Lenovo’s smartphone series has been limited to premium range phones like the K900 and S920. With its new phone on the block – the Lenovo P780, it aims to please the mid-range consumer.
Lenovo has had a good track record with its smartphone offerings, especially the K900. The P series though is touted as the ‘Professional’ smartphone series with features such as a good battery life. Lets dig into the phone to find out if it really has what it takes to ace this segment.
Lenovo P780 specs
- 5-inch 720 IPS LCD Touchscreen
- 4GB internal storage; 1 GB RAM
- MicroSD support up to 32 GB
- 8-megapixel rear cam; 1.2-megapixel front cam
- Android 4.2 – Jelly Bean OS
- 1.2-GHz Quad-core Cortex A7 CP
- Wi-fi, Bluetooth 3.0, HSDPA
- 4000 mAh battery
The Lenovo P780 is a far cry from expensive phones like K900. In fact, it has an ideal combination of a Cortex A7 CPU and PowerVR SGX544 GPU, but the star of the show is definitely its powerhouse of a battery which clocks at an amazing 4000 mAh. The battery definitely gives it edge over most of the phones in its segment. But that is not all. The phone definitely has a lot more on its plate.
Design
When it comes to the design the handset is a mix of stuff rather than a single substance smartphone. There is metal, chrome and plastic on-board. It might seem a tad bulky at 176g, but it is actually the right kind of heavy i.e. it won’t slip out of your hand and is pretty sturdy.
The front of the phone is mostly covered by glass. The bezel is a tad thick, but it doesn’t feel out of place.
Below the screen, there are three capacitive buttons for home, back and settings. They light up wonderfully.
The top of the screen is covered by a front cam and speaker. The 3.5 mm audio jack, MicroUSB slot and power button are all located atop the handset.
The volume rocker is located on the right side of the handset.
The back of the handset comprises of the 8-megapixel snapper. Open the metallic cover up and you will get a look at its MicroSD and dual-SIM slots along with its mammoth battery. Heads up, the battery looks like a removable one, but it isn’t.
Besides that, the handset is made of sturdy plastic with a mix of chrome around the edges. Overall, we give the design of the Lenovo P780 a big thumbs up.
Display
The Lenovo P780 comes with a 5-inch IPS LCD and packs in a 720 x 1280p resolution. Well, it kind of stands out amongst the 720p phones that we have experienced. The screen is a high pixel density one and comes in at 294ppi, which most of the phones in this range will fall behind.
The screen is the sharpest we have seen in this segment – there are no fuzzy edges or pixellation. We would actually go out and say that its one of the best mid-range smartphone screens we have seen till date. The only hassle is that sunlight visibility which could have been a little better.
Android and UI
The Lenovo P780 comes with the Android 4.2.1 – Jelly Bean OS, but not even for a moment would the UI let you feel that you are using something below Android 4.2.2.
The UI is definitely a breath of fresh air. Lenovo has added a world of customization to the phone. While we did experience a little lag, it was not something to be too wary of.
First of all, Lenovo has a great focus on battery saving and offers you a lot of stuff on the front. There are different modes and CPU optimizations to save on the juice.
Lenovo P780 also offers a lot of choices for managing your phone and gets to the ground level and still aims to please. One feature that requires a special mention is the themes available on-board from Lenovo. You have 5 themes to choose from which change not just the homescreen but actually transform the whole UI.
Apps
Since the phone is touted to be a business phone, there are a lot of features on that front. Besides the usual apps such as Kingsoft office, there are apps such as Camcard, Camscanner and Evernote on-board for the business consumer.
But if you want to have fun, there is no dearth of stuff either. The Lenovo P780 comes with games such as Block breaker and Asphalt GT, besides which it also comes with an app called Gameloft live! which offers more games.
For regular travelers there is also a compass on board besides the run-of-the-mill email setup.
It also has a ‘Route 66’ maps and navigation app on board.
Multimedia
The Lenovo P780 has a decent music player, voice recorder and FM radio on board. But, the speakers on the handset deserve the kudos – they play clear and sufficiently loud sounds easily.
Camera
If we had to sum up the Lenovo P780 camera app in one word – we would say that its pretty extensive. The camera app offers a humongous range of stuff, whether it be filters, customization or modes.
Photo Gallery
Camera setup
Camera customizations
Camera modes
Camera filters
Normal Mode
HDR Mode
Macro Mode
Indoor shots
Night mode
The color rendering is great, the focus is great and if you set the camera settings at you convenience you can take an ideal shot. The 8-megapixel camera is, at the end of the day worth its wait. The only qualm we have about it is it takes time to focus and gives fuzz images if you click in a haste before focusing.
Battery
Lenovo P780’s battery is one of its high points and the battery life is amazing. One of the regular complaints that people have with mid-range Android phones is that they kill the battery too swiftly. Well, we used the Lenovo P780 for three days on a single charge in the long mode and 30 hours in the custom mode. If you look into the battery saver app, it will accurately tell you how much charge you have left in hours and minutes, which is another amazing thing.
In terms of battery life, the Lenovo P780 can no doubt throw even premium smartphones such as the LG G2 and HTC One out of the ring, which is really saying something that we want too hear. While the 4000 mAh battery does make the phone a tad bulky, but still it is worth the sacrifice.
Conclusion
If you are in the market for a mid-range smartphone, you should really consider the Lenovo P780. It is a powerhouse of battery, has an amazing camera and a great UI. The only trouble with this handset is that it is a bit bulky compared to phones like say, the Desire 500.
While the battery is the star of the show, one can’t neglect the fact that everything else too is tied in a nice package. The GPU and CPU perform good, and though a 2 GB RAM would have greatly benefited the phone, one can’t complain too much about that either. It is currently available in the market for a price of around Rs. 16,500 which makes more value-for-money than many other handsets in the same segment.
The phone just jumps at you and makes up well for what little it lacks. The screen is great, the camera is great, the UI is great and the battery is bombastic. It is a total paisa-vasool handset according to us.
Pros
- Great screen
- Awesome camera
- Great UI
- Out-of-the-world battery
- Professional and gaming apps pre-loaded
- Great pricing
Cons
- Slightly bulky design
- Slight lags
If you want to grab the phone, here’s a link to a great dealon the same.
