Lenovo K8 Plus Review

Lenovo recently decided to discontinue its custom Vibe UI, marking the beginning of the company’s journey towards stock Android. The new Lenovo K8 Plus is the latest addition to that journey. In recent times, there has been a growing demand for devices running on stock Android, and that is why Lenovo removed the Vibe UI. The Lenovo K8 Note (Review) was the company’s first phone to run on this UI. Now, customers have the option of the Lenovo K8 Plus as well.

Well, unlike the Xiaomi Mi A1 (Review), the Lenovo K8 Plus is not a part of the Android One family. But the experience of using it is almost the same. Is this the only interesting feature in the Lenovo K8 Plus? Let’s find out.

Lenovo K8 Plus design

If you have used a Lenovo smartphone recently, the K8 Plus will look familiar. Like other options in the market, the Lenovo K8 Plus has a metal body. The size of the phone will grab your attention at first glance. It is a cross between the Lenovo K8 and the Lenovo K8 Note. It is made for one-handed use. The phone has a 5.2-inch full HD display. The capacitive Android navigation buttons are below the display. Lenovo has used non-backlit navigation buttons in this phone. It is difficult to find these buttons in the dark.
The power and volume buttons are on the right side. The power button has a slightly different texture, so it is easily recognizable. On the other side, there is a physical music button. This can be used to play or pause songs, or even change songs. The good thing is that this button can also be customized to take screenshots or launch a specific app.

The Lenovo K8 Plus is a dual SIM device and the SIM tray is on the left side. You will find 2 slots for nano SIMs and a separate slot for microSD card.

On the back, the K8 Plus has two rear cameras. The cameras come with dual-tone LED flash. The fingerprint sensor is placed below the camera. It is easy to reach. The response is also good and we never had any problem unlocking the phone. Fingerprints are easily visible on the metal back. These were clearly visible on our Venom Black review unit. There is a micro-USB port at the bottom of the phone. There are speaker grills on both sides of it. The 3.5mm headphone socket is placed at the top.

Lenovo K8 Plus is a bit thick. The thickness is 8.99 mm and the weight is 165 grams. Some people may find it a bit bulky. This may be due to the large 4000 mAh battery.

Lenovo K8 Plus specifications and software

Lenovo K8 Plus has a 5.2-inch full-HD display. It has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Viewing angles are good. Color reproduction is also decent. If you want punchy contrast, you have the option to switch the color mode of the display. Brightness is sufficient for indoors, but you will have trouble reading anything on the screen in sunlight.

Lenovo has used MediaTek Helio P25 octa-core processor with 2.5 GHz clock speed. Lenovo K8 Plus has 4 GB RAM. Storage is 32 GB and you will be able to use microSD card up to 128 GB.

To stay in trend, Lenovo K8 Plus has two rear cameras. One camera is 13 megapixels and the other is 5 megapixels. In the setup, the secondary camera works to measure depth in depth mode. An 8-megapixel sensor is provided on the front panel. It comes with selfie flash. Talking about connectivity, the smartphone has two nano SIM slots and both support 4G VoLTE. Apart from this, you will get Bluetooth and Wi-Fi b / g / n.

Android enthusiasts will be happy to know that the Lenovo K8 Plus runs on stock Android Nougat. There is no difference in the UI of the company’s Lenovo and Motorola brands. Apart from select Microsoft Office apps, there is no other bloatware in the phone. Lenovo also gives you the option to install some apps while setting up the phone. However, unlike Android One phones, future updates have not been promised.

Lenovo K8 Plus performance, battery life and camera

Lenovo has chosen powerful hardware for the K8 Plus. The benchmark test results point towards this. We got the 4GB RAM variant for review. It handles multitasking easily. This phone is so powerful that you will not have any problem working on commonly used apps. We played games like Sniper 3D, Drafty Chase and Clash Royale on this phone. It never slowed down. However, the phone does get hot when playing games for a long time. But this did not spoil our gaming experience.

The battery of the phone is 4000 mAh. Due to this the phone has become a bit thicker and heavier. Battery life is good and the phone will last for about one and a half hours in normal use. In our HD video loop test, the battery lasted for 13 hours and 49 minutes, which is good. With the charger provided with the handset, this big battery will be fully charged in about 2 hours.

Lenovo has provided a very basic camera app which is easy to use. The toggles for HDR and camera modes are easily accessible. You get Panorama and Professional modes. You will be able to record videos with 1080p resolution from both the cameras at 30 frames per second.

Landscape photos taken with K8 Plus were fine. But they did not have the sharpness we expected. Photos taken in HDR mode in daylight look a bit odd. Sometimes the photos are good and sometimes bad. Night time shots were good. The camera is successful in controlling noise in low light. Macro shots were quite good. The camera captured photos with details in daylight and low light conditions.

The depth mode can be enabled easily. The difference between the background and the subject is clearly visible in the output. However, we found that the camera slows down a bit after taking a few pictures. The 8-megapixel front camera has a beautify feature. It can be used in manual or auto mode. The pictures taken with the front camera were of good quality. You will be able to use them on messengers and social networking sites without hesitation. The front flash proves to be a useful feature in dark areas.

Our verdict

Lenovo has tried to gain popularity by sticking to stock Android and achieving a balance between features and price. Lenovo K8 Plus is a capable handset and handles every task well in daily use. Battery life is strong. You will be able to use it for more than a day without needing to charge it. There is enough storage for the average user. The good thing is that you get a separate slot for microSD card, there is no need to compromise on a second SIM card. Apart from this, the dual rear camera feature is attracting customers today. Camera performance could be better in landscape mode, but one must also remember that this is a budget phone. If stock Android experience and good battery life are your priority, then Lenovo K8 Plus is a good option.