Lenovo is one of the top four leading PC makers with diverse product line-up. Lately, Lenovo had introduced Google Android based tablets and continues to roll out great products in the PC and laptop segment. Citing the current scenario as the PC Plus era, the company chose India as the first country after China to launch five new smartphones that run Google Android OS based software.
First of all, Lenovo deserves a pat for daring to launch a line-up of five smartphones addressing different segments, demographics and respective set of users. However, it is surprising that the company has no brand name for its new product.
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Clearly, the new sub-segment of 5-inch display bearing smartphone-tablet hybrid devices has been forced in this year. Lenovo’s flagship smartphone is the K860 that features 5-inch IPS panel touchscreen display with 178 degree viewing angles. The glossy display is also a fingerprint magnet and has been constructed using Gorilla Glass technology (yet to be confirmed). Lenovo K860 has a 5-inch IPS display that supports 1280×720 pixel Resolution natively and also supports four point multi-touch. This capacitive display was responsive and gave fairly decent feedback with the colors even on maximum brightness.
Lenovo K860 has a textured back panel to provide the anti-slip grip and has a slim candy-bar form factor. The power/sleep button and volume controls are circular and metallic which is a kind of good break from regular flat and long buttons. The back panel has 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and close to that module is a secondary microphone for better audio recording. The K860 measures just 9.5 mm thick.
The new K860 has a quad-core 1.4 GHz Samsung Exynos 4412 mobile Processor inside coupled with Mali-400MP graphics chip. Basically it has the same graphics chip first used in Galaxy S II and then many other models. Interesting bit is that Lenovo has managed to get in the quad-core Samsung Exynos 4 Quad 4412 mobile processor which Samsung has packed in Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II devices already. Only thorough testing would reveal whether this smartphone can throw up great numbers with the benchmarks. The microUSB port is placed on the left side and there is no microHDMI port.
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By default, the K860 smartphone was running the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with light visual skin layer implemented by Lenovo. There are no capacitive buttons but four on-screen software buttons with custom Lenovo styling – options, home, back and recent. Lenovo has given a circular profile to most of the native App icons. Nifty addition has been made to the Notifications Tray in which Quick Settings are placed. These quick settings are those single touch shortcuts for rudimentary function – on/off. This panel is like a ticker bar and can be swiped from right to left for accessing more functions.
Since the smartphone had only preloaded set of apps, it is difficult to determine the real world performance at first interaction. However, the user interface was quite smooth due to the 1 GB Low Power RAM used. Lenovo offers only 8 GB on-board storage and you can add up to 32 GB micro SD card at the back of the K860.
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Lenovo has used an 8 megapixel camera at the back with dual LED flash and there is a 2 megapixel camera in the front for HD quality video calls. The 8 megapixel camera can be used to click high quality photos with manipulation and settings offered by the new Camera app. The K860 features a burst mode that will let one click 100 photos by keeping the on-screen button pressed. There are several other additions in the new Camera app one of the consistent one was Refresh Rate variation between Auto, 50Hz and 60Hz modes.
Quality of the images for indoor photos was fairly decent but it was too premature to judge as we are not sure if it carried finished software.
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This smartphone supports HSPA+ network by enabling up to 21 Mbps download speeds and 5.76 upload speeds. Of course, there is High-Speed Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi support for wireless connectivity. It packs at huge 2250 mAh battery to power the quad-core mobile processor and the 5-inch IPS panel display. We anxiously wait for a review unit to take an in depth look at K860 smartphone.
Lenovo K860 is priced at Rs. 28,499 and will be made available in Southern and Western India by just around Diwali festival.