Lenovo brings their A game with the Vibe Z

Today we’ll be unboxing a device that was announced by Chinese brand Lenovo back in CES: the Lenovo Vibe Z. Aside from being the company’s current flagship, this is also their first ever LTE equipped handset to come out, at least outside China. The Vibe Z is also one of the few Qualcomm powered handsets in Lenovo’s roster, as the company has always been fond of using Intel’s silicon to power their devices. We managed to wrangle one of the first ever units in the Philippines and take it to Unbox HQ.

Lenovo Vibe Z specs

• 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Quad core processor
• 2GB RAM
• 5.5-in full HD IPS wide angle viewing touchscreen display, 1920 x 1080 pixels, 400 ppi, Gorilla Glass 3
• 16GB of interal storage, non expandable
• 13-megapixel camera, f1.8 aperture lens
• 5-megapixel camera with 84° lens for wide-angle shots
• WiFi, GPS, A-GPS
• GSM, HSDPA, LTE
• 3000mAh battery
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Custom UI

Packaging and contents

Since the Lenovo Vibe Z is the company’s flagship phone, you can expect that the company would not spare any expense when it comes to the packaging that comes with it. The box that the Vibe Z comes with has the devices’ name cut in the outer box, proclaiming to the world that yes, this package has the Vibe Z inside.

Once you take out the outer box, you’ll see the Lenovo branding and the model number K910L on the inner box.

You’re greeted with the actual unit once you open the inner box, along with some of the features you can expect and the hardware used on the Vibe Z plastered on the screen of the device.

Diving deeper, you’ll see the accessories that Lenovo threw in with the Vibe Z which include a charging cable, charger, headphones, a user manual and a piece of metal that you’ll be using to get the SIM card tray out of the device. Upon further inspection, we discovered that Lenovo threw in a nice pair of in-ear headphones, along with spare silicone tips for it.

Hardware: Slim, Elegant, Lightweight

The Lenovo Vibe Z is one of the thinnest 5.5-inch smartphones out in the market today. At only 7.9mm thick, it can easily fit in the pocket of your jeans without any issues. As far as design, construction and build is concerned, the Vibe Z hits all the right spots. While it uses a polycarbonate plastic shell (one of the main reasons why the device weighs in at only 145 grams), you wouldn’t really notice it at first glance. The device pulls off that faux metal look that other manufacturers struggle with so well. As you’d expect from a flagship device, the overall construction of the Vibe Z is top notch. Build quality is solid.

On the left side of the device lies the volume rocker, while the power/lock button lies on top of the Vibe Z. The right side of the Vibe Z rests the SIM tray, which you extract by poking the small hole on the side with the tool that comes with the Vibe Z. The charging slot rests on the bottom of the device.

Turning the unit over, you’ll see the 13-megapixel camera with its f1.8 aperture lens offset to the left, along with the LED flash. We like the retro-ish look of the camera housing on the back, which sets it apart from the round setups that other smartphones have.

The 5.5-inch, full HD IPS display of the Lenovo Z is excellent, with good color reproduction and very deep blacks. The display is nice and sharp, and while 400 ppi isn’t record breaking, it’s more than enough for daily use.

Despite the size of the Lenovo Vibe Z, it only tips the scales at 145 grams.

Performance: One of the fastest Android smartphones today

Reading the spec sheet above, we had no doubts that the Vibe Z would deliver in the hardware front. The combination of a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and an Adreno 330 GPU almost guarantees blazingly fast performance, and the Lenovo Vibe Z does not disappoint. It posted a blistering score of 33647 putting it within striking distance of Sony’s Xperia Z Ultra and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3. It’s clearly an Android gaming powerhouse.

Curiously, the Vibe Z doesn’t ship with vanilla Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Best that we can determine, the Vibe Z has the LeWa OS overlay on top. To be honest, using it takes a bit of getting used to, because it puts all of your apps right there in the home screen without pressing the apps button, which may or may not be to your liking. Personally, we like our apps to be in individual folders and not be sprawled out in the open like that.

Another nice features of the Lenovo Vibe Z is that it has dual-screen functionality, much like the one in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. This means you can read a webpage, for example, while a smaller screen plays a YouTube video of your choosing. The multi-view Window app can be used with a number of apps.

Full review coming soon

With a price of only Php 24,999, it’s one of the most affordable flagship devices in the market. As long as the Lenovo Vibe Z doesn’t exhibit any major issues during our in-depth review, Lenovo may have a winner in their hands.