With the launch of K8 Note and K8 Plus, Lenovo have a big hopes to disrupt the competition that is currently dominating with Chinese brands locally.
But before we express our opinion, let’s take a look first at Lenovo K8 Note.
At first, among the competition of midranges today with their 18: full-screen displays, Lenovo stays on their 16:9 phones, like what they did on K8 Plus.
In the front side of the phone, you can see a 5.5” Full HD, with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass Scratch and Spill protection on the display. They included Lenovo’s TheaterMax Technology for you to experience an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) apps.
Like most of the phone with this design, you can see at the top-front of the phone is earpiece, the 13MP + 5MP Rear Camera next to the sensors. On the right is their “Selfie Light” front-facing flash. We’re not sure if it has a LED notification as we try the phone in a short time.
At the bottom is the typical back, home and multitasking capacitive buttons that are printed with triangle, circle, square. And it doesn’t light up.
Fingerprint Sensor, Dual Cam, and 4,000 mAh Battery
The 4,000 mAh battery is inside of back that is made of metal and a combination of polycarbonate plastic to penetrate the signal. You can feel the curves and good ergonomics of the phone.
At the back, locates the vertical 13MP+5MP Dual Camera set-up with Dual CCT LED Flash placed beside the cameras. You can’t also forget that there’s a noise canceling hole at top of the cameras.
You can also see a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor under the cameras. The fingerprint can be used for phone unlocking, app purchases, and additional app functionality.
The Lenovo logo, model number, and regulation logo are printed at the bottom back portion of the phone. You can also see the “Manufactured for Motorola Mobility LCC” printed. Don’t confused, as Lenovo acquires Motorola in 2014.
Music Key
Music Key is also included here that is present also on other K8 series of Lenovo. By default, this work as a secondary key to work for playing and pause the music. You can also change what app would this work on specific functionality of this key on settings.
On the left side, it’s quite busy here. For those who hate Hybrid SIM slots, gladly, this phone has dedicated slots for both SIM 1, 2 and microSD Card, allowing you to expand your storage up to 128GB and use two SIMs at the same time.
The Volume rocker and Wake/Sleep button. Conveniently placed together at the right side of the phone for easy operation.
At the bottom, you can see the microphone hole and Dolby Atmos speakers. It has Micro USB 2.0 port which is USB-OTG Capable, means, you can insert your Flash Drive with Micro USB in the slot.
What I loved in the midrange today, they never attempted to remove the headphone jack, like on Lenovo K8 note. They placed the headphone jack in the top right corner of the phone.
Android 7.0 Stock OS is a sweet treat!
Motorola, their parent company had their Stock Android OS on their phones back then. Lenovo does follow what Motorola did. (While others are doing in contrary). Lenovo scrapped their own Vibe UI in favor of Stock UI. This move results in more smooth and pure Android Experience, with few customization. Which is a smart move!
‘Few Customization’
When I say ‘Few Customization’, they included some of the essentials in the settings to add their hardware-specific features into the device, like for instance, the Music Key.
To give way on their Lenovo TheaterMax Technology for VR functionality, they made some changes in Display Settings tweaks. Double Tap to wake and LED notifications setting were added also in the display settings.
Overall, the experience is smooth and does remind me of Motorola Launcher with the circular clock widget and animations. You can swipe up to show the apps. The App Drawer is also similar to Motorola launcher with a transparent background.
The System UI or the quick settings is all stock with some few hardware-specific customization for SIM Cards.
Lenovo K8 Note is your right choice?
Other brands may offer more than the price but with the older chipset and 2GB of RAM, and a smaller battery. If you prefer a phone that you want to use a little longer, its 4,000 mAh battery is enough for you. (It depends on your usage). The Full HD, Stock Android OS, Dolby Atmos speakers are decent enough for its price. On a current price of P8,999 (Lazada price), you can get a great phone with a knock-out features at this nice price point.
Lenovo K8 Note Specs
Display: 5.5″ Full HD IPS, with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass @ 401ppi
OS: Android 7.1 Nougat (upgradable to Android 8.0 Oreo in 2018)
CPU: MTK X23 Deca-core 2.3GHz Processor
GPU: Mali T880 MP4 at 780 MHz
Rear Cam: 13MP + 5MP dual cam w/ dual CCT LED Flash
Front Cam: 13MP w/ Selfie light (Flash)
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB, expandable up to 128GB via microSD Card Dedicated slot
Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Light, E-compass, and Gyroscope
Fingerprint Sensor
Dual Nano SIM
GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+, LTE
4G: FDD LTE 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 TDD LTE Band 40
3G: WCDMA Band 1, 5, 8
2G: GSM Band 2, 3, 5, 8
WiFi 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac, 24GHz + 5GHz, WiFi Hotspot
Bluetooth 4.2, A-GPS Support
FM Radio
Battery: Built-in 4,000 mAh with 15W Rapid Charger
Colors: Fine Gold, Venom Black
SRP: PHP 13,999
Lazada Price: PHP 8,999
