Lenovo K4 Note Review: The Next Generation ‘K’ Series Smartphone?

It seems like Lenovo has taken a new train to compete with the strengthening smartphones and their market. Lenovo’s K3 Note is huge success that it even secured a place in the 10 of top searched gadget of 2015. We thought that the K3 should have been named after 7000 series in the K3’s review but somehow it survived the market slowly by the end of the year.
 
So, what’s this K4 Note have? I see a lot of difference from the design to the technical specifications. I even doubted if it is a product of Lenovo. LOL :)
 lenovo-k4note-a7010
 
Lenovo K4 Note, also named as Lenovo A7010, is the next version of budget Android handset from the company. It has got some noticeable improvements regarding the design and technical specifications whereas some features are continued without any upgrade. Let’s see if this VR technology bundled smartphone can cope up with the 2016’s market (one quarter at least).
 

Design

With the completely different design compared to K3 Note, Lenovo has refurnished the K4 Note design to a new standards. The device looks thin with 9.15mm (with curve) curved back panel for better grip. So, you got a better Lenovo device than the previous one.
 
lenovo-smartphone-a7010-black-back-10
 
One of the major design transformations is that the speakers moving on to the front panel. Being at the front, featuring the Dolby Atmos, K4 Note can give you better, crispy and distortion less sound experience while watching movies, listening to music and playing games.
 
The back panel has also got many changes. The camera has been moved from the top corner to the top spine center like as the other 5.5 inch smartphones are having. The back panel is non-glossy plastic material which looks more like OnePlus 2’s back cover.
 
Finally, Lenovo has provided Gorilla Glass protection for this new release. That’s going to be a great satisfaction to buyer.
 
I’ll give 3.5/5 for design
 

Display

Lenovo K4 Note has got 5.5 inch Full HD 1080p IPS display that has the pixel density of 403ppi leaving it with 2 extra pixels per inch compared to the Lenovo K3 Note.
 
2 extra pixels per inch? Dude..seriously?
 
lenovo-smartphone-a7010-main-sf
 
Yeah! Every upgrade counts indeed. Isn’t it?
 
With 178 degrees wide angle display and sporting 10-point capacitive touch (an upgrade to K3 Note’s), Lenovo K4 Note lists some upgrades in the display also.
 
My score to display is 4/5
 

Processor & RAM

K4 Note sports a MediaTek MT6753 64-bit Octa-core processor with no upgrade compared with K3 Note. It is supported by 3GB LP DDR3 RAM and Mali T720 GPU which can accelerate 3D graphics up to 450MHz.
 
Processing capability is a great upset compared to its predecessor version. All it seems to be having 1GB RAM upgrade for this version.
 
It deserves 2/5 in upgrade perspective and 2.5/5 in processing capability perspective.
 

Memory

Memory is what we are seeing the upgrade applied to, for every new version released. Till A7000, it was 8GB internal memory that was given with the device. From K3 Note, it is 16GB internal. As so, K4 Note is also given with 16GB internal memory which can be expanded up to 128GB through micro SD card.
 
Upgrade to memory expandability is quite convincing. I’ll give 4/5 to memory and its expandability.
 

Operating System

Though the world is running behind the Android 6.0 marshmallow version, Lenovo K4 note stood behind with v5.1 onboard which definitely earns a sigh. It would have been better if Lenovo would have promised marshmallow update in any future.
 
For Android 5.1, the rating stands on 3/5. If any marshmallow update is promised, it will be 5/5 from me.
 

Camera

K4 Note sports a 13MP PDAF rear camera with dual-color (CCT) LED flash that can be used to take pictures with both white and amber LEDs. It also has 5MP front camera for selfies.
 
lenovo-smartphone-a7010-back-detail
 
The camera(s) has got a little update i.e., the new technologies have been implemented to enhance the picture quality and photography experience.
 
For camera, it is 4/5
 
 

Connectivity

This new buddy from Lenovo supports 4G LTE connectivity from both the micro SIM slots along with the regular 3G and 2G networks. It has got Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, NFC and FM Radio transceivers for other kind of network connectivity.
 
The data connection can be established over GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+ and LTE connections. It also has OTG support for easy data transfers and excessive storage.
 
Connectivity is not that exciting, so it remains 3/5 because of dual 4G support.
 

Battery

The 2900mAh battery in K3 Note has been upgraded in K4 Note. It comes with 3300mAh Li-Po removable battery with ‘do not remove’ sticker discouraging the user to remove the battery of the phone by any chance. I guess it may void the warranty if found to be removed. So when you buy K4 Note, be careful with that.
 

Pros

+ Good Design
+ Good build quality
+ Gorilla Glass protection
+ 5-extra point touch compared to K3 Note
+ 1GB extra RAM
+ Great memory expandability
+ Good camera
+ Much better battery compared to predecessors
+ Dolby Atmos sound system
 

Cons

- No processing capability upgrade
- New CCT LED camera flash
- No marshmallow upgrade promise (as per the news sources)
- Uncompromising price for both VR and non-VR versions
 

Is it worth buying?

Lenovo has really brought some worthy additions to the new Note which people are expecting. The success of K3 Note might have inspired them to bring up these.
Instead of buying K3 Note for Rs.9,999, it is better to get K4 Note for Rs.11,999 (without VR) or (Rs.12,999 with VR) for the 1GB more RAM, better camera, better battery power, Gorilla Glass and design on the positive side.
 
On the flipside, Gorilla Glass is not a new feature to count in. Camera technology is all its flash we could see. There is no upgrade to processor and GPU. Rs.1,000 for VR alone is a thinkable issue as it is still not accepted by the users completely. Battery is not that great according to the users’ feedback so far on the internet. So, spending 2K or 3K on little upgrades would not be totally a wise decision too. It could have been compromising if the processor and GPU had got any upgrade. It’s your decision now.
 

0/Post a reply/Replies

Previous Post Next Post