Smartphone "Lenovo A369i": reviews, photos, specifications, instructions

For several years now, the entry-level smartphone Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i has adequately fulfilled the tasks assigned to the device by many owners of the model. In this case, during its service life, the device may require firmware update due to the impossibility of continuing the normal functioning of the device without reinstalling the system software. In addition, many custom firmware and ports have been created for the model, the use of which allows you to somewhat modernize the smartphone in software terms.

The article will discuss the main methods by using which you can reinstall the official operating system in the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i, restore a non-working device, and also install the current version of Android up to 6.0.

We should not forget that procedures that involve writing system files to sections of the smartphone’s memory carry potential dangers. The user independently decides on their use and is also independently responsible for possible damage to the device as a result of manipulations.

Smart phone kit

The scope of delivery for this budget device is as follows:

• The smart phone itself has a protective film attached.
• 1500 mAh battery.
• Economy class stereo headset with mediocre sound quality.
• Charger.
• User manual in several languages.
• Interface cord.
• Warranty card.

It’s worth noting right away that the kit comes with really high-quality and detailed instructions. Lenovo A369i is equipped with a protective film (it is immediately glued to its front panel). Therefore, the list of complete accessories is missing only 2 components: a memory card and a case. They will have to be purchased at an additional cost. Music lovers will definitely not like the sound quality of the included stereo headset, and they will also have to purchase a separate high-quality wired speaker system.

Results

We can say with confidence that in the case of the Lenovo A369i, the manufacturer was unable to create a full-fledged smartphone costing 999 hryvnia. Its key disadvantage is the lack of a GPS module. In addition, you can find other elements that were saved on (for example, a flash). Taking into account the characteristics, the price of the smartphone looks somewhat overpriced - for comparable money you can find a smartphone with full-fledged GPS, a large screen, a brightness control sensor, and a flash.

On the other hand, we have no critical comments regarding the operation or implementation of any functions in the Lenovo A369i. Therefore, if you are sure that you do not need GPS, you want to find not just a budget, but also a compact smartphone with a minimum cost and a high-quality body, you can turn your attention to the Lenovo A369i.

Liked + Build quality + Lenovo Launcher

Didn’t like it - Lack of GPS - Screen - Proximity sensor operation - Price

Design and management

On the front panel of the device there is a display whose diagonal is 4 inches, modest by today’s standards. Above it is a speaker, and at the bottom there is a typical panel for controlling the device, consisting of 3 touch buttons without backlight. Even lower under the panel there is a hole for a spoken microphone. There are no interface or control elements on the bottom edge and left edge of the smartphone. At the top end of the device there is a lock button and ports: 3.5 mm audio jack and micro-USB. On the right side of the smart phone there are two volume control buttons. On the back cover there are holes for a loud speaker and the main camera. There is also the manufacturer's logo here. There are three color options for the body of this device: white, yellow and black. In the first two cases, the coating is glossy and easily collects fingerprints and dirt. But in the black version, the surface is loose and the owners of this gadget do not have such problems.

Smartphone processor

The Lenovo A369i is based on a chip that is very modest by today’s standards. This is MT6572 with the index “W”. It has only 2 computing modules based on the energy-efficient “A7” architecture, but it cannot boast of a high level of performance. The processor itself is manufactured according to the 28nm process standards. The clock frequency of each module can reach 1.3 GHz at maximum load. This CPU can easily cope with tasks such as browsing the Internet, reading books, listening to radio and music, and simple entry-level games. You can even watch movies on it, but not in 1920 x 1080 resolution (although this can work in some cases). What this device certainly won’t run are the most demanding 3D games. This chip is not designed for them - for these purposes you need to buy a more expensive device.

Display and graphics accelerator

The screen diagonal of this smartphone is very modest, as in modern times, and is only 4 inches. The display resolution is 800 x 480. The screen matrix is ​​made using TFT technology. There is also an air gap between the touch surface and the screen. Therefore, the quality of the display is far from ideal, and at viewing angles other than 90 degrees, the picture becomes distorted. The undeniable advantage of this device is the presence of a graphics accelerator - “Mali-400MP”. It cannot boast of an outstanding level of performance, but its hardware resources are quite sufficient to display images on such a small display. This removes the additional load from the central processor, which will not additionally process graphic information.

Device camera

There is only a main camera in the Lenovo A369i. Photos and videos obtained with its help are of very modest quality. This is not surprising: it is based on a sensor of only 2 megapixels. This is clearly not enough to obtain high-quality photos and videos. Also, the smartphone does not have a backlight or an autofocus system. That is, this device cannot take photographs in low light conditions, and when you try to capture text, it will turn out blurry in most cases. The video camera can only shoot in 720p format.

Calls and multimedia

Telephone functions are implemented at the proper level. The speaker is of medium volume, in most cases you can hear your interlocutor well, and you can also be heard well. The ringing speaker is loud and of average quality. The vibration alert is rather weak. Complaints arose only regarding the operation of the proximity sensor - approximately 40% of conversations ended prematurely, by accidentally pressing the end call key with the cheek. To be on the safe side, it is better to lock the screen yourself after answering the call. Working with two SIM cards is implemented in a standard way. Among the features worth noting is the non-disabled vibration when the interlocutor answers and the impossibility of setting up separate ringtones for different SIM cards.

As a multimedia player, the Lenovo A369i performs well. It supports a variety of video formats out of the box, stumbling only at high-resolution file playback and AC3 audio tracks. The quality of music playback is average, standard for devices on this hardware platform; there is some amplifier noise.

Playing video files

Memory

Lenovo A369i boasts only 512 MB of RAM. This is clearly not enough to run resource-intensive applications. In this case, the user can count on a maximum of 200 MB. The remaining 312 MB will be occupied by the operating system and pre-installed software. The capacity of the integrated storage is also quite modest: only 4 GB. The user can use only 1.27 GB for his needs. The rest is taken up by the operating system and pre-installed software with a proprietary shell. A kind of compensation for the small capacity of the built-in storage is the presence of a slot for installing a flash card, the maximum size of which can be 32 GB. But again, not all programs can be installed on an external drive, and at a certain stage you will have to choose the software that you cannot do without. But personal photos and videos need to be stored on some cloud service. This will avoid their loss in case of loss of the device or its breakdown.

Firmware

Having previously created backup copies and a backup “NVRAM” of Lenovo A369i at hand, you can safely proceed to the firmware procedure. Installation of system software in the device in question can be carried out using several methods. Using the instructions below in turn, we first get the official version of Android from Lenovo, and then one of the custom solutions.

Method 1: Official firmware

To install official software in the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i, you can use the capabilities of a wonderful and almost universal tool for working with MTK devices - SP Flash Tool. The version of the application from the example below, suitable for working with the model in question, can be downloaded from the link:

Download SP Flash Tool for Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i firmware

It is important to note that the instructions below are suitable not only for reinstalling Android in the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i or updating the software version, but also for restoring a device that does not turn on, does not boot or does not work properly.

We should not forget about the various hardware revisions of the smartphone and the need to select the correct software version. Download and unpack the archive with one of the firmwares for your revision. Firmware for devices of the second revision is available at the link:

Download official Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i firmware for SP Flash Tool

1. Launch the SP Flash Tool by double-clicking on Flash_tool.exe in the directory containing the application files.
2. In the window that opens, click the “Scatter-loading” button, and then indicate to the program the path to the file MT6572_Android_scatter.txt , located in the directory obtained as a result of unpacking the archive with the firmware.
3. After loading all images into the program and addressing the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i memory partitions as a result of the previous step

   Click the “Download” button and wait for the checksums of the image files to finish checking, that is, wait for the purple bars to run in the progress bar.

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4. Turn off the smartphone, remove the battery, and then connect the device with a cable to the USB port of the PC.
5. Transferring files to the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i memory partitions will begin automatically.

   You need to wait until the progress bar fills with yellow and the “Download OK” window appears.

6. This completes the installation of the official version of Android OS on the device. We disconnect the device from the USB cable, replace the battery, and then turn on the phone by long pressing the “Power” key.
7. After initializing the installed components and loading, which takes quite a long time, the initial Android setup screen will appear.

Method 2: Custom firmware

The only way to convert the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i in software terms and get a more modern version of Android than the 4.2 offered by the manufacturer in the latest update for the model is to install modified firmware. It should be said that the widespread use of the model has led to the emergence of many custom options and ports for the device.

Despite the fact that custom solutions have been created for the smartphone in question, including Android 6.0 (!), when choosing a package, you should remember the following. In many OS modifications based on Android versions higher than 4.2, the functionality of individual hardware components, in particular sensors and/or cameras, is not ensured. So it's probably not worth chasing the latest versions of the base OS unless it's absolutely necessary to run certain apps that don't run on older versions of Android.

Step 1: Installing custom recovery

As with many other models, installing any modified firmware in the A369i is most often done through custom recovery. It is recommended to use TeamWin Recovery (TWRP) by installing the recovery environment according to the instructions below. To work, you will need the SP Flash Tool program and an unpacked archive with the official firmware. You can download the necessary files from the links above in the description of how to install the official firmware.

1. Download the image file from TWRP for your hardware revision of the device using the link:
2. Open the folder with the official firmware and delete the Checksum.ini .
3. We follow steps No. 1-2 of the method of installing the official firmware above in the article. That is, we launch the SP Flash Tool and add the scatter file to the program.
4. Click on “RECOVERY” and indicate to the program the path to the location of the image file with TWRP. Having identified the required file, click the “Open” button in the Explorer window.
5. Everything is ready to start installing the firmware and TWRP. Click the “Firmware->Upgrade” button and watch the process progress in the status bar.
6. Once the transfer of data to the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i memory partitions is complete, the “Firmware Upgrade OK” window will appear.
7. We disconnect the device from the USB cable, install the battery and turn on the smartphone with the “Power” button to launch Android, or immediately go to TWRP. To enter the modified recovery environment, you must hold down all three hardware keys: “Volume+”, “Volume-” and “Power” on the switched off device until the recovery menu items appear.

Step 2: Installation of custom

Once the modified recovery appears in the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i, installing any custom firmware should not cause any difficulties. You can experiment and change solutions in search of the best for each specific user. As an example, let's install the CyanogenMod 12 port, which is based on Android 5 version, as one of the most attractive and functional solutions according to A369i users.

You can download the Ver2 hardware revision package from the following link:

1. We transfer the custom package to the root of the memory card installed in the IdeaPhone A369i.
2. We boot into TWRP and make sure to back up the “NVRAM” partition, or better yet, all partitions of the device’s memory. To do this, follow the path: “Backup” - check the section(s) - select “External SD-card” as the location for saving the backup copy - move the “Swipe to create a backup” switch to the right and wait for the backup procedure to complete.
3. We clean the “Data”, “Dalvik Cache”, “Cache”, “System”, “Internal Storage” sections. To do this, go to the “Cleaning” menu, click “Advanced”, check the checkboxes next to the names of the above sections and move the “Swipe to clean” switch to the right.
4. Upon completion of the cleaning procedure, click “Back” and thus return to the TWRP main menu. You can proceed to installing the OS package transferred to the memory card. Select the “Install” item, indicate the file with the firmware to the system, and move the “Swipe right to install” switch to the right.
5. All you have to do is wait until the end of recording the custom OS, after which the smartphone will automatically reboot

   into an updated modified operating system.

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Thus, every owner of this generally quite successful smartphone at the time of its release can reinstall Android in the Lenovo IdeaPhone A369i. The main thing is to choose the right firmware that matches the hardware revision of the model, and also carry out operations only after fully studying the instructions and realizing the fact that each step of a particular method is understandable and can be completed to the end.

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Autonomy of the gadget

The small capacity of the included battery is one of the main disadvantages of the Lenovo A369i. Its characteristics are really not impressive: only 1500 mAh and 1-2 days of battery life at an average load level. Demanding toys cannot work normally on this smartphone, and the owners of this device will not be able to reduce the battery life to less than 24 hours. Well, if you use the phone as a regular “dialer” for calls and SMS, the battery life will increase to 3 days. The output current of the included charger is 700 mA. Accordingly, one battery charge will take: 1500 mAh / 700 mA = 2.15 hours. That is, every 1-2 days you will have to spend charging your smartphone.

Contents of delivery

The fact that the hero of this review belongs to devices of the lower price segment is immediately revealed by its box. There are no covers on top of the main packaging or varnish that we have seen in more expensive Lenovo smartphones - a box made of the simplest cardboard, the main purpose of which is to deliver the goods to the buyer and be thrown away. In addition to the Lenovo A369i, you'll also find a 700mA charger, USB cable, earbuds, and documentation.

Data exchange

The list of wireless interfaces is as follows:

• Wi-Fi (maximum speed 100 Mbps, perfect for downloading large files).
• Bluetooth (allows you to connect various devices to your smartphone and exchange a small amount of data with similar “smart” phones).
• Mobile networks of the 2nd and, of course, 3rd generations (in the latter case, the speed can reach 7 Mbit/s, this is enough to make a video call, but the communication process will be difficult in this case: one camera on the back side will lead to , that either you will see the interlocutor, or he will see you).

There are only two wired interfaces in this device: micro-USB and 3.5 mm audio jack.

System software

The Android OS is quite outdated version 4.2 and the proprietary shell from the manufacturer is the system software under which the Lenovo A369i smartphone operates. There is no need to expect updates for it. The device has been on the market for a long time, and during this time the manufacturing company has not released any new modifications to the system software. Otherwise, a standard set of software is installed on the device: clients of international social networks, built-in mini-programs and a set of software from Google. The new owners of this gadget will have to install everything else from the company’s application store or other sources. The only problem is that you won’t be able to install many programs: there is very little built-in memory.

Interface

The smartphone runs on the Android 4.2.2 operating system. It uses a simplified version of Lenovo Launcher as the user interface. Simplifications have affected the lock screen, settings menu and notifications - here we see the standard system interface.

The desktop and list of applications are the same as on older Lenovo smartphones that we reviewed earlier. Key interface features remain in place: design themes, customizing desktop scrolling effects, customizing the arrangement of elements in the application list.

The Lenovo A369i was not without original localization - the usual “Ok” turned into “Okay”.

Price today

The Lenovo A369i phone was priced at $120 when sales began in November 2013. Now its price in black version has decreased by almost 2 times and is equal to 65 dollars. In turn, the less practical yellow and white cases are priced 4 dollars more – 69 dollars. For this money you get a gadget with a full range of the most popular functions. In this niche, this is one of the best smartphones today.

Appearance and ergonomics

The body of the device is entirely plastic, but the material cannot be called bad or of poor quality. Rounded edges add ergonomics to it. Therefore, the Lenovo A369i phone fits well in the palm of your hand. The gadget can get lost in rough and large male hands, but for girls this is the best option.

The rear part has a textured coating in the form of small dots, so the device does not try to slip out of your hands. Under the cover there is a Lenovo A369i battery and slots for SIM and SD cards. The back panel is easy to remove, but not so easy that it will fly off at the first opportunity. That is, to remove it, it is enough to have nails, and there is no need to resort to tools (like a screwdriver and a knife).

Judging by the reviews of the Lenovo A369i, the assembly turned out to be excellent. Even with strong squeezing, the device does not make squeaks, does not crunch, and the plastic does not curl. There are also no backlashes. Therefore, there are no questions about the build quality of the smartphone.

Owner reviews

There are many shortcomings in the Lenovo A369i. Reviews highlight the following:

• Lack of GPS sensor. The location of the device can only be determined using the A-GPS system. In the city this system works quite correctly. But on the highway there may be an error of several kilometers. This point is not critical for those who do not plan to use a smartphone as a GPS navigator.
• The low quality of the screen and main camera, which are compensated by the affordable price tag of $65.

But the advantages of this device are as follows:

• High build quality.
• Excellent software component, which is based on .