Lenovo is a popular name in the laptops, desktop segment and their budget and the mid-range lineup of smartphones were quite popular in India. The smartphones offered a lot for the price. Lenovo was dormant for close to a year in their smartphone segment in the Indian market. Lenovo’s budget K Series and Vibe series of smartphones were very popular among the consumers. After almost close to a year, Lenovo has launched two new budget-oriented smartphones in the Indian market. The company has launched Lenovo K9 at Rs.8,999 and Lenovo A5 to take on other popular Chinese players in the Indian smartphone market. We got a brief time to check out the device and here is our Lenovo K9 First Impressions.
Specifications:
Display: 5.7″ 18:9 HD+ display
Processor: MediaTek Helio P22 Octa-Core chipset
RAM: 3GB
ROM: 32GB
OS: Android Oreo 8.1
Colours: Black, Blue
Connectivity: 2G/3G/4G with Dual VoLTE support, WiFi, Bluetooth
Design and Build Quality:
Lenovo has understood the Indian smartphone market quite well and packed almost all the features that you would expect a smartphone launched in 2018. The new Lenovo K9 sports a 5.7″ 18:9 HD+ Display with a resolution of 1440 X 720 pixels. The display is bright and the colours are vivid and well saturated. Surprisingly, there is NO NOTCH present in the display. Anyways, it comes down to personal preference. The design is modern with a 2.5D curved glass on the back. The smudges and fingerprints are visible on the black variant and the blue colour variant doesn’t attract smudges that much.
Our First Impressions of Lenovo K9’s Design and Build:
The phone feels premium to hold with the glass design and it is very light. Lenovo has done a great job with the design and build quality of K9 Smartphone.
Performance:
Lenovo K9 sports the popular SOC from MediaTek i.e., MediaTek Helio P22 processor(MT6762). MediaTek Helio P22 on Lenovo K9 is an Octa-Core chipset based on the ARM-53 architecture which is clocked at 2.0 GHz. It is coupled with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The storage can be expanded via a MicroSD card up to 256GB (Hybrid Slot).
Our initial impressions:
With the limited time we spent with the device, our initial impressions on the performance felt fast and snappy. The UI is close to stock android and the applications loaded fast and multitasking was smooth too. We did not notice any lags or whatsoever.
USB Type-C at this price point!
Lenovo has packed in a USB Type-C in the K9 smartphone. It is great to see a brand offering a modern Type-C port when the competition is still stuck with a Micro USB port.
Software:
Lenovo K9 comes out of the box with Android Oreo 8.1 and the User Interface is close to stock android. The company has done minor customizations here and there, but for the most part, it felt light and stock.
Camera and Battery:
Lenovo K9 sports quad cameras. Yes, you read it right! It sports a Dual lens at the rear and Dual lens at the front. It is a 13MP+5MP setup to the rear and a 13MP+5MP to the front as well. Our initial impressions with the camera were promising for the price point. We have to test the camera more to find out. With regards to the battery, Lenovo K9 is backed up by a 3000mAh non-removable battery.
We will test the smartphone more and come out with our full review soon. Lenovo has priced this smartphone at a competitive price of Rs.8,999 and our initial impressions on the all new Lenovo K9 are highly positive and we are glad to see Lenovo Mobile re-enter the Indian smartphone market.
