Lenovo’s position has changed in terms of smartphones available since the acquisition of the Motorola brand. The industry reports indicate that this company is one of the top 5 smartphone maker companies in India. While launching the K8 Note in India, the company also claimed that it has managed to sell 85 million K-Series handsets in India so far.
The company has moved towards stock Android experience with Lenovo K8 Note. The company has discharged its old UI Vibe Pure UI. The specification and features of Lenovo’s 8 notes are good by paper. But the challenge is also big. Will this phone be able to harmonize between price and features? Let’s learn …
Lenovo K8 Note Design
The metal body of Lenovo’s 8 note makes a feeling of strengthening. Aluminum 6000 provides premium feeling. There is no doubt that 8 notes are one of the better looking phones in this price range. But there is nothing new in it. The phone will remind you of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 again and again. The front panel has a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass’s protection. Lenovo has used anti -fingerprint coating on the screen. This means that you will not have to worry about repeated removal of your fingerprints.
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The Lenovo K8 Note has capacitive buttons on the front panel which are not backlit. We had difficulty in using them in the dark. The front camera has its own LED flash. Lenovo says that the demand for this feature has increased in recent times. There are two rear cameras on the rear panel which are up and down on each other. Dual LED flash is accompanied by it. The fingerprint sensor has found a place under the camera. There was never difficulty in reaching it. Physical buttons are easy to use. Power and volume buttons were in the place of our choice. It was easy to reach them from the thumb or fingerprint.
On the back of the handset, you will see a well-known antenna band. The color of the band is such that it is easily lost in the color of the phone. Lenovo K8 Note has been made available in Fine Gold and Venum Black color. We got a black variant for review. In the phone, Lenovo has not beaten the branding of K8 Note, which is good. People have found a place on the back.
There is a music button on the left panel which can also be customized for other work. You will be able to customize the music button by going to the user settings. It can be used to open audio or video to open play/pouse, flashlight on/off, camera app launch, screenshot captain or any particular app. Light red color is used in the music button which gives it a different identity. The company has given separate slots for two SIM cards and microSD cards. The micro-USB port is at the lower back. The speaker grills are on both sides of it. Sadly, there is only a functional speaker. But this phone has a dolby atmosphere audio inaugence. The second grill is just to show, like other budget phones. The top has a 3.5mm audio jack at the top.
We did not have difficulty in using Lenovo’s 8 notes with one hand. Its dimensions are 154.5×75.9×8.5 millimeters and it is easily fit in the palm due to the edge being curved. Due to 180 grams weight, the phone feels a slightly hot. Comparing its most important rival Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 weighs 175 grams. Lenovo’s 8 notes have protection with water splashes.
The design of Lenovo’s 8 Note has done much better than Lenovo’s 6 Note. Because of this, it gives a feeling of premium more than its price. In the box you will find a transparent plastic cover, USB cable, 15 watt rapid charger, SIM Ejector and instruction book. Lenovo’s 8 notes are the company’s first smartphone to come with Rapid Charger. However, you will not get any earphones. This can cause you disappointment.
Lenovo K8 Note Specification and Software
The Lenovo K8 Note has a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) display. The Dec-core MediaTek Helio X23 (MT6797) chipset has been used in this. The 8 note has been introduced in two storage and RAM variants in India: 3 GB RAM and 32 GB and 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. We got a 4 GB RAM variant for review. You will be able to use microSD cards up to 128 GB.
Lenovo has praised the dual rear camera of its 8 notes smartphones. There is a 13 -megapixel primary camera on the back. It is accompanied by a 5 megapixel depth sensor, for Bokeh Effect. A 13 -megapixel sensor has been given on the front panel for selfie fans. The battery is 4000 mAh and this phone supports rapid charging. Lenovo’s 8 Note 4G comes with VoLTE support. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi 802.11 AC and Bluetooth 4.1.
Lenovo has made another major change in the software department. The Chinese company first informed the Gadgets 360 that in future all the phone out of box stock of Lenovo will run on Android. Android 7.1.1 Nougat is used in Lenovo’s 8 notes. This means that vibe pure UI has been discharged.
Android 7.1.1 Nougat means that you will find an app shortcut technique like 3D touch in this phone of Lenovo. The 8 notes of users will now be able to perform various functions by pressing an app for a short time. Our review unit immediately got the July Security Patch. Lenovo has assured that updates will continue to be received regularly in the coming times. In this phone, Android 7.1.1 Nougat has an important feature like Jiff support in the keyboard. Features like Google Assistant and Split Screen will also be available.
You will get installation in advance, Google apps like Duo, Play Movies and Play Music. The phone has Microsoft Word, Axle and PowerPuint which can be removed. The interface is smooth. The phone does not weaken even while using many apps. The Google Photos app is now a default gallery which is good according to us.
The software has also been tampered with radical and fly. You will be able to use the Install Dolby Atmus App in advance. The phone also has theatermax VR support, which was introduced with Lenovo Vibe’s 4 notes.
The funny thing is that Lenovo has assured that K8 Note will get Android O update by the end of the year. This can be an important reason for buying a phone.
Lenovo K8 Note Performance and Camera
We enjoyed using Lenovo’s 8 notes. Stock Android is a welcome step. There were 12 apps in the background, but the performance did not weaken. The credit of this should go to Android memory management. The 8 notes have two variants, but we would suggest that you buy a variant with 4 GB RAM.
We found that the phone gets hot very soon. If the camera app is open for some time or GPS navigation goes on for a while, then you will feel the phone to heat up. Something similar happened while playing the game. While playing the game for 20 minutes continuously, the phone became so hot that it was not easy to keep it in hands.
The experience of playing games on Lenovo K8 Note was fantastic. Games with powerful graphics such as Need for Speed run easily. The call quality was also good. Due to VoLTE support, we were able to call with Jio SIM. The phone also works well in weak network areas. There is enough sound from the speaker on the lower back, but do not expect the stereo speaker performance. The quality of the voice can be improved by using the Dolby Atmus app, but it also has a limit. Lenovo has marketed K8 not as a multimedia device, so the stereo speaker would have been better.
Due to the Dec-core processor, the phone gave good results in the benchmark test. The benchmark score was better than other handsets of this price range. The 5.5 -inch screen resolution is 1080×1920 pixels. It is sufficiently crisp and bright. The viewing angles are also fine and there is no problem in reading the screen in sunlight. Regarding the display of Lenovo’s 8 Note, we will say that this is the best display in any Lenovo handset of this price range. Our experience of watching videos and playing games on Lenovo’s 8 notes was great.
Compared to Lenovo’s 6 Note (Review), the camera department of K8 Note has been changed significantly. It has a 13 -megapixel purcell sensor and a 5 -megapixel Samsung BSI sensor. Primary captures 13 megapixel sensor photos. At the same time, the responsibility of the 5 -megapixel sensor is to raise the depth of field information. The camera app of K8 Note is very simple. You will not get many options to customize. Users can choose one of the normal mode or depth enabled mode. Photos drawn in the normal mode came with details. These pictures had natural colors with low noise. The camera rapidly locks the focus on the subject. Landscape and macros shot also came well. In our view, there were more details in the pictures taken out of the outdoor from its camera than other smartphones of this category.
Talking about the shot of the depth of field, we felt that the camera of K8 Note did well. But the camera had to struggle for the perfect shot. Many times it happened that pictures came according to any trouble. But on most occasions, pictures came to the first time. To blur the background, you have to choose between aperture f/1.2 to f/2.8. We felt that the camera of K8 Note was a little hall. Sometimes the shore looked a bit unnatural. Many times the difference between the subject and the background could not be established. Some part of the subject also came blur. We hope that Lenovo software will remove these shortcomings through updates. Especially keeping in mind that Lenovo’s 8 notes are the company’s first dual rear camera phone.
Photos taken in low light came with too much noise, especially when the lights were reduced. We tried to use the camera app for landscape shot at night. The results were washed out. The lack of details in the indoor sample was clearly visible.
The 13 -megapixel front camera works well with selfie. LED flash proves its utility. With the help of beauty mode, you will be able to improve the shot. The front camera captured the color tone. And there was no complaint of details.
Lenovo k8 note battery life
The 4000 mAh battery lasted for about 20 hours when used fiercely. During the review, WhatsApp, Outlook, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Google Map, Telegram and Twitter apps continued in the background. We also used dual cameras a lot and the same happened with gaming. The battery lasted easily for a day when used less. However, Lenovo’s 8 notes fall behind the Redmi Note 4 in this case.
In our standard video loop test, Lenovo’s 8 note battery lasted for 14 hours 20 minutes. This is sufficient for this capacity battery. Lenovo’s 8 notes come with a rapid charger. This means that you will be able to charge the phone fast. We found that after charging just 20 minutes, the phone’s battery was charged up to 40 percent. The battery will take about two hours to make full charge.
Our decision
The price of Lenovo’s 8 notes starts at Rs 12,999. This price will get a 3 GB RAM variant. You will have to spend Rs 13,999 for the variant (4 GB RAM) reviewed by us. At this price, 8 notes of Lenovo are an all -rounder handset. You will get stock Android, two rear cameras, theater Max and Majubat Build Quality. However, there are also some shortcomings. Battery life is not the best in this segment. The phone gets upset. Camera performance in low light is also less than expected. Good thing that dual rear camera is effective.
Lenovo’s 8 Note for Lenovo fans, is a larger upgrade than Lenovo’s 6 Note. There is nothing wrong in spending money on this. We believe that Lenovo’s 8 notes will be directly clashed with Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Review) which is very popular. However, Xiaomi is also preparing to bring its first dual rear camera phone in the Indian market. In such a situation, we should also be prepared for the new contender.