Today we will review Lenovo Zuk Z1. Although this phone has been launched globally as Zuk Z1, Lenovo launched it in India as Lenovo Zuk Z1 with the intention of retaining its parent name. It is worth noting that Zuk Z1 was first launched in China in September last year. Therefore, reviewing this phone today is a bit outdated. Today in our investigation we will know the advantages and disadvantages of Lenovo Zuk Z1.
Look and design
It was only a few years ago that a phone with a 5.5-inch screen was considered oversized. And there was a lot of talk about seeing a big phone in your hand. But today, with more media consumption on smartphones, size is a must. Lenovo Zuk Z1 comes in the same size, though it definitely feels a bit bulky.
The two main reasons for the weight of this smartphone are the metal frame and the 4100 mAh battery, which makes the phone weigh 175 grams. However, the phone does not have a unibody case and the rear panel is made of plastic. The battery is not accessible to the user. There is a dual SIM tray on the left side along with the frame. The phone does not support expandable storage, so there is no microSD card slot.
Lenovo Zuk Z1 is available in White and Space Grey colour variants in India. Our review unit was Grey which we liked a little better than White. The rear of the phone has a dull, metallic finish. There is no Lenovo branding on the phone but there is only a Zuk logo at the bottom of the rear. The camera and flash are placed in the centre at the top of the rear. Overall, we liked the look, design and style of the phone.
Lenovo Zuk Z1 has a microphone, speaker and USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer at the bottom. Users will get a 13 watt power adapter and a USB 3.0 cable (Type-A plug on one side and Type-C on the other) in the box with the phone. The phone has power and volume buttons on the right side while there is a 3.5 mm headphone socket on the top. The screen occupies about 70 percent of the front of the phone while above it is the camera, earpiece and proximity sensor. There is a physical home button at the bottom in which the fingerprint sensor is integrated. There is a capacitive Android navigation button below the display.
We’ve seen a number of smartphones that come with a fingerprint sensor built into the home button. While some phones, including the Samsung Galaxy A8 and HTC One A9 (Review), unlock their phone with just a touch (even in standby mode), the Zuk Z1 doesn’t. This phone needs to be activated by pressing the home button and then holding it down until the fingerprint is recognised.
Not only is this a problem in itself, but it takes a little more effort to press the button. The sensor works quite quickly and accurately to unlock the phone. But the process is not as smooth as on other devices. Earlier the sensor also worked as a capacitive back button but now it has been disabled through a software update.
Lenovo Zuk Z1 has a screen with a resolution of 1080×1920 pixels and a density of 401 ppi. The screen is great and meets almost all the needs. The IPS-LCD screen given in the phone is not as bright as we expected and even at the highest brightness level, it does not give as much brightness as it should. However, the polarized coating on the screen helps in using the phone easily in sunlight, so the phone does not require too much brightness.
Apart from this, the phone also features a LiveDisplay, a setting that helps optimise the colour tone of the screen based on the time of the day.
Specification
While today’s smartphones under Rs 15,000 run the latest MediaTek Helio or Snapdragon 600 series processors, the Lenovo Zuk Z1 is powered by a premium but older 2.5GHz 32-bit quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. Since the Snapdragon 801 smartphones first hit the market about two years ago, Lenovo’s choice of processor is questionable. Especially a 32-bit processor when practically all hardware is now running on 63-bit processors.
Zuk Z1 has 3GB RAM and the phone supports 4G connectivity on both SIMs (with Indian band support), Wi-Fi AC connectivity. A 4100 mAh battery has been provided to make the smartphone powerful. The phone has 64 GB of inbuilt storage but the phone does not support expandable storage, so you have to make do with a limited storage.
Software
Lenovo Zuk Z1 smartphone runs on Cyanogen OS 12.1 which is based on Android 5.1.1. However, there is talk of upgrading the phone to Cyanogen OS 13 based on Android 6.0, but currently this update is not available in the phone’s OTA software update system. Cyanogen OS definitely gives the option to customize the phone as per your convenience.
In many ways, Cyanogen OS works just like stock Android, and you can even change themes to make it look like stock Android. The hallmark of the system is its ability to be customizable in every way, and we saw this in the Lenovo Zuk Z1. The home screen and app drawer can be changed to different layouts. The grid size, scroll effects, and icon labels can also be changed and toggled. There’s a lot more to do with the phone. Apart from this, you can also control the user interface at a fairly basic level.
Apart from this, when you go to the settings app, you get many different options through which you can control the device in a better way. You also get many options like turning the light on or off when the phone is charging, color of notification light for battery alert, custom action for home and recent buttons, different elements for status bar and notification drawer. Cyanogen OS is an excellent system for those advanced users who want more control over their phone. We enjoyed using this phone.
Camera
Lenovo Zuk Z1 has a 13-megapixel rear camera which runs on Sony’s IMX 214 sensor. The camera has optical image stabilization and dual-LED flash. The phone has an 8-megapixel front camera. Both cameras can record videos up to 1080 pixels. Apart from this, 60fps video recording is also possible from the rear camera.
The camera app is Cyanogen’s own Camera Next, which is very easy to use and works with a lot of options. The most used toggles are easily accessible from the viewfinder screen, including flash, camera and timer settings. Videos can be recorded with just one touch. Panorama mode can also be toggled easily. Apart from this, resolution setting, manual control and codec selection can be done by going to the settings menu. These options also provide the option to make photos and videos better.
The phone’s camera is quite good and the pictures taken by it are sharp and detailed. The colour tone in the pictures is also correct. The pictures are good in good light, while even in low light we were able to take good pictures with some noise and scattering. The pictures taken indoors are not as good as in natural light, but in terms of detail and colour, they can be called okay.
In good light, the video quality is quite good but in low light the quality deteriorates.
Performance
Despite having a two-year-old processor, the Lenovo Zuk Z1 offers pretty good performance. However, you will get better performance from the new Qualcomm 650 and 652 processors found in other devices at similar price points. Also, it is worth remembering that the Adreno 330 GPU is also quite old and does not support OpenGL ES 3.1 and 3.2, which makes it difficult to play some of the newer graphics intensive games on the phone.
The overall performance of the phone was excellent. We did not notice any heating or shutter issues on the phone. Credit for this definitely goes to the Cyanogen OS which ensures that the Zuk Z1 runs smoothly without any lag.
We got impressive results in our benchmarking tests of the phone, especially in graphics benchmarks.
In the video loop test of Zuk Z1, its battery lasted for 13 hours and 40 minutes, which is a big feature of the phone. During normal use, we were able to use Zuk Z1 for more than a day on a single charge. Wi-Fi, cellular connectivity and call quality are also very good. But the speaker of the phone (which gives very poor sound) is disappointing. However, headphones give decent sound for music player and watching videos.
Our verdict
Lenovo has launched a great device in the form of Zuk Z1. The design and build quality of the phone is great, the software works well, the display is good and the storage is also generous. Connectivity and battery life are also great. Apart from this, the screen is sharp and the phone can be customized as per your needs. Above all, the company has kept the phone priced in such a way that customers will definitely be attracted towards this phone, especially those advanced users who know a little about Cyanogen OS.
However, the phone does have some notable flaws. While we didn’t notice any performance issues while using the phone, the phone runs on an older 32-bit processor and GPU which may cause problems with some new games and apps. Apart from this, the Cyanogen OS and Android are older versions and there is no information about any new software update. Apart from this, it will not be easy to buy the Z1 as this phone will be sold through flash sales.
Considering the price, the Lenovo Zuk Z1 is a great option that comes with some great features. If the age of the hardware is not an issue for you and you want to use it as a secondary phone, then the Zuk Z1 is definitely better than other smartphones available in this price range.
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