LENOVOLenovo A6000 Review: A Well-Rounded Budget Smartphone That Could’ve Been Better
What is it?
The Lenovo A6000 is the cheapest 4G LTE-capable device in India at the moment. Chinese computer manufacturing company Lenovo recently has had a renaissance of their smartphone business - both in innovation and mindshare - translating into sales.
Who is it for?
If you are looking for a budget 4G smartphone, the A6000 is a capable option on the table. However, with 4G not yet pervasive and a majority of budget smartphone buyers sticking to 2G data plans, the phone falls into the general, and crowded, bucket of budget-Android smartphones.
Design
The Lenovo A6000 doesn't look very different from other Android smartphones with plastic shell, and has the usual, unremarkable candy-bar design. The build quality is decent and the phone is pleasantly lightweight, so for a budget smartphone, it does well on overall design.
At just 8.2mm thickness with a neat matte plastic back, the phone fits very nicely in the hand. While I got a black review unit, I hear that you can swap the phone's removable back panel and choose a red or a white one available separately.
The A6000 sports a 5-inch 720p IPS display with the three capacitive touch navigation buttons placed right below the display. The buttons are not backlit, and although, most users reach out for the button on instinct, it's an awkward experience.
While the display appears just fine on first glance, it has its issues. The colors are slightly washed out and it often struggles in direct sunlight. Still, the color fidelity should be fine for most people and the viewing angles are decent. However, and I can't point out to the issue, the touch experience is not that smooth. It's rough and the friction between the display and fingers reminds me of the old-world cheap touchscreen displays which, thankfully, most popular budget smartphones too have moved on from.
There's no Gorilla Glass as well, and although that's okay for a phone at this price, I just pointed it out so you know the screen is more prone to damage in case of a drop. A screen protector is recommended, and Lenovo generously bundles one in the box.
Hardware
Powered by a 64-bit 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and 1GB RAM, the phone packs in 8GB memory (expandable up to 32GB using a microSD card).
For most functionality and navigation, the phone works fine without any considerable lag. There is a minor stutter on launching or switching between apps, but it's not a showstopper. Most games work just fine and the phone plays HD videos too. The phone did get a little hot on playing the game for a while but that's expected. Overall, for a budget phone, the A6000 performs pretty well.
As far as 4G LTE connectivity is concerned, the dual SIM phone supports both FDD 1800MHz (Band 3) and TDD 2300MHz (Band 40). Incidentally, the second SIM slot does not support 3G or 4G data connectivity.
The A6000 does quite well in the sound department. The external Dolby twin speakers have a pretty good output - loud sound with good clarity even at higher levels. There's also a Dolby app to customize the equalizer settings or pick from four presets. Pity, the speaker outlet is at the back and the sound gets muffled when the phone rests on its back.
The phone packs in a 2,300 mAh removable battery which lasts an entire day. Of course, your mileage may vary, but with brightness set to the highest level and an above average usage with 3G data on, it lasts a full working day usually.
Software
The Lenovo A6000 runs an extensively customized version of Android 4.4 KitKat. There's a proprietary UI layer with enhanced features and devoid of an app drawer. The new trend of skipping an app drawer has its fans, but may take somebody moving from a more traditional Android smartphone few days of getting used to. It's a preference thing really, and of course, you can always install an alternate launcher.
Instead of the stock Android apps, the A6000 packs in new Gallery, Calculator, Calendar, and Email apps built by Lenovo. In general, these offer a better user experience and additional features, and hence are a welcome addition.
Unfortunately, there are too many unwelcome additions as well. There's a preinstalled security app, the suite of SyncIt, CloneIt and ShareIt apps, Guvera music streaming, Route 66, WPS Office, UC Browser, Txtr, and several Gameloft games. Fortunately, these third-party apps can be uninstalled if you want to gain some storage space.
Camera
The Lenovo A6000 sports an 8MP rear camera with auto focus and LED flash, and packs in Lenovo's own camera app to configure optical attributes, HDR, and shooting modes.
The photos captured in the daylight are decent with sufficiently accurate color reproduction and good contrast. In low light though, the photos are grainy and have too much of noise. The 2MP front camera doesn't give you any good selfies, which is true of all the phones in this price segment really.
The inconsistency of captured shots irks me. It's not the best camera amongst budget smartphones although it sounds great on paper, but yes, it's a decent one nonetheless.
The phone is capable of shooting 720p video. While the videos are not great, one can still use these. The camera focuses in a jiffy as the perspective changes, but the end result is quite shaky.
The Best Part
· 4G support
· Value for money
The Tragic Flaw
· Average display
· Poor touch screen experience
Summary
At ₹6,999, the Lenovo A6000 offers a great value for a budget device. It has its flaws, or merely shortcomings, even though it does well on the specifications sheet. It could've been a winner, but tends to disappoint with its inconsistency. If you don't need 4G connectivity, you'd want to explore the alternatives in the price segment.
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