The K8 Note offers an impressive performance in the budget segment!
After quite a long time, Lenovo launched a new smartphone in India. Its latest offering is called as the K8 Note, which retails for a price starting at Rs 12,999. The smartphone truly seems a Killer Note with its impressive features such as Helio X23 deca-core processor and dual cameras. There are two versions of K8 Note – one with 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM and another one with 4GB RAM +.64GB of storage. We have the former for the review. Let’s see what else it has to offer to the users.
Design and Build
You can see the design is almost same as all of the devices coming nowadays. The 2.5D curved glass display is attached with a metal unibody. With its 5.5-inch display, one can even hold and use the K8 Note comfortably with a single hand.
On the front, we can see the sensors and the secondary camera with LED Flash on the top of the display. The bezels along the display seem quite wide. There are three capacitive buttons for navigation just below the display panel. The rear has dual cameras along with the LED flash just below the antenna lines. Following them is the fingerprint sensor, with a Lenovo logo further below.
The volume rocker keys and the power button is on the right side of the edge. The SIM card and microSD card slot is on the left panel along with the special key. Dubbed as the Music Key, it can be used to play / pause the music or control the playback. It can also be assigned to be used for anything as per the users’ need. The top side has a 3.5mm audio port while the bottom has micro-USB port and Dolby ATMOS speakers.
The Lenovo K8 Note comes with the splash-proof P2i nano-coating. It enables the phone to sustain in rain or normal water sprinkles. Overall, the design seems very basic but offers some interesting and useful features.
Display
The Lenovo K8 Note offers a 5.5-inch of IPS FHD display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It has a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating on top. The display is pretty good and has good colour reproduction. The sunlight visibility is decent and one can see it with different viewing angles and also under direct sunlight.
Hardware and Software
The Lenovo K8 Note is powered by the powerful deca-core Helio-X23 processor (2 x Cortex-A72 @2.3GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 @1.85GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz). The chipset is coupled with Mali-T880 GPU and either 3 or 4GB of RAM. There is 32 / 64GB of onboard storage and it’s expandable up to 128GB.
On the software front, the K8 Note runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Interestingly, there’s no VIBE UI this time as the brand has gone for the stock Android. This means that the interface is clean and there’s no additional apps or bloatware in it.
Performance
The combination of deca-core SoC and 4GB RAM results in impressive performance. The multitasking is smooth, touch response is good and multiple apps run smoothly. There is no lag or slowdown in the usage.
The K8 Note’s gaming performance is great. One can enjoy simple as well as high-end games. I played high-end titles like Asphalt 8 and Mortal Combat X and there was no lag in the gameplay. However, there is a slight heating issue, but that can be neglected.
The Dolby ATMOS-powered speaker offers great sound. It’s loud and delivers a surround sound experience. The fingerprint reader works fine and unlocks the phone instantly.
The K8 Note supports 4G VoLTE. I was using Airtel 4G on this handset and there were no call drops or any type of network issue. The Wi-Fi connectivity is also great.
Battery
The Lenovo K8 Note is backed by 4,000mAh battery but still, it is very slim. The smartphone offers up to nine hours of life with moderate usage. With minimal usage, it can last up to 12 to 13 hours. The battery life is quite good and can also be charged quickly with the bundled charger.
Camera
The K8 Note sports a dual camera setup at the rear panel. One is of 13-megapixel and the other one is of 5MP. The daylight performance of the primary camera is great. It covers most aspects of the good image. The low-light performance struggles a bit but the flash provides illumination.
The dual cameras offer the portrait mode, which means you can focus on the subject and the background will be blurred. The app also lets you choose between f/1.2, f/1.8 or f/2.6 aperture.
The front camera of the Lenovo K8 Note is of 13MP and it shoots great selfies. It has a good amount of colours and details. The camera app also offers a lot of filters as well as modes as per the requirement. Over all the cameras are quite good as per the price point and features provided.
Gizmo-verdict
At a price point of 13K INR, Lenovo is offering everything the users want. It has an excellent performance, good cameras, and splash-proof build quality. It’s a well-balanced and power-packed smartphone. While at this budget, you can go for devices like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, the Lenovo K8 Note has an edge with its specs and latest and stock version of Android.
