Lenovo

Lenovo Vibe X3 Review : Truly winner phone

07:18:00


Lenovo Vibe X3 detailed specifications
GENERAL
Release date November 2015
Form factor Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm) 154.00 x 76.50 x 9.30
Battery capacity (mAh) 3500
Removable battery No
Colours White
SAR value NA
DISPLAY
Screen size (inches) 5.50
Touchscreen Yes
Resolution 1080x1920 pixels
HARDWARE
Processor 1.2 GHz Hexa-core
Processor make Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
RAM 3GB
Internal storage 32GB
Expandable storage Yes
Expandable storage type microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB) 128
CAMERA
Rear camera 21-megapixel
Flash Yes
Front camera 8-megapixel
SOFTWARE
Operating System Android
CONNECTIVITY
Wi-Fi Yes
Wi-Fi standards supported NA
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes
NFC Yes
Infrared Yes
USB OTG Yes
Headphones 3.5mm
FM Yes
Number of SIMs 2
SIM 1
SIM Type Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA GSM
3G Yes
4G/ LTE Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40) Yes
SIM 2
SIM Type Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA GSM
3G No
4G/ LTE Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40) Yes
SENSORS
Compass/ Magnetometer No
Proximity sensor Yes
Accelerometer Yes
Ambient light sensor Yes
Gyroscope Yes
Barometer Yes
Temperature sensor No


The fastest growing Chinese phone company Lenovo now come with its new smartphone Lenovo Vibe X3 from very hit series of phone that is Vibe series. Saveral phone in this series are already launched targeting different phone for different user such as Vibe P1 packs all feature with large battery, Vibe shot for person who love camera, Vibe S1 for person for whom look is every thing and Vibe K4 note for budget smartphone.
If we look at its price which is Rs19,999 (306$), the phone packs so many brilliant feature and it will give very strong competition to other phone in this price segment. The paper print specifications are also very good. Let’s see weather the phone will stand in our expectations.

Look and Design
Vibe X3 doesn’t look like its preceding phone Vibe X2 which has multicolored body , instead of it has simple plane body and looks like very new smartphone of Lenovo , Vibe K 4 note. Just like the Vibe S1 , the Vibe X3 uses a tough and well-crafted metal frame. We like it’s back cover but one thing we can expect that it contains metal back but it contains plastic back cover. But that’s also impressive. There is actually the black Gorilla Glass 3 extending beyond the screen to encompass the front camera, sensors and status LED on top, and capacitive navigation buttons below.
The power and volume buttons stay on the right. The SIM tray on the left is impressive. The company says that it has Hybrid tray which means you get one slot for the first Nano-SIM but another slot is hybrid in nature which can be used for Nano-SIM or a microSD card. This arrangement forces you to choose between a second line and additional storage which we are never liked but technology is quite impressive.
There's a 3.5mm audio socket on top head of the phone, with a small IR emitter to which remove the loneliness of audio socket. You can use this in conjunction with an included app to control a variety of devices. There's also a standard Micro-USB port on the bottom which interestingly allows you to charge and sync the phone as usual. The present new feature in this Micro -USB port  that is use the Vibe X3 as a power bank to charge other devices.
Coming to the back, we can see the primary 21-megapixel camera and as usual fingerprint sensor right below it. This is also where the phone's NFC radio is located, and Lenovo says that wireless payments will be supported when such services launch in India. You can also see a pretty big Dolby Atmos logo on the bottom. Although the Dolby Atoms logo looks nice but we always hated other logos except company.
The unremovable battery is sealed inside the phone's aluminium unibody. We also noticed a few scratches on the silver chamfered edges after a day or two of careful usage.
The Vibe X3 is 9.3mm thick in the centre but this is masked quite effectively by the curvature of the back. Because of its curved body it fits nicely in a palm, but using it one-handed is literally a stretch. The 175g weight is little heavy. People who are not usual of using heavy phone must feel it during use.
It isn't easy to reach the capacitive buttons on the bottom without feeling like the Vibe X3 will tip over. Amazingly for a phone that isn't scraping the bottom of the budget barrel, the buttons are not backlit. It would have made a lot more sense for Lenovo to have gone with on-screen buttons on this phone. The ergonomics are just not quite as good as we expect of a phone that claims to be its manufacturer's flagship.

Display
The Vibe X3 has a 5.5-inch IPS screen with detailed 1080p resolution. Of paper, we can feel that the screen is very good. On papers the screen looks weaker with 1080p because many other smartphone available in this price range like Yu Yutopia have screen resolution of 1440p. The display of Vibe X3 is sharp. More significantly, it displays excellent colours and has very good viewing angles. Surely you will enjoy watching high quality video and movie. Lenovo says that the Vibe X3 screen has a NTSC colour gamut of 100 per cent. Though we do feel that it's just a number -- phones like the iPhone 6S Plus or the Galaxy S6 have better screens -- the Vibe X3 does trounce its peers on the screen part.
There is a mode called "Super Bright" available in the display settings. My advice is not to switch it when you are in a dark room because it will damage your eyes. It truly, greatly increases the screen brightness. But if you need the screen to be as bright as possible during outdoor use, feel free to use this mode.

Specifications
Lenovo are always known for best value for money phones.  In this sense the lifeline of  Vibe X3 is its processor that is  Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor. We had expected the latest version which is  Snapdragon 810, offering six CPU cores and integrated Adreno 418 graphics. There's also 3GB of RAM which should keep things going on more  smoothly. Here also we had expected 4GB RAM because Vibe K4 note also comes with 3 GB RAM whose price is approximately half of Vibe X3.  The 32GB of storage can be boost up by 128GB if you're willing to forego a second SIM. Our review unit can see only 25 GB of free storage.
You get Cat 6 4G LTE on Indian bands with support for carrier aggregation, if and when that is supported by service providers here. There's also some general specifications like Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth, GPS, and NFC.
One of the most beat thing about of the Vibe X3 has high-end audio credentials. There's a Wolfson 8281 processor with a three-mic array to handle phone conversations, and an ESS Sabre 9018C2M DAC with three TI-OPA1612 OP amps which kicks in when you're playing music or videos. Lenovo also says the 3.5mm audio output is "studio grade" and "lossless".
Lenovo is also promoting its TheaterMax headset, which works with this phone and its brother, the Vibe K4 Note. It sells for Rs. 1,299 extra which is a lot less than most VR headsets will cost. The function of this system is give you a cinematic experience when playing movies - you don't have to have specially prepared content. I don’t understand why Lenovo did not send us a headset along with Vibe X3 .

Software
Just like other small and large China-based phone makers, Lenovo loves its custom user interface in phone. The Vibe X3, comes with Lenovo's Vibe user interface that runs on top of the Android 5.1. But there are some hints that Lenovo's lightening up its user interface compared to what it put in the phones earlier. We were totally shocked with Lollipop, we were expecting Marshmallow. The company had customized its user interface. The user interface of  Vibe X3 similar to the one used by Google in its Nexus phones pre-installed and enabled by default. This means, unlike other Lenovo phones you get the app drawer and a user interface -- for example the multi-tasking cards -- that is somewhat closer to Android. We like this and we are very impressed with this.
As usual Lenovo has preinstalled quite a lot of apps, ranging from its own SHAREit, SYNCit, and Lenovo Companion support app to Evernote, Facebook, Guvera Music, McAfee Security Route 66 Navigate, Shazam, Skype, Step Counter, Truecaller, Twitter, UC Browser, WeChat, and WPS Office. Game Store has some low-quality games that you can play after setting up a profile. Peel Smart Remote ties in to the IR emitter and shows program guides for local TV channels. Maximum smartphone does not allow you to uninstall app but Lenovo has solved this problem. You can uninstall maximum app.

Camera
The Vibe X3 comes packs a 21-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front camera. The performance of the camera is very good. When the Vibe X3 gets everything right and the light is good (or good enough), its 21-megapixel camera clicks images fantastic images that have lots of details and good colours. As the performance of camera in image is good, same performance is seen in video also. Even in lower light the performance is very good. But when it comes to low light the image is little bit shaky but quality is good enough.
Photo quality is good most of the time, but few time when we don’t care about focus of the camera the image is shaky. Colours were a bit on the dull side. Low-light shots are not best but it is good. You won't get anywhere with this camera if you need to zoom in to photos and see them at their actual size. On the other hand, 4K and 1080p videos came out looking crisp and motion was smooth.
There are two different mode in camera app: auto mode, along with option to keep superior auto enabled -- we suggest you do keep it on -- and a pro mode, which offers more granular control over aperture and ISO etc. It works well enough. The focus is also fast, in fact fast enough to give you usable images of hyperactive pets if the light is good.
The front camera clicks very good selfies in good light. In poor light you (mostly) end up with pixelated images, similar to what other phones give.

Performance
The Vibe X3, for its price is a well-endowed phone. The heart of device is  Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 processor that has six cores and Adreno 418 graphics chip. The phone has 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and option to use a microSD card. We do not like that the company had given the option in second SIM and MicroSD. So this means you can either have a SIM card and a microSD card inside the Vibe X3 or two SIM cards.
 The GPS works accurately and the accelerometer tracks physical activity nicely like walking, with the help of the bundled app. Heavy games like the Asphalt 8 can be played smoothly. Some prolonged gaming or using GPS for a long duration heats up the phone just below the camera but that is within limits. It never gets as hot as a phone with Snapdragon 810 inside it.
The Vibe X3 comes with a fingerprint scanner, which is very fast and accurate. As it is placed just below the camera. Though it is not as precise as what we get on the devices like the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P, it is good enough to be used as the primary mode to unlock the phone.
There are many interesting features inside the Vibe X3. The phone comes with the IR sensor, which allows you to convert your phone into a TV remote. Lenovo has many app that allows users to access this feature. It is easy to setup, easy to use and works well. Then there is the excellent feature TheatreMax. This feature turns almost every video, and even some apps, into VR mode. It is also a good way to try VR technology, without spending too much.
Finally, there is this whole focus on the audio performance of the phone. The Vibe X3 comes with three microphones along with a Wolfson chip that helps filter ambient noise and make the calls sound better. Then there is the Sabre ES9018K2M DAC chip inside it that handles the music playback and has a DAC to drive even the high-end headphones. Finally, there are two stereo speakers with rated capacity of the 1.5W.
The result of all this cool audio hardware inside the phone is that the Vibe X3 is the best sounding phone we have used until now. No, it's front speakers still don't match the high notes that the HTC's BoomSound speakers touched -- they fall just marginally behind -- but they are surprisingly full and loud. It's possible to open YouTube app on the Vibe X3 inside a car, with all ambient noise of Indian roads around you, and yet hear the song playing on the screen. The audio performance with a quality headphone is, meanwhile, truly spectacular for a phone. When paired with a full size headphones, the Vibe X3 can make the songs sound extremely fun and full. It also drives headphones well and can handle headphones that may require a higher impedance.
The sound quality during calls is good although we didn't find the network performance equally stellar. It was good enough but we did notice slightly more patchy network performance in an Airtel network in Delhi with the Vibe X3.

Battery
In one word: Fantastic. The 3500 mAh battery inside the Vibe X3 is good enough for 14 to 15 hours of fairly heavy use. If you are frugal in the way how you use your phone, you will easily see battery life of around 20 hours with this phone. Even in our battery benchmark, the phone notches one of the best performances we have ever seen (see the screenshot from the PC Mark battery test).

Conclusion
The Lenovo Vibe X3 is one hell of a phone for its price. It's an all-rounder and although it doesn't have one aspect -- other than audio performance -- that truly stands out, overall it offers more than any other phone does at this price point. We have no qualms in saying that this a better phone than the OnePlus 2, OnePlus One, YU Yutopia or OnePlus X. It is better than the Moto X Play, although the Motorola phone has the advantage of pure Android. It also is a phone that competes well enough with the Nexus 5X, which is now selling for around Rs 22,000.




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