The sub-15,000 segment has seen a leapfrog success as manufacturers try to pack the best they can to rival their opponents. This is a clear portrayal of positive and healthy competition as it always ends up with a happy customer on the other side.
Amidst this fiercely looking competition, there is one company who is striving to keep up with contenders like Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo or Samsung for that matter. Lenovo kicked off this budget segment with its K-series smartphone a long while back, however, the company has lost its mark and struggled to keep up the needs of consumers within space.
With the new K10 Note, Lenovo hopes to replenish the user’s needs with the most powerful specs and some high-end features. So was it able to regain its stand, well let’s find out!
Design
The design of the K10 is a straight blend of minimalistic feel and plain glossy finish. We also appreciate the subtle pattern underneath the plastic design on the back. The plastic doesn’t feel as confidence-inspiring as the glass, but it helps to keep the weight in check.
The front comes with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with narrow bezels across the sides. The display is a rudimentary LCD panel which is a major let down as it chugs out some hefty looking chin at the bottom. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port for charging and connectivity and a single firing loudspeaker with Dolby Audio.
Screen
The screen quality through the 6.3-inch panel is good but not great. Being LCD images came turned out to be punchier and brighter. The panel also helps render a wide field of view which even powered through outdoor sunlight. However, being an LCD, the ability to render deeper blacks was underrated on its part.
Performance
The USP of the K-series has always flourished through its high-end specifications in the past. With K10 the company has taken it a notch further with the addition of cutting-edge Snapdragon 710 chipset that’s coupled with an optional 4/6GB RAM and 64/128GB storage. The device runs a custom ZUI interface built on top of the Android 9.0 pie which the company claims to have cycled through with upcoming Android upgrades.
Given the specs it packs, you can easily end up with more than 6 apps running in the background without you even realising it. The device can easily keep up with all the social media tasks we throw at it. Even gaming on the K10 Note was a breeze, the device consistently puts out a good (29fps) frame rate in the max setting as we played through some PUBG and Asphalt 9.
The only downside of this experience is that it comes through a clumsy-looking ZUI interface. While the rivals offer a near-stock Android experience, the ZUI sticks to age-old UI as before. The interface feels overdone and largely unnecessary. The settings app is quite confusing and comes with a world of preloaded apps spread across the home screen.
Camera
The triple camera setup comes in the form of a 16MP sensor, a 5MP depth sensor and an 8MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom.
The photos retain a good amount of detail under sufficient light but felt a lot processed under pale lighting conditions. Despite this fallback, the camera performed wonderfully in Night condition, due to its dedicated Night mode. The feature helps a user grab the perfect exposures and ideal colour tones despite the ambient lighting.
The 2x zoom is certainly helpful as it uses the 8MP sensor which performs slightly better than the standard wide-angle camera. The images came out on the sharper side, with a decent amount of colour due to its vibrancy.
The 16MP front camera, too, works great and would be the perfect companion for a selfie addict. The portraits were sharp and accurate, which seemed perfect for social media posts. The pictures were so good that it didn’t impel us to use any filter on it.
Battery:
The 4050mAh battery was heavily optimised as it was able to deliver over 30 hours of use despite our extensive work schedule. The phone has always managed to last over an entire day, which is a good sign. The ability to quickly charge through the 18W brick was also delightful as it was easily able to top up the battery in just under 1.5 hours.
Conclusion:
The Lenovo K10 Note is a solid smartphone that gives Lenovo a run for its money. The Snapdragon 710 is just as impressive as it handles all the tasks we throw at it without breaking a sweat. The camera is set
