Just a few short months after launching the impressive Vibe K4 Note, Lenovo Vibe K5 packs in a punch for a budget Smartphone. Lenovo has unveiled this low-cost phone in India before any other country. Priced at just Rs. 8,499, the K5 is below the K4 Note in Lenovo’s hierarchy. However, the K5 is more of an update to the extremely popular K3 Note, bringing a more premium look to an even lower price point. Let’s dig in deeper to find out whether K5 is truly a value for money proposition.
The specifications are far from cutting edge, this handset is seriously affordable, it also has an aluminum-style finish in champagne gold or platinum silver, which looks much more expensive.
Look and feel:
The Vibe K5 looks great for a low-cost phone. The Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Smartphone supports aluminum casing and is available in Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold, and Graphite Grey. There’s a front camera and sensor window above the screen. Capacitive navigation buttons are placed at the bottom. Sadly, these buttons do not back-light in the dark. There isn’t much wasted space to the sides of the screen, which makes this phone pretty easy to use single-handedly. The camera is placed in one corner, with a single LED flash next to it. Another interesting feature is the twin speaker grilles and Dolby logo lower down.
The 3.5mm audio socket and Micro-USB port are located on the top. The power and volume buttons are on the right, leaving the bottom and left blank. The phone comes with a removable battery, supports dual Micro-SIMs and a microSD slot. You get a 1.5A charger, USB cable, and adhesive screen protector in the box, but no headset.
Specifications & Software:
The Lenovo Vibe K5 has 5-inch Full-HD screen and a good resolution of 1080×1920. The handset is backed by a 2750mAh battery which is claimed to offer a standby time of up to 322 hours on 4G network, and a talk time of up to 15 hours on 3G network. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS/ A-GPS, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, and 4G. The base OS is Android 5.1.1 having a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor running the show. The rear camera has a 13 megapixel sensor and the front camera has a 5 megapixel sensor.
The Lenovo mobile phone offers company’s proprietary apps such as SHAREit for rapid transfer of photos, apps and other data; CLONEit to instantly transfer all old apps and data to a new Lenovo phone, and SYNCit for backing up & restoring all contacts, SMS messages and call log. There’s a Lenovo Companion app which lets you check for software updates and perform basic subsystem tests. You also get an assortment of apps including Game Store, Twitter, Skype, WeChat, UC Browser, Flipkart, Myntra, Evernote, and Truecaller, which are thankfully all removable.
Conclusion:
We found the Lenovo Vibe K5 a pleasant phone to use, on the whole. The screen is sharp and bright, though colors are just a tiny bit dull. Audio, on the other hand, is loud and clear. The twin speakers really do make a difference. Our biggest complaint with this phone is the weak battery life and tendency to become uncomfortably warm when anything serious is running. In terms of performance, the Vibe K5 edges out the more expensive Honor 5X and seems like a better deal that similarly priced phones such as the Karbonn Quattro L51 HD.