ZUK's very first smartphone
This week we take a look at another huge multinational technology company from Asia, Lenovo. Founded in Beijing in 1984 under the name Legend, in 2002 the name was changed to Lenovo, which is a portmanteau of "Le-" (from Legend) and "novo", Latin for "new". Lenovo's Chinese name 联想 (pinyin: liánxiǎng) means "association" or "connected thinking". In 2014 Lenovo was the world's largest personal computer vendor by unit sales. High profile acquirement's include IBM's PC business and Motorola Mobility from Google. Interestingly Lenovo only entered the smartphone market in 2012 but just two years later they had became the largest vendor of smartphones in mainland China.
Lenovo K3 Note
The Lenovo K3 Note was initially restricted to the Chinese market but has recently become available to the Indian market and elsewhere. Marketed as an affordable large sized smartphone, perhaps borrowing the 'Note' moniker to capitilise on Samsung's well received Galaxy Note lineup. The Lenovo K3 Note runs Google's Android 5.0 Lollipop underneath Lenovo's own Vibe user interface and has a 5.5 inch, 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display.
For what is almost a budget device the specifications are quite good, easily challenging or surpassing others in the same price bracket. This runs on a MediaTek 6752 chipset with a 1.7GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali-T760 GPU from ARM Holdings. Often on cheaper devices, the memory is the first thing to suffer but we're pleased to say Lenovo have not disappointed here, with a full 2GB RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. All this is powered via a 2900mAh battery which Lenovo claim is enough for 36 hours of talk time.
For the photography buffs this device has a 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash, and a 5MP front shooter. Connectivity options include support for dual mini SIM cards on 4G LTE and 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS/A-GPS, Micro-USB OTG and Low Energy Bluetooth 4.1. The Lenovo K3 Note is available in select regions in three colours, white, black and yellow and has a price tag of approximately $150.
ZUK Z1
ZUK is a Chinese start-up company backed by Lenovo which has just released its first smartphone, titled the ZUK Z1. The company says it has taken two million pre-orders for the Chinese version of the device since it began accepting them earlier this month and has just unveiled a new version of the ZUK Z1 for the international market. The ZUK Z1 uses the Android based CyanogenMod 12.1 and has a 5.5 inch, 1080p IPS display with 16M colours.
The ZUK Z1 is the company's flagship model so naturally there are some high-end specifications, at just half the price of other brands flagships. First up there is a Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 chipset with quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 CPU and Adreno 330 GPU. Memory wise you get 3GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage, but unfortunately no MicroSD expansion slot. The internals are paired with a large capacity 4100mAh battery which will see you through 526 hours of standby and 38 hours of talk time.
A 13MP rear and 8MP selfie camera is included as standard and you also get USB Type-C port with support for audio output and a multi-function fingerprint reader. The ZUK Z1 supports dual nano SIM cards and has 4G LTE connectivity as well as support for Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/A-GPS and GLONASS satellite navigation. This smartphone will put a dent in your wallet to the tune of $300 and if it isn't already available in your region then it should be soon. All things considered The ZUK Z1 is going to give the other low cost flagship, the OnePlus 2, a run for its money.
Profiles and Combinations Update
- Last week we added 217 new devices to our database.
- The current number of Premium profile combinations in our database is 274,258.
- The current number of Enterprise profile combinations in our database is 334,902.
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