A few months back, Lenovo brought the Z2 Plus to the Indian market, which beat every other smartphone in the sub-20k smartphone segment, at least in terms of performance. It also offered good battery life, giving a statement of intent from Lenovo to its prime competitors. Now, the company is trying to do pretty much the same in the sub-10k segment. This time, though, Lenovo is not going after sheer specifications, and the company claims that the newly-launched K6 Power will provide a better overall experience in the budget smartphone segment.
Priced at Rs. 9,999, the smartphone competes directly with Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3. Taking into account the smaller form factor and decent internals, the Lenovo K6 Power will be a good match for two of Xiaomi's budget devices – the Redmi Note 3 and Redmi 3s Prime. We had the chance to tinker around for a while, and here's what we think of it.
At first glance, the Lenovo K6 Power looks quite similar to the Redmi 3s Prime, with the two phones sharing 5-inch displays. The K6 Power's display seems a bit sharper, and also offers better screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels (Full HD) compared to a 720p HD panel on the Redmi 3s Prime. The smartphone is light, and the smaller footprint makes it quite ergonomic and easy for single-handed usage.
The Lenovo K6 Power did not show any notable stutter while navigating through menus or shifting between open applications. Powering the K6 Power is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC. This octa-core SoC has proved its worth in the Redmi 3s Prime, and we expect the K6 Power to perform comparably.
The key feature of the phone, however, is the big, 4000mAh battery. Lenovo claims that the device will offer 13.6 hours of video playback or 96.5 hours of music playback, on a single charge. Furthermore, the K6 Power can be used to charge other gadgets. We cannot really tell you more about the battery performance here, but we expect it to fare reasonably well.
What we can tell you about is the light, redesigned UI. Lenovo calls it Pure UI, and it looks close to stock Android UI for the most part. It is still not as close to Moto's interface, but is significantly 'cleaner' and lighter than Lenovo’s previous custom interfaces. Pure UI integrates battery-saving functions such as the 'Ultimate Power Saver' mode that disables everything except calling/messaging, when activated. It also includes dual-app profiles and long screenshots.
On the camera front, the 13MP rear shooter seems promising and quite capable, as photographs clicked from the K6 Power looked reasonably decent on the phone itself. There was no discernible noise, at least in well-lit situations. The 8MP front-facing camera also seems to be adept, and the K6 Power seems to be one of the better selfie phones we have seen in this category.
To sum up, the Lenovo K6 Power seems like a good smartphone, which can go head-to-head against most budget phones. It has the makings of the next best budget phones, and if that is indeed the deal, the likes of Xiaomi may well have a stiff competitor at hand.