Not long ago Lenovo released the Vibe X, which went with me on an epic journey across the US, snapping beautiful pictures and sharing unforgettable memories throughout the way.
Now comes the Vibe Z, the 5.5″ screen, 4G, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 13MP back and 5MP front cameras bundle of awesomeness!
I’ve been using it as my primary device for the past week, and I must say, I’m very impressed. Here’s Absolute Geeks ‘ review of the Vibe Z:
First Impression
We opened the box and found a large 5.5″ inch shiny screen staring at us. You could see the bottom chrome rim of the phone slightly shining as well, giving the phone a premium and sexy look and feel. The phone has a full black bezel in the front around the screen. I love when devices have that as the screen melts into the bezel creating a feeling that the entire front side of the phone is screen.
The back is made from the durable and sturdy, yet light in weight, polycarbonate plastic shell. The shell is slightly textured to help you avoid those slips and is interrupted at the top left side with the 13 megapixel camera, accompanied with a dual LED flash and a mic for recording videos. The rim’s chrome extends in the back at the bottom to accommodate the speaker grill, which looks like one of the speaker grills on the HTC One.
The Screen and UI
Simply put, the 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.5 inches (~401 ppi pixel density) screen is amazing. It’s resolution is comparable to the LG G2 (with a small difference in pixel density, 424) and the Galaxy Note 3, with the Note 3 slightly trailing behind on pixel density at 386.
The very edge of the bezel on the sides is slightly slanted downwards, giving the phone impressive viewing angles. The ultra-bright screen helps you battle the sun during your outdoors activities and makes playing games and watching videos a hoot.
With such specs, and unbelievable brightness, the screen is an absolute joy to work with, we couldn’t get enough of it really.
It is not a secret that Lenovo struggled to find the right flavor and formula in creating their version of Android. Almost every smartphone released had a different interface, which was quite confusing.
It seems now that Lenovo has finally found its calling in the Vibe family. The Vibe X and Z share the same custom UI, switching between phones was seamless for me.
The UI takes queues from competitors and has its own thing going for it as well. For example, this is the first Android phone we come across that doesn’t have an app drawer. All apps sit on the endless set of screens the phone has, just like the iPhone. When opening folders, the folders animate and grow, taking up the whole screen with the rest of the screen greyed out at the back, just like the iPhone!
Apart from those distinct features, the phone acts like an Android 3.3 Jellybean. We liked that the icon sizes are unified across the screen, no matter how big the app’s icon originally is. Satisfying your OCD inhibitions.
One-Handed Solutions
The phone’s size is comparable to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3. In fact, we placed them on top of each other and found them to be exactly the same size, albeit with two important differences: The Vibe Z is thinner and lighter.
A 5.5″ screen is beautiful to consume content on, but sometimes could be a pain to some small-handed people. Lenovo thought of this ahead of time and enabled a couple of features on the phone to that end:
When enabled, Smart Dialer changes the size ratio of the dialer keys based on the angle of the phone to facilitate single handed use. So you don’t have to stretch your thumb far and wide to reach that far fetched dialer key.
Another small but very handy feature is the Volume Key Feature, which when enabled allows you to unlock the screen using the volume rocker on the side so you don’t have to reach all the way to the top where the power button is or have to use your other hand to do so.
Other Features
It seems Lenovo took some queues from Samsung as well, adding a few gimmicky and some handy features to the phone. We’ll list those features here quickly, you can find out more on what each does here.
Pocket Mode, Smart Answer, Smart Call, Shake to Lock, Smart Standby, Smart Rotation, Wide Touch, Multi-Window.
When enabled, Multi-Window launches a small transparent bar on the side of the phone. When pressed, it launches a window with a number of apps to choose from, the apps list can be changed and customized as well. The apps launch in a small window on top of of everything else. You can launch up to two of them at a time. The windows can be moved around as well for your convenience.
But What About The Camera?
Well, both Vibe Z’s camera’s are awesome. It’s 5MP front camera, also available on the Vibe X, is surely moving Lenovo’s phones to be dubbed The King of Selfies. Image stabilization and back lighting ensures really good night shots.
The cameras are so powerful we thought they merit their own review. Which is what we’ll be doing. An in depth Lenovo Vibe Z camera review will follow this one. Stay tuned!
The Verdict
The phone has a lot going for it and little against it. Lenovo went out to battle the giants featuring on-par with top market specs and a highly competitive pricing.
The phone is ultra light and thin, fast and zippy. Has a premium sturdy build and tons of smart features. Let’s not forget the very impressive screen and cameras on both sides.
The only thing this phone has going against it is that it only comes in 16GB with no option to add an SD card to it.
If you’re looking for a large-screen phablet style Android smartphone with a great camera and at a very affordable price considering its features, the Lenovo Vibe Z is the phone for you. We love this phone, we want to use this phone all the time, use it for a couple of days and you’ll feel exactly the same.
The Vibe Z is out in the UAE and KSA markets and is retailing at AED 1,999.
For a full and detailed set of specs, click here.
