Taking stock of the Note

> The Lenovo K8 Note comes with most of the bells and whistles and Android 7.1.1 without the bloat, making it feel more powerful

WITH a name that orbits dangerously close to another big name high-end phone in the market, the Lenovo K8 Note touts stock Android, a dual camera, a selfie camera, a 10-core processor, Dolby Atmos, and a full HD display with TheaterMax.

However, this latest Androidpowered entry from Lenovo comes with a price tag that is surprisingly affordable.

Putting scepticism aside, the review model is a deep black slab of metal and glass.

Dubbed venom black, it is one of the two colour variants for the Lenovo K8 Note (the other being fine gold).

The overall design exudes class, and when holding it, you can feel its build quality.

On its right side are a volume rocker and a power button. On its left is a tray for two SIM cards, a tray for a MicroSD, and directly opposite the power button is a single programmable button dedicated to controlling media playback.

There is also a 3.5mm audio jack on the top, and a micro USB jack for charging and data flanked by two sets of holes, presumably for speakers, at the bottom.

I said presumably because only one set of the holes are for speakers. Cover it with your thumb and the soundscape changes.

It does sound good for what it is, especially with Dolby Atmos turned on. Nevertheless, I would recommend plugging in a pair of headphones for the best experience.

However, if you are not particular about your audio, all this means is that the speaker is loud, and turning on Dolby Atmos makes it louder.

At the back of the phone is a circular, fast, and easilyreachable fingerprint reader.

On top of it are two cameras – a 13MP sensor and a 5MP sensor. They work together with the stock Android camera software to create some fascinating and fun effects such as adjustable bokeh, colour isolation, and the ability to change the background of your subjects.

The effects are fun and novel, and they only activate if you go into the depth enabled mode.

The image quality is more than what you expect from a phone at this price, but conditions must be just right for it to perform at its best. The focus is also slow, but not horribly so.

Up front is a vibrant 5.5in full HD display underneath a piece of Corning Gorilla Glass. Note that the navigation buttons on this phone do not light up, which is annoying. Above it all is a 13MP selfie camera with an F2.0 aperture, that is paired with an LED flash.

The phone’s most significant strength, and the reason I would recommend the Lenovo K8 Note, is that it is running on stock Android.

Without bloat, the phone’s 10core processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage feels more powerful here.

Android 7.1.1 is at the core of almost every central feature of the Lenovo K8 Note. For example, the ability to use split screen and TheaterMax mode, which makes almost every media app VR headsetcompatible, are already built into the stock version of Android. Still, I wonder why this phone did not launch with Android 8.0 out of the box.

Strangely, the Lenovo K8 Note also does not have the ability to clone or create twin apps, a feature that I feel is a must on any phone with dual SIM support.

Without packing in social media apps, the K8 Note’s 4,000mAh battery can last me for two days. Even after installing some apps, it still manages to get me through the day with plenty to spare.

The Lenovo K8 Note is available in Malaysia beginning today, exclusively on Lazada.

It is priced at an introductory RM999 until Thursday, before returning to its regular retail price of RM1,299.