Hot off the heels of its purchase of Motorola Mobility, Lenovo officially unveiled its smartphone lineup at Mobile World Congress. Announced as the S860, S850, and the S660, Lenovo aims to have these smartphones targeted at a respectable number of consumers with different needs.
Updated by Jeffrey Van Camp on 2-25-2014 from Mobile World Congress: I’ve added some new language and hands-on photos of Lenovo’s three new phones. They were very impressive, given the price. Each has its own strength.
S860: The Battery King
- 1. The S860 has an extra large screen.
- 2. The S860 has a 4000mAh battery
- 3. The S860 is a little heavy, but no more than competitors.
- 4. S860 isn’t particularly thick given its battery.
We’ll start with the S860. This device is thick in your hand, but once you learn why, its gadget sin is forgiven. The S860 has a 4000mAh battery. That’s about a third more than most any other phone. It delivers up to 40 days of standby time and up to 24 hours of 3G talktime. Its 5.3-inch HD display is powered by a MediaTek quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. Lenovo is pretty confident in the battery life on the S860, and to back it up, the S860 can reverse charge other devices. Like the other devices, its screen looks very nice for its $350 price.
S850 is all glass and style
- 1. The front camera on the S850 is 5MP for selfies.
- 2. This prototype S850 shows the light-up Lenovo logo.
- 3. The S850 is covered in glass with rounded edges.
- 4. The S850 is very thin for its price.
Moving on to the S850, Lenovo went for an all-glass exterior, a risky move given the added vulnerability that comes with an all-glass enclosure. The S850’s HD display measures 5 inches, with a MediaTek quad-core processor as its beating heart. Finally, a 13-megapixel back shooter and a 5-megapixel front camera are intended to fulfill your photo needs. Despite its $270 price, the S850 appears to pack a punch and doesn’t look or feel like a budget phone. Its notification light is also unique: the Lenovo logo on the back lights up in different colors.
S660 offers balance
- 1. The S660 is the smallest phone of the bunch.
- 2. The S660 has a brushed metal design.
- 3. S660 also has a thin design.
- 4. The Lenovo S660 offers dual SIM and a MicroSD slot.
Lenovo ran out of gimmicks before it got to the S660. But at a $230 price point, it doesn’t need too much extra. While the S860 and S850 emphasized battery life and design philosophy, respectively, the S660 combines a brushed metal design with “all-day battery life.” It has a MicroSD slot as well, which the other two are missing. Finally, Lenovo claims that the S660 will be fingerprint- and scratch-resistant, but we didn’t notice any especially intriguing technology to back this up. It appears to be a decent phone, and very nice for its low price, but nothing to write home about.
We aren’t always fans of Lenovo’s Android user interface, but on these devices it looked decent and worked without a lot of noticeable lag, which is always a concern on budget devices. Sadly, none of these phones are currently slated for the United States, but now that Lenovo owns Motorola, who knows what the future holds.
Article originally published on 2-24-2014 by Williams Pelegrin.