LENOVO VIBESHOT Z90 (The Unboxing, Part 1)

I have to admit the ultimate persuasive reason for getting this device is because of the premium elegant aesthetic look. This is a Lenovo smartphone and I have not seen anything like a Lenovo smartphone in the past that designed quite stunning as this piece. Though I prefer the black version but the black ones runs out of stock so I have to settled for the white color. 

The original retail price is MYR 1,299.00 but I got it for almost a fraction of the price, not because I'm getting second hand unit but because this model has been a while in the market (since Aug'15) and after mingling and fiddling with the phone for two months now, I can understand why the price dropped so drastically. Those who had fallen in love at first sight with this phone (just like I did) and perhaps planning to get one yourself, you might want to hold on your horses and read my post before deciding for yourself whether is it worth spending on this device. 

First of all, let's go through the specification. 

In fact, the other main factor why I'm buying is because of the better-than-average specs. 

The processor is powered by 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.7Ghz Octa-core.

RAM is 3GB (I have owned a 1GB, a 2GB smartphones previously, so this is a progressive upgrades) 

Storage is 32 GB (External storage is up to 128GB)

Display is Full HD 5.0" IPS >400dpi

And this is my favorite part of the phone:

Rear Camera : 16MP with IR autofocus, OIS technology and 16:9 BSI lowlight sensor with Tri-Color Flash.

Front Camera : 8MP fixed focus selfie camera.

Battery capacity of 2900 mAh

Dual micro SIM both LTE (4G) supported. 

Outer main box overview

Outer box side view

Outer box bottom view

Inner Box Top compartment

Quick start guide, Safety and Warranty booklets

AC Adapter

I personally like the AC adapter's cable because this particular cable bundled is much thicker than ordinary cables.

Earplug

The in-ear headphone type has a decent audio quality. Though the bass level was slightly on a higher side but still satisfactory audio sound. However, is it a norm these days not to provide extra silicone buds.  

Back overview

Interestingly, the back surface comes with glossy reflective surface. From Lenovo website, it is stated both the front display screen and rear surface are protected with Gorilla Glass 3 though the rear surface felt plasticky. Nevertheless, this phone comes with a free protective back case right out of the box.

It is a simple hard case plastic with matte surface cover. It does feels good at first because I personally prefer simple back case rather than flip cover because I do not wish to add unnecessary weight to my phone.

I was quite happy (initially) with the plastic case because it is light and simple to use. After a while, I replaced the casing with rubberized back casing instead. The reason is because the original back case is too hardened that it become slippery to handle. Yes, it does feels a certain amount of solidness because the casing is tightly fitted onto the phone and since the phone is so slim (about 7.3 - 7.5mm thick) hence it is quite a problem without some rubberized material to cover it so that it is easier to hold or grab on the phone.
So, I have no choice but to change my original Lenovo back case.

Bottom View

Will there be any smartphones out there to really have a REAL stereo speakers? Again, similar to the ZTE Blade V7 Lite which I wrote on previous blog, sadly this Lenovo VibeShot does not come with 2 speakers though there are 2 symmetrical grilled speakers lookalike. The sound quality from one sided speaker was still okay. It's not the loudest speaker I've heard. (Oh yes! I've heard THE loudest sound speaker coming from a Xiaomi redmi 2 smartphone)

The phone is also OTG compliant, meaning if you plug any USB OTG thumb drive into the micro-usb charging port, you will enjoy the flexibility of having additional storage for saving your photos, music, movies, etc.

Top view

Side left view 

There are 2 ejecting trays, the first is to store 2 micro-SIMS where as the other tray is for the MicroSD card.

I think not many smartphones these days has a strap hole where one can use hand or neck straps to securely attached to the phone but it's good to have it (yes, it's feels kinda old skool) because the phone's design is so slim that it is hard to grab on if you are out publicly without any protective casing put on. So, a strap might come in handy.

Side right view

Besides the usual volume rocker and power buttons, the Lenovo VibeShot has 2 extra buttons for you to play with. These buttons are specially designed for camera function. They are the Manual shutter button and the switch button between Auto and Pro.

The dedicated buttons for the camera functions are kinda small piece of delicate knobs but they are solidly built nonetheless. In fact the overall design of Vibeshot felt like a Sony Xperia smartphones series.

Back view 

Camera lens

Lenovo older smartphones series are not designed with superb camera capability as their main selling point (I know 'coz I personally owned a Lenovo smartphone previously). However, the VibeShot on the other hand is putting its best efforts for consumer who wanted a camera that perform like a point-to-shoot camera quality but less the bulkiness or carrying that additional devices when you can combine both your digital camera and your smartphone into one device.

Sigh....
What a pity couldn't get hold on the black version. It actually feels more like a shape of a camera with the brushed matte finish on top and furthermore it feels more premium with the black version.