The Lenovo K4 Note was launched in the country early last year and has since been making waves. Built for great viewing experience and optimum performance, this is our Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Design
The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note looks decent to say the least. What I liked about it is that its back cover has a matte finish that makes it look sturdy. However, the front area surrounding the display looks a bit cheap with the plastic not matching the back cover. What hurts it more is the shiny black trim along the sides of the phone. From the back, the K4 Note looks fantastic.
Along the sides of the phone are the volume rocker and screenlock buttons at the right. The top has audio jack and the bottom has the mic pinhole and the microUSB port. The back holds the rear camera, the flash, the fingerprint scanner, and another mic pinhole. Underneath the back cover is the phone’s removable battery, two sim card slots, and the SD card slot.
What is interesting about the whole physical setup are the speakers. So, at the front of course is the display, non backlit “Home”, “Back”, and “Multitask” buttons, and the front cam. At the top and bottom of the display are two speakers which are powered by Dolby Atmos. Overall the K4 note is a comfortable phone to hold. I especially appreciated the slightly curved back that makes holding the phone better.
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Display and Multimedia
With its 5.5 inch Full HD IPS display, the K4 note is great for videos and overall delivered an enjoyable viewing experience. It has wide viewing angles, the colors were distinct and the details quite distinguishable.
As mentioned, the speakers are powered by Dolby Atmos technology and it was a delight to listen to. I played three different videos on the phone and they all sounded good. Even at max volume, the audio did not sound awful.
On gaming, the screen is not only vibrant but also very responsive. Two games were tested on the K4 Note – Tap the Frog (a casual game) and Dead Trigger 2 (a graphics heavy game). On both games, the phone performed well – the graphics were good, the controls were very responsive and the sounds were also excellent.
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Camera
The K4 Note has a pretty decent 13MP rear camera. It has an autodetect feature which helps in taking photos but the images are not as crisp. The color are distinct and the contrast is spot on but it just isn’t sharp. However it is not a bad rear camera by any means and is definitely fast enough to capture those memories.
The 5MP front camera is decent as well. However, much like the rear camera, the images are not crisp. It also looks obvious when the camera adjust to light- this is true for both cameras. The camera adjusts to a slight change of lighting and so it can get fickle when taking a selfie. However, it can also be a benefit as it gives you more options based on lighting. With the beautify function I’d say this is still pretty good but for those who want to take the perfect selfies, it might take some practice.
Recording video on this phone is no walk in the park as well. Zooming in compromises image quality, also the same light adjustment issues persist here. It is not really bad but compare to what the camera can do, it does seem like a step down. However, I would still say it is reliable for general social media use eg., Twitter and Instagram videos.
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Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Performance and Benchmarks
This phone has a 1.3GHz 64-bit Octa-Core MT6753 processor and 3GB of RAM for some heavy duty use. As mentioned earlier, we ran games, played videos, surfed the internet, and listened to music on this phone. We did so without closing any apps and switching was still smooth. It also runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow matched with Lenovo’s Vibe UI which is not just easy to use but also simple to look at.
We ran this through Quadrant and Antutu and here are the results:
Quadrant: 20309
Antutu: 37950
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Battery
Sporting a removable 3,300 mAh battery, a lot can be done with this phone. We ran it through our battery tests and on casual use with data on, and the screen at 50% brightness, it can last 11 to 12 hours. For the video test, this phone was able to continuously play a movie at full brightness for over 8 hours. Also it takes a little over 2 hours to charge the phone from 0 to 100%.
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Connectivity
The K4 Note has a lot of the basics down – Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, FM radio, and GPS. These, of course are now staples in smartphones, but what is good is that the K4 Note also has USB OTG capability and 4G LTE for faster connections. A downside if any on this device is that the USB port is still 2.0 but at the price, it really isn’t something to complain about.
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Review- Conclusion
Overall, for Php 8,999, the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is a pretty outstanding phone. As mentioned earlier it may not be much to look at but under the hood it is meant for good performance. The main things I loved about it is the multimedia quality, the video and sounds really are immersive. Also, it runs smoothly even when multiple apps are running. I have to say that I’d recommend this phone to anyone who wants to get a reliable smartphone.
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note Specs
| OS | Android 5.1 (Lollipop), upgradeable to 6.0 (Marshmallow) |
| Processor | Mediatek MT6753, Octa-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| Memory | 2 GB |
| Display | 5.5 inches, IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen,n1080 x 1920 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Storage | Expandable 8GB on-board storage, support for up to 32GB microSD card |
| Camera | 13 MP, f/2.2, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash+ 5-megapixel front camera |
| SIM | Dual-SIM (Micro-SIM) |
| Battery | 3,300mAh |
| Others | Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Color | Black |
