Lenovo K6 Note review: a large metal smartphone with a capacious battery. Lenovo K6 Note review: one of the last classic Lenovos before merging with Motorola When the Lenovo K6 Note smartphone comes out

How unnoticed versions 4 and 5 flew by and another model called Lenovo K6 Note appeared on the horizon.

Equipment

The smartphone comes complete with a charger, microUSB cable, headphones and a set of documentation.

Specifications

The device is equipped with an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with a clock speed of 1.4 MHz and 3 gigabytes random access memory. There is a storage drive with a capacity of 32 gigabytes, which can be supplemented with a microSD card up to 128 gigabytes.

Like its predecessors, the smartphone has a large 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

For photography enthusiasts, there are two cameras of 8 and 16 MP.

The phone supports 2 SIM cards and works in GSM, WCDMA and LTE networks.

The smartphone can be classified as a “long-livers”, because the battery capacity is 4000 mAh. The battery is not removable.

Thanks to a fingerprint scanner, you can unlock your smartphone quickly and without the need to reveal your password to those nearby.

The operating system is responsible for the interaction of the device with the user. Android system v.6.0.

Appearance

Like the Lenovo K6 Power, this smartphone has an aluminum body and a standard set of keys and connectors.

On the back there is a main camera with a dual LED flash, a fingerprint scanner and a Lenovo logo that protrudes slightly beyond the body.

Traditionally, the power button is located on the right side, and above it is the volume rocker.

The slot for SIM cards and memory cards is on the left side.



Video

Information about this device will be added as new information becomes available.

In our opinion, the Lenovo K6 Note looks somewhat contradictory - its back has a recognizable design, but from the front the phone looks faceless.

If not touch buttons under the display, it would be difficult to distinguish it, for example, from Honor 5C - the same shape, rounded corners and speakers with a sensor above the display. But back panel looks unusual, but only thanks to the lens. Firstly, it is round, like the fingerprint scanner underneath, and secondly, it protrudes from the body. If not for the last circumstance, the back of the new product would be almost no different from Xiaomi Redmi 4.

The stated dimensions of the Lenovo K6 Note are 151x76x8.4 mm, weight - 169 grams. Thus, it is slightly more compact than its predecessor, but slightly larger and heavier than smartphones such as Huawei Honor 5X or Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL. In fact, this is forgivable, since the battery capacity of the K6 Note is much higher. The main material is metal, as a result we have a non-separable body and a non-removable battery. It feels like plastic smartphones are already on the verge of extinction.

The Lenovo K6 Note will be available in three colors: dark gray, gold and silver. It’s a bit of a pity that the yellow colorway, which was quite popular on the Lenovo K3 Note, has disappeared from this list.

Screen

Lenovo K6 Note has a 5.5-inch Full HD screen (1920×1080 pixels) with an IPS matrix. The pixel density with these characteristics is high, 401 per inch, on par with the iPhone 7 Plus. There is no other data, but the manufacturer boldly calls the screen bright and the viewing angles wide. Judging by the fact that the phone comes with a special film, the screen does not have protective glass.

Camera

Lenovo K6 Note received 16 and 8 MP cameras. Usually, companies don’t care much about the shooting quality of their smartphones, but apparently not in this case. There is no information about the sensor used, but phase detection autofocus and dual flash with a color temperature correlation system are announced. It is quite possible that the Lenovo K6 Note is capable of producing above-average photos. Front-camera received a resolution of 8 MP, some additional information no about her.

Communications

The Lenovo K6 Note has a standard set of communications:

  • simple Wi-Fi b/g/n with the ability to distribute Internet
  • relatively fast LTE Cat. 4 (up to 150 Mbit/s)
  • economical Bluetooth 4.2 with A2DP profile support
  • A-GPS
  • FM radio.

Nothing remarkable, although with such a price tag there are smartphones with an NFC chip or an infrared port. The phone has both single-SIM and dual-SIM versions (one or two nanoSIM cards).

Battery

Lenovo K6 Note is equipped with a non-removable battery with a capacity of 4000 mAh - this is a good indicator for a phone with such a diagonal. For comparison, Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has a 4050 mAh battery, and Asus Zenfone Laser 3 has a 3000 mAh battery. Such a battery will definitely last for a day of work, and maybe even longer. The manufacturer promises up to 31 hours of talk time on LTE networks and up to 46 hours on 2G networks. Theoretically, the new chipset supports fast charging, but Lenovo does not announce such a function for the phone.

Performance

Lenovo K6 Note has average performance. The smartphone received a Qualcomm MSM8937 Snapdragon 430 chipset (eight Cortex-A53 cores at 1.4 GHz) with Adreno 505 graphics. The same is used in the inexpensive Xiaomi Redmi 3s and Xiaomi Redmi 4. Formally, this line of processors is considered budget and is installed in devices entry level, but judging by the characteristics, the chipset used is closer to mid-level solutions. So, together with 3 GB of RAM, this should be enough for the interface to work smoothly and solve most telephone problems. At the same time, it is curious that Lenovo switched from more powerful and power-hungry MediaTek Helio processors to expensive but energy-efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon.

Memory

Lenovo K6 Note has 32 GB of permanent memory. This is quite enough for a mid-range model, but if you wish, you can add up to 128 GB using a MicroSD memory card.

Peculiarities

Lenovo K5 Note runs Android 6. There is no information about a possible transition to Android 7 yet; we can only note that Lenovo often “abandons” and leaves phones without updates. Among the features of the model we highlight high capacity batteries and a 16 MP camera. A fingerprint scanner and a metal case could be added here, but today every second new product has them, if not more.

Price

The recommended price for Lenovo K6 Note is 18,990 rubles, which is even a little expensive. Such a price tag can only be justified by very high autonomy and high-quality cameras, but this can only be assessed after direct testing.

There's nothing special. These are quite large Android devices with a fingerprint scanner that run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

However, everything is not as simple as it looks at first glance.

Testing and using these smartphones for some time has revealed some interesting features. This one will tell you about them Lenovo Review K6 and Lenovo K6 Note.

Design

The Lenovo K6 and K6 Note taken for review have a similar appearance:

  • Slightly full and heavy body;
  • Metal back with silver accent around camera;
  • Fingerprint scanner on the back.

For 2016, these are excellent options, but this year there are perfectly executed competitive budget smartphones.

For example, representatives of the Galaxy A series are worked almost to perfection, although they are more expensive. The same can be said for smartphones, which have a more elegant design.

The Lenovo K6 line still does not fully meet the high standards set and the appearance of the devices is not so sophisticated.

What's wrong with these smartphones?

  • The three capacitive buttons below the screen look too big on the K6 (but normal on the K6 Note);
  • When you press keys on the on-screen keyboard, you get a feeling of emptiness;
  • There are plastic antenna strips on the metal back surface;
  • The design lacks curves and is not ergonomic.

All this is superimposed on one another and the result is far from outstanding.

You can also note the use of a microUSB connector for charging in the K6. But it is not at the bottom as usual, but at the top of the body. At the same time, in the K6 Note the connector is located at the bottom.

Screen

More positive aspects on both smartphones include the speed and accuracy of the fingerprint scanner.

Both devices have IPS screens LCD, 5 inches and 5.5 inches for the K6 and K6 Note, respectively.

The resolution of both screens is Full HD, the clarity is at high level, however, the color balance leaves much to be desired. There are two color modes to choose from, the first gives bright, fresh flowers, the other more neutral. Unfortunately, in both cases, the white color has a blue tint, the color accuracy is not the best, so the colors come out unrealistic.

In both cases there is automatic brightness adjustment. The adjustment doesn't always do its job accurately, so sometimes you have to adjust the brightness manually. Her maximum value is 495 and 521 nits. There is also a night mode for the screen, which darkens the screen even further.

Interface and functionality

Lenovo is not the most popular smartphone manufacturer in Western markets.

The main thing to remember is cheap smartphones are not receiving Android updates.

These two devices run Android 6.0 Marshmallow and there is no guarantee that they will be updated to Android Nougat. This situation repeats itself on Android every year, with users and reviewers constantly complaining but nothing changing. We need to find some way to ensure that budget Android smartphones are not outdated at the time of purchase.

Aside from this sad point, Lenovo's interface on top of Android 6 isn't the best. There are graphic themes to choose from, some of which look quite tolerable.

The icon style and various menu items seem quirky and outdated, taking us back to Android history a few years ago.

One of the most important aspects modern smartphones is typing on the on-screen keyboard.

It is this aspect that often fails on budget smartphones and is not mentioned in reviews. But it is precisely this that can be a very annoying factor in everyday work with the device. The Lenovo K6 and K6 Note are no better in this regard: the keyboard buttons have weak vibration when pressed, resulting in a feeling of emptiness, and this increases the number of misses when typing.

You can also note the rather poor translation of interface elements into English language, although Russian-speaking users are little concerned about this problem. You can also highlight several annoying functions, like the one that always pops up at the wrong time numeric keypad in the dialer.

But we can praise the weather, calendar and clock widgets that Lenovo has developed: they provide important information and application shortcuts with one click. However, the stock apps themselves aren't very detailed, especially Weather, which is limited and doesn't provide hourly forecasts.

"Notification log"

Hidden in Lenovo interface interesting feature, unseen before on smartphones from other manufacturers, which should appeal to experienced users. It's called "Notification Log".

“Notification log” is a chronologically located list of all notifications on the smartphone. This includes installing applications, making phone calls, connecting a smartphone to a computer, and everything else. Entries can be cleared, searched for using a filter, and all activity during the day can be viewed.

The average user may not need this, but it will be useful for someone.

Processor, performance and memory

Both smartphones run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with eight processing cores. Already here it becomes obvious that these are not smartphones for gamers, but will they be able to cope well with the everyday routine?

The answer to this question is yes.

Some applications experience slight stuttering and the browser does not start quickly. In general, the interface works smoothly by the standards of budget smartphones.

Of course, the benchmarks clearly show the budget nature of the Snapdragon 430 processor, which is far from being in the first place.

As for data storage, the base version of the Lenovo K6 received 16 GB of memory, while the K6 Note starts at 32 GB.

Both devices have a slot for a microSD memory card.

Internet and communications

These two smartphones are sold in Europe and Asia and support the 4G LTE standard: FDD bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, TDD bands 38, 40 and 41.

There is also Wi-Fi b/g/n with support for a single 2.4 GHz channel, which is not very good for densely populated cities, where, by the way, there would also be a 5 GHz channel.

There is also GPS and Bluetooth 4.2, but there is no NFC standard.

Camera

The Lenovo K6 has a 13MP rear camera, the K6 Note has a 16MP camera, and both record video at up to 1080p. As it turns out, the quality of photos and videos from these cameras is far from the best, although it can certainly be worse.

The camera app has a lot of smart options.

For example, smart scene recognition, when a sign appears on the screen indicating photographing landscapes, portraits or something else. In this case, the camera settings can be switched to the optimal position for a particular scene.

This doesn't do much to improve the quality of the images and almost all of the photos had some kind of problem. Many were underexposed and too dark, others were very washed out. There was a lack of sharpness and detail. The colors were muted and rather nondescript.

Only occasionally will a camera take good photos in ideal lighting, but don't expect this to happen often.

The front camera performs a little better, capturing high-quality selfies with good detail and colors.

Although the maximum video resolution is 1080p, it lacks detail and looks more like 720p.

The problems with video are the same as with photos, namely the image is underexposed, and when the exposure is set correctly, the bright areas are cut off.

Any slight change in lighting will have a major impact on exposure. Without any stabilization, video clips come out shaky and not very pleasant to look at.

Sound quality

The Lenovo K6 and K6 Note smartphones have something special: powerful speakers at the bottom. There are two of them, so it is impossible to accidentally cover them with your hand.

The quality of these speakers is at a very high level. The sound cannot be called perfect, like in any other smartphone.

There are metallic whistling tones and you can forget about the presence of bass and depth of sound, but the volume is very high. Lenovo has taken optimizing volume levels seriously so users have fine control over it. This control is especially important when surrounded by other people, in this case A smartphone can be very loud and very quiet.

Call quality

There are no problems with the sound quality during phone calls on the Lenovo K6 and K6 Note. The caller is heard clearly and loudly, and at the other end of the line your voice is also heard clearly.

You can note the good movement and convenient location of the volume control, which allows you to change the volume during a telephone conversation.

Autonomous operation

It has become common these days for budget smartphones to offer impressive battery life. battery life.

The devices under consideration were no exception, which is their second big advantage.

Lenovo K6 has a 3000 mAh battery, K6 Note received 4000 mAh. Together with not the most fast processor With Snapdragon 430 and operating system optimizations, smartphones can last two days on average. With more modest use, you can last three days.

As for the tests, with the screen turned on, both devices approached the 11 o'clock mark, while smartphones work for about 7 hours at the same brightness level.

Lenovo K6 price

Below we have selected stores where you can buy this smartphone:

Lenovo K6

Conclusion

Pros:

  • Battery life;
  • Loud dual speakers;
  • Fast and accurate fingerprint scanner;
  • Affordable price;
  • Good performance.

Minuses:

  • Poor camera quality when shooting photos and videos;
  • Outdated operating system;
  • Lenovo's clunky user interface;
  • Not the most beautiful design and heavy body.

They have excellent battery life, fast fingerprint scanners, and impressively loud dual speakers. At the same time, they cannot be called beautiful and their cameras certainly cannot be praised.

Finally, you need to analyze the cost of the devices.

Mid-price tablet with long battery life

Last fall in Berlin at IFA 2016, Lenovo presented its updated family affordable smartphones, which includes three models: K6, K6 Power and K6 Note. At one time, a representative of this category, the K3 Note smartphone, managed to gain considerable popularity, becoming at that time one of the manufacturer’s most talked about mobile devices. Unfortunately, the legendary model never officially reached the Russian market, but its successor, which we will talk about today, is sold here quite officially, although not cheaply. It was the K6 Note that, thanks to its most advanced characteristics, became the most interesting of the new trinity, which is why we chose it for today’s review, although in general the capabilities of all three models are similar, including the same design and materials, which, by the way, will also be used today stop attention.

Main characteristics of Lenovo K6 Note (Model K53a48)

  • SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 (MSM8937), 8 cores Cortex-A53 @1.4 GHz
  • GPU Adreno 505 @450 MHz
  • operating system Android 6.0.1
  • Touchscreen IPS 5.5″, 1920×1080, 401 ppi
  • Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, inner memory 32 GB
  • Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
  • MicroSD support up to 128 GB
  • GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
  • WCDMA/HSPA+ networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
  • LTE Cat.4 FDD networks (B1/3/5/7/8/20); TDD (B38/40/41)
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz)
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
  • Micro-USB, USB OTG
  • Main camera 16 MP, autofocus, f/2.0, 1080p video
  • Front camera 8 MP, f/2.2, fixed. focus
  • Proximity sensor, lighting, magnetic field, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, step detector
  • Battery 4000 mAh
  • Dimensions 151×76×8.4 mm
  • Weight 169 g

Contents of delivery

Lenovo K6 Note does not pretend to belong to the category of fashionable, and even more so premium-level models, so everything here, starting with the packaging, has a calm, unremarkable design. And at the same time, everything is done neatly, practically, and with high quality. A good-quality small box made of hard matte cardboard is clumsily decorated, but at the same time functional: inside the contents are not piled up, but carefully arranged in separate boxes.

The equipment is standard: in addition to the usual network adapter and the cable in the box there were simple stereo headphones without rubber pads, a film for the screen, and also a key for removing cards. The charger is quite powerful: the stated maximum voltage and current are 5.2 V 2 A, but in fact it turns out that the device even receives 5.3 V at 2 A when charging.

Appearance and ease of use

Concerning Lenovo design K6 Note, then there were no artistic revelations here: an ordinary iPhone-like “remnant”, strongly sharpened on all sides, with strongly rounded corners and sides. The design, by the way, is very reminiscent of modern Meizu devices - almost a copy.

The Lenovo K6 Note case is not entirely made of metal: the end parts are generally plastic, that is, these are not strips of inserts in metal, but rather entire parts of the case in which all the interface connectors are mounted, covering the grille speakers, and microphone holes are made. Accordingly, the corners of the case, which most often peel off and are subject to impacts when dropped, are made of plastic and not metal. Perhaps this is for the better, since plastic better absorbs energy during impacts and falls, while metal transfers all this destructive power to the internal filling.

The smartphone lies comfortably in the hand. The thickness and weight are not prohibitive, the sloping sides and corner parts hide some of the volume, the device looks elegant and quite modern. The matte metal is not easily soiled, but is quite slippery to hold in your hand, and cases for this type of model can be quite difficult to find.

There are no complaints about the assembly and the quality of materials: all the parts are clearly fitted to each other, there are no cracks or inconsistencies, there are no deflections or creaks, the body is monolithic and strong.

The front panel is covered with 2.5D glass with sloping edges. Sensors, a front camera peephole without its own flash, and also led indicator events.

The only puzzling thing is the lack of backlighting on the bottom row of buttons; they are simply painted with silver paint and are indistinguishable in the dark.

On the back side, the round camera eye barely noticeably protrudes beyond the surface, but the smartphone does not sway on the table when you touch the screen and lies stable. The flash is of medium brightness and consists of two multi-colored diodes.

A fingerprint sensor is installed under the camera; the platform of this scanner, on the contrary, is slightly recessed. The platform is small, has a round shape, there are no complaints about the sensitivity of the scanner, but the location on the back side does not allow it to be used if the device is lying on a table or inserted into a car holder.

The slot for installing cards here is hybrid: one of the slots is intended only for a Nano-SIM format SIM card, the second is for a Nano-SIM or a microSD memory card, but all three cards cannot be installed at the same time. Hot swapping of cards is supported.

The side buttons are located on the right side; they are plastic, smooth and very thin. The keys are quite hard, but overall this does not cause much discomfort. But they noticeably protrude beyond the surface and are easily felt blindly.

A Micro-USB connector is installed at the bottom end, connection is supported external devices, including flash drives, in USB OTG mode. Near the connector at the end there are two grilles located symmetrically, but the sound comes out only through one of them (the one to the right when looking at the screen).

The top end is usually given over to a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and here you can also see the hole for the second, auxiliary microphone.

The smartphone is available in three colors: light silver, gold and dark gray, and here, it should be noted, there is one unpleasant difference. In the two light versions, the camera glass is painted over for some reason; this is a very strange and ugly design quirk; the dark gray version with normal glass without paint looks much better.

Screen

Lenovo K6 Note is equipped with an IPS display covered with 2.5D glass with sloping edges. Its physical dimensions are 68x121 mm with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. Resolution is 1920x1080, pixel density is 401 ppi. The frame around the screen has total width on the sides are approximately 3.5 mm, the screen occupies a significant part of the front panel area, it looks organic on such a large smartphone.

You can manually adjust the display brightness or set automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multi-touch touches. It is possible to activate the screen by double tapping.

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 sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Lenovo K6 Note, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Lenovo K6 Note is slightly darker (brightness according to photographs is 107 versus 108 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Lenovo K6 Note screen is very weak, this 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 - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (slightly better in efficiency than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 470 cd/m², the minimum was 6 cd/m². The maximum brightness is high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a decent level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 190 cd/m² (very bright), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 550 lux) it sets it to 400 cd/m² (a bit high), in a very bright environment ( corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) the brightness increases to 470 cd/m² (to the maximum - this is how it should be); if the adjustment is approximately 50%, then the values ​​are as follows: 60, 330 and 470 cd/m² (the first two values ​​are too high), the regulator at 0% is 10, 240 and 470 cd/m² (acceptable values). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works more or less adequately. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses a matrix IPS type. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

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

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Lenovo K6 Note and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forced to switch to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The colors on the Lenovo K6 Note screen have a natural saturation; the color balance of the Nexus 7 and the tested screen differs slightly.

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 have not changed much on both screens, but on the Lenovo K6 Note the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong brightening of blacks.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the Lenovo K6 Note image is still a little darker. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a slight greenish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1300:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 28 ms (13 ms on + 15 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 52 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on 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 2.24, which is close to the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power-law dependence:

This device has some kind of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the output image, and although its influence is minimal, it would be better not to have it at all.

Color gamut is close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

As a result, the colors have a natural saturation and hue. The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, since the color temperature is noticeably higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) across most of the gray scale is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. Moreover, both parameters change little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to enable a mode that slightly increases color contrast, but from our point of view there is no reason to do this.

To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. The mode with automatic brightness adjustment works more or less correctly. The advantages of the screen include the presence of an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, good uniformity of the black field, a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Camera

The front module here has an 8 megapixel sensor and a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.2, with a fixed focus and without its own flash. There are two shooting modes: automatic and manual, and you need to understand that in auto mode the portrait will be completely retouched, to the extent that the built-in image enhancement program is capable of doing so. Therefore, in order to get an image untouched by the beautifier, you need to choose exactly manual mode and set the improvement slider in it to zero, since after this improver works, the face becomes little like a human one. In general, the camera takes good pictures: there are no complaints about sharpness, detail and color rendition, the camera is fast, and the sensitivity of the matrix is ​​enough even for environmental conditions that are not very saturated with light.

The main camera uses a module with a 16 MP sensor and a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0; it is equipped with quite fast phase detection autofocus. There is a two-tone multi-colored flash of medium brightness, but there is no stabilization system.

The control menu in Lenovo smartphones is its own, it is quite laconic. You can’t even choose a specific photo resolution, you only have a choice between standard and maximum, you can also choose the aspect ratio of the frame and the exposure metering method (average or center-weighted). Night shooting mode, as well as panoramic and HDR modes are separately displayed in the quick access menu. The latter has as many as 4 varieties, but in all of them it produces rather strange final images in bright acid tones, which in terms of color rendering have nothing in common with reality.

As usual, there are two control modes in the settings, automatic and professional, but even in auto mode you can change the light sensitivity (ISO) and affect the white balance. If you turn on the professional mode, arc-shaped sliders will appear with variable values ​​for shutter speed, ISO (up to 1600), manual focus, white balance and exposure compensation scale. You cannot transfer camera control using the Camera2 API third party applications, and you cannot save pictures in RAW.

The camera can shoot video at maximum Full resolution HD at 30 fps, there is a slow motion mode. There is a stabilization function for video; you can turn it on in all shooting resolutions, but the results of its work are not very noticeable. In general, the camera copes well with video shooting: sharpness, color rendition and detail are normal, there is also enough brightness. But there are complaints about the sound recording: the sound is quiet, there are distortions in the form of an echo, resulting from the not entirely correct operation of the noise reduction system.

  • Video No. 1 (33 MB, 1920×1080@30 fps, H.264, AAC)
  • Video No. 2 (18 MB, 1920×1080@30 fps, H.264, AAC)

Good sharpness across the field and plans.

The camera copes poorly with macro photography.

The text is well done.

Good detail in medium shots.

Good sharpness across the frame.

The license plates of nearby cars are distinguishable.

In HDR mode, the camera works very aggressively.

The camera turned out to be quite good. She pays a lot of attention to detail, while working well on both the center of the frame and the edges. However, text and macro photography are clearly not her strong point. However, it is quite enough for documentary shooting; it will cope especially well with general plans.

Telephone and communications

The communication capabilities of the review hero are not so rich: the smartphone has a Qualcomm X6 modem with support for LTE Cat.4 (up to 150 Mbps), 6 LTE FDD frequency bands are supported, including 3 bands of interest to us (band 3, 7, 20), there is support for LTE TDD frequencies. In the urban areas of the Moscow region, the device behaves confidently, the quality of signal reception is not satisfactory, but there are some complaints about the sensitivity of the Wi-Fi module. Only one Wi-Fi band is supported (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 is available. Can be arranged wireless point access via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels, NFC module not in the device. Connector USB Type-C supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The navigation module works with both GPS (with A-GPS) and the domestic Glonass, without the support of the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites during a cold start in the absence wireless connection for data transmission are detected within at least a minute - the module’s operation is not lightning fast, but further positioning accuracy is high and does not give rise to complaints. The smartphone is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the digital compass of navigation programs usually operates.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing telephone number A search is also carried out immediately using the first letters in contacts. There is a built-in blacklist for unwanted contacts. Methods for sorting and customizing the display of contacts are standard for the Android interface.

In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor remains recognizable, extraneous noise no, the sound is natural, but not very loud. There is an option for automatic recording telephone conversations off the line. The vibration alert is below average in strength; manual adjustments are not provided.

The smartphone does not support working with two 3G/4G SIM cards at the same time. That is, for example, the SIM card of the Tele2 operator in Moscow will not work in 3G for voice communication, if a second card is assigned to transmit data in 4G, since it cannot work in 2G, and 3G is not supported by both slots at the same time. This was a typical option in the past, but some modern platforms already support the simultaneous operation of two cards in 3G. The interface allows you to select a specific card for each function in advance or directly during the connection. Cards work in Dual mode SIM Dual Standby, there is only one radio modem.

Software and multimedia

Lenovo K6 Note uses OS as a software platform Android versions 6.0.1 with its own proprietary Vibe UI shell. As is the case with ZenUI in Asus smartphones, Vibe UI is a heavy and sometimes sluggish shell due to its bulkiness, which low-level processors, like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430, do not cope with very well; they need to “accelerate”. That is, there is a certain slowness and thoughtfulness in all actions, sometimes there are slowdowns when opening new programs. Yes, and visually the interface is clumsy, there are different colors everywhere, it is, as they say, overloaded with elements.

At the same time, the designers are clearly working in the right direction, the shell is becoming lighter, thinner, clearer and more concise each time, mountains of unnecessary preinstalled programs. Although this time we couldn’t do without it: free Evernote, UC Browser, McAfee Security are present and even arranged in separate folders. But the settings menu has become similar to the proprietary menu from the original Android. There are fewer settings, but their arrangement is now more logical and orderly, and everything you need is there. All additional features, such as gesture control, interactive smart button, one-hand control and the like are collected in the Special Settings section. There you can also find a popular function for working with two different profiles for social networks.

To listen to music, only the standard Google Music player with presets of the built-in equalizer of the Dolby Atmos system is intended. The smartphone sounds good for its level; according to first impressions, immediately after the release of the model there were complaints, but with updates, apparently, a lot has been corrected. The sound still cannot boast of deep bass and a large volume reserve, but it is quite clear, without noticeable noise or distortion. In headphones, naturally, the sound is more interesting than in the main speaker, the sound is not so squeaky, mid and low frequencies are audible, although the volume is still not always enough.

The smartphone has a voice recorder and FM radio. There are complaints about sound recording on a voice recorder, as well as when recording video: the sound is excessively quiet, there is an echo effect. The radio works fine.

Performance

The Lenovo K6 Note hardware platform is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 single-chip system, made using 28-nanometer technology. This SoC includes eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 1.4 GHz; the Adreno 505 video accelerator with a core frequency of up to 450 MHz is responsible for graphics processing. The amount of RAM is 3 GB, and the built-in flash memory is 32 GB. Of this, about 24 GB is free and about 1.7 GB of RAM (after clearing the memory and closing all applications).

Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 is far from the most powerful of the manufacturer's modern line of mobile chips. In addition, the older Snapdragon 625 and 652 are made using the latest 14 nm process technology, and this SoC cannot even boast of this; it is made using the outdated 28 nm process technology. The Snapdragon 430 is designed for low/mid-priced smartphones, but it is still below average in terms of performance, scoring only about 44K points in the comprehensive AnTuTu test. Thus, the Snapdragon 430 is far from modern top platforms, but its performance is still generally sufficient to perform basic tasks, including current games, although such a platform does not have much reserve for the future.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so 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 test programs.

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

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability 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 K6 Note
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 430) 		Asus Zenfone 3
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 625) 		Honor 6X
(HiSilicon Kirin 655) 		Umi Plus
(MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755)) 		Meizu MX6
(MediaTek Helio X20 (MT6797))
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot ES 3.1
(more is better)		 288 466 378 415 969
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps) 4 6 5 5 10
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps) 4 6 5 5 10
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps) 15 22 19 17 34
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps) 16 23 19 17 —

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery testing in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is more 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 only 32 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is very little.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of 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 Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since processing modern options due to processor cores alone, it is most often impossible. Also, you shouldn’t 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 table.

According to the testing results, the subject, fortunately, was equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you don’t even have to resort to the help of a third-party player. But even MX Player plays the AC3 audio format independently without the need to manually deliver codecs.

Further testing of video playback was performed 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 “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) green ratings, this means that, most likely, when viewing movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort.Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. 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 border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: in the shadows all gradations of shades are displayed, and in the highlights only a couple of shades closest to white do not differ from it in brightness.

Battery life

Fixed accumulator battery, installed in Lenovo K6 Note, received a very decent capacity of 4000 mAh. But even for such a battery, the hero of the review showed autonomy results higher than expected: not just high, but close to record-breaking.

In real use scenarios under normal average operating conditions, the hero of the review is quite capable of quietly holding out without recharging for a couple of days or more. The manufacturer promises up to 45 hours of talk time and up to 602 hours of standby time, which is generally true.

Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted about 20.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality(720p) with the same brightness level through home network The Wi-Fi device operates for 14 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work up to 6.5 hours.

From the included network adapter, the smartphone is charged in approximately 2.5 hours with a current of 2 A at a voltage of 5.3 V. Wireless charging smartphone does not support.

Bottom line

Most likely, Lenovo K6 Note will not become a legend like its famous ancestor K3 Note. The smartphone is not cheap; at a price of 20 thousand rubles, it has a very good screen and excellent battery life, but at the same time, the hardware platform is too weak for such a price, and this is confusing. The Snapdragon 600 series SoC would be more suitable here, but not the 400 series. In addition, the smartphone cannot boast of either outstanding shooting with the main camera or wide communication capabilities, nor, in general, sound. The attractive and practical-looking body, officially called “all-metal,” also turned out to be partially plastic. What’s upsetting is not the very fact of the existence of plastic body elements, but the fact that there have long been many truly solid metal cases on the market without plastic inserts, so this epithet should not be applied to prefabricated versions with plastic ends, like the hero of the review. There are also certain flaws in the sound recording system: the sound in videos and voice recordings is quiet and distorted. On the positive side, we can note the quality of the front camera, as well as the presence of a fingerprint scanner. In general, the smartphone has both its pros and cons; another thing is that for such a price, there are probably not enough pros. However, by the time this article was written, the price for the Lenovo K6 Note in official Russian retail had already dropped to 17 thousand, and in this situation the device becomes more interesting, although this price for a model of this level can still be considered too high.

The appearance of the Lenovo K6 Note does not evoke any emotions; it is strict and boring. There is an immediate resemblance to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.

Oh well, many manufacturers are not shy about copying the design Apple smartphones what's wrong with borrowing appearance from Xiaomi?

Unlike Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, the device under review is made of higher quality metal. It is denser, not so soft, seems more reliable and stronger. And the rest of the K6 Note is made perfectly - the assembly is perfect, nothing creaks or plays. The base of the smartphone is metal; there are plastic inserts on the bottom and top, which contain antennas. The dimensions are usual for such a device - 151x76x8.4 mm, weight 169 g.

The camera module protrudes slightly from the body, but there are no problems with this - the camera is protected by a metal frame. Over the course of a month of testing the device, the glass covering the camera eye remained perfect, with no micro-scratches. And this is with not the most careful use, without a cover.

There is a fingerprint scanner under the camera. It doesn’t always work perfectly, on average it recognizes 4 out of 5 touches. There is only one main speaker, it was installed in the most convenient place - on the lower right end of the device.

Front big screen with curved glass. There are three touch buttons at the bottom, standard for Android. They are not illuminated in any way, but it will be difficult to miss in the dark - the buttons are quite large.

Three colors should appear on sale - silver, gold and gray.

Two days without recharging

Budget processor from Qualcomm and powerful battery 4000 mAh will not let you use your smartphone even in a day. There are many other smartphones on sale with big screen and such a battery, but not all of them can boast of a long operating time. The processor probably plays a big role here - similar Mediatek devices discharge noticeably faster than Qualcomm devices.

The autonomy of the Lenovo K6 Note is pleasantly surprising - for the whole day I managed to get the smartphone to only 50%. Believe me, this is an excellent result - with my mode of use, not all gadgets even survive until lunchtime. If you don’t play games, its charge will easily last for 1.5-2 days even for the most active users.

To compare battery life with competitors, we conducted a series of standard tests - we launched the game Subway Surfers and FullHD video at maximum brightness.

As can be seen from the graph, the smartphone plays video at maximum brightness for almost 10 hours, which is significantly more than similar smartphones. Subway Surfers can be played for just over four hours - not the most impressive result. By the way, heavy games like Asphalt 8 and Dead Trigger 2 run about the same.

Fast charging not supported, included Charger charges the smartphone for more than three hours.

Can't find fault with the screen

The smartphone received a 5.5-inch IPS matrix with FullHD resolution. The display is protected by scratch-resistant glass, slightly curved using 2.5D technology. There is also an oleophobic coating, thanks to which fewer marks remain on the screen.

The matrix has good color rendition with maximum viewing angles. In the sun the screen behaves perfectly, all information remains readable. Additionally, in the settings you can select the color balance - standard, with the most natural color rendition, and a high brightness mode, in which maximum contrast is set.

Software with a huge number of settings

Lenovo K6 Note runs under Android control 6.0.1, on top of which the proprietary Vibe UI shell is installed.

Out of the box everything looks very strange. You take out a large, brutal smartphone, turn it on and see a clumsy and childish interface. Luckily, Vibe UI allows you to change and customize almost every little detail.

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Probably the nicest feature of Lenovo's shell is the ability to choose a bare Android interface. To do this you will have to tinker with the settings, but it's worth it. I liked the huge number of settings, there are even more of them than in MIUI from Xiaomi! Is it true, regular user can easily get confused with such a variety of functions.

The smartphone has many useful built-in functions. For example, you can create “clones” of applications - copies of instant messengers and clients social networks, in order to use multiple accounts on them. There is a similar function in Samsung smartphones and Xiaomi. But I haven’t seen the “Smart Scenarios” function before. Using it you can configure the inclusion certain settings at a specified time or when connected to a selected Wi-Fi networks. For many, this feature will be useful.

I caught a funny bug while using the K6 Note. A notification appeared from Play Market, which reported that the Topic Center app was malicious. And it deleted it! The problem is that this is a native application from Lenovo and only in it it was possible to change themes. There you could change these themes, change the lock screen and much more.

It's not very fast, but games run fine

The processor is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430, well known to geeks. In conjunction with 3 GB of RAM, this solution has proven itself to be quite fast and stable for everyday use in simple applications.

Synthetic tests show a complete failure in performance. Lenovo K6 Note loses to all its current competitors.

But in games it's not so bad. The graphics are handled by the relatively powerful Adreno 505 video accelerator, thanks to which most heavy games launch and run even at the highest settings. The same Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt: Extreme run at maximum settings, but it’s better to run “Tanks” at medium settings - it will be more comfortable to play. Under heavy load, Lenovo K6 Note does not overheat and remains barely warm

The interface itself works with noticeable slowdowns, applications sometimes launch with jerks. For undemanding users, microlags are not very noticeable, but if you have used a powerful flagship before, immediately pay attention to it. Most likely, this is the fault of the poorly optimized and heavy Vibe UI shell, which the weak processor cannot cope with.

Great photos during the day, bad at night

The main camera in the Lenovo K6 Note uses a 16 megapixel module with phase detection autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash. Front camera 8 MP, without autofocus.

By default, the camera interface has the “Smart” function enabled - advanced auto mode, which understands what you are shooting and sets the necessary parameters for shooting depending on the lighting and subject. In addition, the settings have many modes - manual, HDR, video slow motion, time lapse and much more.

The smartphone takes good photographs during the day, the pictures are bright, rich and well detailed. But sometimes the camera software misses and incorrectly determines the exposure, which results in overexposed photos.

But in difficult shooting conditions, especially in the dark, the lack of stabilization in the camera affects it - noise appears and details are blurred. Everything here is standard for smartphones from the mid-price segment - competitors take photos about the same.

Objects in the background have turned into mush and there is a lot of noise in the photo.