Lenovo A850 - reviews. Lenovo A850 mobile phone

Lenovo A850 is a fairly compact and convenient phone today, especially many people prefer it because of its easy work on the Internet. It has a 4-core processor, a 5.5-inch screen, support for two SIM cards, and 1 GB of RAM. These indicators satisfy many users, so the phone is very popular.

After all, you can enjoy both games and watching movies, and all web resources, even those not optimized for mobile devices, will be perfectly displayed on the screen. Very good color reproduction will allow the photographs taken to look as realistic as possible.

Design and ergonomics

Externally, the smartphone is no different from other Lenovo IdeaPhone models. The entire front side of the smartphone is covered with protective glass; in its upper part there are hidden light and proximity sensors, an earpiece, a front camera peephole, an indicator and the manufacturer’s logo. At the bottom there are hardware touch keys. A silver plastic rim runs along the entire perimeter of the device. On the right side there is a volume rocker, on the left side there are no elements. At the top end there is a 3.5 mm jack and a power button, at the bottom there is a microphone and a micro-USB connector. The glossy cover covers the entire back side; on it is located the peephole of a 5 MP camera with a flash, the manufacturer’s logo and a multimedia speaker. Removing the back cover, you can see a removable 2250 mAh battery, a slot for a microSD memory card and two SIM cards. Unfortunately, access to the memory slot and SIM cards is only possible when the battery is removed.

Smartphone ergonomics are controversial. The biggest criticism is the location of the power key on the top edge of the device. Its location means that you have to use your second hand to unlock the smartphone, which is not entirely convenient. One cannot help but mention the squeaks of the case, especially when there is strong pressure on the back cover. On the plus side, we add that fingerprints on the glossy cover can only be seen from a certain angle. There are also no complaints about the mechanical hardware keys; they have a well-perceptible stroke.

For a smartphone with a large screen, the device fits well in the hand, but even for those with large hands, it is extremely difficult to use it with one hand. Comparative housing dimensions are shown in the table below.

Battery

The Lenovo A850 has a weak 2250 milliampere/hour battery. Reviews from the owners of this gadget tell a completely different story. Its capacity is enough for 2 days of active use of the device. Taking into account the hardware and display diagonal, this is an excellent indicator for today. Most likely, software engineers have worked hard here. It is their merit that this device can function for so long on a single battery charge. If the device is in sleep mode, the battery life will increase to one week.

Operating system and shell

The smartphone runs on the Android 4.2.2 operating system (Jelly Bean) and the Lenovo Launcher graphical interface. The interface allows you to create up to nine desktops and significantly changes the appearance of the device by choosing the effect of flipping desktop windows, the background image, and even renaming the application widget, as well as changing the icon. In addition to the interface, the settings menu has undergone changes. It now has three tabs: General Settings, Character Settings, and All Settings. You can read more about the interface in the Lenovo P780 review.

If we talk about the convenience of this interface, it has undeniable advantages over the pure Android Jelly Bean interface. And the main thing is the deep customization of almost everything, from the theme to the renaming of widgets on the desktop. The disadvantage is its slowness. Not to say that it slows down, it’s just that the pages turn through the pages slowly.

Hardware platform

The Lenovo IdeaPhone A850 smartphone uses a system-on-chip manufactured by MediaTek MT6582, 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of permanent memory, expandable via microSD memory cards. The MediaTek MT6582 chip includes four processor cores with a frequency of 1.3 GHz and a Mali-400 MP2 graphics core. When connected to a PC, a little more than 2 GB of permanent memory is available to the user. The amount of RAM available immediately after booting the smartphone is 725 MB.

The performance results are comparable and sometimes even ahead of the MediaTek MT6589T. This is more than enough for demanding games, but is affected by the lack of permanent memory, which is only 2 GB. Because of this, some programs will have to be installed on the memory card.

GPS satellite search speed is high. And there were no problems with wireless networks. The quality of communication over the mobile network is also not satisfactory.

Playing video files

The sound quality in the headphones is typical for devices running on MediaTek processors and is very average, but the volume reserve is quite good. The built-in video player supports all popular codecs.

Lenovo A850 results in AnTutu Benchmark

In the popular AnTuTu benchmark, the Lenovo A850 smartphone scores an average of about 25,699 points. This figure, like all those given below, was taken from the official website of the developer of this software. Unfortunately, we currently do not have detailed data on the device's performance in AnTutu.

Comparison with other smartphones from the ratings of different years

The rating of devices on the official AnTuTu website is updated once a month. Old data is available via Web Archive.

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Autonomy

The results of autonomy are predictable. With an average load, the smartphone can last two days, this is, of course, if you do not play heavy games, but still use the mobile Internet.

You can adjust power consumption in the pre-installed Lenovo Power app. The program allows you to perform deep customization of your smartphone. It has five main tabs: “Power”, “Consumption”, “Charging”, “Mode” and “Options”. The “Power” tab allows you to more precisely configure the selected battery mode and at the same time see the relationship between enabling or disabling functions and the approximate operating time of the smartphone. For example, disabling the display's automatic rotation sensor slightly increases the estimated operating time. The “Consumption” tab allows you to track battery consumption. It contains a division of statistics on programs and hardware that consume energy. The Charging tab allows you to calibrate the battery. Probably the most interesting tab is “Mode”. It is here that you can switch between autonomy modes in just one click. A total of four modes are available: “Alarm” (in this mode, the device goes into airplane mode, turns off absolutely all methods of data transmission and lowers the display brightness to the minimum value), “Phone” (differs from the previous one only by turning on the SIM card), “Network” ( data transfer via Wi-Fi, mobile network works, the display brightness increases automatically) and “Custom mode” (in this mode it is possible to configure all the above-mentioned indicators). The “Settings” tab allows you to enable smart energy saving, configure the on/off schedule, and the operation of the missed events indicator. It is important to note that the program’s autonomy indicators may vary significantly depending on the operation of the device; in other words, these indicators are displayed in real time and do not in any way predict your further actions and the number of calls, but even despite this, such a deep adjustment of the device’s power supply will be useful and convenient.

The data is for a battery with a capacity of 4500 mAh. To listen to music, we used a standard player, volume at 12 out of 15 possible, MP3 files with a bitrate of 320 Kbps. In reading mode, all wireless communications are disabled, including data transmission on the mobile network, and the display brightness is set to 50%. Navigation includes getting directions in the Google Navigation app. The brightness is set to 50%, all data communication modules are disabled. When playing a video, the display brightness is set to 50%, the sound volume in the headphones is at level 12 out of a possible 15. The video file format is MKV, resolution 1024x432 pixels, frame rate 24. When playing a video from Youtube, the display brightness is set to 50%, the sound volume in the headphones is at 12 out of 15 possible levels.

Display

Lenovo IdeaPhone A850 is equipped with a 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 960x540 pixels and a density of 200 PPI. Despite the low resolution, you need to look closely to see the pixels. Screen viewing angles are close to maximum. Subjectively, the display quality is good. Test results showed that the maximum brightness is 327 cd/m², 50% is 164 cd/m², and the minimum is 38 cd/m². At minimum brightness, it is difficult to work with a smartphone at night due to the excessive minimum brightness. In sunny weather, it is possible to view the information on the screen, although it is quite difficult.

Checking the factory calibration showed the following: the color gamut is slightly wider than standard sRGB, because of this the colors are more saturated, the color temperature is too high, the gamma curve is slightly higher than 2.2, especially in light shades, as a result of which they are lighter than they should be. In general, the results obtained can be called quite good, especially considering the cost of the device.

Screen Features

The 5.5-inch screen in such a budget smartphone is, of course, great, but the resolution is only 540x960. However, the pictures look quite bright and attractive, which is due to the high brightness and excellent contrast of the display.

The gadget has an installed IPS matrix. The sensor works very quickly and responds even with several simultaneous presses. The phone's performance even at frosty temperatures is just as good as at above-zero temperatures. In general, we can say that in this price category the Lenovo A850 is an almost ideal option.

Camera

Lenovo IdeaPhone A850 is equipped with two cameras: a 5 MP main camera with autofocus and flash and a 0.3 MP front camera. The main camera can record Full HD video, take HDR photos, and also has several built-in automatic modes. An interesting point is that in order to start recording video, you only need to press the corresponding button, and not switch to video mode.

The quality of captured photos and videos is below average even in good lighting conditions. The pictures lack detail, moreover, in most cases the pictures are soapy. If camera quality is important to you, you won't find it here.

Examples of photographs taken with the Lenovo Ideaphone A850 smartphone

Examples of HDR photos taken with a Lenovo Ideaphone A850 smartphone

Example of Full HD video shot by Lenovo Ideaphone A850 smartphone

Contents of delivery

The phone was neatly placed in a branded compact box, and underneath it was the usual set for Lenovo, which included: a headset, a microUSB cable, a charger, and a set of all kinds of “papers.”

Video: unpacking a smartphone

Results

Lenovo IdeaPhone A850 is an affordable smartphone with a 5.5-inch IPS screen and good performance for little money. The main advantage of the device is performance. Disadvantages include camera quality, controversial ergonomics and screen resolution. If we talk about competitors, the main one is LG G Pro Lite Dual. Lenovo IdeaPhone A850 has an advantage in price and performance, but at the same time loses in camera quality and battery life.

Liked + Performance + Support for two SIM cards + Availability of efficient power consumption modes

Didn’t like it – Camera resolution – Camera quality – Ergonomics