Lenovo has launched the Phab 2 Plus in India. The smartphone, which has been priced at Rs. 14,999, will go on sale via Amazon India from 1pm IST on Tuesday itself in Champagne Gold and Gunmetal Grey colours.
The latest smartphone in the company's Phab series of phablets, or smartphone-tablet hybrids, the Lenovo Phab 2 Plus was first unveiled in June, alongside the Lenovo Phab 2 and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro.
The highlight of the Phab 2 Plus is its large 6.4-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) 2.5D curved glass display, the dual 13-megapixel camera setup on the rear, and, the 4050mAh battery. The smartphone also bears a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel.
The dual-SIM (Micro-SIM) Lenovo Phab 2 Plus runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the company's Vibe UI skin on top, and is powered by a 1.3GHz octa-core MediaTek MT8783 SoC coupled with 3GB of RAM. The smartphone offers 32GB of inbuilt storage that can be further expanded via microSD card (up to 128GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM configuration.
Coming to the dual rear camera setup - the Phab 2 Plus bears two 13-megapixel cameras on the rear panel with and 1.34-micron pixels, powered by Fujitsu Milbeaut image signal processor. The rear setup is coupled with dual-LED Flash, PDAF, laser autofocus, and an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone bears an 8-megapixel front camera with an f/2.2 aperture and 1.4-micron pixels.
The Phab 2 Plus offers 4G LTE (with support for Indian bands), Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS connectivity options, packs a 4050mAh battery, measures 174x88x5.5mm, and weighs in at 218 grams. Sensors on board include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and magnetometer.
Key Highlights:
Snapdragon 820
3500mAh Battery
13 Mp Rear & 8Mp Front Camera
The Cheapest Smartphone Featuring Snapdragon 820: Lenovo On 22 Sep, 2016 Launched His New Flagship Lenovo Zuk Z2 Plus In India, Price Starts Rs.17999 Onwards
The Cheapest Variant is priced at Rs. 17,999 for the 3GB RAM/ 32GB RoM Variant, Rs. 19,999 for the 4GB RAM/ 64GB RoM Variant.
The Lenovo Zuk Z2 Plus will be exclusively available via Amazon India from Sunday midnight, in Black and White colour variants.
The "Zuk Z2 Plus" Runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with the company's own skin atop
The "Zuk Z2 Plus" Comes with the Google Now Launcher preloaded.
The "Zuk Z2 Plus" Also Features gesture shortcuts Via the fingerprint scanner. And A dedicated pedometer and industry-grade accelerometer.
The "Zuk Z2 Plus" Is A Dual-SIM Smartphone (4G+3G) Sim Type: x2 Nano-SIM cards.
It Has A 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920) Display With a pixel density of 441ppi. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC coupled with either 3GB or 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM.
As mentioned Above there are two built-in storage variants, 32GB and 64GB, and the storage cannot be expanded.
The Lenovo Z2 Plus packs a 13-megapixel rear camera with PDAF Dual-LED flash, Electronic image stabilisation (EIS). & A 8-megapixel front-facing camera
The Lenovo Z2 Plus Is powered by a 3500mAh battery Which Also features an intelligent charge cut-off feature to ensure the battery does not overcharge. Connectivity options on board include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and 4G. Sensors include a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, and gyroscope
Lenovo Launched Its New Flagship Phone lenono K5 Note, Lenovo K5 Note Comes In Two Variants 3GB+32GB & 4GB+32GB, The 3GB & 32 GB Is Priced Rs. 11,999 N 4GB+32GB Is Priced At 13,499.
It Will Be Available On Filpkart From 3th of August In Open-Sale, Lenovo K5 Note Comes In 3 Colour Variants:- Black, Gold & Silver.
Lenovo K5 Note Comes With Fingerprint scanner Which Is Placed below the Camera on the rear panel. k5 Note Is Powered By 1.8ghz Octa-Core Helio P10 With Mali T860 GPU, 4GB RaM.
Lenovo K5 Note Features A 5.5" FHD Display And Comes With Theater Max Technology & Bundled Launch Offer Of Amkette Gamepad Pro 2 & Antavr VR Headset.
Lenovo K5 Note Detailed Specifications:
Display: 5.5" Full HD IPS Display
Processor: 1.8ghz Octa-Core Mediatek Helio P10
GPU: Mali T-860
RaM: 3GB/4GB Variants
RoM: 32GB RoM
Camera: 13Mp Rear With Aperture of f/2.2 Auto Focus & 8Mp Front Shooter
Battery: 3500mAh
OS: Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
Sim Type: Nano Sim
Connectivity: 4G/3G/EDG/GRPS Wifi, Bluetooth
Micro Sd Support: Yes!(Expandable Upto 128GB) "Thanks For Reading,Stay Tuned With The Latest Tech & Gadgets Updates With Reviewing Gadgets By Joining Us On Facebook"
We know Lenovo is set to launch the K5 Note in India on August 1. Over the weekend however, the company revealed that a new variant of the smartphone is coming to the country, with 4GB of RAM instead of the 2GB of RAM seen on the standard variant launched in China in January.
Lenovo India's Twitter handle on Friday posted a tweet that read, "With so much RAM at your disposal, the only thing you'll worry about on the #KillerNote5 is running out of apps," and followed it up with a similar tweet on Saturday that once again pointed to the presence of 4GB of RAM on the Lenovo K5 Note.
Lenovo K5 Note Comes With A 64-bit octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor clocked at 1.8GHz coupled with 2GB of RAM (on the China variant) and Mali-T860 GPU. It packs 16GB of built-in storage and supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 128GB). The dual-SIM dual-4G Lenovo K5 Note features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) IPS display, same as the Vibe K4 Note.
The Lenovo K5 Note sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with PDAF autofocus, an f/2.2 aperture and dual-tone LED flash apart from an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The Android 5.1 Lollipop-based handset runs the company's proprietary Vibe UI on top. It supports dual Nano-SIM. The K5 Note smartphone packs digital compass, accelerometer, proximity, and ambient light sensors.
Competition in the budget and mid-range smartphone segments has been getting fiercer by the day, and buyers aren't complaining one bit. At this point, a lot of people no longer think it makes sense to spend big money on high-end smartphones, when options such as theLe 1s(Review) andXiaomi Redmi Note 3(Review) offer practically everything you want at a fraction of the price. The sub-Rs. 15,000 space is where most of the excitement is today.
Apart from Xiaomi and LeEco, Lenovo also competes in this segment with the Vibe K4 Note, which is on our test bench today. After the success of the K3 Note, Lenovo is going into this one with massive goodwill on its side. The phone was at first available only through flash sales, but can now be bought freely online. Does it have what it takes to compete in the most exciting smartphone battle of early 2016? We find out in our review.
Look and feel While the Redmi Note 3 and Le 1s are made of metal, the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is unashamedly plastic. Everything from the removable back panel to the frame and edges of the device is made of plastic, but the phone is still only marginally lighter than both its metal competitors. That said, the Vibe K4 Note does have a sense of solidity and durability to it, and looks alright as well.
The back has the camera, fingerprint sensor and flash, along with Lenovo and Dolby Atmos logos. Our review unit was black and had a matte finish which lent it a fair bit of sophistication. There's also a white option, which looks nice as well. The back panel pops off quite easily to reveal the SIM and microSD slots. These are thankfully separate, so you can have two SIMs in place alongside additional storage if you choose. Also visible under the cover is the battery, but it isn't user-replaceable.
The edges have a fairly common layout, with the power and volume buttons on the right, Micro-USB port at the bottom, and 3.5mm socket at the top. The front of the phone is strikingly similar to that of the Lenovo Vibe X3 (Review), with its dual-speaker layout and extended Gorilla Glass that covers the capacitive keys, front camera, sensors and LED indicator. These similarities and design cues extend to other parts of the phone as well, and in fact the K4 Note is marketed as the Vibe X3 Lite in some countries.
The sales package includes a plastic protective case, screen protector film, and a useful 10W charger, which charges up the 3300mAh battery quickly. Although the protective case adds a fair bit of bulk to a phone that's already on the larger side, it might be a good idea to use it to avoid scratches and nicks on the edges.
The screen of the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is a 5.5-inch full-HD IPS LCD panel. Although it has a slightly warm tone to it, the screen is incredibly bright, sharp and detailed. There is a beautiful sense of sophistication to the way everything looks, and the display is, once again, very similar to the one on the Vibe X3, which makes it excellent for the price of the phone.
Specifications and software The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note runs on the MediaTek MT6753 SoC, clocked at 1.3GHz for all of its eight cores. This is most similar to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC, and three months into 2016, is starting to feel a bit dated. In comparison, the Le 1s uses the more powerful MediaTek Helio X10 SoC, while the Redmi Note 3 runs on the brand new and highly capable Snapdragon 650. Both of those seem like much better options if performance is what you're looking for.
There's also 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (expandable by up to 128GB), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac compatibility, and 4G connectivity on both SIM slots. TDD Band 40 and FDD Band 3 are both supported. However, only one SIM can run 4G at any time, with the other dropping to 3G. The internal storage is less than the 32GB offered by the Le 1s and Redmi Note 3, which is a disappointment. However, the Le 1s does not allow for expandable storage, while the Redmi Note 3 is officially limited to 32GB microSD cards.
The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is compatible with the ANT VR headset, which is being sold as an optional extra for Rs. 1,299. The phone quickly prepares any ordinary content for VR use, and you simply have to switch the phone to VR mode through the power menu and slot it into the headset to use. Although the phone falls short of its competition in a few other ways, this major feature is totally unique and gives it a serious advantage, as one of the most affordable devices with VR compatibility.
The phone runs on Android 5.1, with Lenovo's Vibe UI on top. The interface has gone through some significant improvements of late, and is now incredibly polished and easy to use. One of the most useful recent changes is the addition of a dual-layered mode, which enables the app drawer and allows for a look and feel that is more reminiscent of stock Android. You can of course choose to revert to the single-layered mode of the past, but we found no good reason to do so.
The biggest improvements to the user interface are in the form of customisation options. Everything from the home screens and interface to the quick settings menu is highly customisable, and you can set the phone up exactly as you like. The notification log feature we saw on the Vibe X3 is also carried over, letting you go back to notifications you've already dismissed. There are a bunch of pre-installed apps including Amazon, WeChat and Lenovo's suite of tools, but most of these can be uninstalled and you can keep things clean and light if you choose to do so.
The settings menu is chock full of options to tweak the phone, giving you enhanced control over practically every aspect of the device. There are useful features as well, such as being able to double-tap to wake the screen, flip the phone over to lock it, and take a quick photo by quickly double-pressing a volume key.
The fingerprint sensor can recognise up to two stored fingerprints, which are used to unlock the phone. It works quickly and effortlessly, usually unlocking it without any trouble. The sensor can also be used for certain functions when the phone is unlocked, such as serving as a shutter button for the camera, going back, or pulling up the app switcher. The whole system works efficiently, and on the whole, Lenovo's Vibe UI is now among the better manufacturer interfaces we've used.
Camera The primary camera of the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is a 13-megapixel shooter with a dual-tone LED flash, while the front camera is a 5-megapixel affair. Both are capable of recording video at 1080p. Photography modes are basic and limited to the essentials. Panorama, filters, self-timer, HDR and multi-shot are all accounted for, though.
The camera app is the epitome of simplicity, with toggles only for the camera switcher, flash and HDR mode. Recording video is a two-step procedure, and the Mode menu only lets you choose panorama mode or filters. Within the Settings menu, you can control manual settings, photo resolution and ratio, video resolution, and a few other things such as touch shutter, smile detection, and a self-timer.
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Pictures taken with the primary camera are sharp and detailed in and around the focus area, but bright parts of the image have a tendency to wash out. For close-ups, indoor shots and low-light photography, this isn't really a problem and pictures are very good in those situations. Low-light and indoor shots in particular are excellent, and the phone succeeds in brightening up dull settings while maintaining a fair amount of detail.
However, the washing out of bright colours is a serious problem, and daylight tends to flood parts of pictures to the point where entire portions of pictures are overpowered. On the whole, pictures aren't terrible, but the camera isn't anywhere near as good as other options we've seen in this price range. If camera quality is your primary concern, you're better off looking at options such as the Asus ZenFone Max.
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Performance The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is powered by the MediaTek MT6753 with an integrated Mali T720MP3 GPU, and also has 3GB of RAM. Coupled with the efficient software, this keeps things running fairly smoothly and you're unlikely to have any performance issues with the phone. Gaming is also smooth for the most part, although heavy games such as Dead Trigger 2 did generate a fair bit of heat and cause rapid battery drain. Our suite of heavily encoded videos also ran well, with barely any visible lag or stutter.
However, the phone's performance is not on par with that of its two biggest competitors, and you will get better performance from both the Le 1s and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. Both these devices use newer hardware that performs better. Benchmark results for the K4 Note were more or less on par with other MT6753 and Snapdragon 615 devices, with scores of 36,637 and 20,525 in AnTuTu and Quadrant respectively. GFXBench and 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme logged scores of 12fps and 3923 respectively. All of these are much lower than those of the two phones we mentioned before, and represent the weaknesses that this phone has when it comes to raw performance.
The Vibe K4 Note's 3300mAh battery ran for 8 hours, 54 minutes in our video loop test, which is barely above average. However, with ordinary use, the phone ran for a bit longer than the loop test would have us think, often easily lasting through the day even with 4G connectivity and moderate-to-heavy use. Battery consumption by the screen is particularly heavy, so the longer you have the screen on, the less battery life you can expect.
Sound output from the phone is particularly good, thanks to the dual stereo speakers in front. Sound is loud, clear and sharp, and audio through headphones is decent as well. The Vibe K4 Note has Dolby Atmos support, which sounds a bit ridiculous considering that Atmos is typically a multi-speaker atmospheric setup that requires speakers to be positioned overhead, along with the use of complicated processing equipment.
Enabling Atmos mode on the phone changes the sound ever so slightly by widening the soundstage and giving you the impression of audio sources being more spread out and open. It isn't what we're typically used to with Atmos, but it's an interesting tweak nonetheless. Apart from this, the phone does a decent job of holding onto both cellular and Wi-Fi networks, and often caught a strong Wi-Fi signal where other devices couldn't.
Verdict The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is a bit of a mixed bag for us. It's great in certain ways, such as its screen, fingerprint sensor, sonic capabilities, and excellent software. There's also the fact that the smartphone is ready for VR use, and you can pick up the inexpensive ANT VR headset and quickly watch any content in VR mode. Additionally, it's worth noting that you can have up to 128GB of expandable storage while using two SIM cards in this device. Having 3GB of RAM is another nice touch that is helpful in keeping things running smoothly.
Unfortunately, there are shortcomings, notably when it comes to the construction materials, internal storage, performance, and camera quality. The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note was an excellent option at the start of 2016, but has now been shadowed by Xiaomi and LeEco. It shows how fierce competition is, but we have to say that at this point, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is in all ways a better smartphone. However, if the VR capabilities appeal to you, or if software, brand value and easy availability are important factors, then the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is still definitely worth considering.
Further expanding its presence in the affordable smartphone market, Lenovo ahead of MWC 2016 Announced two new smartphones: the Lenovo Vibe K5, and the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus. Both the smartphones offer support for dual-SIM and 4G LTE connectivity. The Lenovo Vibe K5 is priced at $129 (roughly Rs. 8,800), whereas the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus costs $149 (roughly Rs. 10,200). The Lenovo Vibe K5 and Vibe K5 Plus come in Silver, Grey, and Gold colour options.
Starting with the Lenovo Vibe K5, the handset sports a 5-inch LCD HD display (720x1280 pixels). It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 415 octa-core SoC coupled with Adreno 405, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of inbuilt storage - which can be expanded via microSD card (32GB). Other features of the Lenovo Vibe K5 include a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel sensor on the front.
The Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus, as its name suggests, offers slightly more powerful hardware modules. It has a 5-inch IPS LCD full-HD display (1080x1920 pixels). It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 quad-core SoC with Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It also houses a 13-megapixel rear-camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing sensor.
Both the handsets support dual-SIM, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, and Micro-USB 2.0 connectivity options. The Lenovo Vibe K5 and Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus have 2750mAh batteries and run Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Lenovo will be launching a new smartphone at the upcoming MWC 2016 trade show, according to a recently posted teaser by the company. The Chinese giant teased the handset in an image via its Twitter account last week.
"A gorgeous new device has been engineered from scratch to deliver the #Knockout punch. Brace yourselves," tweeted Lenovo India along with an image captioned "Coming Soon. MWC'2016". The teaser image shows the upper half of the handset's back panel, appearing similar to the Lenovo Lemon 3 smartphone - tipping the global launch of the China-only phone at the trade show. Although nothing has been confirmed just yet, it is likely that the handset may launch with a different moniker in other regions including India, as it has with older variants.
It is worth mentioning that the company last month launched its Lemon 3 handset in China. The handset is listed on the company's shopping website priced at RMB 699 (approximately Rs. 7,000), the same as that of Xiaomi Redmi 3.
The Lenovo Lemon 3 as per the listing is a dual-SIM dual-standby dual-4G supporting smartphone running on Android 5.1 Lollipop. It sports a 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution IPS display with pixel density of 441ppi. Packing an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, the smartphone bears 2GB of RAM and Adreno 405 GPU.
As for connectivity, the Lemon 3 features support for 4G LTE (supports India bands) networks, along with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, and GPS options.
The smartphone houses 16GB of inbuilt storage, which can be expanded via a microSD card (unspecified limit). Also featured is a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash along with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Measuring 142x71x7.99 mm, the Lenovo Lemon 3 weighs 142 grams. It is backed by a 2750mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 15 days of standby time on 4G, 32 hours of talk time on 2G, 12 hours of audio playback and 6.2 hours of video playback. The audio output of the handset is powered by Maxx Audio.
OriginallyPostedOn/By~NDTV Gadgets Lenovo has kicked off 2016 with the new Vibe K4 Note smartphone. Those familiar with Lenovo's Note series might get puzzled with the addition of the Vibe moniker to the name, especially given the success of Lenovo K3 Note last year. Head of Product and Marketing at Lenovo Smartphones in India, Anuj Sharma, clarified that the new K4 Note has been integrated with the Vibe series of smartphones. While we are not sure if this has anything to do with the rumours that Lenovo may discontinue itsVibe range to prevent cannibalisationof Motorola sales, Sharma yet again asserted"Vibe" range is not going anywhere.
Lenovo at the Delhi launch event on Tuesday also showed some statistics to show how popular theLenovo K3 Note really is in the country. The handset was the third most searched phone in 2015, based on Google's release data for India, and the company had sold around 1.2 million units. While announcing the K4 Note, Sudhin Mathur, Director Smartphones, Lenovo Group, stressed the fact that the Vibe K4 Note was not a mere upgrade to the Lenovo K3 Note.
The Chinese company has thrown several features into its new "bumped" Lenovo Vibe K4 Noteincluding dual front firing speakers powered by Dolby Atmos, fingerprint scanner, and an all new TheaterMax VR technology. Lenovo at the launch event also announced the Ant VR headset that will (optionally) come bundled with the Vibe K4 Note and will also retail separately for a standalone price of Rs. 1,299.
At the launch, we got to spend a little time with the new Lenovo Vibe K4 Note and the Ant VR headset. We will come to the handset in a while but to start off, the Ant VR headset looks promising. The overall build of the Ant VR headset for Lenovo handsets was definitely better than the one seen on the Google Cardboard, which is also an inexpensive VR headset. The company in one of its presentation slides compared the Ant VR to other headsets such as Oculus VR. Lenovo with the Ant VR headset definitely wants to tap to the new Indian consumers who haven't had a chance to experience virtual reality. Unfortunately, at the launch Lenovo declined to name any of the content partners it was working with especially for the TheaterMax technology and Ant VR headset.
The company kept stressing that the TheaterMax technology that comes built-in on the new Vibe K4 Note bundled with the Ant VR headset will allow consumers to experience media content such as movies, games, and other content in a cinematic experience. On usage, the Ant VR headset combined with Lenovo's new TheaterMax technology looked refreshing and basically changed any multimedia content into a virtual reality experience offering a 100 degree diagonal field of view. The Ant VR headset packs an aspherical lens and sports a folding design. The device weighs 160 grams and has 100 degree viewing angle. The company without naming any of the handsets has confirmed that the Ant VR headset will be compatible with all new Lenovo phones with 5- to 6-inch display. Of course the real test will come when we use the Ant VR headset in the real world as part of our detailed review process and share our findings with you.
Coming to the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, the handset doesn't look anything like its predecessor, the K3 Note. The company claims that the K4 Note was built from scratch. It will be available in India in Matte Black colour only.
The phone is comfortable to hold with just one hand despite the large 5.5-inch screen size. The company has added a soft touch back which gives a good grip to the rear panel during regular usage. The front panel is mainly dominated by the display but the dual front speakers do add boldness to the handset. We tried the speakers on the Vibe K4 Note at the launch event and they did sound exciting and definitely different from regular speakers seen on mid-range handsets. The phone ships with metal frames on the sides that give the device a durable feel.
The front houses three capacitive buttons for recent apps, home, and back options. The company at the launch said that the Vibe K4 Note will ship with a light version of the Vibe UI based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. The unit we used for limited period came with nearly stock Android UI with some tweaks made by Lenovo. The handset's home screen came with a Theme centre app that included various options to customise the theme on the handset.
The right panel houses physical buttons for volume rocker and power. The front comes with no branding while the rear sports a Lenovo moniker on the middle panel while the Dolby Atmos is present at the bottom. The newly added feature - fingerprint scanner - has been placed just below the rear camera and is square in shape. Unfortunately, we couldn't test the fingerprint sensor on the phone at the launch. The rear panel opens up to offer dual-SIM slots and microSD card slot.
In our limited time spent with the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, we noticed that it handled all the multitasking and switching from one app to another pretty easily without any lag. The 13-megapixel rear camera on the Vibe K4 Note clicked images in normal indoor lighting to be vibrant with proper colours showing up. Low light shots also seemed above average. The front 5-megapixel camera also looked fine.
We will however reserve our verdict on Vibe K4 Note's performance and camera until we get a chance to put it through its paces for a detailed review.
Final Thoughts
With the VR play in Vibe K4 Note, Lenovo has risen the bar for other smartphones in the same price segment. For the Indian market, 2016 may be the year when handset makers moved beyond just the specifications.
The Vibe K4 Note has been priced at Rs. 11,999 and will be available exclusively from Amazon India in a flash model starting January 19. The company in an attempt to make the overall package even interesting has also announced a Vibe K4 Note bundle with AntVR virtual reality headset priced at Rs. 13,299. Lenovo has said that the first few flash sales will only feature the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note VR Bundle, which will be available at a special price of Rs. 12,499 for a "short time". Considering the fact that the Vibe K4 Note has been launched first in India and will be available only in India for initial few months, the Chinese company is definitely betting heavily on the popularity of its Note series.
Lenovo, which bought Motorola from Google back in 2014, has announced it will overhaul the brand to "Moto by Lenovo."
The re-branding means we may not see Motorola branding for long on the Moto devices, as confirmed by Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh. Talking at the sidelines on CES 2016, Osterloh revealed plans to CNET's Roger Cheng.
He however pointed that Motorola name will not be completely killed as it will be used in "corporate perspective" in Lenovo. "We'll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto," said Osterloh.
The move will also see a change in the company's strategy for phones which will use Moto branding for high-end handsets while the budget segment will have Vibe.
Lenovo however believes that its move will not to kill the brand but make it stronger. Lenovo's CEO Yang Yuanqing said, "It's our treasure. We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger." Motorola branding might be going away but the iconic Moto logo or the M symbol will be used on the Moto devices. The company confirmed that going forward smartphones such as Moto X will sport blue Lenovo logo.
Osterloh will be the leader of the combined global smartphone business unit, which will be under Motorola legal entities. Gadgets 360 had exclusively reported back in November about Lenovo integrating its Mobile Business Group (MBG) into Motorola Mobility. Further, Osterloh added that the company intends to introduce Moto product line where Lenovo was popular while do vice versa for other markets where Moto was popular. He also confessed that Lenovo intends to bring Vibe range to the US but it would not happen in 2016.
In a statement to Gadgets 360, the company however played down the rebranding, saying: "Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilise a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally. "Motorola" hasn't been used on our products since the launch of the original Moto X in 2013."
To recall, a little over three years after Motorola was acquired by Google for $12.5 billion, the company changed hands a second time last year, and was acquired by Lenovo for $2.9 billion. People speculated that the move made sense for Lenovo as an attempt to gain popularity in international markets, where Motorola was a more popular handset brand. Lenovo on the other hand was previously seen largely as a PC maker in most of the world outside of its homeland China.
Lenovo on Tuesday launched the Vibe K4 Note in India, the successor to last year's sleeper hit the K3 Note. For the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has updated the hardware specifications while also adding some features that we usually find on high-priced premium handsets.
But that's not all. Lenovo has made all the inclusions while maintaining an affordable price tag range, a factor that ushered Lenovo K3 Note's popularity in the country. The company told Gadgets 360 last month that it sold over 1.2 million units in less than six months since the launch. Here are some of the best features of the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note.
1. TheaterMax The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note comes with a feature called TheaterMax which, as per company's claim, can convert regular content to its immersive VR counterpart. Powered by Lenovo Virtual Reality (VR) technology, the idea is to give users a virtually large screen cinematic experience. It should work with any virtual reality headset. At the event, the company assured that popular head-mount VRs such as the AntVR for Lenovo, Google Cardboard, and Oculus will work with Lenovo Vibe K4 Note.
2. Front-facing stereo speakers The Lenovo K4 Note also comes equipped with two front-facing speakers (1.5W each) alongside Dolby Atmos audio. Thanks to the addition of stereo speakers, the handset now offers a significantly better and louder sound output.
Stereo speakers setup is a feature more common in high-end handsets such as the Google Nexus 6, and many of HTC's high-end handsets that offer BoomSound speakers. It's nice to see Lenovo bring this feature to an affordable smartphone like the Vibe K4 Note.
3. 3GB of RAM The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note also has more memory than the K3 Note. Compared to the 2GB of RAM the K3 Note shipped with, the Lenovo K4 Note has 3GB of RAM. Again, it's a nice addition and will help the device handle resource intensive games and apps more efficiently, especially with the 64-bit MediaTek MT6753 SoC on board.
4. Fingerprint scanner The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note also houses a fingerprint scanner. Placed below the camera module on the back panel, the scanner lets you unlock your smartphone and facilitate purchases on the phone. The fingerprint scanner, a feature that largely became popular after Apple put Touch ID on its iPhone, has made its way on a number of Android smartphones in the past year. Though, the hardware capability is still mostly available on high-end handsets.
5. NFC The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note also supports NFC sensors. The near field communication protocol allows two electronic devices to communicate when they are within 10cm of each other. The feature can be used to transfer files, contact information, or play multiplayer games, among others use cases.
Noteworthy mentions The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note also comes with a larger battery, going up from the 2900mAh as seen on the Lenovo K3 Note, to 3300mAh in the K4 Note. The handset also has a metal frame that gives it a premium look.
Lenovo has launched the new Vibe S1 Lite smartphone ahead of CES 2016. The smartphone, priced at $199 (approximately Rs. 13,250), is expected to go on sale in early 2016. We can expect to hear more from the company at the CES trade show.
The Lenovo Vibe S1 Lite comes with more basic innards when compared to the Lenovo Vibe S1,launched last year. The Vibe S1 Lite will be available in Blue and White colours.
For specifications, it features a 5-inch (1080x1920 pixels) full-HD display, same as the Vibe S1. The handset is powered by a 1.3GHz octa-core MediaTek processor coupled with 2GB of RAM. On the other hand, the Vibe S1 (Review) came with a 64-bit 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM.
The Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Lenovo Vibe S1 Lite supports dual-SIM dual standby. The handset packs 16GB of inbuilt storage and supports expandable storage via microSD (up to 128GB).
The 13-megapixel rear camera comes with dual-tone LED flash, phase detection autofocus (PDAF), and BSI sensor. The highlight of the Vibe S1 Lite is however the 8-megapixel front-facing camera which comes with an LED flash. The Lenovo Vibe S1 featured dual-front cameras including an 8-megapixel and 2-megapixel front cameras.
It measures 145x71x8.5mm, and weighs 129 grams. The handset supports 4G, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS, and Micro-USB. The handset is backed by a 2700mAh battery. The Vibe S1 Lite launch was first reported by Android World.
The Chinese company ahead of CES 2016 unveiled several new devices including 12 new laptops, an all-in-one system, a tablet, a monitor, two 2-in-1 laptops, two ThinkCentre-in-one systems, apart from a new budget laptop with Chrome OS and Windows 10 variants.
Lenovo has begun sending out media invites for the India launch event of the Lenovo K4 Note on January 5 in New Delhi. The successor to this year's sleeper hit K3 Note, the K4 Note packs in a range of high-end specifications, Gadgets 360 has learned.
Sources inside the company have told Gadgets 360 that the K4 Note will have a fingerprint scanner. The presence of this hardware feature was previously speculated and hinted at in the teaser, but now we're learning that it is indeed the case, with sources also sharing a teaser (seen below) ahead of time with us.
Lenovo has also teased a couple of features of the handset. As per those, the Lenovo K4 Note will have a metal body and feature 3GB of RAM. The handset is likely to retain the 5.5-inch display size and full-HD (1080x1920 pixel) screen resolution.
The Lenovo K3 Note has been a grand success for the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, and it would want to top that with the K4 Note. In less than six months since the launch of the K3 Note, the company has sold more than 1.2 million units of the phablet in the country, it told Gadgets 360 earlier this month.
For a refresh, the Lenovo K3 Note sports a 5.5-inch full-HD display, MediaTek's MT6752 SoC clocked at 1.7GHz and 2GB of RAM. Other feaures of the phablet include 16GB expandable inbuilt memory, 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel camera sensor combination, dual-SIM capability, and support for 4G LTE, Wi-Fi.
Lenovo has launched the world's first smartphone with two front cameras, Vibe S1. Priced at Rs 15,999, Lenovo Vibe S1 will take on the likes of OnePlus X, Moto X Play and Asus Zenfone Selfie.
Here's a head-to-head comparison between the all-new Lenovo Vibe S1 and one of its hottest competitor OnePlus X.
Display Lenovo Vibe S1: 5-inch full-HD display OnePlus X: 5-inch Full HD AMOLED screen
Operating System Lenovo Vibe 1: Android 5.0 (Lollipop) OnePlus X: Oxygen OS, based on Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop)
Storage Lenovo Vibe S1: 32GB internal storage; up to 128GB microSD card support OnePlus X: 16GB internal storage, up to 128GB microSD card support
RAM Lenovo Vibe S1: 3GB RAM OnePlus X: 3GB RAM
Camera Lenovo Vibe S1: 13MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus, dual-LED flash; has dual-front cameras: 8MP and 2MP OnePlus X: 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera
Connectivity Lenovo Vibe S1: OnePlus X: WiFi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS with GLONASS and BDS
