Lenovo P780 review

Lenovo P780 comes with dual-SIM facility, 5 inch display, quad core processor and a massive battery. While the smartphone sounds good on paper, let's find out what the device is actually worth.

Look and Feel

Lenovo P780 has a big 5 inch display and the manufacturer has tried its level best to make the device sleek as much as possible. The handset comes with glossy front and matte Black color rear panel, accented with metallic trimmings on the sides; overall, it looks great and classy.

The front of the device has been protected with the use of Corning Gorilla Glass which provides some protection from scratches. The flush front is accented with three hardware feather touch keys with variable control for backlighting for battery savings. The key placement of the device is a bit of a hassle as the power key has been placed right on top making it difficult to access considering the big size of the device.

The back panel of the smartphone has been constructed entirely of metal and that too adds durability to the device. Another interesting innovation that Lenovo has adopted for the Lenovo P780 is that they have used the back cover as a heat radiator source for the battery with proper metallic buffer being provided at specific points on battery and between the back plates for better heat dissipation.

Lenovo has also announced a magic flip cover for the P780. However, to reduce cost the flip cover is not included in the box. Users can get it form the seller separately. The magic flip cover actually enables the auto display turn on and off feature for the Lenovo P780. What that means for the user is that they no longer need to manually lock the device by pushing the hardware button anymore all they need to do is close the flip cover and device goes to standby .

The Lenovo P780 at 176 grams is too heavy for a smartphone but you should also consider the fact that it has a massive 4000 mAh battery.

Display

The 5 inch display of the Lenovo P780 has 1280 x 780 pixel resolution. The IPS technology based display offers better contrast as well as brightness and colour vibrancy too. The maximum brightness supported by the display makes it perfect device to be used even in bright light conditions such as outdoors.

The display is for sure the biggest battery consuming hardware on the device followed closely by the processor. And the Lenovo P780's 5 inch display is bright enough to deplete the battery in one whole day. But to control that the Lenovo P780 gets a very accurate ambient light sensor and the integrated battery saving utility that control display's brightness optimally to offer maximum battery performance.

Hardware and Operating system

The Lenovo P780 utilises the Mediatek 6589 chipset that includes a 1.2 GHz quad core processor and PowerVR SGX 544 GPU. The processor and graphics chip combination gives the Lenovo P780 enough muscle to tackle most daily tasks with ease along with some HD games as well. The device performs well and fluid thanks to Android Jelly Bean operating system and Lenovo's custom user interface.

The phone has 1 GB RAM and 4 GB of internal storage or ROM of which users only get to use the 2.7 GB memory, which is decent and anyway you can expand its memory by another 32 GB using a micro SD card.

The Lenovo P780 smartphone comes with Android Jelly Bean 4.2. Along with that Lenovo has done a number of customisations on the user interface on this device that are very functional as well. Overall the software optimisation for the device is great and complements the device in every way. Along with that the User interface comes with a number of themes with separate icon packs.

The user interface is very easy to get around on the device plus at any point of time it does not put any additional load on the device's hardware and the memory consumption of the device stays well below 400 MB in most conditions. Along with that most utilities one would need for smooth usage of the device including a task manager, file explorer are already available on the device.

Performance and usage

Lenovo P780, during the course of the review, underwent a lot of application testing and stressing but the device never hung or froze. But in the odd case of device being frozen or unresponsive, users should not panic because of the non-removable battery - you can take out the battery to reset it. Also, there is a reset button that has been provided under the slave SIM slot.

On performance front, the Lenovo P780 scored 13,575 in Antutu benchmark. This in simpler words puts it at the toes of the older HTC One X in terms of performance while Quadrant benchmarking utility ranks the Lenovo P780 above the HTC One X. To further stress test the hardware we tested the device using Vellamo from Qulacomm in which the device neared Samsung Galaxy Note with 413 points in Metal or hardware test while scoring 1443 point in the HTML 5 test on which most web application work these days. Overall the device offers ample performance but the internal memory of 4 GB is a big turn off as we weren't able to install HD games on it as only 2.4 GB is available.

The onscreen keypad which by default is Google's updated keyboard with Swipe to type functionality is nice and offers great utility. Although people with fat fingers might have slight discomfort while using this phone but this problem can also be overcome with swipe functionality.

We had no issued with the call performance of the phone. The calls are received and made without any issue. The earpiece and loudspeaker volume is abundant and the microphone offers clear sounds to the receiver. The Lenovo P780 smartphone features dual SIM but it has Single ISM active which means if one SIM is busy the other SIM also gets a busy tone.

It has a second microphone for noise cancellation. The second microphone at the device's back identifies noises and cancels them to offer better sound for the receiver of the call.

Camera and Multimedia

The Lenovo P780 comes with a very useful 8 megapixel camera with an LED flash for additional illumination. The camera although is non BSI (back Side Illumination) sensor based it still manages low light shots pretty well. The image quality of the camera is good in both the outdoor and indoor modes and the light provided by the flash light is sufficient enough for bearing objects. The colours are captured nicely with details but indoor pictures capture some noise which is a turn off.

This smartphone can capture Full HD (1080p) videos at 30 frames per second and the videos are good and smooth at all times. The handset also features a HD front facing camera that is good for video calling and can record 720p resolution videos as well.

Lenovo P780 features support for all generic video formats and anyway since it is an Android smartphone, you can install applications from Google Play store to extend its multimedia capabilities.

Battery backup

Battery life is among one of the major advantaged of the Lenovo P780. With nominal gaming, audio video use and web browsing over both 3G and WiFi the device usually lasts above and beyond for 2 days between full recharges.

Further, it has a battery saving utility called the 'Energy Smart'. The application promotes battery savings plus it gets intelligent CPU control as well, which put unused CPU cores to sleep when they are not required.

But one thing that Lenovo has creatively added to the device is the capability to charge other devices as well. Yes that's right you can use the cell phone's USB port to charge other devices. Technically Lenovo has managed to do this by adding extra power to the USB port, which also means that it can be used to run USB powered devices as well if need be.

Conclusion

At Rs 18,799, the Lenovo P780 brings in a good battery backup which is one of most crucial things today for a smartphone. Along with that it has speedy hardware and a superb build quality complete with a metallic back panel that has been very innovatively used as a heat radiator as well. But the smallish internal storage for a mid-range device is one of its major turn offs.

The smartphone has a sweet camera and a great display. And overall the dual SIM functionality comes in real handy. So it's for those who seek a decent smartphone that has it all and surely the Lenovo P780 has got it all.

Android smartphone review-Lenovo P780 Specifications
Network	3G with Video calling
Operating System	Android Jelly Bean 4.2
Dimensions	143 x 73 x 9.95 mm, Weight 176 g
Display	5 Inch
Input Method	Touchscreen capacitive
Processor	1.2Ghz Quad core
Memory	1GB RAM, 4GB Internal, 32GB Expandable
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiFi Hotspot
Multimedia	Multi format audio video player
Camera	8MP rear, 720p front
GPS	Yes
Additional features	OTG Cable, Battery charging feature
Battery	4000 mAh
Warranty	1 year
Price	Rs 18,799

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Review: Intex Aqua i7 smartphone with 2 GB RAM

Aqua i7 is the costliest handset of Intex and comes with 2 GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory, a 13 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front camera, and 1.5 GHz quad core processor. All this makes it one of the best handsets in the market. But like other handsets of Indian and Chinese manufacturers, the sword of suspicion hangs over Aqua i7 as well.

Thus we put the Intex Aqua i7 through all possible tests to check its mettle and here's what we found out about the smartphone.

Design

The most noticeable part of Intex Aqua i7 is its packaging. It comes in a huge box; even tablets do not come in such a big box. All the accessories like the headset and charger are neatly packed. Intex is also providing a flip cover with the phone. Both the default back cover and the flip cover have a shiny yet non-slippery surface. The body of the phone is thus not a fingerprint magnet and suits the Indian climate.

As far as design is concerned, Intex Aqua i7 is quite conventional with a volume rocker on the top left side, power button on the right, and micro USB on the top. The flip cover also comes with a small transparent cover that makes it possible to see notifications. There is a thin metal strip around its sides that further adds to its charm.

Overall it is a decent looking smartphone but it has no unique design feature as such.

Display

It comes with a 5 inch capacitive touchscreen with full HD resolution. The display is an IPS-LCD panel and as such provides decent viewing angles and good colour outputs. You can use it indoors in low brightness but in sunny areas you have to keep the brightness at maximum, which makes it just bright enough to see the contents.

The screen is a fingerprint magnet and attracts a lot of dust. I never encountered any problem with its touch input though. The screen of Aqua i7 supports full HD (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution, which is really helpful while playing games and watching movies.

User interface and apps

This is another highlight of the Intex Aqua i7. The moment you switch it on, you will notice its unique theme called X Space, where things are designed like your drawing room. For instance, in the X Space, to listen to songs, you touch the iPod like icon; to watch videos you touch the TV icon and so on. There are a few other themes like Max, Simple, and Roma. In the Roma theme, icons are presented in a Roman way. Though Intex has tried a lot, the themes may not be liked by many. Thank god, then, that you can download other themes from Google Play Store or from the net.

Intex has also tried to alter Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean UI of Aqua i7. For instance, the settings page has been divided into Network, System, Security and Personal segments, which is simpler than the normal settings page of Android. In the notification bar, it has a special Optimization button that acts as a task manager - so there is no need to install a task manger; just open the notification bar and touch the button to clear memory.

The smartphone comes with NQ Mobile security and in its settings page too you will find elaborate security features like authority management, firewall, anti theft, and app lock. It also has an Intex Zone with sections like movies and games. The smartphone comes with auto call recorder preinstalled.

Processor performance

The Aqua i7 has a Mediatek 6589 Turbo quad core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. It is supported by a PowerVR SGX 544MP graphics processing unit, 2 GB RAM and 32 GB internal memory. The PowerVR SGX has been hailed by experts for its high performance.

To test its mettle we also ran many benchmarks including the Epic Citadel, which is based on Unreal Engine 3 - a game engine used by many high end console games. The Aqua i7 ran Epic Citadel with ease and in its benchmark it even got High Performance. In the Antutu benchmark it got 721 and 3114 in 2D and 3D graphics, respectively, which is almost like that of HTC One X's 790 and 2985.

Moreover, its 2 GB RAM and 32 GB internal memory give it huge muscle to handle very high end games like Modern Combat 4, Blood and Glory etc. But the Mediatek 6589 is no match for Nvidia Tegra 3; it cannot run some games, such as Minion Rush.

Memory

As I said earlier, the Intex Aqua i7 comes with 32 GB internal memory, of which 4.17 GB is occupied by Android operating system, 3 GB is meant as flash memory for applications, while the rest is left for users. As a matter of fact 24.83 GB is sufficient for anyone. However, keep in mind that there is no expandable storage slot in Aqua i7.

Camera

There is a 13 megapixel rear camera and 5 megapixel front camera in the Intex Aqua i7. The rear camera is an auto focus unit but the front camera has a fixed focus. You can also record video using the front camera.

As far as our findings go, the rear camera is decent in good lighting conditions as well as in low light. The single LED flash does a good job as well. Below are a few pictures that we have clicked using the rear camera in the default setting. The front camera is decent for self portraits but an auto focus unit would have propelled the Aqua i7 over its competitors.

The camera application is quite easy to use: flash, options, and camera switch buttons are displayed prominently in the camera app. Using the options menu, you can start HDR, self timer, etc. There is a smart magic mode as well, which basically allows one to remove unwanted objects from the picture. To the extreme right, there are various effects that you can choose while taking a picture. While recording videos, you can change the options menu to change settings.

Curiously, in the still image section, you can zoom picture only using the on-screen menu, which, though, vanishes from the screen within 2-3 seconds. The volume rocker, which should have acted as a zoom in/out key acts as a camera key instead.

Battery

There is a 2000 mAh battery in the Intex Aqua i7. As per Intex, it provides 6-8 hours of talktime and 220 hours of standby, which is rather a vague statement. So we have put it through some testing.

As far as our finding goes, it provides almost 24 hours of normal use, like a few minutes of gaming, calling, and internet. For gaming, it provides around five hours of back up. Also, in one instance, I used the phone for clicking pictures and videos and the phone consumed 10 per cent charge in half an hour (full brightness).

But the most worrying factor is that it gets heated up very fast-on calling, camera use or gaming.

Connectivity

The Aqua i7 comes with two SIM slots. Notably, it has one micro SIM slot while the other slot is for a regular SIM. Besides, the smartphone has Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi hotspot, micro USB, GPS andAGPS.

In the review unit, we faced problems with connectivity. For instance, call drops were severe. The review unit seemed to have a data connectivity bug as well, which shut down data connectivity - both WiFi and data - every now and then.

Curiously, the Intex Aqua i7 comes with support for HDMI devices like your TV, which makes it a unique device in the Rs 20,000 price range.

Conclusion

The Intex Aqua i7 is well armed with features while its price is very competitive. There are perhaps one or two smartphones in the market that would match it in terms of features, but none would be from MNC players. Intex also has a bit of an advantage over others since it is quite an old player in the market.

Having said that the Intex Aqua i7 has some chinks in its armour as cited above. It has connectivity issues, though the bug may be peculiar to the review unit and an update could solve it. Also, people who think 24.8 GB is not enough should stay away from this device as it has no micro SD card slot. The Mediatek processor and 2 GB RAM configuration is very good for most games found on Google Play Store but it cannot play all types of games like Tegra 3 can. Its battery back up is decent but not something that would blow up your mind. The phone also gets heated up too much during calls and while playing games.

Review-Intex Aqua i7 smartphone with 2 GB RAM Specifications
Network
Operating System	Android 4.2
Dimensions
Display	5 inch full HD
Input Method	Touchscreen
Processor	1.5 GHz Mediatek 6589 quad core
Memory	2 GB RAM,32 GB internal, no expandable storage
Connectivity	dual SIM, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, micro USB
Multimedia	Supports all major audio file types
Camera	13 megapixel auto focus rear camera, 5 megapixel fixed focus front camera
GPS	yes with A-GPS
Additional features
Battery	2000 mAh
Warranty	1 year
Price	Rs 20,000

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Review: iBall Andi 4a Projector

The Indian market pours in a good number of handsets every month but only few carry a really distinct feature. Last month, iBall introduced the Andi 4a Projector smartphone in India at a market price of Rs 17,999. The new iBall Andi 4a Projector is not one of a kind, but certainly makes a big claim to trump another big brand projector phone - Samsung Galaxy Beam. Also, iBall has become the first one to launch a 35 lumens projector bearing smartphone.

The iBall Andi 4a Projector joins the company's Andi series of Android phones with a pompous claim of big entertainment in a small package. We got lucky to get our hands on the iBall Andi 4a Projector phone to see if the touted features of the smartphone actually stand in the current scenario. Not to forget, the Projector phone comes with dual-SIM configuration support as well.

Design

In all fairness, there is not much one can play around with in design, when it comes to an entry-level or mid-range smartphone. However, iBall has taken up the challenge to integrate a 35 Lumens projector in a smartphone with Google Android software running on it. In sleep mode the iBall Andi 4a Projector joins the crowd of similar looking devices with curved corners and a flat front look.

While the Projector is the main feature of this device, iBall decided to place the dedicated projector switch as a capacitive button on the display. A dedicated button on the side or on on top of the device would make more sense for ease the access. At the back lies an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash next to it. Around the lower part of the back there is a speaker out. The plastic back panel is easily removeable.

Andi 4a Projector is quite a bulky device, measuring 12.5 mm in thickness and weighing approximately 145 grams. Though it is comfortable to hold, iBall has offered a tripod stand, a mount and a holder to place the phone for projection. The Andi 4a Projector has a glossy finish. That raises the risk of it slipping out of the hand and also turns it into a fingerprint magnet.

Display

The iBall Andi 4a Projector is thankfully not a large device but it packs a 4 inch TFT LCD display. Packing a 4 inch IPS Panel, the Projector offers great viewing angles indoors. However, the legibility of the screen is not that great when used outdoors in bright sunlight. The display has 480 x 800 pixel resolution with the crispness of 233 pixel per inch. In a way, it reminds us of the arrival of 4 inch WVGA resolution Android smartphones two years ago. The display certainly looks great when compared to other large screen, low resolution devices.

Hardware

The iBall Andi 4a Projector phone boasts of packing a 35 lumens projector. This small projector is capable of showing visuals with nice clarity and 1200:1 contrast ratio. However, the only condition to enjoy this smartphone's projection is in a completely dark environment. Only then can one really see the potential of the small projector packed inside. To start the projection, one has to hold the projector icon key on the right corner for five seconds.

Since the projector is the chief feature, we tested the projection and watched two 720p HD quality Bollywood movies. In a completely dark room, the Andi 4a Projector was placed on the mount over the tripod that comes with the bundle. The phone lasted for just about four hours on a single charge and it was naturally a bit hot due to continuous projection. There is a small scroll key on the top left side to adjust the focus of the projection. Our only issue was that this scroll key was quite soft and got pushed inside a bit. So adjusting the focus was a bit of work, and hence we recommend that users be very careful with this part of the phone.

Andi 4a Projector is powered by a dual core 1 GHz MediaTek MT6577 mobile chipset paired with PowerVR SGX 531 graphics chip. This combination is placed with a mere 512 MB RAM, which we believe to be too less for such a device-at least 1 GB would drive a great experience. That also makes it difficult for the phone to compete with other Android phones bearing 1 GB RAM in the similar price range.

The extra 512 MB would have really helped the user get dirty with the smooth multi-tasking, and would let him install several themes on the phone's apps. The smartphone runs Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean update customized just a bit. The dedicated Projection app acts as a pop-up button to switch off/on the projection.

Packing only 4 GB on-board storage, the user gets about 2.05 GB of actually usable memory. There is a memory card slot to add a higher capacity micro SD card to load it with movies and multimedia. This slot is located under the back panel along with the dual SIM slot and battery.

Performance and multimedia

We were quite impressed with the quality and run time of the projector. Even after an hour, there was hardly any alarming heat dissipated from the back panel of the phone. The phone's interface works fine. However, there is fairly noticeable lag in responsiveness of the display to touch. The display can handle multi-touch and can run most games comfortably. Note that we aren't talking about CPU and RAM intensive heavy games. The projection is fine but there is always room for improvement with a better graphics chip and processor to support higher resolution videos.

At the rear, the phone packs an 8 megapixel camera with single LED flash. The camera app interface is quite simple and native compared to the one in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update and higher. The camera app offers different capture modes and an optical zoom slider. Other options include capturing HDR, adjusting the white balance, and also panorama shots. The camera performance was quite average and the phone was capable of recording 720p HD video. The interesting bit is that the video could also be recorded with a time-lapse feature to make it more appealing.

The loudspeaker was fairly loud for waking up with an alarm and funnily it worked while projecting the movie even when audio out was sourced to the music system. Lockscreen notifications and Google Now support are the two amazing features that users can enjoy on this device. Some of the essential features such as Quick Settings were missing in this build and we hope that iBall adds that along with all other goodies, with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update.

Music app is quite native and did not offer much of a modern look to the device. Solace lies in the Bass Boost option for the music to be heard over headphones. Built-in FM Radio works with the RDS and also offers recording function just in case you wish to record songs. Other features of the smartphone are pretty much vanilla Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Calling quality was quite decent and it was quite easy to manage a variety of things, like incoming calls, internet and SMS between the SIM modules.

Battery Life

The Andi 4a Projector phone boasts a 35 Lumens projector and packs an average 1500 mAh battery. Only if the company had packed 2000 mAh, the additional bump would have really added to its run time. Since this is a dual SIM smartphone, one can easily get run time of just about a day with one SIM on the device. With 45 minutes of projection along with mobile web access, social media apps usage and calling, the phone lasted for about 18 hours. On heavy usage in dual-SIM configuration while being hooked to a WiFi network, the phone quickly ate away the battery. Though iBall offers Portable Power Packs, the phone really needs a battery bump or power pack bundled along.

Conclusion 
The iBall Andi 4a Projector smartphone is a portable projection device with great quality for both: work and entertainment. The Andi 4a Projector was launched at a price of Rs 17, 999 and one can expect a good discount this festive season. Unfortunately, this smartphone can only be compared with other regular Android devices, if the Projector feature is kept aside.

Best pocketable multimedia entertainment device Andi 4a Projector is certainly recommended for people on the move, despite a couple of trade-offs: limited RAM and battery juice.

Review-iBall Andi 4a Projector Specifications
Network
Operating System	Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
Dimensions	12.5 mm in thickness and weighing approximately 145 grams
Display	4 inch TFT LCD display,480 x 800 pixels
Input Method	Touchscreen
Processor	1 GHz dual core (MediaTek MT6577), GPU-PowerVR SGX 531
Memory	512 MB RAM, 4 GB on-board storage, the user gets about 2.05 GB, expandable upto 32 GB
Connectivity	WiFi, Bluetooth, WiFi hotspot
Multimedia	Supports all major audio file types
Camera	8 megapixel camera with LED flash
GPS
Additional features
Battery	1500 mAh
Warranty	1 year
Price	Rs 17,999

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