Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Lenovo launches Intel-powered K900 smartphone @ Rs 32,999

 Lenovo launched six smartphones in India, including flagship K900, with an aim to become one of the largest smartphone vendors in the country in the coming months. The six models cover a price range between Rs 8,689 to Rs 32,999.

The company, which is the second biggest smartphone firm in China with a market share of 14.7%, entered Indian market last year in November. But today's launch of K900, S820, S920, P780, A706 and A390, marks Lenovo's big push in the Indian phone market.

"Our retail footprint has grown considerably to 3000 retail stores since we launched our smartphones last year. We will continue to expand our reach across India," said Amar Babu, managing director at Lenovo India.

Among the phones launched today, K900 is the flagship device. It is powered by Intel's Z2580, Intel's first dual-core processor for mobile phones. Lenovo claims that each of the six devices that it has launched has been designed to address specific needs of Indian consumers. For example, the K900 with thickness of just 6.9mm is the one of the slimmest phones in the world. The highlight of P780 is high-capacity 4000 mAh battery while the A706 has the Dolby Digital Plus technology for better audio experience.

More commonly known for its laptops and desktops, Lenovo is trying to reinvent itself to fit in the smartphone era. It started taking smartphones seriously around two years ago and focused on China.

Milko Van Duijl, a senior vice president at Lenovo, said the company was making connected devices and not just computers. "Our fourth fiscal quarter results clearly demonstrate strong business momentum. Our ultimate goal is to use innovation to differentiate Lenovo and become not only a leading PC+ brand but also one of the most respected technology companies in the world. Our strategy for India will focus strongly on smartphones," he said.

Hands-on with K900
Since it was shown at the CES in January this year, K900 is in news. When we checked out the device we understood why. It is incredibly slim for a device that packs in quite powerful hardware. At the same time, it is built very well, with aluminum giving it a heft and rigidity that feels reassuring.

K900 has industrial looks with clean lines. While the boxy-design has its charm, we found that the lack of rounded edges - and the fact that it is a big phone -- makes the device a little difficult to use with single hand.

The 5.5-inch screen of the phone has a FullHD (1080P) resolution and looks very sharp.

K900 is powered by the Intel Clovertrail+ platform. This means the processor inside the phone is Atom Z2580, Intel's first dual core chip while the graphics duty is handled by two cores to PowerVR SGX 544. While the phone runs Android Jelly Bean the users interface is customized by Lenovo. Unlike the elegant and mostly flat users interface in stoack Android, the software on Lenovo uses more flashy animations and on-screen buttons.

In our brief use, we found the device to be very fast. There was no lag while we opened apps, checked out widgets and opened websites on the browser bundled with the phone.

Lenovo calls K900 its flagship phone and based on our first impression we can say that it look like one. But we need to spend a bit more time with the device before we can talk about it in detail. 

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