Lenovo Vibe X2 A powerful Android smartphone in an elegant, lightweight body with support for high-speed 4G LTE networks in a three-layer design. Lenovo vibe x2 equipped with a powerful 8-core processor and Android 4.4 Kit Kat operating system. Of the main characteristics of Vibe X2 You can also highlight: a large 5-inch Full HD screen, a Li-polymer battery with a capacity of 2300 mAh, a main 13 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash, a front 5 MP camera for selfies and video calls, 32 GB of internal memory and 2 GB of RAM . The powerful characteristics of Lenovo Vibe x2 will cope with any task, large RAM will ensure multitasking of the smartphone, support for the latest applications and games without freezing Vibe X2, and high-speed 4G LTE networks will allow you to comfortably watch online videos from the Internet on the large bright screen of Lenovo Vibe x2. For users who love to travel a lot, it is possible to use the Lenovo Vibe X2 as a GPS navigator; on its large screen you can select your destination on the map and plot the best route.
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Full specifications of Lenovo Vibe X2. Lenovo Vibe X2 specifications.
- SIM card quantity: 1 SIM card
- SIM card type: micro-SIM
- Vibe x2 case material: metal and plastic
- Software: Android OS 4.4 Kit Kat
- Processor: 8-core (4 cores 2 GHz + 4 cores 1.69 GB)
- Video processor: PowerVR G6200 MP4
- Display: 5.0 inches diagonal / Full HD / ppi (pixel density per inch of display)
- Machine. screen rotation: supports
- Vibe X2 camera: 13 MP / autofocus / LED flash
- Add. camera: 5 MP
- Video camera: yes
- Battery: 2300 mAh/ Li-polymer/ non-removable
- Talk time: up to 22 hours on 2G networks / up to 11.5 hours on 3G and 4G networks
- Standby time: up to 17 days on 2G networks, up to 16.5 days on 3G networks, up to 10.5 days on 4G networks
- Built-in memory: 32 GB
- RAM: 2 GB
- Memory card: -
- Bluetooth: 3.0 + 4.1 LE
- Wi-Fi: yes
- Wi-Fi hotspot: yes
- USB: yes/supports charging via USB
- Headphone jack: 3.5 mm.
- Navigation: GPS/ A-GPS
- 3G: supports
- 4G LTE: supports
- Sensors: accelerometer/light/proximity/gravity/E-Compass
- Fingerprint scanner: -
- Music player: yes
- Radio: FM radio
- Speakerphone: yes
- Dimensions: H.W.T 140.2 x 68.6 x 7.27 mm.
- Weight: 120 grams.
At the IFA 2014 exhibition, Lenovo rolled out an unusual smartphone Vibe X2, the multilayer body of which was made in a gradient color palette. At the same time, the device turned out to be not only thin, but also quite light. Who would like this “puff pastry” was decided during its tasting by Vesti.High-Tech.
The design of smartphones, as a rule, does not please with variety. Most of them receive monoblock-type cases made of plastic and/or metal, in some cases supplemented with exotic materials such as bamboo or leather. Literally on one hand you can count the innovations that have affected the boring classic design of devices over the past few years. All the more noteworthy is Lenovo's efforts to create smartphones that are competitive not only in performance and price, but also attractive in appearance. Thus, the original, multi-layered and bright design distinguishes the new Vibe X2, which in a sense continues the glorious traditions of the “hip” flagship. Let us remind you that it is in the Vibe series that Lenovo assembles powerful and sophisticated smartphones.
Specifications
- Model: X2-EU
- OS: Android 4.4.2 with Vibe 2.0 UI shell
- Processor: 8-core MediaTek 6595M, ARM big.LITTLE GTS architecture (4x Cortex-A17 2.0 GHz + 4x Cortex-A7 1.5 GHz)
- Graphics coprocessor: PowerVR 6200 (450 MHz)
- RAM: 2 GB
- Data storage memory: 32 GB
- Interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 3.0 + 4.1 LE, microUSB (USB 2.0) for charging/syncing, 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Screen: capacitive touch, IPS, 5-inch diagonal, resolution 1920x1080 pixels, density 441 pixels per inch, glove control
- Cameras: main -- 13 MP, BSI matrix, f/2.2 aperture, autofocus, flash, 4x zoom, video recording 1080p@30 fps, front 5 MP
- Network: 2G/3G/4G
- SIM card: one microSIM (3FF)
- Navigation: GPS/GLONASS, A-GPS
- Radio: FM tuner
- Sensors: gyroscope, compass, light and proximity sensors
- Battery: non-removable, lithium polymer, 2,300 mAh
- Colors: white, red, golden, dark gray
- Dimensions: 140.2x68.6x7.27 mm
- Weight: 120 grams
Design, ergonomics
In the new smartphone, they decided to abandon the streamlined shapes of last year’s model, which were replaced by slightly smoothed right angles of a regular parallelepiped (“brick”, in simple terms).
But, of course, the main feature of the Vibe X2 was its multilayer design - three thin color gradient panels are combined into a single monolith with a dark layer of screen with protective glass. A gradient here means a harmonious change from one layer color to another. In this case, the back panel can be painted white, red, gold or dark gray. Generally speaking, Vibe X2 became the first smartphone in the world to receive such an unusually layered design.
Instead of textured polycarbonate “like metal”, as in now, according to unofficial information, a magnesium alloy is used for the body (although, to be honest, it looks a lot like ordinary matte plastic). One way or another, the Vibe X2 turned out to be a little lighter than its predecessor - 120 g versus 121 g. At the same time, while maintaining a 5-inch display, the device shrank in size (140.2x68.6 mm versus 144x74 mm), but slightly “got better” (7.27 mm versus 6.9 mm). Most likely, the loss of slimness is still the price to pay for the multi-layered design.
The front side of the smartphone is completely covered with protective glass, in the upper part of which there is a “speech” speaker, front camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as a charging/notification indicator.
Below the display are dedicated backlit touch keys (Menu, Home and Back). Without the latter, with the screen off, the front side of the Vibe X2 is just a “black rectangle of Malevich.” There are no logos or other identifying marks on it.
On the right edge (on the middle layer) there is a power/lock button and a volume rocker,
and on the left there is a closed slot with a tray for a microSIM card. For its lock, a special key is included with the smartphone, which, however, can be easily replaced with a thin paper clip. The relatively large size of the tray is explained by the fact that it has reserved space for a second, nanoSIM card, which is required in the Asian version of the device (X2-TO).
The bottom end of the case is occupied by a microUSB connector and a hole for a “conversational” microphone,
and the top one is only a 3.5mm audio output jack for a matching headset or headphones.
Holes for the main camera lens, LED flash and additional microphone (noise reduction systems) are placed at the top of the rear panel, which is decorated with the Lenovo logo.
At the bottom there was a place for the “multimedia” speaker grille and a 3-pin group for connecting branded Vibe Xtension accessories (more about them below). By the way, the smartphone comes with a protective film for the screen and a transparent plastic bumper for the rear panel.
So, the manufacturer of Vibe X2 did not offend with its appearance. Perhaps the slightly angular body of the new product does not lie as pleasantly in the hand as last year’s streamlined one, but this is a purely individual feeling. And operating the device with one hand is quite comfortable.
Screen, camera, sound
The new smartphone has a 5-inch screen on an IPS matrix with Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels), with a pixel density per inch of 441 ppi.
The display is built using technology without using an air gap, so wide viewing angles do not disappoint. The image is quite clear, with decent color rendition and good rendering of small details.
The brightness reserve is enough even for working in bright external lighting (including sunlight). Its level can be set manually, or rely on the readings of the light sensor, according to which it is automatically adjusted. In addition, in the settings you can set the high brightness mode, not forgetting that it is associated with high power consumption. When using the device for a long time, the so-called adaptive mode is recommended, which, according to the manufacturer, provides eye protection. It’s easy to choose a comfortable color balance yourself in the custom mode, where the tone temperature and its saturation are individually adjusted. For smooth video playback, the ClearMotion option is provided in the screen settings.
Multi-touch technology allows you to process up to ten simultaneous clicks, which is confirmed by the results of the AntTuTu Tester and MultiTouch Test programs. Enabling the appropriate option, which increases the sensitivity of the touch layer of the screen, allows you to work with the smartphone while wearing gloves.
The Vibe X2 uses a photo module with a 13-megapixel BSI matrix, f/2.2 aperture, autofocus and LED flash for the main camera. The image resolution is 4096x2304 pixels (9.4 MP) with an aspect ratio of 16:9, as well as 4160x3120 pixels (13 MP) and 3120x3120 pixels (9.7 MP) with frame aspect ratios 4:3 and 1:1, respectively. The front camera, intended mainly for selfies and video calling, has a photo module with a 5-megapixel matrix, but without autofocus. The "self" resolution is the following - 1920x1920 pixels (1:1), 2560x1920 pixels (4:3) and 2560x1440 pixels (16:9), respectively.
The Camera app launches directly from the lock screen. The interface of this program is quite simple and intuitive. In the settings, you can select one of three modes - “Panorama”, “Special effects” and “Regular shooting”. In the latter case, several preset scenes are offered, including “Portrait”, “Sunset”, “Beach”, etc. Manual adjustment of contrast, saturation, sharpness and exposure is available. In addition, the user selects the ISO value (100-1600) and white balance ("incandescent", "sunlight", etc.). A separate icon is highlighted to enable HDR mode. The volume rocker can be easily assigned to shooting or zooming an image (up to 4x).
For “crossbow shots” from the front camera, you can not only improve your complexion in advance, but also select the most convenient shutter release mode: by timer, by touch, by gesture, by voice, and even by blinking. Both smartphone cameras can record videos in Full HD quality (resolution 1920x1080 pixels, 16:9) with a frame rate of 30 fps. At the same time, all content is saved in MP4 container files (AVC - video, AAC - sound). The main camera is equipped with electronic image stabilization.
The sound of the built-in speaker, although loud, is rather “dry” and harsh. This quality is quite enough for watching movies, but it is better to listen to music using at least the included audio headset. By the way, it is also useful as an antenna for the built-in FM tuner. Significant improvements in the acoustic capabilities of the Vibe X2 are provided by a special Vibe Xtension Hi-Fi accessory (purchased separately), 8.3 mm thick, which is attached to the back of the smartphone. The JBL speaker system, which operates up to 5 hours without recharging, compared to the built-in speaker, guarantees not only an increase in sound volume, but also an improvement in its quality.
Filling, performance
Vibe X2 was one of the first smartphones to receive the latest 8-core MediaTek MT6595M processor (a less powerful version of MT6595) with ARM big.LITTLE GTS architecture. On one chip, four powerful Cortex-A15 cores (2.0 GHz) work in conjunction with four energy-efficient Cortex-A7 cores (1.5 GHz).
Heterogeneous multiprocessing, which MediaTek calls True8Core, allows you to use all eight cores simultaneously. Graphics processing is provided by the PowerVR 6200 (450 MHz) accelerator from the Rogue family. The smartphone's RAM capacity is 2 GB, which is quite enough for almost any task.
Not finding mutual understanding with the Vibe X2, the synthetic tests of AnTuTu 5.2.0 for some reason refused to verify the rather good result of 41,739 “virtual parrots”.
But when measuring the “horsepower” of the processor on the Vellamo Metal benchmark, as well as on multi-core tests (Vellamo Multicore), the new product from Lenovo turned out to be the absolute favorite without any misunderstanding.
With variable settings of High Performance and High Quality (performance at the expense of quality and vice versa) on the Epic Citadel visual test, the average frame rate differed only in decimal places and amounted to 53.8 and 53.1 fps, respectively. But when changing the setting to Ultra High Quality, this parameter decreased by almost 1.8 times (to 30.1 fps).
Generally speaking, the Vibe X2 can compete on equal terms with modern flagships in terms of performance. The smartphone easily copes with almost all tasks, without being afraid of “heavy” games. It’s not for nothing that they immediately installed it and offer to try such famous hits as, for example, Asphalt 8, Real Football 2014 and “Spider-Man”.
Of the 32 GB of declared internal memory, only about 26.2 GB is available, and 25.7 GB is free. Unfortunately, memory expansion in this smartphone, like in its predecessor, is not provided either by microSD cards or by connecting external flash drives (USB-OTG). This is perhaps the most significant drawback of this device.
Of course, among wireless communications, a smartphone has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which are mandatory today. In addition, the device operates in Russian fourth-generation 4G cellular networks (LTE FDD, Band 7 and 20). And to determine location and navigation, it is proposed to use GPS and GLONASS satellites with A-GPS support.
The Vibe X2 has a non-removable lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 2,300 mAh, the capacity of which is clearly not enough for the existing filling. Note that, for example, another 5-inch smartphone with Full HD screen resolution and also equipped with an 8-core processor received a 3,100 mAh battery. In order to somehow improve the energy supply situation of the Vibe X2, the Vibe Xtension Battery accessory is offered for it, which is an additional battery for another 2,300 mAh. This battery is mounted on the body of the smartphone, and its thickness is 5.1 mm.
The new smartphone earned 5,745 points in AnTuTu Tester 2.2 battery tests. For the Vibe X2, the manufacturer claims talk time for 2G networks up to 22 hours, and for 3G/4G networks up to 11.5 hours. Our selection of MP4 and Full HD videos played continuously at full brightness for just over 3.5 hours.
In the Power Manager settings section, you can use emergency mode, reducing the functionality of your smartphone to voice calls and SMS messages. In addition, it is proposed to save battery power by enabling options that reduce the brightness of the screen backlight and/or the performance of the graphics accelerator.
Software
The Vibe X2 smartphone runs on the Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) operating system with the proprietary Vibe UI shell, where there is no separate program menu, and the icons of all installed applications, folders and widgets are located on desktops. As in the device, by tapping several times on the “Build number” line, you can activate the “For Developers” menu, but, alas, there is no option to switch to the standard Android interface here.
The shell interface allows you to refresh themes, lock screens, and desktop wallpapers; to change the latter, you just need to make a gesture reminiscent of turning a page from the left or right corner of the display. Conveniently configure the notification panel settings. But the most interesting “chips” are presented in the “Special” settings tab.
So, if you enable the “Double tap” option, then after double tapping on the screen, the smartphone either wakes up or goes into sleep mode. By the way, you can also turn on the display backlight using the volume rocker, using the corresponding settings item (“Turn on with volume buttons”). But activating the “Speed Shot” allows you to take an “instant” photo with a double tap on the “Home” button when the screen goes dark. Since this touch button is practically invisible without backlighting, you should navigate by its approximate location. The photo you take will appear on the screen with icons for deleting it and/or going to the Camera app.
Using the "Smart Menu" on any desktop, you can call up a pop-up menu containing icons for performing certain actions or calling services/applications, including "Calculator", "Search", "Voice Search", "Alarm Clock", "Camera" ", "Close", etc. In this case, the menu is called up either by a special button with adjustable transparency, or by touching a pre-calibrated finger.
Using "Smart Scenarios" it is easy to configure the launch of various applications or services according to a predetermined schedule or when connected to a selected Wi-Fi access point (linked in advance). But by using the appropriate options, you can, for example, increase the ringer volume by putting the smartphone in your pocket, and vice versa, reduce the sound by taking the device in your hand.
Purchase, conclusions
Among its 8-core classmates, Lenovo Vibe X2 looks quite decent. With a starting price of 14,990 rubles, it, in particular, falls into the price niche between the Alcatel OneTouch Idol+ (12,990 rubles) and (16,990 rubles). Let us remind you that all these smartphones, among other things, received 5-inch screens with Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels). In terms of RAM capacity, it stands out among them (2 GB vs. 2 GB vs. 3 GB), but the same smartphone also has the smallest built-in storage on board (32 GB vs. 32 GB vs. 16 GB). True, it only knows how to expand it with microSD/HC/XC memory cards. The Lenovo Vibe X2 turned out to be lighter and thinner (120 g versus 125 g versus 135 g) and (7.27 mm versus 7.9 mm versus 7.5 mm), respectively. All devices received 13-megapixel main cameras, while due to the simple front camera, the least preferable for selfie lovers would be the Alcatel OneTouch Idol+ (5 MP vs. 2 MP vs. 5 MP). But the battery capacities were distributed as follows - 2,300 mAh versus 2,500 mAh versus 3,100 mAh.
Thus, the key advantages of the Lenovo Vibe X2 over its competitors include its stylish and fresh design, as well as its low thickness and weight. But the main disadvantage of this smartphone is the low capacity of the lithium-polymer battery. As already noted, such a flaw is “cured” with the additional accessory Vibe Xtension Battery, but then you will have to forget about the superiority in thickness and weight. Nevertheless, the “multi-layered appearance” sets the device apart from the mass of other, not very expressive, devices. This will certainly appeal to users who prefer originality in everything.
Results of the review of the Lenovo Vibe X2 smartphone
Pros:
- Stylish layered design
- Small thickness and weight
- High performance
Minuses:
- Insufficient battery capacity
- No microSD card slot
Slim model with an unusual design on the latest eight-core platform with LTE support
Over the past year, we have observed how Chinese smartphone manufacturers have been introducing a new eight-core SoC called Mediatek MTK 6592 into their top-end (and not only) mobile products. This hardware platform is based on the operation of as many as eight full-fledged processor cores. True, these cores are not very powerful (ARM Cortex-A7), and therefore, despite all the expectations of supporters of cheaper Chinese products, the platform was not able to shine. In terms of this indicator, it is surpassed by the modern quad-core SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 800/801, on which the operation of top-end devices from world-class brands is based. And with the battery life of mobile devices on the Mediatek platform, things are quite deplorable, although good optimization by specific manufacturers can work wonders here too. A striking example of this is the TCL (Alcatel) Idol X+, excellent in all respects, which is still almost a reference example of what a modern top-end Chinese smartphone should be, both in terms of characteristics and external data.
Today we see how the first eight-core smartphones are gradually being replaced by a new wave of devices based on a completely new SoC from the same manufacturer. Also eight-core, it becomes a logical and improved continuation of MTK 6592. The latest Mediatek platform is called MTK 6595, and it has even more differences from MTK 6592 than it might seem at first glance. Mediatek MTK 6595 not only became the long-awaited SoC that finally supports full operation with LTE networks, but it also has deeper, structural changes. Unlike its predecessor, all eight cores of which were equivalent, it uses a more logical big.LITTLE technology, where four powerful cores are adjacent to four less productive, but more economical ones. Literally all well-known mobile SoC manufacturers from Samsung to Huawei have already adopted this technology for their mobile platforms. By the way, the release of eight-core SoCs with a similar structure from Qualcomm itself is not far off (we even managed to get acquainted with one of the first devices based on such a platform - Oppo R5). So in the new season we will witness another round of confrontation between two industry giants, MTK and Qualcomm, because already now many of the largest smartphone manufacturers in China, such as Lenovo and Xiaomi, are voting for cooperation with Mediatek, that is, we are talking about huge production volumes .
So, one of the first devices based on the latest Mediatek MTK 6595 platform was the Lenovo Vibe X2 smartphone, which has already begun to be sold not only in China, but also here. The smartphone is somehow invisibly but persistently reminiscent of the same TCL (Alcatel) Idol X+ mentioned above, adjusted for the new SoC and changing fashion trends. Equally unusually compact and lightweight, very thin and stylish, the Lenovo Vibe X2 smartphone is ready to offer, among other things, unprecedented performance that can be the envy of any modern flagship device from generally recognized market leaders. At the same time, the device is offered at a much more reasonable price than top-end devices from A-brands, which makes the choice in favor of the Idol X+ and Vibe X2 even more justified. The Lenovo Vibe X2 smartphone turned out to be very interesting, at this price it is quite capable of gaining great popularity among users, so it’s time to take a closer look at the new product.
Video review
First, we suggest watching our video review of the Lenovo Vibe X2 smartphone:
Now let's take a look at the characteristics of the new product.
Key Features of Lenovo Vibe X2
| Lenovo Vibe X2 | Meizu MX4 | Xiaomi Mi4 | TCL Idol X+ | |
| Screen | 5″, IPS | 5.36″, IPS | 5″, IPS | 5″, IPS |
| Permission | 1920×1080, 440 ppi | 1920×1152, 418 ppi | 1920×1080, 440 ppi | 1920×1080, 440 ppi |
| SoC | Mediatek MT6595m (4x Cortex-A17 @2.0 GHz + 4x Cortex-A7 @1.3 GHz) | Mediatek MT6595 (4x Cortex-A17 @2.2 GHz + 4x Cortex-A7 @1.7 GHz) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4 cores Krait 400 @2.5 GHz) | MediaTek MT6592 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A7 @2.0 GHz) |
| GPU | PowerVR G6200 | PowerVR G6200 | Adreno 330 | Mali 450MP4 |
| RAM | 2 GB | 2 GB | 3 GB | 2 GB |
| Flash memory | 32 GB | 16/32/64 GB | 16/64 GB | 16 GB |
| Memory card support | — | — | — | — |
| operating system | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.2 |
| Battery | non-removable, 2300 mAh | non-removable, 3100 mAh | non-removable, 3080 mAh | non-removable, 2500 mAh |
| Cameras | rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP) | rear (20.7 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP) | rear (13 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP) | rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP) |
| Dimensions and weight | 140×69×7.3 mm, 120 g | 144×75×8.9 mm, 147 g | 139×69×8.9 mm, 181 g | 140×69×7.9 mm, 120 g |
| average price | T-11168521 | T-11010064 | T-10971773 | T-10632117 |
| Lenovo Vibe X2 offers | L-11168521-10 | |||
- SoC Mediatek MT6595m (4 Cortex-A17 @2.0 GHz and 4 Cortex-A7 @1.7 GHz)
- GPU PowerVR G6200, 2 cores @450 MHz
- Operating system Android 4.4.2
- Touch display IPS 5″, 1920×1080, 440 ppi
- Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 32 GB
- SIM card format: Micro-SIM (1)
- Memory card support: no
- Communication GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Communication WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
- 4G data transmission: FDD-LTE (1, 3, 7, 20)
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
- Bluetooth 3.0 + 4.1 LE
- USB 2.0
- GPS (A-GPS), Glonass
- Camera 13 MP, f/2.2, autofocus, 1080p video
- Camera 5 MP (front)
- Accelerometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, electronic compass
- Lithium polymer battery 2300 mAh
- Dimensions 140×69×7.3 mm
- Weight 120 g
Contents of delivery
A stylish smartphone with a bright and unusual design comes on sale in an equally unusual and remarkable packaging. The box itself is quite small, made entirely of hard, high-quality cardboard, and its structure is unusual. From the side end of the cardboard shell, two different-sized drawers pull out laterally, independently of each other, in the manner of a chest of drawers. For finger grip, a silk ribbon is glued to the side surface of the box, and the boxes themselves are painted in different colors in such a way as to replicate the similar multi-colored multi-layer structure of the smartphone body itself. Among other things, this entire structure is also covered with an additional cover on top - a dust jacket made of soft cardboard, which has long been a signature feature of the packaging of modern top-end Lenovo smartphones. In general, the Lenovo Vibe X2 box is beautiful and unusual, complex in structure, and due to its design, it is a logical continuation of the “multi-layered” style that the developers chose for their new smartphone.
Inside the drawers, in several compartments, there is a standard set of accessories: a universal charger (5 V, 1.5 A), a Micro-USB connecting cable, as well as a wired stereo headset with a flat, tangle-free wire and vacuum-type rubber ear pads. But that is not all. A special sticker pasted on the outside of the box forces you to dig deeper into the numerous compartments in search of additional “goodies.” Even despite the low cost, Lenovo was not greedy in equipping its stylish product with additional protective accessories: in one of the cardboard boxes with documentation, a plastic case and a film for the screen were unexpectedly discovered. The case is so transparent that it remains almost invisible when put on the smartphone, and does not in the least obscure the unusual bright design of the device itself. The key for removing the SIM card is traditionally attached to the wall of a cardboard box with paper documentation.
In general, the Lenovo Vibe X2 packaging and its contents are presented so aesthetically that they immediately create the most favorable mood for further acquaintance with the product.
Appearance and ease of use
The design of the new product is completely different from any of the previous Lenovo devices. The smartphone has an unusual image, the body seems to be assembled from several layers. Moreover, these layers have different colors, varying depending on the main color of the case, which is determined by the color of the back wall.
That is, if we are talking about a gray body, then various shades of gray prevail in these layers, in golden layers there are shades of red and pink, in red layers burgundy stripes are visible, and so on. In total, several different color options have been launched into production, but deliveries of three of them are planned for the Russian market: gray, red and golden (this color is shown in our photographs).
Such an unusual find in design significantly affects the perception of the device, making it much more interesting and attractive, because in general there is absolutely nothing unusual in the structure or materials of the Lenovo Vibe X2 case.
The body is made not of metal, but of plastic, and in shape it is a completely ordinary “plank” with straight edges, flat surfaces and fairly sharp edges. Due to its not very large dimensions and thin thickness, the smartphone can be carried quite comfortably even in a trouser pocket.
The size of the device is really very small; for a large five-inch display, the dimensions of the device are almost record-breaking. The weight is also significantly less than most modern large-diagonal models, and due to the matte surfaces, the smartphone fits perfectly in the hand, does not slip and does not collect fingerprints.
Since the case has a monolithic, non-separable structure, the appropriate method for installing the SIM card is used here: the card slides into the side slot on a metal slide, to remove which you need to use the supplied key-clip. The device supports working with one SIM card in Micro-SIM format, but there are rumors that there is also a modification of the smartphone with two SIM cards; this option is simply not provided for our market.
The camera module and a single LED flash are embedded flush with the surface of the back cover, none of the elements protrude outward. The camera window is framed by a metal ring; the flash can act as a flashlight using a built-in program.
At the bottom of the back cover there is a speaker grille made in the form of an array of small round holes. When the phone is placed on a hard surface, the sound is almost completely blocked due to the absence of any protrusions on the back of the case.
Nearby you can see an open group of contacts for connecting accessories, such as a case with an additional battery. This case is made in the same style as the mentioned protective kit, its walls are the same transparent, so as not to cover the most important advantage of the case - its multi-layered appearance. It turns out that the additional battery adds another layer at the back, which generally fits into the unified concept of this typesetting design; in this regard, the developers thought through everything well.
The front part of the case is completely covered with flat protective glass Gorilla Glass. In the upper part of the glass there is a slot cut out for the painted metal grille of the speaker; the eyes of the sensors and the front camera are visible nearby. In the right corner there is an LED status indicator, shining with a small dim dot and signaling the charging status and incoming messages. There is a special item in the settings menu to regulate the indicator’s operation.
The touch buttons at the bottom of the front panel have a dim white backlight with an adjustable glow time; there is also a special item for this in the settings.
Both mechanical control buttons are located on the same right side. The power button and volume key are made of metal, they are not streamlined, have sharp edges and straight edges, and are quite easy to find blindly. The keys are not very pleasant to the touch, and their travel is also quite short and hard.
At the bottom end there is a universal Micro-USB connector, next to the main microphone hole. Unfortunately, the mode for connecting external devices to the USB port (OTG) is not supported here.
The universal 3.5 mm headphone output jack is located alone at the top end; there are no other elements here. The connectors of the device are not covered with plugs, and there are no fastenings for the strap on the case. The device does not receive protection from water and dust, nor does it support wireless charging.
Screen
Lenovo Vibe X2 is equipped with an IPS touch matrix protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The screen dimensions are 62x110 mm, 5-inch diagonal, resolution - 1920x1080 pixels (Full HD). Accordingly, the dot density reaches 440 ppi - this is a very high, although not a record figure.
The thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the body is about 3 mm, the top and bottom are about 15 mm. The frames are narrow, the developers managed to fit a large five-inch display into fairly comfortable dimensions of the case.
The display brightness can be adjusted manually, or you can use automatic adjustment. Multi-touch technology here allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches. When you bring the smartphone to your ear, the screen is locked using a proximity sensor. The screen, among other things, can be activated by double tapping the glass; additional protection is provided against accidental unlocking in a pocket or bag.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Lenovo Vibe X2, then they can be distinguished by size):
The Lenovo Vibe X2's screen is slightly darker (brightness according to photographs is 99 versus 102 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Lenovo Vibe X2 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, maybe a little worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.
With manual brightness control and when the white field was displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 435 cd/m², the minimum was 5.8 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors could be at a good level, but, unfortunately, this is not the case, why - see below. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (located to the right of the front camera). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In complete darkness, the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 14 cd/m² (a bit dark, but you can read), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) it is set to 140 cd/m² (suitable), in a very bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases almost to the maximum - up to 420 cd/m². As a result, the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately. Additionally, in the screen settings you can enable the high brightness mode, in this case we got about 610 cd/m². At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering.
This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Lenovo Vibe X2 and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m² (across the white field in the entire screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:
The uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field is average, since towards the bottom of the screen (to the right in the photo above) the brightness increases significantly. And a test picture (here the brightness of the Lenovo Vibe X2 screen had to be adjusted to visually match the brightness of the Nexus 7):
Color reproduction is good and colors are rich on both screens. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but the contrast on the Lenovo Vibe X2 has decreased to a greater extent due to greater black brightening and a decrease in brightness. And a white field:
The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Lenovo Vibe X2 the drop in brightness is slightly greater. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a slight purple or red-violet tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is approximately the same!):
And from another angle:
When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is not ideal; closer to the buttons, where the backlight LEDs are apparently located, the black color is noticeably brightened:
The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is good - about 860:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 15 ms (9 ms on + 6 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 21 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 3.06, which is significantly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates very strongly from the power-law dependence:
Due to the dynamic and very aggressive adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the output image (in dark areas the brightness decreases), the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output of shades of gray almost in full screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. In general, this non-disabled brightness correction does nothing but harm, since constantly changing the screen brightness can at least cause some discomfort and reduce the visibility of gradations in the shadows in the case of dark images. In this case, the manufacturer has surpassed all others, since this dynamic adjustment, when displaying any image other than a white field on the entire screen, significantly reduces the brightness, which significantly reduces the readability of the screen in bright light.
The color gamut from a practical point of view is equal to sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:
As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is slightly higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
In this smartphone, in the screen settings it is possible to select a high brightness mode, set the option Extended outdoor mode(but there is no noticeable effect from it on the street as well), turn on some Adaptive mode, in which increasing the yellowness of the screen supposedly reduces eye fatigue, and also switch to manual mode, in which you can adjust the color tone, saturation (color contrast) and simply contrast. An example of what we got when we tried to adjust the color balance is shown in the graphs above in the form of dependencies labeled as Corr. After the correction, the color balance improved slightly, but not significantly. There is no particular need to interfere.
Let's summarize. Formally, the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness (even without additional amplification) and has good anti-glare properties. However, dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness greatly reduces the brightness when displaying any image other than a full-screen white field, which significantly reduces readability in conditions with bright ambient lighting. The high-brightness mode helps somewhat, but it will have to be turned on manually. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately, but does not compensate for the above-mentioned features. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of flicker and air gaps in the layers of the screen, as well as the sRGB color gamut and good color balance. Significant disadvantages include, first of all, the extremely aggressive non-switchable dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness and the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. Both of these shortcomings (especially the first) no longer allow us to assign the screen a “high quality” rating - it is, in the end, average.
Sound
The Lenovo Vibe X2 has only one main speaker; it produces a fairly loud and ringing sound, clear throughout the entire spectrum, but practically devoid of low frequencies. The sound output grille here is cut into the back wall, so the sound is significantly muffled when the device is lying on the table. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable.
To play music, there is only a standard Google Music player with a minimum number of settings in the form of preset equalizer values.
An FM radio is included as standard with the smartphone, and there is also a voice recorder. The device can also record telephone conversations from the line; to do this, just press a special button in the telephone application interface right during a call.
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Camera
Lenovo Vibe X2 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. The front 5-megapixel camera has a fixed focus, pictures are taken in size 2560x1920. You can initiate taking a “selfie” here in various ways: using gestures, voice commands and even blinking your eyes, but simply pressing the hardware sound key cannot release the shutter of the front camera, and this is one of the most convenient ways. In the settings, it is possible to assign shooting to this hardware key, but this only works in the case of the rear camera.
The main rear camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel module with f/2.2 aperture, autofocus and a single LED flash. There is no optical stabilization here, just as there is no ability to shoot 4K video or at 60 fps. The camera's capabilities are quite simple, although in good lighting it takes quite tolerable quality pictures.
The camera control menu is also very simple in its capabilities and interface. In addition to the regular shooting mode, there is a panoramic and HDR mode, plus you can use some additional effects.
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The camera can shoot video in the maximum Full HD resolution (1920×1080, 30 fps). An example of a test video is presented below.
- Video No. 1 (84 MB, 1920×1080, 30 fps)
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The camera copes well with shooting text. |
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The camera does macro photography well, but fine details are lost in the noise. |
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The field and plane sharpness is quite good. |
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Quite large areas of out of focus can be seen at the bottom and left of the frame. |
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The camera handles close-ups well, although the noise reduction could have been softer. |
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Bad shots also happen. Judging by the relatively short shutter speed, the autofocus was wrong. |
The camera turned out to be not outstanding at all, especially for its 13 megapixels. The sensor may not be so weak, but the noise reduction still processes it quite roughly, which is why details are lost, especially in the shadows, even in weak ones. Sometimes failures occur in the form of large areas of blur or autofocus errors. However, in most cases the pictures come out good. The sharpness in shots is good and decreases quite smoothly, and in good lighting it will probably be even better. In general, the camera does not do too bad and is quite suitable for documentary shooting.
Telephone and communications
The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also supports fourth generation LTE networks. In practice, with a SIM card from the domestic operator MTS, the smartphone confidently recognizes and works with 4G networks. The network capabilities of the smartphone are not the richest, but they meet the minimum modern requirements: there is support for Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, both bands (2.4/5 GHz), as well as Bluetooth 3.0 + 4.1 LE. Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Display are supported; as a standard, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. At home, with the Asus RT-N16 router as an access point, the hero of the review demonstrated a connection speed of 48 Mbit/s. There is no NFC, and there is no support for USB OTG mode either. The navigation module works with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system, the speed of the module is not satisfactory.
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OS and software
The device uses the Google Android software platform version 4.4.2 as a system with a graphical user interface installed on top of it called Lenovo Vibe UI. Externally, the shell looks neat, but, traditionally for Lenovo, it is somehow clumsy and therefore unstylish, there are too many different colors. Application icons are flat, there is no separate menu for them - all icons are immediately placed on desktops mixed with widgets.
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The settings menu is divided into two sections: one contains most of the usual system settings, and the second is devoted to specific ones, such as working with gestures, various modes (“in the pocket”, “in the hands”), as well as settings for the proprietary button called Smart Menu . Smart Menu creates a virtual button placed at any edge of the screen. By clicking on this button, a quick access menu to the main functions of the smartphone opens, a set of which can be specified by the user.
Of course, there is no opportunity to reduce the size of the desktop and bring the keyboard closer to the edge - a five-inch screen is no longer considered in the modern world as something out of the ordinary and requires adapting the interface for “one-handed” control.
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One thing can be said about pre-installed programs: there are too many of them; This is perhaps one of the disadvantages of Lenovo mobile devices. All this huge number of applications, sorted into numerous folders, consists of completely free, publicly available programs that, if desired, any user can download from the Play Store - but only those that he really needs. It also comes pre-installed with a full set of Yandex mobile applications (free and mostly duplicating Google’s branded applications) and, of course, a full set of clients for the most popular social networks, as well as several games. Branded utility applications have the same endings, they are easy to recognize and guess their purpose by their names: ShareIt, SyncIt, SnapIt Camera, SeeIt Gallery, CloneIt. Security tools are united by the Security program, which includes an antivirus, spam filter, anti-theft program, various data protection modes, parental controls and even the ability to optimize hardware operation.
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Performance
The Lenovo Vibe X2 hardware platform is based on the latest Mediatek MT6595m single-chip system (SoC), in which 4 powerful Cortex-A17 cores (2.0 GHz) are adjacent to 4 Cortex-A7 cores (1.7 GHz), less productive, but also more economical. The operation of the new SoC is based on the big.LITTLE principle, while the previous eight-core Mediatek platform had eight low-power equivalent ARM Cortex-A7 cores. The MT6595m is capable of demonstrating the highest performance to date, in which it can compete with the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 801.
Graphics processing in the smartphone is handled by the new PowerVR G6200 GPU video accelerator with 2 cores with a frequency of up to 450 MHz. This is the main difference between the graphics subsystem of the simplified SoC Mediatek MT6595m in comparison with the full Mediatek MT6595, which runs the Meizu MX4. That, in addition to a higher maximum operating frequency of processor cores (up to 2.2 GHz), also has a higher frequency of graphics cores (up to 600 MHz). So it is not surprising that in all test programs, both complex and graphic, the full-fledged Meizu MX4 (MT6595) platform demonstrates better results than the Lenovo Vibe X2 (MT6595m) platform.
The amount of RAM in the Lenovo Vibe X2 is 2 GB, and about 23 GB of the nominally designated 32 GB of internal memory is available for the user’s needs in the device. The amount of internal memory cannot be increased using microSD cards; the smartphone does not support memory cards. Also, you cannot connect external flash drives to the Micro-USB port using a special adapter in OTG mode. That is, the amount of built-in memory is finite, and it cannot be expanded by any means.
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According to the results of testing in benchmarks, a smartphone on the new Mediatek platform showed itself to be one of the most powerful and productive modern mobile devices at the moment, coming very close, and in some ways even ahead of the top solutions of the generally recognized market leaders based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801. What is gratifying is that and the new graphics subsystem here is also the most powerful; in game tests it demonstrates not exorbitant, but maximum figures, almost at the level of Adreno 330, although, of course, it is slightly inferior to the latter. Finally, the Chinese have made a truly powerful platform of a decent level, all that remains is to understand how economical it remains at the same time - after all, the previous eight-core MTK 6592 showed very disastrous results in this regard. Currently there are only a few models on the market based on the new platform (Lenovo Vibe X2, Meizu MX4 and Zopo 999), but next season we can expect a large influx of new products based on this SoC.
Testing in the latest versions of comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:
For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.
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Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark game tests,GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:
When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).
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Browser cross-platform tests:
As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.
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Playing video
To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.
According to the testing results, the subject was not provided with full support for all the necessary decoders, in this case, audio ones. To fully play most of the most common files on the network, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, even in it you will first have to change the settings, switching from hardware decoding to software or to a new mode called Hardware+(not supported by all smartphones).
| Format | Container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Standard video player |
| DVDRip | AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
| Web-DL SD | AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
| Web-DL HD | MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3 | Hardware+ | |
| BDRip 720p | MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3 | plays fine with decoder Hardware+ | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ |
| BDRip 1080p | MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3 | plays fine with decoder Hardware+ | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ |
¹ MX Video Player only played sound after switching to software decoding or a new mode Hardware+; The standard player does not have this setting
Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.
We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p
Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.
According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. The smartphone can even display files with a resolution of 4K up to 30 fps inclusive. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - almost all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights (the hue difference in shadows and highlights can be ignored) - which is what is required for correct playback of typical video files.
Battery life
Lenovo Vibe X2 does not have the largest battery on the modern mobile market - 2300 mAh. The problem is that the body of the smartphone is too thin to accommodate a larger battery, so you have to make do with what you have if you want a sleek, thin smartphone. The new powerful hardware platform on which the hero of the review is based also makes its own adjustments: the smartphone, as expected, turned out to be quite power-hungry, in active mode its charge will last for half a day, in normal mode - for a day, no more. At the same time, quite strange differences in the stability of energy consumption are observed. For example, while showing quite average figures for battery life in reading and 3D gaming modes, the device demonstrated completely disastrous results when playing a 720p video over a home Wi-Fi network using a third-party application - the MX player. Obviously, we are talking about poor optimization here, and perhaps with the release of new firmware something will change for the better, but for now that’s it.
| Battery capacity | Reading mode | Video mode | 3D Game Mode | |
| Lenovo Vibe X2 | 2300 mAh | 13:00 | 6:00 am | 3 hours 15 minutes |
| Meizu MX4 | 3100 mAh | 12:00 pm | 8 hours 40 minutes | 3 hours 45 minutes |
| TCL Idol X+ | 2500 mAh | 12:30 pm | 7:20 am | 3:00 am |
| Sony Xperia Z3 | 3100 mAh | 20:00 | 10:00 am | 4 hours 50 minutes |
| HTC One M8 | 2600 mAh | 22:10 | 13:20 | 3 hours 20 minutes |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | 2800 mAh | 17:20 | 12:30 pm | 4 hours 30 minutes |
| TCL Idol X+ | 2500 mAh | 12:30 pm | 7:20 am | 3:00 am |
| Lenovo Vibe Z | 3050 mAh | 11:45 am | 8:00 am | 3 hours 30 minutes |
Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted almost 13 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level through the home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 6 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone worked for more than 3 hours.
The smartphone charges quite quickly - fully charging the battery lasts about 2 hours.
Bottom line
To summarize the Lenovo Vibe X2 review is very simple: a new smartphone with basic characteristics that are not inferior to the flagship, organized on the latest top-end platform and offered at the same time at the price of a product for the mass market, which it is, is more than worthy of the closest attention of users. Yes, the device does not have some functions and properties, without which it cannot be called a true flagship, but it was not intended to be one. Lenovo Vibe X2 is aimed at mass demand and is offered at an interesting price, while it can offer the most productive system, attractive design, high-quality build, decent screen and camera, LTE support and even expanded equipment. You can probably find fault with some little things like the lack of NFC and USB OTG, but for most users this is not yet a critical drawback. At the same time, all the main parameters of the new product are at a decent level, the smartphone turned out to be very interesting, and given the fact that Lenovo has now “frozen” prices in rubles at least until the end of the year, it turns out that we now have one of the most favorable prices in Europe. Keeping in mind the attractive design of this well-coordinated mobile device and the simply luxurious packaging in which it is delivered to stores, the Lenovo Vibe X2 could be an interesting choice as a gift for the New Year holidays.
Lenovo began its journey in the smartphone market by releasing models that focused on affordability. Today, having already become a prominent player, Lenovo is beginning to explore new opportunities to expand its share, gradually adding more expensive models to its smartphone portfolio. We received the Lenovo Vibe X2 for review, which the company tried to highlight not so much through its characteristics as through its unusual design. Let's see if Lenovo managed to create a smartphone that may be interesting not only in price and characteristics, but also in appearance.
Equipment
The smartphone comes in a box made in several colors, and even it tells us that what awaits us inside is not quite a simple phone. In order to open the box there is a special loop, pulling which opens access to the upper compartment.
It contains the device itself, paper documentation, a paper clip for opening the SIM card slot, a bumper made of transparent plastic and a protective film for the screen. The lower compartment contains a vacuum headset, a microUSB cable and a 1.5 A power supply. As you can see, the kit is more than good.
Appearance and ease of use
The dimensions of the smartphone body cannot be called small, as it is equipped with a 5-inch screen. The dimensions of the device are 140.2x68.6x7.27 mm, and the weight is only 120 grams.
| Dimensions comparison | ||||
| Parameter/Device | Lenovo Vibe X2 | |||
| Screen, diagonal | 5” | 5" | 4.95″ | 5" |
| Battery, mA*h | 2300 | 2600 | 2300 | 2500 |
| Length, mm | 140,2 | 136,6 | 137,8 | 139,8 |
| Width, mm | 68,6 | 69,8 | 69,2 | 68,8 |
| Thickness, mm | 7,27 | 7,9 | 8,6 | 6,5 |
| Weight, g | 120 | 130 | 130 | 124 |
The main feature of the smartphone is its multilayer body. That's where we'll start. When looking at the side panel in any color of the Vibe X2, a gradient consisting of three colors is clearly visible (not counting the dark display frame). This is what makes the appearance of the device unusual. It's worth noting that these are actually individual layers and not a painted solid plastic insert.
We received a gold color option for review, but it’s worth remembering that there are two more – red and white.
Otherwise, everything is familiar - the front side is covered with protective glass. At the top there is an earpiece, proximity and light sensors, a 5 MP front camera lens and a missed events LED. At the bottom are backlit hardware touch keys.
On the right side there is a volume control and power key, and on the left there is a slot for a SIM card in microSIM format. There is a 3.5 mm audio jack at the top, and a microphone and microUSB connector at the bottom.
On the back side there is a 13 MP main camera lens with a flash, an additional microphone, a manufacturer’s logo, a multimedia speaker and contacts for accessories.
Accessories include a removable battery, which doubles the capacity and adds only 5.1 mm to the thickness, and a two-channel JBL Hi-Fi speaker, which in turn increases the thickness by 8.3 mm, and connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth.
If we talk about workmanship, then in this regard the smartphone shows itself very well, not least because of the non-separable body. The only thing I didn't like was that the mechanical keys have some play. The smartphone came to us after several colleagues in the workshop and this is very noticeable.
The screen, despite the use of protective glass, is already covered with small scratches, and the back side also does not look the same as on the new device, so for those who like to preserve the appearance of the device, it is worth using the included screen protection film and a transparent case.
The location of the mechanical keys is very convenient. Everything is located where you would expect to find it. The ease of use is affected by rather sharp corners, but this is all a matter of habit. After a few days you don’t notice any discomfort at all.
Operating system and shell
The smartphone runs Android 4.4 paired with the proprietary Lenovo Launcher v6 shell. The appearance of the shell is already well known to us from the company’s previous devices that we tested. Let's just say that the device works very quickly, and the shell has many settings and interesting functions that can satisfy any user.
Hardware platform
Lenovo Vibe X2 is powered by an 8-core MediaTek MT6595m processor, which consists of four ARM Cortex-A17 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz and four ARM Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz. As a result, we get a typical solution made using ARM big.LITTLE technology. It is worth noting that the index “m” at the end of the processor name indicates that this is the weakest configuration of the MT6595 processor, which is characterized by lower frequencies. The video adapter is PowerVR 6200 operating at 450 MHz. The RAM capacity is 2 GB, of which about 1.1 GB is available during normal use. The built-in memory is 32 GB, but the user has about 26 GB left and all of it is available for installing applications.
The competitor to this processor is Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (8974AC). I agree that there is much more trust in Qualcomm processors, but benchmark results and real impressions of a device with a MediaTek MT6595 processor indicate that there is no reason for mistrust.
The device's performance is more than enough for smooth operation of the interface and launching demanding games. For example, the well-known game Real Racing 3 runs at maximum settings without any drop in fps. The rest of the games are also easy to launch, but it is worth considering that when using the smartphone for a long time under high loads, its body heats up.
Wi-Fi and GPS work without problems. Data transfer occurs as quickly as possible, and the speed of searching for satellites no longer raises any questions. The voice speaker quality is not the best. At maximum volume the sound becomes harsh and squeaky. But the sound quality of the multimedia speaker is quite good, but everything is spoiled by its location on the rear side. If you put the smartphone on the table, the speaker is completely blocked, which greatly muffles the sound, making it easy to miss a call. The vibration quality is good, but you shouldn't rely on it alone. Those who like to listen to music on headphones will appreciate the sound, because it is really good.
We were unable to check the support of video codecs by the built-in player using AnTuTu Video Tester, so we used the old method. As a result, we can conclude that the phone easily copes with all popular video codecs.
| Codec/Name | FinalDestination5.mp4 | Neudergimie.2.mkv | UltraHD4K.mp4 | Spartacus.mkv | ParallelUniverse.avi |
| Video | MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920×798 29.99fps | MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920×816 23.98fps | MPEG4 Video (H264) 3840×2160 29.92fps, 19.4 Mbit/s | MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280×720 29.97fps | MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280×536 24.00fps 2726kbps |
| Audio | AAC 48000Hz stereo 96kbps | MPEG Audio Layer 3 44100Hz stereo | AAC 44100Hz stereo 124kbps | Dolby AC3 44100Hz stereo | MPEG Audio Layer 3 44100Hz stereo 256kbps |
| Built-in Player | FinalDestination5.mp4 | Neudergimie.2.mkv | UltraHD4K.mp4 | Spartacus.mkv | ParallelUniverse.avi |
| Video | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Autonomy
The capacity of the built-in battery is only 2300 mAh. Despite this, with moderate use it can last a day with data transfer and automatic brightness turned on. If we limit ourselves to the basic capabilities, then we can count on two days of battery life with 4 hours of active screen and always-on data transfer. If this is not enough, then there is an “Emergency mode”, in which only calls and SMS messages are available. Naturally, if you use your smartphone to the maximum – play heavy games and watch videos – then be prepared to charge your device in the evening.
Display
The smartphone is equipped with a 5-inch IPS screen with Full HD resolution. There is an oleophobic coating, making fingerprints easily erased. The pixel density is 441 per inch.
In sunny weather, the software's ability to increase brightness and contrast is a great help. Thanks to them, the information on the screen remains visible even in direct sunlight. The automatic brightness adjustment sensor behaves adequately, smoothly adjusting the brightness when it is really necessary, without increasing or decreasing it.
One of the features of the smartphone is advanced screen settings. In addition to the standard mode, there is also an adaptive mode, a high-brightness mode, a customizable and an advanced outdoor mode. In custom mode, you can adjust hue and saturation.
The results of screen measurements showed the following: the maximum screen brightness is 373 cd/m² in normal mode and 564 cd/m² in high-brightness mode, the minimum value is 5.3 cd/m² in normal mode and 13.7 cd/m² in increased brightness, display contrast is 1:792 in normal mode. As can be seen from the results, it is not surprising that even in sunny weather the information on the display is easily visible.
Checking the screen calibration shows us that the display's color gamut is significantly larger than sRGB. Green and red colors are shifted towards warmer shades. The color temperature graph really pleased with the minimal deviation from the reference value. This is extremely rare. But the gamma curve didn’t work out at all. The graph shows a significant jump.
The result is a very good, I would even say correct, display. It incorporates both the correct temperature and high brightness levels. For those who like to read at night, the screen will also not seem bright.
Cameras
The smartphone is equipped with two cameras - a 5 MP front camera and a 13 MP main camera. The video recording capabilities are quite wide - the main camera records in Full HD resolution, and the front camera records in HD. If the front one is a completely ordinary camera with a fixed focal length, which is useful for selfie lovers or for communicating via Skype, then the main one is much more interesting. There are manual settings for contrast, saturation, sharpness, exposure and others.
The quality of the photos themselves is not the best, but good. In general, detail is smooth throughout the entire frame, and noise reduction works correctly. Even at night the pictures come out good. However, you can see this for yourself.
Example of pictures taken with the front camera:
Example of pictures taken with the main camera:
Video recording example:
Results
Lenovo VIBE X2 is a smartphone that can stand out with its unusual appearance. Among its advantages, it is worth highlighting a high-quality and lightweight body, efficient hardware, an excellent screen and a good camera. But among the shortcomings are the poorly thought-out placement of the multimedia speaker and modest battery life. But don't think that everything is so simple. At a cost of 5999 UAH, it has a lot of competitors. Among them are both last year’s flagships, which have not lost their attractiveness, and new devices. And here the choice for the buyer will truly become very difficult, but even among all this diversity, the hero of the review is not lost precisely because of his appearance.
Liked:
Appearance
Performance
Lenovo Vibe X2 with case
Screen
The Vibe X2 has a 5-inch screen on an IPS matrix with Full HD resolution (1080x1920 pixels). There are no problems with the saturation and naturalness of colors. The range of brightness levels is also good, but the automatic backlight adjustment is too aggressive. It tries to increase dynamic contrast, but does a disservice: even not too dark images become almost unreadable under bright sunlight. You can turn on high brightness mode in the settings menu, but this noticeably affects battery life.
There is no air gap between the matrix and the protective glass - this design reduces reflections and increases brightness. But this solution has one big drawback: non-repairability. The larger the screen, the easier it is to break or at least scratch it. In the case of a conventional “air” design, the device can simply replace the protective glass with a touch layer. If you accidentally drop the Vibe X2, you will have to replace the entire display module along with the matrix, and this is several times more expensive.
In the dark, an unpleasant effect appears when the bottom of the screen is illuminated by LEDs under the touch keys - an obvious mistake by the designers.