Lenovo has been making a high-capacity battery smartphone for the past two years now and handsets like the P780 and the S860 proved that Lenovo was never shy of doing so as the one of the biggest shortcomings of smartphones today is the horrible battery life. This year the company announced a 4900mAH battery equipped smartphone called the Vibe P1 which sounds good on paper and keeps a nominal price tag.
The handset doesn’t look shabby even with the large battery inside. It has a uni-body metal finish at the back which seems to be inspired from the older HTC One M7 and M8 handsets. It is bulky for sure, in terms of weight and thickness, all thanks to that huge battery. The 5.5-inch display is just average and can struggle under the sun even when you bump up the brightness to full. Lenovo has probably tweaked it to save more juice. Underneath the display there is a solid home button which also houses a fingerprint scanner and two capacitive (back and multitask) buttons on either sides. The fingerprint scanner works great but it isn’t as nimble as the one the iPhone or the new Nexus smartphones for that matter. The bottom edge houses the microUSB port and two speaker grills out of which only one actually houses the loudspeaker which is unexpectedly loud.
The full specifications of the handset include a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with 2GB of RAM. Storage includes 32GB of internal memory which can be expanded further with a microSD card to up to 128GB. The rear camera has a 13MP resolution and the front has 5MP, it is 4G enabled with dual SIM card options. Of course there is the 4900mAh battery along with fast battery charging support called ‘Rocket Charging’ and the smartphone runs on Android 5.1 with Vibe UI on top.
The performance isn’t extraordinary but pretty good for a mid-range device. It doesn’t heat up during heavy tasks and the 2GB of RAM works efficiently to manage multiple apps. Thanks to the onboard 32GB memory, you don’t face storage issues and you can even expand it further with a microSD card. The Vibe UI comes with two launcher options, one with an app drawer (like a traditional Android smartphone) and one without with all the apps residing on the homescreens. This is great for someone who likes a more traditional approach when it comes to the user interface.
The camera isn’t very appealing as low-light and even indoor shots look dull. It uses phase detection auto focus which is definitely slower than a laser auto-focus system. In bright conditions it can shoot decent but there were instances where the exposure wasn’t very accurate. Even the front camera is just average and didn’t offer anything big.
The real feature where the handset shines the battery life. After a full charge the Vibe P1 can run for an entire day even with heavy usage and about two if you aren’t a heavy smartphone user. The slow trickling of the battery indicator definitely feels great and the best part is that Lenovo has supplied a high-capacity charger which charges the handset from 0-100% in less than two hours. Even 10-15mins of charging can make the handset last for a few hours. Then there is a quick switch on the left edge of the handset which turns on the ultra-battery saving mode where one can only make calls, get SMS, listen to the radio, etc. on a black and white display. Switching it back instantly gets you back to your Android homescreen. The handset also has the capability to charge other phones by using a USB OTG cable.
The Lenovo P1 is wise choice if you are sick of Android smartphones conking off before the day ends. Definitely the best handset around if you want a great battery backup. Having said that, it isn’t a very powerful device, it is a mid-ranger. But it will definitely get your day-to-day work done with ease like checking emails and social media, a bit of gaming, watching videos and movies, etc. One can also look at the Gionee M5 Marathon which offers an even larger 6020mAh battery at a slightly higher price tag.
Price: Rs. 15,999
