With the arrival of Xiaomi in the Philippine Market, competition get stiffer and so innovation prosper. Comes many release of newnproducts packing octa-core at dirt cheap prices and Lenovo might follow suit with update on their A850, which is A850+.
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It is not yet available in the market but got mine shipped from Hong Kong. Now let see whats inside...
The usual you get the Lenovo A850+ unit, 2500mAh Battery, propriety headset, data cable and charger. You do get the manual and warranty cards but in my case its in Chinese haha.
The smartphone is made out of plastic all over but when you take a closer look and sun light you get shimmering effect. The silver lining adds nice accent but also provides support to hands for good grip. Port are all situated at the top and on the right side is the volume rocker and power/lock button. AT the back is the your dedicated camera and flash as well as speakers by the side. This phone is big but sexy at 150 x 77 x 8.9 mm and light to handle at 162g.
The A850+ sports a 5.5 inch qHD (940 x 540 pixels) IPS Display. The resolution is a bit downer but it really helps in performance and battery life. Powering the device is 1.7GHz Octa-Core Mediatek MT6592 Processor (1.4GHz MT6592M on other markets) with Mali450-MP4 GPU. Only 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage here to cut down on cost. This hardware setup seems to work to its advantage consuming less energy and less work for the processor.
Performance? as Antutu would put it, "Welcome to the World of High-End Smartphones." Even though it runs on Android Jelly Bean, the A850+ is very fluid and smooth. I have not experience any lag whatsoever even tried Dead Trigger 2 at high performance. Oh by the way, the built in Power Saver app limits the cores so what more if I go for full performance.
The phone is Dual-Sim/ Dual Standby which uses regular size sim cards. Connectivity features include WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and HSPA+. One thing though, Maps 8.1.1 crashes and cannot seem to pin point my location without GPS ON. Lenovo ShareIt app is very remarkable it makes use of WiFi direct to transmit to other device at record fast speeds and remote access to computer is supported.
The Lenovo Launcher offers very much customization and other value-added features. It is more like iOS, All apps are on your homescreen and you do get to set folders to get organized. Settings has three tabs Common, Character (Lenovo) and System. There are Notifications pop-ups too to always keep you inform. Smart connectivity, automatically switch if wifi/data is active or not.
Moving to optics, it is equipped with just basic 5MP back camera wiith LED Flash and VGA Front. Here are samples:
Photos taken are decent enough. Surprised that I get very small details when it comes to macro shot though can't say the same for landscapes with details blurred out so much. Output in lowlight is better and the LED Flash does provide fair amounts of lighting. The front? horrible, nuff said. Supports HD video recording. Update: Upon switching to new Lenovo SnapIt Camera App output has tremendously improved including vga front camera so the app actually address one of this phone weakness.
One other thing that this phone excel is its battery life. With only 2500mAh, I thought it would run out fast with octa-core but it has proven me wrong. Data, WiFi, and Games lasted me nearly 2 days tops. On standby, this should give you days of usage and more with Ultra-Saving Mode.
To wrap up, the Lenovo A850+ may have its short comings but with high-end grade performance, days of battery endurance it is surely a Plus. Lenovo Apps also provide a new experience in terms of connectivity and camera. For a phone for 6,700.00 pesos it is a clear winner, no wonder it is selling like hot cakes in other markets. If I were Lenovo, I would certainly make it official to put a Plus sign on A850.
Look what we have here. Lazada seems to offer the product as import.
Specs Summary
Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
5.5 inch qHD IPS Display
1.7GHz Octa-Core Processor
Mediatek MT6592
Mali450-MP4GPU
1GB RAM
4GB Internal Storage
Expandable via MicroSD
5MP Back Camera
With LED Flash
VGA Front Camera
HSPA+
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
2500mAh Battery
