Lenovo’s position in providing smartphones has changed since the acquisition of the Motorola brand. Industry reports indicate that this company is one of the top 5 smartphone manufacturing companies in India. While launching the K8 Note in India, the company also claimed that till now it has managed to sell 85 lakh K-series handsets in India.
With Lenovo K8 Note, the company has moved towards a stock Android experience. The company has retired its old UI Vibe Pure UI. On paper, the specifications and features of Lenovo K8 Note are good. But the challenge is also big. Will this phone be successful in striking a balance between price and features? Let’s find out…
Lenovo K8 Note design
The metal body of Lenovo K8 Note feels sturdy. Aluminum 6000 gives a premium feel. There’s no doubt that the K8 Note is one of the better looking phones in this price range. But there is nothing new in this. The phone will remind you again and again of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. There is 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass protection on the front panel. Lenovo has used anti-fingerprint coating on the screen. This means you don’t have to worry about removing your fingerprints again and again.
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The Lenovo K8 Note has capacitive buttons on the front panel which are not backlit. We had trouble using them in the dark. The front camera has its own LED flash. Lenovo says that demand for this feature has increased in recent times. There are two rear cameras on the rear panel which are located above and below each other. Dual LED flash is provided with it. The fingerprint sensor has been placed below the camera. There was never any problem in reaching it. The physical buttons are easy to use. The power and volume buttons were in the places we liked. These were easy to access through thumb or fingerprint.
You will see the familiar antenna band on the back of the handset. The color of the band is such that it easily gets lost in the color of the phone. Lenovo K8 Note has been made available in Fine Gold and Venom Black colors. We received the black variant for review. Lenovo has not boasted about the K8 Note branding on the phone, which is good. The logo has got space on the back side.
There’s a music button on the left panel that can be customized for other functions as well. You will be able to customize the music button by going to user settings. It can be used to play/pause audio or video, turn on/off flashlight, launch the camera app, capture screenshots or open a specific app. Light red color has been used in the music button which gives it a distinct identity. The company has given separate slots for two SIM cards and microSD card. The micro-USB port is at the bottom. Speaker grills are on both sides. Sadly there is only one functional speaker. But this phone has Dolby Atmos audio enhancement. The second grill is just for show, like other budget phones. There is a 3.5 mm audio jack on the top.
We did not face any problem in using Lenovo K8 Note with one hand. Its dimensions are 154.5×75.9×8.5 millimeters and due to the curved edges, it fits easily in the palm. Due to its weight of 180 grams, the phone feels a little hot. In comparison, its most important rival Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 weighs 175 grams. Protection against water splash is available on Lenovo K8 Note.
Compared to Lenovo K6 Note, the design of Lenovo K8 Note has improved a lot. Because of this it feels more premium than its price. In the box you will get a transparent plastic cover, USB cable, 15W rapid charger, SIM ejector and instruction manual. Lenovo K8 Note is the company’s first smartphone to come with rapid charger. However, you won’t get any earphones. This may disappoint you.
Lenovo K8 Note specifications and software
Lenovo K8 Note has a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) display. Deca-core MediaTek Helio X23 (MT6797) chipset has been used in it. The K8 Note is launched in India in two storage and RAM variants: 3 GB RAM and 32 GB and 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. We received the 4 GB RAM variant for review. You will be able to use microSD card up to 128 GB.
Lenovo has praised the dual rear camera of its K8 Note smartphone. There is a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear. There is a 5 megapixel depth sensor with it, for Bokeh effect. For selfie lovers, a 13-megapixel sensor has been provided on the front panel. The battery is 4000 mAh and this phone supports rapid charging. Lenovo K8 Note comes with 4G 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 was the first to inform Gadgets 360 that in future all Lenovo phones will run on stock Android out of the box. Android 7.1.1 Nougat has been used in Lenovo K8 Note. This means Vibe Pure UI is retired.
Android 7.1.1 Nougat means that you will get app shortcut technology like 3D Touch in this Lenovo phone. K8 Note users will now be able to perform various functions by long pressing an app. Our review unit received the July security patch immediately. Lenovo has assured that updates will be available regularly in the coming times. This phone has important features like GIF support in the keyboard of Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Features like Google Assistant and split screen will also be available.
You’ll find Google apps like Duo, Play Movies, and Play Music pre-installed. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint are provided in the phone which can be removed. The interface is smooth. The phone does not become weak even while using many apps. The Google Photos app is now the default gallery which we think is good.
There has also been radical tampering in the software. You will be able to use the pre-installed Dolby Atmos app. The phone also has TheatreMax VR support which was introduced with the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note.
Interestingly, Lenovo has assured that the K8 Note will get Android O update by the end of the year. This can be an important reason for buying this phone.
Lenovo K8 Note performance and camera
We enjoyed using the Lenovo K8 Note. Stock Android is a welcome step. There were 12 apps running in the background, but the performance did not deteriorate. The credit for this should go to Android memory management. There are two variants of K8 Note, but we would suggest you to buy only the variant with 4 GB RAM.
We found that the phone heats up very quickly. If the camera app is open for some time or the GPS navigation runs for a while, you will feel the phone getting warm. Something similar happened while playing the game. While playing the game continuously for 20 minutes, the phone became so hot that it was not easy to hold it in hands.
The experience of playing games on Lenovo K8 Note was fantastic. Games with powerful graphics like Need for Speed ran smoothly. Call quality was also good. Due to VoLTE support, we were able to make calls from Jio SIM. The phone works well even in weak network areas. The speaker at the bottom produces adequate sound, but don’t expect stereo speaker performance from it. The sound quality can be improved by using the Dolby Atmos app, but it also has a limitation. Lenovo markets the K8 Note as a multimedia device, so stereo speakers would have been better.
The phone gave good results in benchmark tests due to its deca-core processor. The benchmark scores were better than other handsets in this price range. The resolution of the 5.5-inch screen is 1080×1920 pixels. It is crisp and bright enough. Viewing angles are also fine and there is no problem in reading the screen in sunlight. Regarding the display of Lenovo K8 Note, we would say that it is the best display in any Lenovo handset in this price range. We had a great experience watching videos and playing games on the Lenovo K8 Note.
Compared to Lenovo K6 Note (Review), there have been significant changes in the camera department of K8 Note. It has a 13-megapixel PureCell sensor and a 5-megapixel Samsung BSI sensor. The primary 13-megapixel sensor captures photos. At the same time, the responsibility of the 5 megapixel sensor is to gather depth of field information. The K8 Note’s camera app is very basic. You won’t get many customization options. Users can choose between normal mode or depth enabled mode. Photos taken in normal mode came with details. These photos had natural colors with less noise. The camera quickly locks focus on the subject. Landscape and macro shots also turned out well. In our opinion, the photos taken outdoors with its camera had more detail compared to other smartphones in this category.
When it comes to depth-of-field shots, we felt the K8 Note’s camera did a decent job. But the camera had to work hard to get the perfect shot. Many times it happened that the pictures came as per the wish without any problem. But in most of the cases the pictures came out blurry the first time. To blur the background, you have to choose between aperture F/1.2 to F/2.8. We felt the K8 Note’s camera was a bit harsh. At times the edges looked a little unnatural. Many times the distinction between the subject and the background could not be established. Some part of the subject also became blurred. We hope Lenovo will fix these shortcomings through software updates. Especially keeping in mind that Lenovo K8 Note is the company’s first dual rear camera phone.
Photos taken in low light came with a lot of noise, especially when there was less ambient light. We tried using the camera app for landscape shots at night. The results were washed out. The lack of detail was clearly visible in the indoor sample.
The 13-megapixel front camera does a good job with selfies. LED flash proves its usefulness. With the help of beauty mode, you will be able to improve the shot. The front camera captured color tones. And there was no complaint about details either.
Lenovo K8 Note battery life
The 4000 mAh battery lasted for about 20 hours with heavy use. During the review, WhatsApp, Outlook, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Google Map, Telegram and Twitter apps kept running continuously in the background. We also used the dual camera a lot and the same happened with gaming. The battery easily lasted a day with low usage. However, Lenovo K8 Note lags behind Redmi Note 4 in this regard.
The Lenovo K8 Note’s battery lasted 14 hours and 20 minutes in our standard video loop test. This is enough for a battery of this capacity. Lenovo K8 Note comes with rapid charger. This means that you will be able to charge the phone faster. We found that after charging for just 20 minutes, the phone’s battery got charged up to 40 percent. It will take about two hours to fully charge the battery.
our decision
Lenovo K8 Note price starts at Rs 12,999. A variant with 3 GB RAM will be available at this price. The variant we reviewed (4 GB RAM) will cost you Rs 13,999. The Lenovo K8 Note is an all-round handset at this price. You will get stock Android, two rear cameras, Theater Max and strong build quality. However, there are some shortcomings also. Battery life is not the best in this segment. The heating of the phone is troublesome. Camera performance in low light is also below expectations. The good thing is that the dual rear camera is effective.
For Lenovo fans, the Lenovo K8 Note is a big upgrade over the Lenovo K6 Note. There is nothing wrong in spending money on this. We believe that Lenovo K8 Note will compete directly 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 a new contender.