ET Review: Lenovo P780

Lenovo P780


PRICE Rs 19,999

Specifications

1.2Ghz quad core, 1GB RAM, 4GB + microSD, 5-inch (1280 x 720) LCD, 8MP rear + 1.2MP front cam, Android 4.2, 4,000mAh battery, 176 grams

Positive

Fantastic battery life, good quality screen, various software enhancements from Lenovo

Negative

Boring design, heavy, non-removable battery, average quality camera

NEW DELHI: A big issues that many have with their shiny new smartphone is limited battery life. Unfortunately, battery technology just hasn’t kept pace with the developments in hardware — which is also why power users need to keep multiple chargers, spare batteries or battery packs around.

The obvious solution is to put in a larger battery — like Lenovo has done with the P780. Most of the other features offer nothing extraordinary: it has a 1.2Ghz Mediatek quad core processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB of storage, dual SIM support with 3G data and 8MP rear camera — you’ll find a lot of phones in the 9 to 12k price range with similar specs.

The highlight of the phone is the 4,000mAh battery which is about double the size of the average Android smartphone battery.

The downsides to this method is that the phone becomes thicker and heavier than others. Lenovo has dressed up the phone in a smart (but boring) combo of black plastic, chrome and brushed metal.

Happily, the double size battery actually results in more than double the battery life than usual, thanks to intelligent battery-saver software (which you can also configure).

Most users should get at least 2 full days of battery life (with 3G data on and anything else you can throw at it). Many users will be able to stretch it to 4 days with a little bit of battery management. We had no complaints with day-to-day performance, multimedia and web use.

Our initial response was to give the P780 a 3-star rating, but the reason it got bumped up a star is the `16k actual market price. Try out the P780 before you buy. If the heft is a bit too much for you, take a look at Panasonic’s P51 which has a slimmer, unibody design and better quality screen.