[Android General] mdabar:
[REVIEW] Lenovo lenovo Vibe X2: octa-core, 4G, 5" HD, 2GB RAM, lightest metal phone

Last the September 2014, the Chinese giant Lenovo launched a new phone with 5.0 inch screen called Vibe X2, which became also the flagship smartphone on IFA exhibition of Berlin.

To have a better idea of the level, this phone was sharing stage with the almighty Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Sony Z3 and Huawei Mate7 ect

Are you maybe willing to know more about what can this Vibe X2 offer? Lets start with this review ;)

Unboxing Video:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/v/2BCAK_0XxH0[/YOUTUBE]

As seen the video, the package of Vibe X2 is very different and I would even say more creative than others. As we usually see, it presents a double level design, in the first one we have X2, slot needle, warranty card and user manual. In the second have USB cable, special attention to the 1500mA charger (normally they are just 1000mA) and earphone. We have already told before that now many smartphones do not bring earphones in box, something very inconvenient for the users, but Vibe X2 has it and it’s appreciated.

Appearance

After unboxing it, we will see the Vibe X2 is a very elegant terminal:

No matter if we have chosen the gold, red or white version, the front part is completely black, occupied mostly by the 5” screen.

Once turned, it's completely flat, I love it!

On the side body, Lenovo Vibe X2 uses a very unique four layer design, different than other smartphones that use to bring a more integrated design... With only one color.

Talking about the dimensions of X2, they are 140.2x68.6x7.27mm, very close to the 4.7 inch iPhone6 dimensions (138x66x6.9mm), with the difference of screen size on favor of the Lenovo model.

The thickness is also once of its strengths, specially because the camera does not protrude as we’ve seen on the iPhone6 or other phones.

Lenovo has used an aluminum and magnesium alloy for the structure, which is around 45% lighter than stainless steel. So the Vibe X2 only weights 120 grams, being 1 gram lighter than its predecessor Vibe X S960.

By the other side, power and volume buttons have a very nice non metal feeling when you touch.

Lenovo Vibe X2 has a dual SIM card slot in one tray on the left side, where we can put together a micro Sim, and a nano Sim. And what is more interesting, both slot support GSM/WCDMA/LTE networks.

Hardware

CPU MT6795 Octa Core 2.0GHz

GPU PowerVR G6200

RAM 2GB

ROM 32GB

Extend card No supports SD Memory Card (TF-Card)

Display Size 5.0 inch FHD

Screen Resolution 1920×1080

Screen Type IPS-LCD, Multi-Touch Capcitive Screen

Display Colour 16 Million Colors

Front Camera 5.0 mega pixel, supports Skype Video Calls

Rear Camera 13.0 mega pixel / Auto Focus / Flash Light

OS Android 4.4 with Vibe UI 2.0

Battery Built-in Battery 2300mAh

It’s equipped with the MTK MT6595M Octa Core CPU from the well known Mediatek and 2 GB of RAM, running perfectly with a resolution of 1080p on the 5.0 inch LCD screen.

With this hardware, it scores as high as 45000 in Antutu tests, so no matter what normal use, video or game we play, it goes with speed and high quality image experience. Adhering to MTK always probes quality experience for media, so Vibe X2 can play 4K videos incredibly smoothly .

The rear camera with 13.0Mpx and front camera with 5.0Mpx bring high quality images in this smartphone.

One of the main point on this Vibe X2 is not only that the dual SIM slot support 4G LTE, but both can be active simultaneously (it means your calling party will never hear "Not reachable" message if he calls you on second mobile number when you are busy on talking on first number. He will be just on "waiting" that time ....), very useful!

About the storage it has two versions, so we can choose between 16GB and 32GB, what a pity is that it doesn’t support micro SD card extension.

Finally the 2300mAh battery makes delivers a good time of endurance.

Note: Official ROM only has Chinese and English languages. However some sellers like Etotalk (http://www.etotalk.com/lenovo-vibe-x2-x2cu_p6697.html) customize the ROM so it comes with many other languages and Google Play installed.

Screen

I have already mentioned about the 5.0 inch screen, capable of offering 1080p resolution with a pixel density that reaches 445ppi; in addition it uses LTPS technology, which means low power consumption.

Lenovo Vibe X2 screen support customized parameters like custom color and saturation ect.

As usual on almost every phone, it brings a “Smart bright mode”function, capable of auto detecting the level of light and enhance the visibility of the outdoor and indoor environments instantaneously.

Camera

As you can see on the samples below, the photo quality is excellent with the main camera thanks to the color reduction technology. Showing colors close to true even with very different light levels.

The camera app includes Quick Shot technology for still camera and video, improving the users shooting experience. Of course, these results rely on “Super Camera 4.1” Function developed from own Lenovo labs.

Note: When the phone is on sleep mode, we can activate the quick shot function by doing double click on the "home" button, very useful.

Battery

About time of endurance, because of the ultra-thin body of this phone, the battery is only built-in 2300mAh, facing the MT6595M CPU and 1080P screen, it is kind of stressful demand.

After running some tests:

 Watching 30 minutes online video, power dropped by 10%

 Playing Asphalt 8 game for 20 minutes, made the battery drop by 6%

 Standby time during the night (so 8 hours with Bluetooth and GPS disabled but keeping WIFI on) and the power only dropped 4%

 After one day of standard use, we still had 24% of battery

With this figures, one charge per day should normally be OK. We must also think that I was simulating normal use, so I didn’t enable“Ultimate Power Saver Mode”during the tests.

Other says that opening it, the phone should be fine for 2 days of use, even 3 days some say, although I consider it too optimistic.

Conclusions

From my side, no questions the main point of Lenovo Vibe X2 is its cools and elegant appearance, with that colorful layer design that breaks the common practice of smartphone side design.

The aluminum and magnesium alloy frame keeps the phone weight very tight, in a way that having the terminal on the hand feels very light, even lighter than iPhone5 despite the different size,

To be honest, we cannot look only to the design, I wouldn’t be practical at all for a smartphone review. The powerful hardware brings us speed, then, but also the quick shot function, dual full active SIM with 4G LTE support

And about places to buy it. I have already a wide experience dealing with Asian sellers, and sincerely have been cheated (not same product, low quality, long delay, orders canceled, excessive customs costs...) so lately I prefer to go to those ones giving me more confidence like Etotalk (which as I said also modify the ROM to include more languages) who in addition uses VIP DHL shipping, so normally it takes less than 5 days to have the goods on my home.