams (weight)

As such we’re seeing really good benchmarks scores for the K900 — 6,051 for Quadrant, 21,205 for Antutu Benchmark and 59.9fps on NenaMark 2 — results are pretty much similar or close to the Xperia Tablet Z. These are really good scores considering the K900 is only running on 2 cores.

The Lenovo K900 is now available in local stores for a suggested retail price of Php22,990 although they were having a promo earlier where you cna have it for Php21,990 on cash or straight charge. Watch out for our full review soon.

The post Lenovo K900 unboxed, first impression review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Lenovo K900’s local pricing leaked

It’s been two months since the K900 has made its local debut, but until now Lenovo hasn’t revealed just how much will this bad boy’s gonna cost. The good news is that someone tipped us about its official pricing ahead of launch. However, note that it might be slightly higher than some of you have predicted.

lenovo k900

According to our source, the Lenovo K900 will be sold locally for Php21,990. To be honest, that price isn’t so bad, considering that it was sold for Php23K+ when it was first made available in China back in May.

Furthermore, this puts the 5.5-inch Atom-powered handset in a better spot to go head to head with the current flagship Android devices like the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z. All of which sports a 1080p displays, just like the K900, but are significantly pricier compared to it (as if you need to be reminded of that).

Lenovo K900 specs:
5.5-inch 1080p LCD IPS display, @401 ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 2
2GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2580
2GB RAM
PowerVR SGX544
16GB ROM
Expandable up to 32GB
13 MP camera w/ dual LED flash
1080p video capture
2MP front-facing camera
HSPA+
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS w/ A-GPS support
2500mAh Li-Ion battery
Android 4.2 Jellybean
Dimension: 157 x 78 x 6.9 mm
Weight: 162 g

Now that we know what it’ll take to own one of these neat handsets, the only question now is when will it be available. From what we’ve heard the last time, the K900 is scheduled to be sold starting this month so I guess it’s safe to say that we won’t have to wait too long before it reaches the shelves.

In the meantime, you might wanna check out our initial thoughts about the Lenovo K900 during our first encounter with it.

The post Lenovo K900’s local pricing leaked appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Lenovo K900’s local pricing leaked

It’s been two months since the K900 has made its local debut, but until now Lenovo hasn’t revealed just how much will this bad boy’s gonna cost. The good news is that someone tipped us about its official pricing ahead of launch. However, note that it might be slightly higher than some of you have predicted.

lenovo k900

According to our source, the Lenovo K900 will be sold locally for Php21,990. To be honest, that price isn’t so bad, considering that it was sold for Php23K+ when it was first made available in China back in May.

Furthermore, this puts the 5.5-inch Atom-powered handset in a better spot to go head to head with the current flagship Android devices like the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z. All of which sports a 1080p displays, just like the K900, but are significantly pricier compared to it (as if you need to be reminded of that).

Lenovo K900 specs:
5.5-inch 1080p LCD IPS display, @401 ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 2
2GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2580
2GB RAM
PowerVR SGX544
16GB ROM
Expandable up to 32GB
13 MP camera w/ dual LED flash
1080p video capture
2MP front-facing camera
HSPA+
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS w/ A-GPS support
2500mAh Li-Ion battery
Android 4.2 Jellybean
Dimension: 157 x 78 x 6.9 mm
Weight: 162 g

Now that we know what it’ll take to own one of these neat handsets, the only question now is when will it be available. From what we’ve heard the last time, the K900 is scheduled to be sold starting this month so I guess it’s safe to say that we won’t have to wait too long before it reaches the shelves.

In the meantime, you might wanna check out our initial thoughts about the Lenovo K900 during our first encounter with it.

The post Lenovo K900’s local pricing leaked appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.