02.03.2016 6558

The removable back cover also covers the ends of the smartphone: the control keys are located on this cover. The camera eye is located in the upper left corner, below it is a two-segment flash. The speaker grill is located on the top right of the back of the cover. The cover is of the "soft-touch" type: it is easily scratched, but it fits well in the hand. Under the cover there is a battery compartment, a microSD slot and two microSIM slots. At the top there is a microUSB port and an audio output.
On the right side there is a power button and a volume rocker. The key travel is quite clear.
Well, this smartphone is next to the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge + and the solid Lenovo Vibe P1 (its review will be coming soon).
The phone lies well in the hand, it looks, in my opinion, not bad. Yes, it is unremarkable, but it looks decent: such a normal workhorse. With a yellow lid, by the way, it looks more interesting. The lid snaps tightly, does not creak when pressed. Control buttons are touch-sensitive, located on the bottom panel. They have inconspicuous markings, and I was surprised that they are not highlighted at all. Well, at least touchscreen, not screen - thanks for that.

Display Display on IPS-matrix, covered with a flat protective glass, made by OGS technology (there is no air gap between the matrix and the sensor). There is an anti-glare filter and an oleophobic coating. Very good viewing angles: with a strong deflection vertically-horizontally, the image practically does not change. The brightness margin is not very large, but in direct sunlight the image is more or less distinguishable. The image quality is good: the colors are bright and natural, the characters look quite clear. For a budget smartphone, in my opinion, the screen is just very good. Device operation The firmware VIBEUI_V2.5, from which the phone arrives, is not bad, but it has a rather crooked Russian interface (not everything is translated, also some things are translated very clumsily). However, w3bsit3-dns.com for this model has almost a hundred of the most diverse firmware - for every taste. The main desktop.

Second desktop.

Notification area.

You can slide notifications down to see quick switches. They are not editable.

Lock window with audio player widget.

List of running tasks with a button to unload all applications from memory.

Themes are customizable as usual with Lenovo, with hundreds of both free and paid themes available.

For example, here's a theme that I liked.

Phone appIncoming call when the screen is on. For some reason, the letters go into relaxation, and the translation into Russian is fresh and beautiful.

Call window when the screen is off. You can reject a call by sending an SMS message, you can also set a reminder to call back after 10 minutes or after 1 hour - this is convenient.

Recording is available during a call.

The connection quality is not bad, the subscribers heard me normally, as well as I heard them. There seems to be no noise cancellation here: when I called while standing on a busy street, I could not hear well. Mobile Internet and Wi-Fi showed normal speeds for these test conditions.

Audio The sound of the built-in speaker is clear, without wheezing, but not too loud. When the smartphone lies on the table with the display up, the speaker is noticeably muffled by the table surface.

Armature earphones - "studs" Myst Nail2 - mediocre: the sound is flat, the highs are not bad, but there is no bass even half a hint. The volume is insufficient.

Full-size Plantronics BackBeat Pro headphones in wired mode are tolerable: the bass is surprisingly good, but the sound is slightly dull, the highs are very, very so-so. Video4K clips cannot play normally, it slows down, FullHD clips reproduce smoothly, without brakes. (What else is needed, one wonders?)
Determination of coordinatesThe cold start passes quickly enough - in 15 seconds. The coordinates are determined well, there were no problems with navigation.

GamesAsphalt 8 showed high graphics quality, but the smartphone did not quite cope with this: some lags were visible. On average, everything was smooth.

Settings There are some interesting possibilities among the settings.

Status bar options.

Settings for all gestures. Pressing the volume button twice while the screen is off makes the smartphone take a photo.

The smartphone can turn on by double tapping, it can launch the camera with the "V" gesture.

Phone application settings.

Turning on / off on a schedule is a useful thing.

Phone memory. With 16 GB on board, you can't really roam, but a memory card is supported here, so no problem.

CameraSimple interface.

Settings.

Examples of photos. (All are clickable.)






















Sample video.

On the camera. In my opinion, it shoots very decently for a budget model, especially since the camera is often the weakest point for budget models. And here - quite good. True, I would like a little more contrast and color saturation, but this can be adjusted in the phone itself. Shoots well in good lighting conditions. In bad conditions, it happens that it misses the focus, so it is better to take several frames. The video is average in quality, but also not "horror-horror" at all. Note that the location of the camera in the upper left corner of the back cover often leads to the fact that the lens is partially covered with a finger when shooting - this should be monitored. System and performance CPU-Z data.

Sensors.

AnTuTu test.

Compared to flagships, the index is half the size. But it was as expected. Moreover, in general, the index is very decent. For the same Cubot H1 (it costs the same money) the index is two times less for this test.

Geekbench test.

Well, the overall PCMark index.

Purely practically, the smartphone is fast enough, for ordinary tasks its performance is quite enough. There are lags, but they are not critical, and for the budget level the smartphone works, in my opinion, even faster than expected. I compare with classmates for the price - this one, in my opinion, wins. Time autonomous work The battery is quite decent here, but compared to the flagships of the top manufacturers, the power consumption is not too optimized. The declared battery capacity is 3000 mAh. According to the device, approximately the same capacity turned out to be - everything is fair. The Internet. The brightness is set to a comfortable 60%, wireless networks are on, the page is refreshed in the browser every 30 seconds. Almost exactly 9 o'clock. I assumed something like that. Video. Wireless communications are disabled, the brightness of the player is set to a comfortable 10th level (15 in total), in MK Player the video of the series is spinning in a loop. 9 hours 34 minutes. Reading. The brightness is set to a comfortable 50%, all wireless networks are turned off, a book is scrolled in AlReader. 11 hours 13 minutes. With normal use, the smartphone confidently lives for one day, even under a good load. Two days - with not too heavy load and optimization of energy consumption. All in all, okay: roughly as expected. However, I note that the same Samsung Galaxy S6 edge + with a 5.7 display, QHD resolution and a battery of the same capacity lives on a single charge for two days. However, let's not forget that it costs five times more. So in this case, for such a price and such a configuration, everything is quite normal with the battery life. Observations at work and conclusions I have always had a good attitude towards Lenovo products, and, frankly, they never disappointed me. They now also have very interesting smartphones / tablets in the business segment (soon there will be a review of the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 3 Pro and the Lenovo Vibe P1 smartphone), and in the budget segment they have very few competitors in terms of price-quality ratio, despite the large stream of smartphones from new Chinese brands in the range of $ 100-200. I really liked this model. It's good that I was asked to study it after reviewing the Lenovo Lemon K3. Because the Lemon K3 at a price of about $ 120 is a model with various compromises, but the Lenovo K3 Note for its $ 140 demonstrates a very good balance, and this is a smartphone that I would calmly use myself - it is really very, very good. Moreover, for that kind of money. It worked quite steadily for me, from the usual smartphone problems - in 3D games after a while the back cover in the chipset area heats up, but somewhere up to 40-43 degrees, which is quite tolerable. In other applications, I did not notice heating. This firmware has its advantages and disadvantages, but, in my opinion, you can safely use it, it is not terrible at all (as is often the case with Xiaomi). And, in addition, for those who like to experiment - at your service under a hundred different other firmware. In my opinion, from the budget, this is one of the most interesting smartphones: a really good display with FullHD resolution, an inexpensive but productive chipset, quite tolerable graphics, good sound, a normal camera, a very good battery life, two SIM cards and a memory card - for $ 140, the option is very attractive. Now, when I am asked to advise a budget but decent smartphone, I recommend this particular model. I really liked it. P.S. In the comments to the review, they immediately began to ask, what would I choose, other things being equal - this model or the recently appeared Xiaomi Redmi Note 3? I answer. I would, of course, choose Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 - it is cooler in almost all respects (especially in materials and design, as well as in terms of operating time), but it costs a third more. And if there is a task to save as much as possible, but take a really good phone - Lenovo K3 Note for this task, in my opinion, fits very well.

We have recently introduced our readers and subscribers to one of the most anticipated smartphones from Lenovo - the K3 Note model. Now we want to introduce you to this smartphone in detail in the text part of our review.

We also recently launched sales of Lenovo K3 Note in the so-called music version of Teana. But this article will focus on the standard version of K3 Note, which got into our editorial office at the end of last month.

Lenovo K3 Note package overview

- Smartphone

2A charger with an adapter for our sockets (bonus from the seller)

Micro-USB cable

User's manual

Warranty card

Protective film and silicone Case as a gift from the seller

As for the package, it is quite standard, especially if you do not take into account the bonuses from the seller.

Overview of the appearance of Lenovo K3 Note

The gadget is made in a polycarbonate case, the front panel of which is covered with protective glass.

At the bottom of the front panel, we see 3 standard touch buttons that are not backlit. And this is a rather strange decision for Lenovo, since in our opinion this is not an area where you can significantly save and which can be neglected.

At the top of the front panel there is an earpiece, a 5-megapixel camera peephole, a light and proximity sensor module.

The panel itself is made in black, so that when the screen is off, it looks like a single whole.

The back cover is made of matte plastic, pleasant to the touch. Fingerprints are hardly visible on it.

On the very rear panel, in its upper left corner, there is a rectangular peephole of the main 13-megapixel camera and a dual LED flash under it. Slightly to the right we see the slits for the second microphone for noise cancellation and an external speaker. The manufacturer's logo is located in the center of the panel.

On the right side of the smartphone, we see a volume rocker and a power button below it.

On the top of the Lenovo K3 Note, there is a micro-USB port and a standard 3.5mm jack for headphones or headsets.

At the bottom of the device: only the main microphone.

The assembly of the Lenovo K3 Note is quite high-quality, and, despite the materials used, the smartphone case has no backlash and creaks.

The back cover can be removed quite easily, and a special tape is glued on the back of it so that it does not bend at the top. Under the cover, we found a removable battery for the declared 3000 mAh, 2 slots for SIM-cards in microSIM format (one of them only supports 2G networks, and the other 2G / 3G / 4G) and a slot for a microSD memory card. There is only one radio module in the device, so when you call from one SIM card, you will not be available on the second one. The external speaker is covered with a mesh, so there is no reason to worry about getting dirt or dust into it.

In general, the device sits comfortably in the hand, and the ergonomics are excellent. The weight of the smartphone is also comfortable and amounts to 146 grams, dimensions 152.5x76.3x8.5 mm.

Compared to other devices, Lenovo K3 Note visually practically does not differ from, except that the body of the K3 Note is slightly thicker. When compared with the iOcean M6752, the new product from Lenovo turned out to be a little more elegant, but we did not notice the difference with, except for the design itself.

The design of Lenovo K3 Note is not the most interesting in comparison with the above-mentioned models, but not the most boring either. Although we did not expect anything else from this manufacturer.

Lenovo K3 Note display review

The smartphone has a 5.5-inch display made by IPS OGS and has a Full HD resolution (1920x1080p, 401 ppi). The test for the number of touches showed us support for the possibility of up to 5 simultaneous touches. The viewing angles of the Lenovo K3 Note screen are excellent due to the absence of an air gap between the protective glass and the screen. The smartphone has a good brightness reserve, although it does not quite reach the iOcean M6752 and Jiayu S3 in this parameter. However, there should be no problems in using the Lenovo K3 Note in terms of the screen. (Details in the video)

Interface and software platform

Lenovo K3 Note runs a pre-installed Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system with a proprietary Vibe UI2.5 shell. We really liked the shell, especially the design of the modified labels and their organization. The touchscreen response is instantaneous, there are no lags or slowdowns at all.

The touch buttons perform traditional functions - calling the menu, home and back.

It should be noted in the menu the possibility of updating by air and the presence of energy saving modes. The menu also contains various smart functions, for example, unlocking with a double tap, and others. We also draw attention to the presence of MaxxAudio settings in the drop-down menu, which we have already seen in the K3 model.

The data transfer capability of the Lenovo K3 Note is limited only by the presence of Bluetooth 4.0, as Hotknot and NFC are not available here.

At the moment, the manufacturer has not released an official Russian-language firmware. On the w3bsit3-dns.com forum, you can download a custom firmware version with Russian language support, but its stability leaves much to be desired. In addition, the over-the-air update function may not be available with it. (Details in the video)

Testing Lenovo K3 Note in benchmarks

As we said earlier, Lenovo K3 Note runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system. A 64-bit 8-core MT6752 processor with a clock speed of 1.7 GHz is responsible for the operation of the device, and a 2-core Mali-T760 video accelerator is responsible for the graphics. The amount of RAM was 2 GB, built-in - 16 GB, while the user has about 11.5 GB.

Thanks to all this powerful stuffing in Antutu v5.7, the Lenovo K3 Note is gaining about 43 thousand points, but everyone understands that the Antutu test is synthetic and these numbers are different for everyone (some have 46 thousand). Although this result was quite expected, since we have already tested devices on similar hardware earlier.

Graphics testing in 3DMark showed 6709 points, and in Epic Citadel 41.6 fps at full screen resolution, which is also not surprising.

In practice, when testing Lenovo K3 Note in the game Asphalt-8, no problems arose - the device coped with this game excellently at maximum settings. At the same time, after 10 minutes of playing the device, as expected, became warm, although the temperature of the case remained comfortable for holding the smartphone in hands.

Testing built-in sensors and GPS (details in the video)

This gadget contains the following sensors: accelerometer, magnetic field sensor, gyroscope, spatial orientation sensor, gravity sensor, linear acceleration and vector rotation, as well as a light and proximity sensor.

In GPS testing, we found that the Lenovo K3 Note connects to satellites almost instantly after a cold start. However, no GLONASS support was found in the smartphone.

Camera testing

The main camera, located on the back of the body, has a resolution of 13 megapixels. There is every reason to believe that the OV13850 module from OmniVision is used as a sensor.

The camera interface is not quite standard. In the photo settings, we see the ability to change the aspect ratio, white balance, ISO sensitivity, as well as the imposition of various artistic effects and many other functions. While in the video settings we can change the shooting quality (maximum - Full HD), focus mode and activate stabilization. For photos, HDR mode and panoramic shooting are available.
Sample photos
Daytime shooting:

Night shooting:

Source codes

A 5 megapixel module is used as a front camera. In general, we have positive impressions of the cameras, although the overall level we would call average, since our reviews have had smartphones with much better cameras (). On the other hand, it would be rash to expect anything more from Lenovo from devices in this price segment, since other models are provided for photo enthusiasts in the company's lineup ().

Battery test

As we said, the declared battery capacity of the Lenovo K3 Note is 3000 mAh. And this seems to be true, as the device scored 6556 points in the Antutu battery test application, which made us happy. Indeed, in the same program, Jiayu S3 with the same battery capacity is gaining almost 1000 points less.

As expected, in the Epic Citadel Guide Tour mode, the Lenovo K3 Note lasted just over 5.5 hours, and it is the leader in terms of indicators among all the competitors we tested.

Sound

This line of smartphones from Lenovo is positioned as a musical one, and this is evidenced by the presence of an additional MaxxAudio sound settings menu. Previously, we set all the checkboxes in the settings to improve the sound quality, both in the headphones and from the external speaker.

Of course, the video review will not reveal all the subtleties of the sound of this device, but we can safely say that the sound in the Lenovo K3 Note is simply gorgeous. And one can only guess what the sound of a smartphone will be in the version that is equipped with an external ceramic speaker on the back of the case.

Conclusion and summing up

Let's list the advantages:

1) The cost of the device.
Since 899 yuan for a device with such a filling, from a well-known brand, can definitely be considered a gift, especially against the background of the price of its main competitors.

2) Camera.
Yes, although it is not the most outstanding, but in this price segment it is a very good option, believe me.

3) Sound, especially from an external speaker.

4) Battery capacity and autonomy.

We also note the disadvantages:

1) Lack of official Russian support.

2) Lack of illumination of touch buttons.

There were no other unambiguous flaws in the Lenovo K3 Note, and if the first of those listed is excluded by the release of the official firmware in Russian, then, in our opinion, you can get used to the second.

It is difficult to say which of the main competitors will be the best candidate to buy - Lenovo K3 Note, Jiayu S3, iOcean MT6752, Ecoo e04 Aurora Plus or. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as differences in design and cost. However, our edition definitely liked Lenovo K3 Note, and we can safely recommend it for purchase.

Video review Lenovo K3 Note

In conclusion, we present all the characteristics of the Lenovo K3 Note:

• Device type: smartphone
• Body materials: plastic, glass
• Operating system: Android 5.0 Lollipop with Vibe UI2.5 shell
• Networks: 2G: GSM B2 / 3/8, 3G: WCDMA B1 / 2/5/8, 3G: TD-SCDMA B34 / 39, 4G: TD-LTE B38 / 39/40/41, 4G: FDD-LTE B1 / 3 / 7MHz
• Processor: 64 bit, 8 cores, MediaTek MT6752
• Video accelerator: 2-core Mali-T760MP2
• RAM: 2 GB
• Storage memory: 16 GB + microSD slot
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a / b / g / n /), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB (USB 2.0) connector for charge / synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset
• Applications: FM Radio, MaxxAudio Sound Setting
• Screen: capacitive, IPS 5.5 "" with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, OGS
• Cameras: 13MP (4128x3096 pixels), autofocus, Dual-Led (dual tone), Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama, video [email protected] + 5 MP (front)
• Navigation: GPS, A-GPS
• Battery: removable, capacity 3000 mAh
• Dimensions: 152.5x76.3x8.5 mm
• Weight: 146g

Group purchase at GearBeast:

Coupon - "LK3NOTE"

Total cost - $ 157.98

We wish you a pleasant viewing and shopping!

From SW. Andrey Kovtun

The cover of the Lenovo K3 Note can be easily removed, like the battery, that is, it will not be a problem to change it, if anything. The smartphone looks quite cumbersome due to the frames at the top and bottom, but the weight of the K3 Note is quite small - 146 grams were shown by the scales. The control buttons are physical, there is no backlight. The case material is unusual. It's plastic, but its tactile feel is weird. The smartphone slips a little in the hand, but not much. Plastic does not look like cheap. In general, it cannot be classified as cheap, but it is far from the premium category. It doesn't look rich.

The set is very rich. In it you can find a Chinese charger with (thank God and the Chinese!) An adapter for our sockets, a cable for connecting and charging microUSB. It's unusual for the Chinese to put the headphones on!

Width

Height

Thickness

Weight

Shell

The OS is installed here Android 5. Of course, it will please you, but the smartphone is not sold in Russia, as you remember, so the system is a little "unfinished". Yes, there is a Russian language, but in some places there is a curve translation, or it is completely absent. In general, the system seemed crude, a lot of minor miscalculations. This is outrageous. The smartphone is unlocked with a double tap. The system of gesture control is well developed, such as drawing symbols on the screen to open the necessary applications.

Specifications

• CPU

  MediaTek MT6752 (8 cores x 1.7 GHz)

• Video processor

Who does not know, Mali-T760 is used in Samsung s6. And the processor speaks for itself, 8 cores at 1.7 GHz. This is cool guys. The technical characteristics of the smartphone command respect. We get such cool hardware for almost a penny. Amazing!

Memory

"RAM" in the Lenovo K3 Note is a little 2 GB. The built-in memory in the smartphone is 16 GB, it can be expanded with a memory card only up to 32 GB, but we think the smartphone should handle 64 GB as well. You can take a chance, check, but you will have + 32 GB for sure.

Communication

The smartphone works with 2 SIM cards, their format is “micro”. The smartphone is capable of working with LTE networks. It also works with ours, checked. There is Bluetooth, Wi-Fi. There is a GPS, but it is absolutely not working, it refused to catch satellites. What is the reason for this is not clear, if only the firmware, if the module itself was caught.

Look
updated when new information becomes available and published after careful review

Balanced mid-range tablet

The difficult economic situation that has developed recently has led ultimately to the fact that the majority of potential buyers mobile devices turned their attention to less expensive products, abandoning the idea of \u200b\u200bpurchasing flagship devices at twice the price. In such a situation, manufacturers who are able to offer a wide range of inexpensive quality products come to the fore. And in this, perhaps, the Chinese company Lenovo has no equal now. If earlier someone wrinkled his nose with disgust, looking at the "cheap Chinese", now many are no longer up to fat. Chinese smartphones were used, and on the shelves of Russian mobile technology stores Lenovo now feels like the master of the situation. The company has something to offer to a poor buyer, especially since at some point it prudently, following the notorious Xiaomi, released a line of inexpensive smartphones sold exclusively through online trade. Such models are even cheaper, and the absence of borders on the Internet leads to the fact that it is now easy for a domestic user to order such a product from abroad. inexpensive smartphone for less than $ 150.

The hero of today's review is just one of those. Following the first model of Lenovo K3, which opened the company's line of devices sold only through an online store, a smartphone called the K3 Note costs a little more, but at the same time received a much more powerful hardware platform, double the amount of RAM, improved camera modules and a much larger battery. Such a smartphone is very interesting in itself, and at a price of one and a half hundred dollars, it becomes one of the most attractive offers in its segment.

Main characteristics of Lenovo K3 Note (model K50-t5)

	Lenovo K3 Note	Sony Xperia C4	Alcatel OT Idol 3 (5.5)	Meizu M1 Note	Samsung Galaxy A7
Screen	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, Super AMOLED
Resolution	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
SoC		Mediatek MT6752 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1.7 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1.5 GHz	Mediatek MT6752 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1.7 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 1 / 1.5 GHz
GPU	Mali-T760	Mali T760	Adreno 405	Mali T760	Adreno 405
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16/32 GB	16 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	—	microSD
operating system	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4
Battery	removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 2600 mAh	non-removable, 2910 mAh	non-removable, 3140 mAh	non-removable, 2600 mAh
Cameras		rear (13 Mp, video 1080p), front (5 Mp)	rear (13 MP; 1080p video), front (8 MP)	rear (13 Mp, video 1080p), front (5 Mp)	rear (13 MP; 1080p video), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	153 x 76 x 8 mm, 145 g	150 x 77 x 7.9 mm, 147 g	153 x 75 x 7.4mm, 141g	151 x 75 x 8.9 mm, 147 g	151 x 76 x 6.3 mm, 141 g
average price	T-12361942	T-12502043	T-12645044	T-11883101	T-11927009
Lenovo K3 Note Retail Offers	L-12361942-10

• SoC MediaTek MT6752, 1.7 GHz, 8 cores, ARM Cortex-A53
• GPU Mali-T760 @ 700 MHz
• Operating system Android 5.0
• Touch display IPS, 5.5 ″, 1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• Micro-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• MicroSD card support
• 2G communication: GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz
• 3G connection: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
• Data transmission FDD LTE 1800/2100/2600 MHz
• Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n (2.4 GHz), point wi-Fi access, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.0
• GPS (A-GPS)
• Camera 13 MP, autofocus, LED flash
• 5MP camera (front)
• Proximity sensor, lighting, accelerometer, electronic compass
• Battery 3000 mAh
• Dimensions 153 x 76 x 8 mm
• Weight 145 g

Equipment

The Lenovo K3 Note smartphone comes in industrial packaging made of solid unvarnished light brown cardboard, the bottom part is pasted over with black paper. The main characteristics of the model are listed on a sticker glued below, but most of the information is presented in hieroglyphs - the smartphone is not officially supplied to the Russian market.

The meager set of accessories consists of a charger (5 V, 2 A) and a Micro-USB connecting cable, nothing else was included in the set for the Lenovo K3 Note.

Appearance and usability

Lenovo K3 Note does not have a particularly expressive design or good looks. In appearance, this is a completely ordinary unpretentious monoblock, where there is not even a side rim, and most of the body is a plastic boat cover that covers not only the back, but also the sides. That is, the entire outer part of the case, in fact, consists of this plastic casing and the front panel with protective glass.

And yet, as soon as the smartphone is in your hand, you immediately feel sympathy for it. It's all about a very successful combination of parameters - dimensions, thickness and weight. For such a large mobile device with a very large screen, its weight and thickness are more than comfortable. The smartphone is easily held in the hand, easily and easily carried in the pockets of clothes. The device does not slip out of the fingers at all, the matte plastic coating is very pleasant to the touch.

The surfaces here do not have a rubberized effect, but still the device turns out to be completely non-slippery and not soiled. The plastic, by the way, has a slight metallic effect. This is not noticeable in the photographs, but in reality, in bright light, the smartphone looks like it is made of painted metal, which makes it even more solid. The Lenovo K3 Note smartphone came out very pleasant to look at and to the touch, this cannot be taken away from it.

The cover-casing can be easily removed from the frame, there are no problems with this. Together with the lid, the side control buttons also disappear, since they are attached to it. That is, the device cannot be operated with the cover removed.

The cover hides conveniently located slots for two Micro-SIM cards, as well as a slot for a microSD memory card. The jammed card can be easily pushed from the other side through the hole provided for this purpose. All cards are backed by a removable battery, so hot swapping is not possible.

On the outer side of the back of the smartphone, the window of the main camera, a dual LED flash, and the grill of the main speaker, made in the form of an array of small round holes, are habitually located. It's nice that even in such an inexpensive device the manufacturer did not stint to supply a high-quality flash from two segments. The flash is capable of working as a flashlight using a pre-installed program.

The front panel is completely covered with a flat protective glass without sides. In the upper part above the screen, in addition to the front camera and sensors, there is also an event indicator. Its work can be customized by the user through the settings menu.

At the bottom, under the screen, there is a standard row of three touch-sensitive buttons to control the system and applications. The buttons, unfortunately, do not have any backlighting, Lenovo often suffers from this in its mid-range devices and below.

Both hardware keys on the side edge have a metallized coating, protrude beyond the body to a sufficient height, are easy to blind, and have a springy and distinct stroke. In general, there are no complaints about the mechanical controls of the Lenovo K3 Note.

Both connectors are located on one, the upper end, in the bottom there is nothing left except the hole for the spoken microphone. The Micro-USB connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The smartphone is available in three main body colors: in addition to the standard black and white, there is also an unusual bright lemon yellow color, which looks bright and pleasing to the eye. All coatings, as already mentioned, have a slight metallic luster, which makes the simple plastic used here more attractive.

Screen

The Lenovo K3 Note smartphone is equipped with a touch-sensitive IPS-matrix covered with a flat protective glass. The screen dimensions are 68 × 121 mm, the diagonal is 5.5 inches. The resolution is increased to Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels), so that the dot density is 401 ppi.

The frame around the screen is about 3.5 mm on the sides, the top is 14 mm, but the bottom is all 18 mm. The frame is quite wide, but with such large overall dimensions, it is not too striking.

To adjust the brightness level, you can use the automatic adjustment based on the operation of the ambient light sensor, there is also the possibility of manual smooth adjustment. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle up to 5 simultaneous touches. There is a proximity sensor that locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. The screen can be activated by double tapping on the glass.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev... Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are not worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, we present a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Lenovo K3 Note, then they can be distinguished by their size):

The screen of the Lenovo K3 Note is only slightly lighter (the brightness in the photographs is 107 versus 105 for the Nexus 7). The doubling of reflected objects in the Lenovo K3 Note screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with greatly differing refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, even slightly better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and when displaying a white field full screen the maximum brightness value was about 405 cd / m², the minimum - 12 cd / m². The maximum brightness is not very high, but given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be good. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control according to the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In complete darkness, the auto brightness function reduces the brightness to 57 cd / m² (this is very bright, however, if you turn on the auto brightness mode already in the dark, the brightness drops to an acceptable 22 cd / m²), in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets 175-195 cd / m² (suitable), in a very bright environment (corresponds to bright daylight outdoors, but no direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) increases to a maximum of 405 cd / m². As a result, the automatic brightness control function works, but not quite adequately. At any brightness level, there is practically no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.

IN this smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS sub-pixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

However, the subpixels themselves are located unconventionally - typical columns go in the horizontal direction, but in each of the columns the triads of subpixels are shifted by one subpixel vertically, first upward, and three columns downward. As a result, the ratio of columns horizontally to triads vertically is 3 to 2, that is, the actual vertical resolution is ⅓ less than the horizontal one. Hereinafter we mean landscape orientation of the screen. To demonstrate the result of such an original arrangement of subpixels, we present a fragment of a world with black and white stripes across a pixel:

It can be seen that almost everything is fine with the vertical stripes ("almost" - since a slight illumination of subpixels in the black intervals indicates errors in the calculation of the intensity of subpixels) - they are more or less clearly separated. But with horizontal stripes everything is worse: the black gaps are clearly overexposed, and the alternation of the location of the brightest, that is, green subpixels, blurs the border of the stripes. However, three factors save from very noticeable artifacts at once, firstly, the high resolution for such a screen size masks them; secondly, a typical user does not look at pictures like test world; thirdly, there is still no per-pixel output of small text in mobile operating systems, the letters are already smoothed (read - blurred) due to interpolation, which also masks artifacts due to the shifted arrangement of subpixels. The question of why all this is needed and why not just put a regular Full HD screen should be addressed to the manufacturer. Probably, this is a little cheaper, but the question of the legality of specifying a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels in the characteristics also arises, since there is no such resolution (remember PenTile RGBG) even for green subpixels. For those in doubt, here's a snippet that captures the number of pixels sufficient for a tiled layout of the screen:

It is not difficult to calculate - 12 pixels (RGB triads) horizontally and only 8 pixels vertically, that is, the points on the screen are actually only 1920 by 720.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant color shift even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting (except for the darkest shades when gaze deviates along one diagonal). For comparison, we present photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Lenovo K3 Note and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m² (along the white field in the entire screen), and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K . White field perpendicular to screens:

The uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field is good. And the test picture:

The color rendition is good and the colors are saturated on both screens, the color balance is clearly different. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but the contrast in the Lenovo K3 Note decreased to a greater extent due to the more highlighting of black and the drop in brightness. And a white box:

The brightness at an angle at the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but in the case of the Lenovo K3 Note, the drop in brightness is slightly larger. The black field, when deviated along the diagonal, is lightened strongly and acquires a purple tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is about the same!):

And from a different angle:

When viewed from a perpendicular view, the black field uniformity is good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1130: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 22 ms (10 ms on + 12 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 39 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points at equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.79, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve strongly deviates from the power dependence:

Due to the dynamic and very aggressive adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (the brightness decreases on dark ones), the obtained dependence of brightness on the hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output of shades of gray almost in full screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining the contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not single-color fields across the entire screen. Here is the dependence of the brightness (vertical axis) on time when switching from black to white in the halves of the screen alternately, while the average brightness does not change and the dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness does not work (graph 50%/50% ). And the same dependence, but with alternating display of fields in full screen (graph 100% ), while the average brightness is already changing and the dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness works in full:

In general, such non-switchable brightness correction does nothing but harm, since it reduces the visibility of gradations in shadows in the case of dark images. In addition, this dynamic adjustment, when displaying any image other than the white field in full screen, significantly underestimates the brightness, which impairs readability in bright light.

The color gamut is close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix light filters mix the components together to a moderate extent:

As a result, the colors visually have natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is poor, since the color temperature is much higher than the standard 6500 K and the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) in places is greater than 10, which is considered a poor indicator even for a consumer device. It is good that at least the color temperature changes little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there does not really matter, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen has a sufficiently high maximum brightness and has good anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is also acceptable to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works more or less adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flicker, high contrast, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB. Significant disadvantages include non-switchable dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness, low stability of black to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen plane and distorted color balance. We'll leave the screen resolution cheating on the manufacturer's conscience, since in fact it doesn't really affect the screen quality. In general, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered quite high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the Lenovo K3 Note smartphone is not particularly remarkable, but not so bad either. The sound is clear, bright, but high frequencies prevail, the bass is practically inaudible. The general volume level is also low, it is sometimes lacking. The speaker grill is positioned in such a way that a smartphone lying on a hard surface significantly mutes the sound, the ringing signal may not be heard. In headphones, the situation is almost the same: the sound is bright, clear, sonorous, low frequencies are low and the overall volume level is low. In the spoken dynamics, the timbre and intonation of the voice of a familiar interlocutor remain recognizable, the sound is clear without noise and distortion.

The unit uses its own audio player to play music. The program has a wide range of various possibilities, including for additional software sound enhancement, there is an equalizer with several preset values, you can add bass, but this is possible only with headphones connected.

There is an FM radio in the smartphone, it can record programs and will not work without headphones connected as an external antenna. Recording of telephone conversations using standard means is also provided.

Camera

Lenovo K3 Note is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. The front 5-megapixel module is equipped with an f / 2.4 aperture lens with a fixed focus. The camera does not have its own flash, for soft illumination of the face when shooting selfies, you can turn on the "fill with light" function, in which the entire space around the viewfinder window on the screen glows brightly with pink or yellow light. The same function is often found in budget LG devices. Also, the front camera of Lenovo K3 Note has a function of decorating the resulting image with the possibility of smooth adjustment using a virtual slider. It is inconvenient that shooting here can be done only by pressing the screen, the hardware volume key can release the shutter, but only when shooting on the main, not the front module. The quality of shooting for the level of selfies is more than decent, the pictures are bright and sufficiently detailed.

The main rear camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel module with an f / 2.0 aperture lens and a two-section LED flash. Autofocus is fast enough, it can be adjusted clearly, almost never misses. There is no optical stabilization system, there is an electronic one. The settings menu is very simple in terms of possibilities, there is only the most necessary, but you can set basic settings manually, add effects and set specific shooting modes (night, landscape, portrait, in motion, HDR, panorama, etc.).

The camera shoots videos well at a maximum resolution of 1920 × 1080, the image is smooth, the sound is clear and legible. An example of a test video is shown below.

• Movie # 1 (37 MB, 1920 × 1080, 30 fps)

	The camera manages to shoot well in low light, although it can be seen that the noise reduction can barely cope.
	In general, the sharpness is not bad, although there are some small areas of blur.
	Good sharpness across the frame.
	Long-range, and sometimes even medium-sized shots can work poorly for the camera.
	The text has been worked out well.
	The camera copes with macro photography in good lighting.
	The camera still manages to work out the trees in the middle shots with varying degrees of success, but in the distant shots, the foliage merges.
	Sometimes the foliage begins to merge already in the middle plan.

For a budget smartphone, the camera turned out to be quite good, although there are more elaborate ones in this segment. Somewhat disappointing is the instability of sharpness at the available potential - good optics and not the worst sensor. Apparently, the program is somewhat underdeveloped, and therefore we often see areas of blur, which can cover all medium and long-range shots. Nevertheless, she will quite cope with documentary shooting, but it should be done carefully.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and there is also support for LTE networks used in Russia (Cat4, up to 150/50 Mbit / s). With the SIM card of the domestic operator Beeline, the smartphone in practice confidently finds and works with the LTE network. The rest of the network capabilities are standard: there is no NFC, only one Wi-Fi range (2.4 GHz) is supported, Bluetooth has version 4.0, the mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG) is implemented.

There are no special complaints about the navigation module, with a cold start the satellites are located within the first minutes, but only the GPS system is supported. The magnetic field sensor, necessary for the functioning of the electronic compass of navigation programs, is installed in the device.

The smartphone supports work with two SIM-cards, the organization of work with them is convenient, all settings are collected on one page, it is easy to figure it out even if there is no translation of a part of the menu into Russian. Any of the SIM-cards can be assigned as the main one for making voice calls, transferring data or sending SMS messages. You can select the desired card right at the time of the call or SMS dialing. Slots for SIM-cards are equivalent in their capabilities, high-speed data transfer in 3G (4G) networks is supported by any slot, cards can be switched directly from the menu without the need to physically change slots.

Working with two SIM-cards is organized according to the usual Dual standard SIM Dual Standby, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

The operating system is the fifth version of the Google Android LolliPop software platform with the Lenovo Vibe UI proprietary shell installed on top of it, there is the ability to update the firmware over the air (OTA). The shell here practically does not differ from the standard Vibe UI interface, which is now installed in all modern smartphones of the Chinese manufacturer.

The familiar, bright, lurid interface has all the same capabilities as other modern models of the Lenovo mobile family, with the exception of a few little things. Here, for example, the main settings menu is not divided into two sections, but has one long list that can be pulled down, and an additional menu of the current, most frequently used settings will open, which is convenient.

From the fresh fifth version of Android OS, the smartphone got pop-up information tiles, there is no separate menu of installed programs, there are rudiments of working with gestures, a branded virtual smart button is in place. In general, the interface is very detailed, perhaps one of the most detailed on the mobile device market; in Lenovo smartphones, the user is free to customize almost everything that is possible to suit his preferences.

Performance

The Lenovo K3 Note hardware platform is based on the MediaTek MT6752 eight-core SoC. This powerful SoC is configured with eight full processor cores and powerful Cortex-A53 cores. This 64-bit platform is based on the 28 nm manufacturing process, with a maximum core frequency of up to 1.7 GHz. The modern and efficient Mali-T760 video accelerator is responsible for graphics processing. The amount of RAM is 2 GB, and about 10 GB of the total amount of 16 GB is available for the user's needs in the device. There is also a microSD card slot for expanding the amount of memory, and it even supports connecting flash drives in OTG mode.

According to the test results, the Lenovo K3 Note platform showed expectedly high results, the platform used in the smartphone has repeatedly proved its leading positions in the middle segment among popular SoCs. This 64-bit platform performs very well, well above the usual average. The performance of smartphones based on the next generation MediaTek platforms is already approaching the flagship level. SoC MediaTek MT6752 is not designed for use in expensive top smartphones, it is designed for middle-class devices, but its capacities, including the performance of the Mali-T760 video subsystem, will be enough for a long time to complete any tasks, including demanding games. At the moment, the MediaTek MT6752 platform is perhaps the most interesting solution for the mid-range, since smartphones on it are cheaper than on the competing Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, and in terms of performance they are significantly ahead of it.

Testing in latest versions complex tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks, we summarized for convenience in tables. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, therefore, many worthy and relevant models remain "behind the scenes" - due to the fact that at one time they passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When tested in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Lenovo K3 Note (Mediatek MT6752)	Sony Xperia C4 (Mediatek MT6752)	Alcatel OT Idol 3 5.5 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)	Meizu M1 Note (Mediatek MT6752)	Samsung Galaxy A7 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	6728	6766	5281	6517	5373
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	10642	10530	7423	10606	7700
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	15 fps	16 fps	15 fps	15 fps	14 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	15 fps	15 fps	14 fps	15 fps	15 fps
Bonsai benchmark	3575 (51 fps)	3549 (51 fps)	1844 (26 fps)	3318 (47 fps)	1946 (28 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal images

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface taken after 10 minutes of battery test run in Epic Citadel software (in Ultra High Quality mode):

It can be seen that the heating is clearly localized in the upper part of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 43 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees). This heating cannot be called insignificant.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the test results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, which are necessary for full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To play them successfully, you will have to resort to help third party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Native video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 2200 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 1400 kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 3000Kbps, AC3		video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 4000 Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080 8000Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹

¹ the sound in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; the standard player does not have such a setting

Testing of video output features was conducted Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Testing technique for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames / from). In our tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720 / 30p well not 720 / 25p well not 720 / 24p well not

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. Note that in the case of files with 60 fps, one frame per second is displayed longer than the rest, apparently, the screen refresh rate is higher than the typical 60 Hz and is equal to about 61 Hz. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen, conventionally (see above about the actual screen resolution) one to one pixel by pixel, that is, at approximately the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.

Battery life

The removable battery found in the Lenovo K3 Note has a more than decent 3000mAh capacity. However, the subject did not break records for the duration of battery life. The Lenovo K3 Note has a decent average battery life for a tablet with a huge Full HD display and a powerful platform. The tests were carried out without using any energy-saving functions, although there are some in the device.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m2) lasted about 11 hours until the battery was fully discharged, and when continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the device lasted 9.5 hours with the same brightness level through the home Wi-Fi network. In 3D games mode, the smartphone worked for almost 4 hours. Full recharge time is only 2.5 hours, which is not that long.

Outcome

Lenovo K3 Note is perhaps one of the most interesting inexpensive tablet phones in the entire family of Lenovo smartphones at the moment, if we talk about the average price level, where the balance between quality and price is more important than anywhere else. The manufacturer has released a device excellent in all its characteristics at a low price, without skimping on a powerful and productive hardware system, a high-quality screen and camera, as well as a decent set of network capabilities and even a very capacious one. battery with a long operating time without recharging. This is not a flagship level, but at its average level, the hero of the review is such that there is practically nothing to complain about. Along with the legendary Meizu M1 Note, the Lenovo K3 Note smartphone is now one of the most interesting offerings from the category of powerful and at the same time affordable large-screen tablet phones.

An interesting smartphone has entered the market, which places great emphasis on multimedia and performance. As the name implies, today we have a review of the Lenovo K3 Note, which at the start of sales cost about 12 thousand rubles. Was he able to confirm the stated? This is what we will understand. According to the standard, let's start our acquaintance with the examination of the configuration.

The phone comes in a minimalistic cardboard box with the company's name on the front. On the back is all the basic technical information about the device. Opening the box, we meet:

• device;
• documentation;
• micro USB cable that can be used both for charging and for connecting to a computer;
• charger unit with an output current of 2 Amperes 5.2 Volts.

Design

The manufacturer offers 2 color options:

• bright yellow, even, one might say, lemon;
• white with bronze finish.

What immediately catches your eye is the bright youth design. From the very first minutes, it becomes clear who the main audience of Lenovo k3 note is.

Let's go over the main elements of the phone. At the top there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a micro USB in the center, which is not the best solution.

On the right side, everything is standard:

• Dual volume rocker, double-clicking on which you can take pictures without removing the gadget from the lock.
• Power on / off button.

Externally, the buttons look like metal, but it feels like, of course, painted plastic.

At the bottom there is a microphone. The manufacturer left the left side empty.

On the front, above the screen, you can find the front camera and proximity / distance sensors, below it - the earpiece. It can be noted that its quality is quite good, since during a conversation the interlocutor can hear everything perfectly.

At the bottom there are three standard buttons: menu, home and back. The keys are not backlit, and therefore they are absolutely indistinguishable in the dark.

At the top of the rear panel are settled:

• Stereo microphone. From this we can conclude that the camera is recording video with stereo sound. Including it performs the function of noise reduction, and does its job pretty well.
• The loudspeaker is so quiet that it is difficult to watch a YouTube video at maximum volume, even in a quiet room.
• The manufacturer's logo, which is not engraved, but drawn, which can eventually lead to erasure if the gadget is worn without a case.
• 13MP main camera lens with dual LED flash, which is enough to illuminate a small room at dusk or at night.

The back cover is easily removable. This solution has a big plus, which is that in case of damage it can be easily replaced.

Everything is standard under the lid:

• Sealant.
• Removable battery with a declared capacity of 3000 mAh, but in fact a little less.
• Slots for 2 micro SIM cards. The original solution is that the second SIM card works only in 2G format, and the first one - in 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE.
• Slot for expanding memory with microSD cards up to 64 GB.

Display

In front of us is a large screen, which has a diagonal of 5.5 inches with Full HD resolution (1920 × 1080 pixels). The pixel density is 401 ppi. IPS matrix using OGS technology. According to the manufacturer, when direct sunlight hits the display, the picture should be clearly visible. Multi Touch 5 touches.

The screen is protected by tempered glass with an oleophobic coating. The colors are calm, unlike Samsung smartphones, which are acidic. The Lenovo k3 Note smartphone has a very good display, which, however, when viewed diagonally, goes purple.

In the evening, the phone automatically enters a convenient nighttime vision-saving mode with gray tones, minimal contrast and minimal backlighting.

Specifications

An 8-core Cortex A-53 64-bit ARM MT6752 processor is responsible for the Lenovo k3 note. The maximum processor clock speed is 1.7 GHz. The Mali-T760 MP2 accelerator helps with the video. This video accelerator can be brought closer to the top, since the hardware is quite fast.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB, of which about 1.3 GB is available. Built-in memory - 16 GB, of which about 12 GB is available to the user.

In synthetic tests, this configuration shows the following results:

• In AnTuTu - 43 320 points.
• Geekbench 811 Single Core test and Multi Core 4031.
• In Epic Citadel Ultra High Quality Resolution 100%, the device does not lag, the detail is excellent and the result is 41.5 fps. The maximum thresholds reached 60 fps, the minimum drop was up to 19 frames per second.

In general, the device handles games quite well. Even playing with heavy toys or performing stress tests for a long time, the phone becomes slightly warm. Lenovo k3 Note is comfortable to hold in your hand, you don't even want to put it down to cool down, reducing the load.

Iron filling runs under control Android version 5.0. Native Explorer is quite easy to use, fast and informative. It even has cloud storage. Unfortunately, NFC is not supported. I am pleased with the quality of Wi-Fi - it is stable and quickly caught.

SmartMenu is a small translucent button, when you click on it, a special menu appears, which displays links to popular and recently launched programs, quick access to music, locking the gadget and its settings.

Autonomy

The battery life of this phone is really good. This model has a 3000 mAh battery. In AnTuTu, the battery scored 5589. Relatively fair result.

Lenovo k3 Note settings are very balanced in terms of autonomy. For example, there is an emergency mode, which allows you to turn off all unnecessary when the battery is critically discharged and leave only the most necessary. This includes:

• calls;
• phone book;
• clock.

After a year of use, the autonomy has slightly decreased. Immediately after the purchase, the charge was enough from 10 am to 12 pm. At the same time, I listened to music on the device for several hours, watched videos, surfed the Internet and social networks... Already a year later, with the same indicators, the charge is only enough until 7 pm.

Camera settings

The rear camera is rated at 13 megapixels with an aperture of 2.0 and autofocus 4160 × 3120. She's not bad here, let's say - for her money. What I especially like about her is the wide range of settings for getting good photos:

• Aspect ratio;
• White balance;
• Shooting mode;
• Auxiliary lines, etc.

The front camera is here at 5 MP without autofocus. Its characteristics allow you to get very good pictures. interesting feature: it shows your age and how happy you are.

You can take pictures by:

• blinking;
• touch;
• timer;
• voice command.

Video writes Full HD in mp4 format. It turns out in fact without jerks. A smooth transition from darkness to light can be noted, that is, without sudden jumps in lighting. There is also electronic stabilization.

Musical possibilities

The Lenovo k3 Note smartphone is positioned as a music gadget. What does it have for this?

Inside the player is located:

1. Music recognition.
2. Online radio.
3. Online songs.
4. Online charts and so on.

The external speaker is extremely disgusting, but with the headphones things are already much better thanks to the enhanced Dolby Atmos sound mode. To enable its support, you must activate the menu item in the drop-down curtain or press the "enable" button in the program itself. After that, you will have access to an equalizer with several preset modes: "music", "movies", "games" and "voice". A “manual” tuning mode is also available, which allows you to set the high, mid and low frequencies as you like.

Outcome

The Lenovo k3 Note is a very handy phone for anyone considering a relatively inexpensive but powerful gadget with a good camera and sound.

Summing up, let's outline the pros and cons of this device.

• By design, the close position of the camera to the corner leads to the appearance of frequent flashes;
• Short-lived Lenovo lettering on the back.

• sound thanks to Dolby Atmos;
• nice live display;
• bright design;
• balanced;
• good autonomy;
• gestures and chips.

This smartphone is not bad for the money. As, in our opinion, it is one of the best possible acquisitions for those who are looking for a good productive smartphone.

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