A cool phone from a renowned manufacturer with four cameras and powerful hardware, plus Xiaomi's price.

Introductory

Nowadays, we're measuring everything for Xiaomi when it comes to phone. Xiaomi cheap, Xiaomi good, Xiaomi beautiful, Xiaomi come to my elbows. Of course, I like their phones, but not that until a few years ago, it was Xiaomi to take the lead instead of Samsung, nowadays it is no longer a zero craft, but I see the Xiaomi flowing from the tap. I'll say it once again, not unworthily, but it is worth at least a little to set them aside and see what the competition offers. Because there are some interesting and great-looking mobile phones on the other side. I am not thinking of the Apple-Samsung-Huawei axis, but the manufacturers who have already gained their reputation, but not the top class, but their middle and low-end solutions.

Well, Lenovo is just like that. A well-known name, though, is not very polite at the summit or, if so, at a price you may not buy. However, in recent months, Lenovo has released several phones that I have picked up on my head. The hardware on paper is very fine, there is no problem with the price, the images show that the outside is completely competitive. For example, with Xiaomi amongst the same category of phones equipped with the same hardware, the price included a minimum of 15-30 percent in favor of Lenovo, which is a price-sensitive market such as the domestic one, which can be a strong argument to put our vote alongside Lenovo.

I decided to try my life, my death, Lenovo. I had such a brand phone, I loved it. Now there's Lenovo in the family, it's a bit old-fashioned, it should be replaced. He followed the thought, ordered the middle of the three phones mentioned above, because it would be a good gift, and I finally get the big question: Take Lenovo instead of Xiaomi.

External

If I had to say in the headlines what the phone was, then I would say that it was clear, simple frills. That's what I've said about it.

Lenovo K5 Pro follows the classic design from the front and the back. The thickness of the 8 millimeter is given by the manufacturer, but it feels much thinner, almost filigree because of the curved backside and the rounded glass. The side panels 15,6 and 7,5 are centije the usual for these six-inch phones. Since the phone has not been loaded with such striking but useless things as the glass backboard has a low weight, only the balance is 165 grams.

On the front and bottom of the front 8-8 millimeter is the sash, the physical buttons are of course not. The side of the frame is almost invisible, especially because the edge of the Gorilla Glass glass above the display is bent so the glass fits well behind the rim. For this phone, I dare to use the classic flag because there is no notch in the display, the cameras, sensors and the speaker in the usual 8 millimeter band. I like this like this, but of course if someone's notch is your favorite then you won't love it.

The backsheet is metal, slightly matted if it is slightly but it collects fingerprints. Of course, it is likely that everyone will take it back quickly, so this will not be a problem. The fingerprint reader is the usual place on the middle axis of the backside, at the edge of the upper quarter, I find it convenient, I never had to look. Cameras from the back side, on the left, live in a row, separate from the camera unit, below the LED flash.

The usual things on the edges, the power button on the right, the volume control on the other side, the SIM card and the memory card tray on the other side, and the USB Type-C socket on the bottom and the mono speaker on one side and a traditional three and a half jack. headphone output.

Lenovo K5 Pro - The Hardware

Processor

The phone features the popular Qualcomm manufactured Snapdragon 636 chip. This was officially announced by the manufacturer at the end of the 2017 year, and the phone companies once received the first shipments in November, and the first phones built on it were released in the first quarter of 2018. We can say that this is a relatively recent development. Qualcomm essentially "scissors" the tile from two other central units. The LTE modem, the Hexagon 660 DSP, and the Spectra 160 ISP from the weaker Snapdragon 630, while the processor came from the stronger Snapdragon 660. It's not a coincidence, because Qualcomm was trying to fill the gap between the two solutions, and that was a complete success.

Snapdragon 636 has recently been built on popular phones such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro and Xiaomi Mi MAX 3, Huawei Honor 8x MAX, Sony Xperia 10 or ASUS Zenfone 5, or the Lenovo K5 Pro currently being tested. .

The processor works with 8 core, divided into two groups. The bottom and upper cluster 4-4 core are Kyro 260 types, with the difference between the two quads in the clock. For lower-power programs, the lower cluster works, with a maximum clock speed of 1,6 GHz, while spinning the phone with more serious programs will turn on the top 4 core, which can work up to 1,8 GHz. The central tile is built with state-of-the-art 14 nanometer manufacturing technology, of course 64 bits and supports the ARMv8 instruction set.

Integrated into Snapdragon 636, we find the GPU, the graphics accelerator, next to the processor. This is the Adreno 509 solution that supports more essential APIs, so you get everything from DirectX12 to Vulcan to OpenGL ES 3.2.

The Snapdragon memory controller is two-channel. Depending on the deployment, Lenovo K5 Pro hangs 4 or 6 GB LPDDRX memory, which can be clocked up to 1333 MHz.

You can also choose from two versions of the mass storage device that look for the Lenovo K6 Pro phone. The device on my device has a storage space of 64 GB, but there is also a more expensive version where the manufacturer installs 128 GB. The storage space can of course be expanded with a memory card, which can be up to 256 GB.

Display

The Lenovo phone comes with a classic 6 inch display. The IPS panel solution has an 2: 1 aspect ratio and a resolution of FHD +, that is 1080 x 2160 pixels. The pixel density, like any other display with this feature, is 403 ppi, which is really good. From the aspect ratio and resolution, the more skilled people already see that we need to look for unnecessary notch, that is, the sensor island that enters the display. Thanks to the Creator, this solution soon went out of fashion, and at Lenovo K5 Pro may not have come.

Although there is no notch, and we can't say that the phone is frameless, the front-panel display ratio is still good, with the panel making up almost 80 percent of the total front panel. What’s more to say about it is that of course it has all the good features of IPS displays. The contrast ratio is 1500: 1, the brightness is 450 cd / m2, and the NTSC color space coverage is 83 percent. These figures don’t say too much, I’ll report a little lower on what I’ve experienced in real life.

Other skills

Before I turn to the exciting theme, the cameras, let's see what skills you have hidden in your phone!

In the field of radios, no one can complain, as we can use the advanced 5.0 version from Bluetooth, and the better version, which also supports the ac standard, has been added from WiFi. The latter also means that in addition to the traditional 2,4 GHz, we can connect to wireless networks in the new 5 GHz band. For navigation, support for GPS and GLONASS satellites has been built into the K5 Pro. These are important capabilities, but perhaps the most important thing for us is that the phone uses the domestic B20 800 MHz LTE band, so we can use the fast 4G mobile net.

The battery built into the phone has a capacity of 4050 mAh, which can be charged via a USB Type-C connector, even with fast charging. According to the manufacturer's data, the 18 watt charger can charge as much energy in 5 minutes as can be used for one hour. This is obviously not an hour-long call, but rather an hour-long average use, most of which is spent in sleep mode by the mobile.

We have the usual bouquet of sensors. There is also a proximity sensor, a light sensor, a compass, a gyroscope, a gravity sensor and an accelerometer, but of course the fingerprint sensor is included in the package.

Kamerák

Nowadays, if you buy a new phone, chances are the camera's capability will be the first in the process. In recent years, we have witnessed tremendous development on this front, so the expectations are great, and sometimes they are too exaggerated. Fortunately, at least on paper, Lenovo will meet the expectations. What you produced during the tests can be seen below, but first see the paper form!

There are four cameras in the Lenovo K5 Pro, and even more surprisingly, the front and back cover, at least according to the available data, provide the same set-up. In practice, this means one 16 megapixel main camera and one 5 megapixel auxiliary camera. The main camera has an average aperture of f / 2.0. Unfortunately, I have found no information from the sensor or lens system manufacturer anywhere. What is certain is that the 5 megapixel sensor next to the main camera only serves as the depth sensor, and naturally, the hardware depth blur.

Of course, the capabilities of the cameras correspond to what is expected today, so we get automatic focus, bursting, digital zoom, panorama, HDR and face recognition. How they work in practice after two chapters turn out!

Hardware tests

As with all mobile devices, I also used four test programs for the measurements. These are PC Mark, 3DMark, Geekench 4 and Antutu. The numbers do not lie, as they say, so the table below shows the results of several tile devices. At the end of the article, I will report on the experience of operation and use.
Let's see the scores!

Camera test

This is the point I was very curious about in advance. This is because Xiaomi's mid-range phones are mostly equipped with really usable cameras, so even though the hardware is based on K5 Pro, it is the same as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro hardware, if the cameras are ashamed, there will be no point in the comparison right away. Well, I'll tell you in advance that there will be no shame!

As with the cameras, we've found a 16 megapixel master camera and an 5 megapixel sub-camera. We get some help with artificial intelligence to make face recognition and depth blur perfect.

Seeing the finished pictures, the satisfaction was the weakest signal I felt. Even though I photographed everything from hand to hand, often during walking, the pictures were almost perfect. No distortion, no barrel effect visible. The images on the edges and corners are not blurry, the edges are pretty straight everywhere and we don't see any cracks anywhere. The colors, as you can see in the pictures below, are very fine, friendly, true-to-life shades everywhere, nowhere too bright or matt, as in reality. The HDR really improves the picture on many cheap phones, turning on a contrasting, but not over-saturated result. After finding the focus, you can also use the slider to adjust the brightness on the screen, so you can try to make the software more clever so that, for example, from a shady spot, the details will not burn in the sun. To be honest, I was not clever about the software, although God was trying my soul, but somehow I always got the best result with the default setting.

What I really liked was the depth of blur that apparently helps with artificial intelligence. When taking pictures, you can activate the function by selecting Dual mode and, after finding the focus, you can use the slider to adjust the blur shown in the background. I note the default mode is cool too, you can take pictures like a lion statue between the test images, where artificial intelligence beautifully distinguished between the front and the back, splitting the picture so finely and in detail that our almost 3 dimensional feel he is attacking him.

The panorama function also worked terribly well. The iron in the phone is strong enough to slide the picture nicely and smoothly as you rotate the phone. There is no stumbling block, uncertainty, and perfect fit at the endpoints, so our round panorama will be almost flawless.

I'd like to highlight the macro function! Sharp, beautiful colors and lots of details. Focusing is perfect, it is beautifully washed to the back. I suggest you look at the picture of the flower tree and see the bee on the flower in real size!

Overall, I am very satisfied with what I expected, with this phone I would be ready to go on holiday, and I would capture important moments with her.

The test pictures, as I wrote up the hand, made it when you zoom in on the photos you sometimes see. However, I thought it would be much closer to real use than I would have used my own Xiaomi tripod's selfibot. All the settings, so the HDR was automatic, the software itself decided whether or not HDR is needed.

Use and experience

Let's start with iron! I've written a lot about the processor and other hardware components. However, one thing the paper says and another is what it feels like when we handle the phone. Well, here's just what we're waiting for. We have a strong mid-range phone that runs smoothly, smoothly, smoothly. It may be natural that, for example, we do not experience errors or jerking when scrolling through icons. More importantly, the processes that are naturally taken, such as the panoramic image above, the exposure or focus, are also fast enough. There's no way to get into this phone in this area.

Perhaps the only thing that is not red is just the pink point of the fingerprint reader. The speed of unlocking, if not fast, but appropriate for the category. What is not perfect, however, is to scan a relatively small area when the fingerprint is stored, so that a fingerprint is not a good part of the sensor, so it did not release the screen lock.

The outside, at least according to my taste, hit me well. Nothing frills, light, thin but not slippery. The buttons are in the right place, their pressure points are perfect, there is no question whether you have hit or not.

The IPS display is as good as it is. Of course, it is not possible to mention an AMOLED panel on one page, but it is not a free, completely different category. The main thing is that the colors are nice, the blacks are good, the contrast is very good, as are the viewing angles, but these are all the characteristics of the IPS display. What's even more important is backlighting. Luckily, this phone has no problem with this phone. Stapling in the sun, if the sun is on the display, we need to lighten our eyes a little, but still be used, and in other circumstances it is flawless.

Frankly, I don't like phones with notch. For me, either a mobile or a traditional look, or if it is very expensive, is completely frameless. Okay, the new drop-shaped notch is no longer as confusing as probably the Samsung's holes in the display, but let's forget about the iPhone X solutions. That's why Lenovo K5 Pro likes it. He doesn't want to look more like that. A strong mid-range mid-range phone.

I've written about the camera, I don't want to repeat it. Of course not a Mate 20 Pro, not a Xiaomi What is 9, but even a MIX 3, but it doesn't cost as much. In fact, if we keep the price down one third of the listed phones, it offers a fairly good result. There is no need to admire this, look at the pictures and judgments.

Summary

The starting point for the whole article was whether it was worth thinking of a Lenovo phone against an Xiaomi. If we look at hardware, at least the core elements of iron, then Lenovo K5 Pro and Redmire Xiaomi Note Pro 6 they originate from a dagger, so most of their abilities are the same. There is a difference in cameras, as both phones have a 4 camera, a stronger 6 megapixel master camera from Redmi Note 20 Pro, but a weaker 2 megapixel camera, while Lenovo has a 16 + 5 megapixel pair. On the back, however, K5 Pro is clearly stronger, because while Xiaomi can work with an 12 + 5 megapixel pair, Lenovo can operate with 16 + 5 megapixels.

The price. I order my phones from a store, so I compare prices there. When I ordered the Lenovo K5 Pro I bought a $ 155, which is roughly 45 thousands at today's exchange rate. In contrast, one Redmire Xiaomi Note Pro 6 With 4 GB memory and 64 GB mass storage, it costs roughly 56 thousands. This is a huge, roughly 20 percentage difference for Lenovo. In no way does it make any difference to me, especially because I get the Lenovo S5 Pro for that much money, which does not have 4 but 6 GB memory, and its cameras are serious because of an 20 + 8 megapixel front and back we've got a 20 + 12 megapixel solution.

So the point is that for me, no matter how much I like Xiaomit, the brand name doesn't make such a difference, especially now that there is a coupon for Lenovo K5 Pro, which can reduce its price up to $ 149,99. So it's a good decision now for Lenovo, because according to the attached tests, with a strong hardware, according to the attached test photos, it is a mobile camera blessed with a good camera.

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