Lenovo is one of the prominent smartphone makes which recently claimed to have sold more smartphones than PCs. Lenovo has pretty good range of smartphones in India in different price points and Lenovo S660 is one among them. This mid range phone was first announced at the MWC 2014 in Barcelona and made its way into India in April. The device comes with a 4.7 inch qHD display (960 X540 pixels) and is powered by a 1.3Ghz Quad core Mediatek MT6582M processor with 1GB of RAM.
The device also sports a 8MP auto focus camera and a front facing VGA camera. The phone also comes with 8GB internal storage which is expandable via microSD card. The device runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and also has a massive 3000mAh battery.
We review the device for its design, build, performance, camera and the battery life to find out whether this is a good buy and also how it stacks up with the likes of Moto G.
Here is the video review of the device, for text version read on.
Design, Build and Display:
Lenovo S660 comes with a functional design and the device is pretty easy to hold with the curved back panel. The front and sides of the device is made of plastic, but has great quality. The rear cover is metal and has a brushed metal texture which gives the device a premium feel. The power and the volume buttons are all on the right. There is 3.5mm headset jack on the top edge and a micro-USB port on the bottom.
The rear panel made of metal is removable and the device can take two regular SIM cards and a micro SD card. The rear panel houses the 8MP camera with LED flash and mic and also the speakers at the bottom. the front panel has a 4.7 inch qHD display along with three capacitive buttons at the bottom.
Related Watching: Lenovo S660 Unboxing
The display on the device is a bit disappointing since we would have ideally liked a HD display at this price point. Having said that the brightness levels are good and so are the colors. The viewing angles and the sunlight readability is also pretty good. Compared to Moto G, which has a HD display, Lenovo S660 display lacks the punch.
Software and Performance:
Lenovo S660 runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean which is an out-dated OS and it also has a custom UI from Lenovo. The UI does not have an app launcher and instead have multiple home screens where the apps show up. The UI on the device isn’t inspiring and feels dull. The notification center is similar to other devices and has pretty good set of options.
But having said that, Lenovo is rolling out the KitKat update for S660 in September and this will bring the UI which is available in Vibe Series from the company, which is an interesting move.
You can customize with wallpapers and widgets. Lenovo hasn’t added any new features into the UI except for the change to icons and UI from core Android. Lenovo has included software like SECUREit, SYNCit and SHAREit utilities, Kingsoft Office, Navigate 6, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, and Evernote in the device and they come pre-installed.
The device comes with 8GB on board storage, out of which 5.59 GB is available to the user. You can also install microSD card to expand the storage.
The device runs on a Quad core processor from Mediatek and has 1GB of RAM. The performance is pretty decent and we seldom saw any lags on the device. The gaming performance of the device is also pretty decent. Lenovo has already promised KitKat update for the device. We expect the UI to be better once the KitKat update gets rolled out. Related Watching: Gaming performance of Lenovo S660
The call quality was good on the device while the speakers on the device were not really the best. The earphones included in the box is of average quality.
Camera:
The camera interface is typically the interface and features you would find on the devices powered by Mediatek processors. The camera has option to record videos in 1080p although the default setting is 720p. The camera performed pretty well in daylight and the color have come decent. Low-light camera performance was not that great and the photos turned out to be noisy.
Here are some of the samples taken with the camera.
Battery Life:
One of the strong points of the device is the battery. The device comes with a massive 3000mAh battery even being a mid range device. The battery life on the device is really good and even with more than average usage you get more than a day with the device.
Verdict:
Even though the device has quite a few strong areas like great build, decent camera and excellent battery life, the biggest drawback is the current software (Android 4.2). While most of the device today run Android KitKat, even the entry level ones, Lenovo S660 only ships with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. KitKat update for the device, which is scheduled for September will bring the UI from Vibe series which should be interesting. When compared to Moto G, the Lenovo has the advantage of expandable storage. Lenovo S660 is a well balanced phone with good specifications and performance at this price point. Priced at Rs 10500 (current price), the device is a good buy with KitKat update scheduled to arrive.
