Lenovo's new Z2 Plus phone is ridiculously high on specs and low on price. The phone costs Rs 17,999 for the base 3GB RAM and 32GB memory version, while the top-end version with 4GB RAM and 64GB memory will cost buyers Rs 19,999. No matter, which variant you buy, you will get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor under the hood. The Snapdragon 820 is currently Qualcomm's latest and greatest mobile processor, available in a commercial device. Technically, its successor, the Snapdragon 821 is also available now, but the first phone to launch with the SD 821 -- the LeEco Le Pro 3 -- will be commercially available for buying from September 28 and that too in China to begin with.
Till the time LeEco launches the Le Pro 3 -- with the SD 821 -- in India, the Snapdragon 820 processor will continue to remain Qualcomm's most high-end mobile chipset in the country. But, those are just technicalities. Just because Qualcomm launched the SD 821, doesn't mean the day of the SD 820 is over. The SD 821 devices will eventually happen, but not immediately. Again, those are just the technicalities.Lenovo's new Z2 Plus has me hooked, not because it has a Snapdragon 820 inside. It has me hooked for a different reason. The Z2 Plus is the cheapest Snapdragon 820 powered phone ever. At least in India, it is. Period! Well before, Lenovo's new phone came along, this distinction was held by the Xiaomi Mi 5, and that phone -- with all its merits and some demerits -- costs upwards of Rs 20,000. The Lenovo Z2 Plus, even its top-end version, costs just Rs 19,999. That's a big deal.
Come to think of it, it's not very surprising. Its predecessor, the Zuk Z1, was equally high on raw power. It came with a Snapdragon 801, which again, was (is) a mighty powerful processor, and it cost under Rs 15,000. That Lenovo skipped the hot-as-hell Snapdragon 810 and launched the Z2 Plus with a Snapdragon 820 is very thoughtful.
There's only so much that high-end hardware can do, though. If it is not complimented by a slick user interface -- the software part -- a phone with hardware bragging rights is, well, a body without a soul. I have never been a fan of Lenovo's Vibe UI. Thankfully, its Zuk-series phones don't run Vibe UI. While the Zuk Z1 had Cyanogen OS at the epicenter, the new Z2 Plus has a very different version of Vibe UI under the hood. Lenovo calls it ZUI and it is based on Android Marshmallow. I would have liked Cyanogen OS more, but ZUI is not that bad, you know. It is just a fancier version of stock Android, with a few more colours and a control centre that has been borrowed from iOS. Swiping down from the up brings out the notification shade, while swiping up from the bottom takes you to the quick settings toggles. Although, a lot of stock icons have received a fresh coat of paint, ideally ZUI doesn't go overboard with most of the things, which is nice. I like stock Android. Sometimes I like colours too. Lenovo's ZUI gives me best of both worlds. Most importantly, it is slick with minimum bloat or unwanted apps. That's a huge thing, considering, the Vibe UI has been overloading Lenovo phones for as long as I can remember.
The Lenovo Z2 Plus has its hardware and software in place. Clearly, it doesn't get any better, for a Lenovo-branded phone
The Lenovo Z2 Plus has its hardware and software in place. Clearly, it doesn't get any better, for a Lenovo-branded phone. Lenovo calls it, its most powerful phone ever. It is also its most power efficient phone ever, it says. I couldn't agree more, even though; I do reserve my final verdict for my full review of the phone. On paper though, the Z2 Plus -- at its price -- ticks all the right boxes and then some more.
Activity tracking is a major USP of the Z2 Plus, according to the company. It actually makes use of Qualcomm SD 820's sensor processing unit and always-on capabilities, to make the phone a dedicated fitness tracker. So basically Qualcomm gives Lenovo the desired hardware, all that Lenovo has to do is add sensors to it, and the phone is good to go. Lenovo has done just that in the Z2 Plus. The phone comes with a built-in pedometer, gyroscope and accelerometer. The phone also comes with something called as U-Health application that can track users' steps, distance travelled, calories burnt and more, using all the sensors mentioned above. This is one more instance where the Z2 Plus' hardware compliments its software well. In fact, Lenovo is banking on the fact that since the functionality comes built-in to the phone; users won't need to buy a separate fitness tracker, should you buy the Z2 Plus.
The phone has one more USP, vis-a-vis hardware. It comes with a front-mounted physical home button with fingerprint sensor that Lenovo calls U-Touch 2.0. It works quite well even when your fingers are sweaty or wet, but not completely drenched, claims the company. The home button supports up to 7 different functions that can be manually programmed by the user. Some of these include: single touch for back, swipe from left or right to switch between apps, so on and so forth.
The Z2 Plus comes with a 5-inch 1080p display which is fairly rich and vibrant. Brightness levels could have been better, but more or less, for the price, Lenovo's new phone doesn't look all that bad in this regard. The Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime, also launched recently , around the same price point appears to be slightly sharper. But, in Lenovo's defense, the Z2 Plus comes with an option to manually correct colour saturation. The J7 Prime doesn't.
The Z2 Plus sports a 13-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.2 aperture, phase detection autofocus and LED flash along with EIS stabilisation (there's no Optical Image Stabilisation). The rear shooter is capable of recording 4K videos, slow motion and time-lapse videos. You also get an 8-megapixel camera on the front.
The rear camera -- in my brief usage -- was able to shoot pretty detailed photos in outdoor good lighting. But then most phones, these days, are capable of doing that anyway. I will have more to say about the phone's rear shooter in our full review. One nitpick, however, is that the phone does not have a full-fledged Manual mode. Clearly, photography is not something that is high on its wish-list. For a quick reference, the J7 Prime's rear camera produced more encouraging results in indoor situations. So, I have my fingers crossed about this one.
The phone is backed by a 3,500mAh battery and supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 technology out-of-the-box. It comes with an intelligent charge cut-off tech for optimising charging so the battery doesn't lose its efficiency over time, accordingly to Lenovo. A 3,500mAh battery, at this price point is a good thing and definitely something to look forward to.
The dualSIM phone supports 4G LTE (VoLTE-ready) and comes with USB Type-C port for connectivity and data syncing purposes.
And now the design and build. I have been keeping this for the end, because well, it's something that I did not find very encouraging. The phone is built out of fiber glass -- boasting of a roll cage design -- which is stronger and lighter than metal, as per the company. Basically, it's a fancier form of polycarbonate. It is light, yes. It is comfortable to use, yes. It may be strong, sure. But, there are three issues. One, the design is not the most original. The phone looks remarkably like the OnePlus X , and a cheaper version of it. Second, it is very glossy and accumulates smudge and fingerprints by the millisecond. And third, it is very prone to scratches. No wonder, Lenovo is selling protective cases for the phone separately. If however, you don't mind these issues, the Z2 Plus is definitely one of the easiest phones to use and operate, even with one hand.
There is one more nitpick that I would like to add. The phone does not support expandable storage, something that may irk some buyers.
There is one more nitpick that I would like to add. The phone does not support expandable storage, something that may irk some buyers.
The Lenovo Z2 Plus is all about high-end specs at affordable pricing. Its software is also spot-on and in-fact is very well integrated with the hardware. I would have liked some more manual control in the camera department, but well, you win some and you lose some. But at its price point, the Lenovo Z2 Plus looks mostly a win-win affair. Watch this space for our full review of the Z2 Plus in the days to come.
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