Lenovo S860 Review – Mediatek Phone with Kitkat Update

Levono recently announced the Android 4.4.2 Kitkat Update for its Vibe X and Vibe Z. After That announcement we got an S860 for review at android 4.3 jellybean no update was been available to us. Till that time we played with phone at Jelly Bean and After a week we got the Kitkat Update. So this review is sort of Mix what lenovo did in jelly bean and how they changed in Kitkat made a diffrence in the phone. S860  was one of the powerful and most valued phone of lenovo last year.

Specification

Well Now-a-days this has become an important thing to be said for a smartphone.

• 5.3-Inch 720×1280 resolution (277 PPI)IPS LCD Screen
• 16 Internal with 2GB RAM
• 8MP Camera and 1.6MP front Camera
• MediaTek MT6582 1.3Ghz Quad Core Processor With Mali 400MP2 GPU
• Dual SIM dual Stand By
• 4000 mAh Battery

In-Box Content Of S860

• The device itself
• Documentation
• Sim removal Tool
• In-Ear Non Spirable Thin Wire Headphones With Extra Buds
• Micro USB to USB Cable
• Lenovo 2A Travel Adapter
• USB Otg Cable

Build Of S860

When you hold this device, The lenovo S860 Feels so premium that it doesn’t looks like a budget smartphone. That awesome Glass at front with Complete Black shinning to its awesome smartphone. The Front has an 1.2 MP camera the Bottom Had 3 buttons as every android phone comes with. The Metal Chasis Back is incredible. Any one would fall in love with it in first glance of the back. The metal Chasis Matt like back with Chrome finish Lenovo logo and Chrome border to camera and single LED Flash looks very brilliant. The Side has Normal without chasis grey colour. The Top has an 3.5mm Headphone Jack with noise cancelling mic. The right side is favourite placement of menu button and Volume rocker, while on the left the dual Sim(Micro Sim tray). The Bottom has micro USB connector with Microphone and Speaker grill. The only thing is due to 4000mAh Battery the device is bulky and as 5.3 Inch screen, it becomes tuff to use with one hand. One hand Operations are tuff, yet you will fall in love with the beauty of the S860. The Lenovo S860 is so Rigid that you don’t need a cover for your smartphone you will love to use it naked.

 

Software and Battery Life

The Device came out of the box with 4.3 jelly bean. When We actually got the device after reviewing Vibe Z. The Device felt me Sluggish, It use to lag while changing the screens or tabs in settings menu. Yet the video viewing perfomance was incredible for the device the screen calrity and viewing angles were amazing for this device at jelly bean. The Operating System and User Interface is Same as the Vibe Z. This was all everything till the Jelly bean. Lenovo said its upgradable to Android 4.4.2 Kitkat Within the week I got the Update it was of 0.99GB Quiet Huge, but worthful the update was. When it comes to look the update added 3 themes in update. The Notification bar was made transparent and Quick Settings for more Quick settings just swipe Down, The bottom of the notification panel has clear button to clear notification. The experience  of S860 was boosted up and more importantly the lag was completely decreased. The phone was more smoother. The Boot was added with Powered by Android Logo. One thing was noticed that the phone has smat Wi-Fi when you lock the device the Wi-Fi gets off and when you turn on the Wi-Fi gets On and Connected Automatically. As usual the Multi tasking menu had clear button to clear the RAM. The Operating System comes up with its Security antivirus and Syncit, ShareIt apps those were bloatware can’t uninstall as it comes with every lenovo smartphone. Also in Kitkat update the Default browser of Lenovo was replaced with Chrome browser in S860. The Software is also enhanced for USB OTG support which is an alternative to expand storage as USB Otg cable is included in box itself.  The Battery life at this phone is awesome I ended up with 2 days on single charge with normal gaming and some time 3g usage the only reason to get the phone is awesome battery life. The software is made specifially for better battery life in the smartphone it self. The stand-by time is also amazing. At this price point no phone will offer 4000 mAh battery which will last for 48 Hour for sure But at the same device becomes bulky too.

Gaming

Well this is important gamer needs performance as well as battery life, well in jelly bean it was a decent performer and in Kit-kat the gaming experience too got better. The graph below will show how S860 performance was better in Kit-kat. The Antutu Scored more 1000 points, The Nenamark has no change a slight difference of 0.3 would not affect the gaming performance. The Velamo score is actually the scrore of browser the lower is it the better is it. According the Velamo the Browser performance is even better than Samsung Galaxy S5. I was shocked to Look That. Also I created the Short Gaming video too Which will show-up Asphalt Game Play.

 

 Camera

The Lenovo S860 comes up with 8MP shooter and I can say its quiet decent performer. I mean if you are gonna use the device for videography, Its decent. I think competitors gives better Camera at this budget. The camera app in Jelly bean was good use to capture good photos but in Kitkat it was made more better by Lenovo Here are some Sample shots below which you will give you an idea. Talking about the Front cam Surprisingly it was good too. You will endup with good selfie photos too with the Device. The below images were captured at High ISO at low light condition due to which image is grainy.

 

Verdict

Overall The device is Good but Battery Life is simply amazing. If you do lots of social network, emailing ,decent gaming and needs a good battery life we would recommend this device only for such users. If you do Photography then its quiet disapponting for you. The phone heats up is not too much, its a completely decent.