ET Review: Lenovo Vibe Z

 

Lenovo's new flagship, the Vibe Z, stands neck and neck with premium devices from competition.

You get a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage (non expandable) and a 3,000mAh battery. It has a gorgeous 5.5-inch full HD IPS display that uses Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. All this is presented in a 7.9mm slim body.

 

The user interface is customised; there is no app drawer. Instead, all icons, folders and widgets are on the home screen.

There are a number of useful features added — a pocket mode for calls, smart answer, smart call, smart dialer, multi-window, wake via volume keys and accessibility options for one handed operation.

Several apps are preloaded, including Lenovo's own Secureit (Anti virus, privacy guard, anti spam and antitheft), SyncIt (backup and restore of contacts and sms) and Shareit (sharing data between phones using WiFi direct). A built in power manager helps to optimise battery life. We consistently got a day and a half of battery life with it on.

Another highlight of the device is its 13MP camera with a f1.8 aperture. It takes fantastic images in daylight with superb depth of field, sharp details and rich colours. However, low light images had visible noise and the camera user interface was buggy. For instance, on several occasions, the camera did not focus correctly.

Other times, it took way too long to save an image. Hopefully, these small issues will be fixed with an update by Lenovo.

With the Vibe Z, we think that Lenovo has added another impressive device to its portfolio.

The only issue is the price: at the time of writing, prices of the blockbuster Samsung Galaxy S4 have dropped to sub Rs 30,000.