Review of Lenovo S850 Android smartphone with dual SIM support

Good day to all Trashbox readers. Today I have a Lenovo S850 smartphone in my hands. It was presented at last year's mobile electronics exhibition Mobile World Congress in Barcelona along with the 4.7-inch S660 and the S860 with a 4K mAh battery, which I have already reviewed before (you can look at the links, I will periodically draw parallels between them). Let's now see what their third brother, the S850, is capable of.

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Lenovo S850 Specifications:

• Case materials: plastic, glass
• Color: white, pink, dark blue
• Operating system: Android 4.4.2
• Network: GSM 900/1800/1900, WCDMA 900/2100, dual SIM support
• Processor: quad-core Mediatek MTK6582, 1.3 GHz
• Graphics accelerator: Mali-400MP2
• RAM: 1 GB
• Data storage memory: 16 GB
• Screen: capacitive, IPS, 5 inches, 1280x720 pixels
• Main camera: 13 MP with flash and autofocus
• Front camera: 5 MP
• Additionally: Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, A-GPS
• Battery: 2000 mAh
• Dimensions: 71x141x8.2 mm
• Weight: 140 g
• Device price: 4000 UAH. / 12000 - 14000 rub.

Appearance and ease of use

Lenovo S850 is the lightest and thinnest phone in this trio. What makes it very different from the S860 and S660, which have an aluminum back panel, is the glass-plastic body. The smartphone is ergonomic and pleasant to look at.

It fits well in your hand and pocket and does not slip. True, the phone skates on a table and other smooth surfaces like on ice skates. By the way, after some period of use, the beauty of the back panel deteriorates a little due to scratches and greasy fingerprints that easily accumulate on the glass.

There is also a Lenovo logo on the back of the device, but not a simple one. It will glow in some situations, for example:

• unlocking the device - for a couple of seconds
• notifications about missed calls, messages, mail
• during a conversation
• charging indication

And in the left corner, on the back of the device, there is a camera and a flash for it.

On the front side of the device, closer to the top edge, there is an earpiece and a logo, and on the right side of them are all the sensors and a 5 MP camera.

Closer to the bottom edge there are functional buttons. The entire front part of the smartphone is covered with protective glass without an oleophobic coating. There is also a edging, so unlike the rear glass, the front glass is protected from damage from the table.

On the left side of the device we have a slot for two microSIM cards, covered with a flap. There is a speaker above it.

On the right there is a volume rocker and a lock button, which is slightly recessed into the body, which makes it well “readable” to the touch.

At the top we see a standard 3.5mm headset jack and a miniUSB port.

There is only one small hole at the bottom for a speaking microphone.

I couldn’t see what was inside the phone, since the cover of the phone is not removable. The phone is assembled with high quality, there are no complaints about this point about the Lenovo S850.

Display

The front of the device is entirely covered with glass, but due to the fact that the display is slightly recessed, there is a plastic curb around it, so it’s not scary to place the smart device with the glass down. Although the Lenovo S850, no matter how you look at it, will still be glass down. And glass up. Your CEP.

5 inches is, in my opinion, the most optimal smartphone diagonal among all available ones. And the HD resolution is also quite suitable for an average smartphone, with a density of 294 ppi, although it is far from the record, but for the average user it will do. The kit includes good viewing angles, the image is not distorted even if you twist your hand to show the picture, and a decent oleophobic coating that is very pleasant to the touch. The brightness is very good, the smartphone behaves well in the sun. There is automatic brightness adjustment. True, the contrast is not the most revealing, but overall everything looks good. Moreover, the color rendition of the screen is decent. That is, as always, it sags a little in cool shades, but this is such a familiar bug, you can adjust it by eye using the slider.

Due to the small frames around the display, the Lenovo S850 is convenient to use. But there is also a trick in the form of a black frame inside, eh. Overall impressions of the display remain good. Just pay attention - the preset minimum brightness is not even minimal at all. There is still room to tighten the slider.

Screen

The smartphone is equipped with a 5-inch capacitive IPS display with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. The screen quality is quite good. At maximum viewing angles, colors do not fade or change shade. Auto brightness adjustment works fine. The upper and lower thresholds are well chosen and cope with the tasks.

The smartphone does not have an oleophobic coating, so fingerprints will accumulate abundantly on the screen. Multi-touch works well, responds clearly and quickly, and recognizes up to five simultaneous presses.

Software stuffing

There is not a bare system installed here, but its own proprietary shell. Its main features are that, firstly, the interface is highly customizable, and, secondly, that all application icons are located directly on the desktops. There are no other areas, lists or matrixes of labels.

Everything about the second is clear, but the first requires explanation. The main design customization tool is the Theme Center. Here you can choose your favorite shell from several options. They are all different and quite deeply developed.

It's not just the wallpaper or screensaver that can be customized. You can choose your own animation when turned on, the appearance of the control panel or dialing numbers. An original approach.

In the “Special” menu you can configure a variety of gestures and device features. For example, you can place a button anywhere on the screen for quick access to the main smartphone tools (calculator, flashlight, etc.). Or activate a setting that allows you to unlock the screen even in sleep mode by simply swiping your finger across it.

In addition, if you shake the device in your hand, it will lock. If you bring it to your ear during a call, it will automatically answer. There are a whole bunch of simply vital settings here. The only thing left to do is decide whether someone needs it

Right out of the box, the device has a whole bunch of useless or semi-useful utilities. Among them was a program responsible for transforming the interface while driving a car. You can also control it with your voice. Surely this will be useful to someone.

Here's something else I noticed. The S850 has a strange feature. Time constantly runs an hour ahead, regardless of the SIM card installed in the phone. In the parameters there is a checkbox “Network date and time”, deactivating which allows you to “set” the time manually. Only then does everything fall into place and there is no more naughtiness.

System

Lenovo S860 runs Android 4.4.2. The proprietary system shell from the Chinese manufacturer is not standard, as for Android smartphones in general, but quite common for Lenovo in particular.

There is no “Applications Menu”, only the desktop. In general, the system is more similar to iOS. For inexperienced users this will be very unusual, because except for Xiaomi and Lenovo, a similar interface cannot be found on Android.

As usual, the phone is equipped with a large number of proprietary applications: Lenovo SHAREit, Lenovo SECUREit, Lenovo SYNCit. As for me, the list is too large, most of them have to be turned off, since they are very annoying with their notifications about nothing. On the other hand, for those who never install anything on their phone, this will be just right.

There are no special unusual items in the settings section, except for a smart call: that is, the call starts as soon as you raise the phone to your ear, in the contact menu or when writing an SMS.

Autonomy

2000 mAh is still not a lot for average hardware in the modern world. I used both SIM cards, did not deny myself either Wi-Fi or the mobile Internet (they didn’t even turn off for me), social networks and YouTube. It was enough to watch videos online for 5 hours and play with cars for 3 hours. The device has a reasonable energy saving system, and it works, but 2000 mAh is still not enough. Enough for a work day, but if you need something a little more substantial, then Lenovo has two models, the S860 and P780, and we have this selection.

Performance

The smartphone is equipped with a quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor with a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz per core, a Mali-400MP graphics accelerator, and 1 GB of RAM.

It is very sad that the Lenovo S850 does not support memory cards, and this despite the fact that out of the 16 GB of the phone’s declared internal memory, about 11 GB is available to the user.

The performance of the smartphone is generally good. The toys work fine and you won’t feel any particular discomfort.

Test results in various benchmarks:

• Antutu Benchmark 5.1: 19484
• Quadrant 2.1.1: 7150
• RL Benchmark SQL 1.3: 27.421 sec
• BenchmarkPi 1.11: 316 ms
• Epic Citadel HQ 1.07: 49.8 fps
• Basemark ES 2.0 Taiji 1.2: 21.70 fps
• Basemark X High 1.1: 1717
• Basemark OS II 1.0.1.0: 411

Battery

Finally we managed to find a weak point in this smartphone. I was already starting to think that the guys from Lenovo managed to create the perfect budget phone. But no!

The smartphone has a non-removable battery with a capacity of 2150 mAh. For the built-in hardware and display, it would seem that this is more than enough for the device to be guaranteed to work for two days without recharging. All wrong.

With active use of the smartphone (three hours of screen operation, 2 hours of surfing the Internet via Wi-Fi, constant background notifications from the network (HSPA)) it will live until the night.

If you have an addiction to mobile toys (without fanaticism), then get ready for the device to sit down until the evening. But usually state employees have a moderate appetite, but this is not the case.

Instead of the usual “Battery” section, there is a proprietary Power Manager application that monitors and manages power supply. From here you can activate an economical energy consumption mode (limiting background applications) or switch to an extreme saving scenario, when the only available functions are phone calls, SMS and an alarm clock.

On some forums, users complain that the device does not turn on after the battery drains to zero. When testing the device it did not come to this, so it was not possible to verify the validity of this statement. In any case, it is better not to allow such a development of events, and if the mobile phone really does not turn on, you should try to reconnect the power cable several times in a row until activity appears from the phone.

Camera

Lenovo S850 is equipped with a 13 MP main camera with autofocus and flash and a 5 MP front camera, which automatically classifies it as a selfie phone.

The quality of the main camera resembles something between 8 MP and 13 MP. Photos taken with flash change the hue towards blue. The quality of the front camera is quite good. The pictures come out with good clarity.

Example photo from the main camera:

Example photo from the front camera:

Communications and sensors

Lenovo S850 operates in 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 900/1800/1900 MHz) and 3G (900/2100 MHz) cellular networks. The device supports dual SIM cards. Naturally, there is only one radio module, so only one card works in active mode. The GPS receiver works quite quickly, in 30 seconds it saw 11 satellites and worked with the signal of 9 of them.

The device supports all popular Bluetooth 3.0 profiles, including A2DP. Wi-Fi works on b/g/n channels.

There are no complaints about the operation of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules.

Design

Time passes, and Lenovo smartphones also do not stand still. To be fair, they never looked outright bad, but lately their appearance has gotten a little better. The Lenovo S850 was no exception, and although its design has hints of devices from other manufacturers, the smartphone turned out to be quite nice. There are three colors of the S850: black, white and pink.

We got the last two for testing. The pink version is clearly more popular with girls, but the white one looks quite good in men’s hands. In all three colors, the back cover is made of glossy plastic, but with a different pattern. In the white version it is made in the form of diamonds, in the pink version it is made in the form of vertical lines, and in the black version it is made in the form of circular lines.

The dimensions of the device cannot be called large. In the realities of our time, a 5-inch smartphone will be accepted by most people not as large, but as normal. Thanks to its rather narrow body, the S850 is comfortable to use. You can compare its dimensions with its main competitors in the table.

On the front side of the Lenovo S850 there is a speaker, a front 5 MP camera, light and proximity sensors, and below is the manufacturer's logo. Below the screen are touch-sensitive hardware keys.

The sides are bordered by a plastic edging made in a coating that pretends to be metal. On the right side there is a volume and power key. On the left there is a multimedia speaker and a slot for two SIM cards in microSIM format.

In order to change the card, you must use the supplied paperclip. At the top there is a 3.5 mm audio jack and microUSB port, at the bottom there is only a microphone. On the back side there is a main 13 MP camera lens and an LED flash. In the middle of the lid is the manufacturer's logo. The logo is not simple, but illuminated. It turns on when you unlock the device, when charging, when there is an incoming call, and when there is a missed event. Unfortunately, the back cover is not removable, so there is no direct access to the battery.

In terms of ergonomics, as mentioned above, almost everything is good. Yes, the smartphone is oblong, but the thickness of the case is small. Mechanical keys are pressed clearly - there are no complaints about them. In white, fingerprints on the back panel are only visible from a certain angle.

Operating system and shell

Lenovo S850 runs the latest version of the Android 4.4.2 operating system. The shell is Lenovo Launcher v5. For using one of the latest versions of the operating system, the manufacturer should be praised. But the smartphone shell could already be found on other devices of the company.

The shell itself consists only of the desktop. Thanks to the ability to create folders in the menu, you can very easily organize your installed applications. In addition, thanks to the greater number of settings, you can customize a lot for yourself. Don't forget about the standard Theme Center application. It allows you to choose one of 9 design themes and modify it. In this regard, the shell is very good. But it’s impossible to say that it’s smooth, because sometimes something slows it down.

For motorists there is an Auto application. In it, the smartphone interface changes and is transferred to a horizontal view with five icons - call, messages, navigation, music and voice control. There is a digital clock in the center.

Hardware platform

Lenovo S850 is powered by a quad-core MediaTeK MT6582 processor with a clock frequency of 1.3 GHz for each core. The well-known Mali 400 MP acts as a video accelerator. The amount of RAM is 1 GB, of which only 300 MB is available after switching on. The built-in storage capacity is 16 GB, but just under 12 GB is available to the user. There is no slot for memory cards.

Despite not the most advanced characteristics, the smartphone's performance is sufficient for both simple tasks and games. In general, the MediaTeK MT6582 is a successful processor model - this is confirmed not only by the test smartphone, but also by other devices.

The smartphone is equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Wi-Fi speed is good. The device tenaciously holds on to the network and does not lose it. The satellite search speed is quite good, even with a cold start.

The voice speaker is not the best, but no extraneous sounds appear during a conversation. The volume reserve is good. As mentioned earlier, to change SIM cards you need to use a proprietary paperclip. If you need to change a card, but do not have a standard paper clip with you, you can use a regular paper clip instead. But working with two SIM cards is quite standard, without any innovations. It is worth noting that it is possible to record a conversation using a voice recorder. The volume of the multimedia speaker is good, but the vibration in the device is weak and practically not felt.

The latest version of the Antutu benchmark has the ability to check supported video and audio codecs. The test results can be found below.

Lenovo S850 is equipped with a relatively small capacity battery of 2150 mA*h. In addition, it is not removable, but despite this, it cannot be said that the smartphone is discharged before our eyes. In medium load mode with wireless interfaces turned on, it easily lasts for a day.

Standard comparison table with operating time indicators in various modes.

In reading , all wireless communications are disabled, including data transmission on the mobile network, and the display brightness is set to 200 cd/m2. When listening to music, automatic data synchronization and data transfer worked. The sound volume in the headphones is at 12 out of 15 possible levels. All music files are in MP3 format, bitrate 320 Kbps. Navigation includes getting directions in the Google Navigation app. The brightness is set to 200 cd/m2, all data communication modules are disabled. When playing a video , data transmission on the mobile network is active, the display brightness is set to 200 cd/m2, 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. Playing video from Youtube was accompanied not only by work on a Wi-Fi network, but also through active data transmission. The display brightness is set to 200 cd/m2, the sound volume in the headphones is set to 12 out of 15 possible levels. * – data obtained under similar conditions, but with the brightness set to 50% and possible You can familiarize yourself with the testing methodology in this material