Lenovo vibe x3 review. Review on Lenovo Vibe X3

Lenovo has been on a bit of a spree, launching a number of new smartphones in quick succession. The company is good at creating models that cater to specific needs, such as the Vibe P1(Review| Pictures) with its oversized battery, the Vibe Shot(Review| Pictures) for camera lovers, the Vibe S1(Review| Pictures) for those who care most about looks, and most recently, the Vibe K4 Note for the budget segment. We now have with us the brand new Vibe X3, which takes its place at the top of the heap as Lenovo's latest flagship.

The Lenovo Vibe X3 costs just Rs. 19, 999 but packs a number of features and attributes that might make it a competitor to phones that cost way more. The spec sheet alone would give us quite a bit to dig our teeth into, but Lenovo has also tossed in a few things that it says improve the user experience in less tangible ways. We'll have to dig deep to find out if that's just a marketing line or if the Vibe X3 really does blow all its competition away.

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Look and feel

The Lenovo Vibe X3 looks nothing like the multi-coloured Vibe X2(Review| Pictures) which launched in late 2014. In fact, it has a very strong resemblance to the Vibe K4 Note, which shouldn't be surprising considering the latter is sold in some territories as the Vibe X3 Lite. The phone comes in a slick oblong box, and you'll find a neat clear plastic case and adhesive screen protector along with the usual charger, USB cable, and headset.

At first glance, the screen appears to be enormous, with only narrow white plastic strips for the twin stereo speakers above and below it. However, what you see is actually the black Gorilla Glass 3 extending beyond the screen to encompass the front camera, sensors and status LED on top, and capacitive navigation buttons below.

The power and volume buttons are on the right, though a bit too low for our liking. There's a Hybrid SIM tray on the left, which means you get one slot for the first Nano-SIM and another slot for either a second Nano-SIM or a microSD card. This arrangement forces you to choose between a second line and additional storage, which we are never in favour of.

There's a 3.5mm audio socket on top, with a small IR emitter to keep it company. You can use this in conjunction with an included app to control a variety of devices. There's also a standard Micro-USB port on the bottom which interestingly allows you not only to charge and sync the phone as usual, but also to use the Vibe X3 as a power bank to charge other devices.

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Around the back, you'll see the primary 21-megapixel camera and fingerprint sensor right below it. This is also where the phone's NFC radio is located, and Lenovo says that wireless payments will be supported when such services launch in India. You can also see a pretty big Dolby Atmos logo on the bottom.

The battery is sealed inside the phone's aluminium unibody. Lenovo says the matte white finish is resistant to smudges and fingerprints, but we found a few scuffs within minutes of taking the plastic cover off. We also noticed a few scratches on the silver chamfered edges after a day or two of careful usage.

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The Vibe X3 is 9.3mm thick in the centre but this is masked quite effectively by the curvature of the back. It fits nicely in a palm, but using it one-handed is literally a stretch. The 175g weight is not as easy to compensate for, and you'll definitely feel it when using this phone for any length of time.

It isn't easy to reach the capacitive buttons on the bottom without feeling like the Vibe X3 will tip over. Amazingly for a phone that isn't scraping the bottom of the budget barrel, the buttons are not backlit. It would have made a lot more sense for Lenovo to have gone with on-screen buttons on this phone. The ergonomics are just not quite as good as we expect of a phone that claims to be its manufacturer's flagship.

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Specifications

Lenovo has struck a balance between cost and performance, and so the Vibe X3 has at its heart a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, which is one step below the current top-of-the-line Snapdragon 810, offering six CPU cores and integrated Adreno 418 graphics. There's also 3GB of RAM which should keep things chugging along smoothly. The 32GB of storage can be bumped up by 128GB if you're willing to forego a second SIM. Surprisingly, only 24.37GB was reported to be free on our review unit when we turned it on for the first time.

The screen measures 5.5 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1080x1920. Again, this is one step below what other companies are offering on their flagships, but considering the price, we feel that this is probably the right balance of features for most people. Lenovo is quick to point out that the screen can reproduce 100 percent NTSC colour gamut, and that colours are consciously not oversaturated.

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You get Cat 6 4G LTE on Indian bands with support for carrier aggregation, if and when that is supported by service providers here. There's also Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth, GPS, and NFC. USB-OTG functionality lets you store more files on a Micro-USB pen drive or a standard one using a dongle. The battery has a capacity of 3500mAh which should be more than enough to get through a full day of heavy use.

One of the most interesting facets of the Vibe X3 is its claimed high-end audio credentials. There's a Wolfson 8281 processor with a three-mic array to handle phone conversations, and an ESS Sabre 9018C2M DAC with three TI-OPA1612 OP amps which kicks in when you're playing music or videos. Lenovo also says the 3.5mm audio output is "studio grade" and "lossless".

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Lenovo is also promoting its TheaterMax headset, which works with this phone and its cousin, the Vibe K4 Note. It sells for Rs. 1, 299 extra which is a lot less than most VR headsets will cost. What it does is give you a cinematic experience when playing movies - you don't have to have specially prepared content. While interesting, it's not something you can wear on your daily bus or train ride, so we're not sure how much it will catch on. Lenovo did not send us a headset along with the Vibe X3, so we can't say anything about the experience yet.

Software

Lenovo has cleaned up its Vibe UI, which we're very glad to see. The default UI is a lot more like stock Android, including its dedicated app drawer. You can still switch back to the single-layer launcher if you like, but we don't think anyone will. There are of course customisations, most noticeably the notifications shade which has lots of additional quick-access toggles and a unique log feature that shows notifications you've dismissed in the past.

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The icons still seem childish to us and we didn't find any adequate replacement packs in the Theme Center app. Lenovo has preinstalled quite a lot of apps, ranging from its own SHAREit, SYNCit, and Lenovo Companion support app to Evernote, Facebook, Guvera Music, McAfee Security Route 66 Navigate, Shazam, Skype, Step Counter, Truecaller, Twitter, UC Browser, WeChat, and WPS Office. Game Store has some low-quality games that you can play after setting up a profile. Peel Smart Remote ties in to the IR emitter and shows program guides for local TV channels. There's also one game, Tap the Frog. All of this might explain all the missing storage space, but thankfully you can uninstall most of them.

There are also quite a few custom settings that help you get more out of the phone. You can double-tap the screen to wake the phone, and also flip it over to lock it immediately. You can take a photo directly from sleep by double-pressing either volume button, and use the fingerprint sensor as a shutter button. If you need to get something done with one hand, trace a C shape on either side of the screen to shrink the display by about two-thirds, making everything easier to reach.