Lenovo K6 Note

The K series has come of age. From the plastic-bodied K3 Note to the metal-clad K6 Note – the brand has continuously evolved the design language of the smartphones. The Lenovo K6 Note features a sturdy build thanks to its metal construction, while looks classy in grey. The best part is that even with a capacious battery of 4,000mAh, the phone doesn’t seem to be very thick at 8.4mm. Tipping the scales at 169g, its weight has been distributed well and it doesn’t feel too bulky in the hand.

Just like its compact sibling, the Lenovo K6 Note is a battery-centric offering. It ensures that the phablet lasts more than a day, even with heavy usage. We used the device on Jio's VoLTE network to access the internet, stream content off Amazon Prime Video and play games – and it still had a decent amount of juice left at the end of the day. That said, it’s not as remarkable as its rivals featuring similar battery packs. In our video loop test, it was able to play back an HD video at 50 percent brightness and volume levels for approximately 11 hours and 15 minutes – a couple of hours lower than the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (review). It also supports fast charging with the bundled 2A adapter… fuelling the battery from 0 to 100 in 2 hours 30 minutes. Like its sibling, you can also use it to reverse charge your mobile devices.

The Lenovo K6 Note flaunts a 16-meg snapper at the back, supplemented by a dual-tone LED flash. Even though the megapixel count is impressive, it fails to change our opinion about the camera performance of Lenovo’s devices. While it’s able to lock focus on the objects quickly thanks to PDAF technology, and the shutter speed is good as well, the quality is anything but. Even in daylight, the outdoor shots show grains when zoomed into. That said, the images are fine for casual sharing on social media and colours are reproduced well too. Macro images also show lack of detail when viewed at full resolution. The phone also suffers from exposure issues with the touch-to-focus option resulting in overexposed or underexposed images. Like most handsets, the K6 Note also struggles in low light, with the images failing to offer much detail, though the LED flash does help a bit.

With each successive iteration of smartphones in the K series, the Chinese company seems to be moving up the value chain. While the K3 Note was priced attractively at Rs 9,999, the base model of the Lenovo K6 Note will set you back by Rs 13,999. If you opt for the higher-end 4GB RAM variant, then you’ll need to shell out Rs 15,999. While that’s still affordable, it also puts it in a highly competitive space with many of Lenovo’s own offerings.