Every smartphone in the world wants to beat the iPhone camera as its known for having clear details , accurate colors and even fluid video capturing. With affordability and premium in mind, Lenovo made a brilliant idea in merging a metal / glass body phone with a high quality camera. Hence the Lenovo Vibe shot was born, formed into a 5″ smartphone with camera in specialty, let’s see how the Vibe shot meets the demand of camera junkies.
Resident Geek @cleisalvador with the Lenovo Vibe Shot
Here are the initial specifications of the Lenovo Vibe Shot
- 1.7Ghz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor
- 3GB of RAM DDR3L
- 5-inch Full HD display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 1920 x 1080 resolution
- 32GB of storage, expandable via microSD up to 128GB
- 16-megapixel rear camera with OIS, IR laser AF, triple LED flash
- 8-megapixel front facing camera
- Dual-SIM (Micro Sim)
- 3G, LTE
- WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
- Android 5.0 Lollipop
- 2900mAh battery (Non Removable)
- Freebies : Screen Protector + Crystal Casing
Besides a great performing smartphone, people today now look for a stunning looking phone to flaunt out. That’s when Lenovo made the Vibe Shot with photography in mind, they made the Vibe shot stunning and similar to a point and shoot digital camera. The body is made of aluminium for a premium feel while the front and back are sported with Corning Gorilla glass that doesn’t just look good but also makes it a eye catcher with it’s landscape strip that resembles a camera.
On the back is the very noticeable camera that is 16 megapixels along with the triple LED flash and laser auto-focus. All the equipment that are special and makes the Vibe Shot stands out as a camera specialty phone. Noticeable the look of the Vibe shot resembles the iPhone 6 especially when seen with the speaker grills and side metal frames but we have to give it to Lenovo by being unique by going to the digicam look as inspiration for the Vibe Shot.
The front is a simple look with the 8mp front camera for worthy selfies. On a 5″ smartphone the Vibe shot is very pleasureable to hold due to its metal sides and glass body. Despite it’s boxed type body with edges, the diamond cut finish on the sides made it possible to hold better similar to holding an iPhone 5. The 5″ Full HD display is top notch, including the Lenovo UI the transitions and colors are vibrant and the brightness of the screen is very sufficient for outdoor readability.
On the left side are the tray slots for the Dual Sim (Micro Sim) and Micro SD card, while on the right are the buttons for volume rocker, power, camera shutter and camera mode toggle. The camera toggle for Auto to Pro is quite interesting, Lenovo made it sure that anyone who uses the Vibe shot can maximize the phone.
AUTO Mode – Point and Shoot
With the auto mode activated, forget about any modes such as HDR, Landscape, Portrait, etc as it will automatically detect the shot type with it’s SMART mode. The Smart mode can also be deactivated to take regular shots and will make shots faster but with no enhancements.
Here are some sample shots using Auto Mode
Food! Great Drinks at @daperuviankitchen @daperuviankitchen food @daperuviankitchen food Congee? Grass Moving
Camera shots are quite impressive given sufficient lighting as any other cameras, but the Vibe shot is noticeable fast in taking focus of photos thanks to its laser auto focus. Fortunately as seen in the photos (especially the food shots) macro shots are like heaven, though in darker situations the camera is noticeably having a hard time to play around with the color. Results in dark conditions are either too saturated colors or over contrasted photos. Hopefully this can be adjusted with a software update in the future, other than that the Auto mode of the Vibe shot is definitely easy as point and shoot.
Smart Mode
Lenovo has a smart mode within the auto mode that gives suggestions in how to take better photos. It gives tips if the photo taken is dark, too light, not leveled or even too far away. Here are some screenshots of the onsite suggestions, so you have a better idea how. Though it’s not really accurate in detecting modes, so sometimes if you really need HDR you have to rely on the manual mode.
Landscape Leveling Other modes for Portrait Food Photography
PRO Mode – SLR
Activating the PRO mode brings out the photo techie in you, if you are familiar with SLR like settings such as exposure, shutter speed, White Balance, ISO and focus. Photos are more catered to the results you want and taking macro shots is a breeze. The interface is also nice and intuitive which is similar to other camera menus, so getting to know the settings will be also easy.
Focusing can be leveld Good Macro Focusing Colors are great
Overall the 16mp camera takes photos with sufficient focusing speed and details. The auto camera mode could improve more to detect scenes needed, so if you are already camera savvy then we suggest to to just stick with the PRO mode.
Performance
Snapdragon 615 processor paired with the 3GB Ram is quite ample already to supply everything you need in general. We didn’t encounter any serious lags even with intense applications like Marvel Future Future fight, but the loading of applications could improve more. But a thing to take note is that the Lollipop 5.0 build is still unstable, due to the RAM leakage there are some encounters of lags especially when activating the camera. Hopefully Lenovo can provide the 5.1 update as soon as possible to lessen the problem and overall make the system run smoother.
Battery Life & Heat
Despite the 2,900mAh battery inside, the Lenovo Vibe Shot cuts short to around 6 hours of average usage with mobile data. Quite lower than average, but the suspect is probably the Android 5.0 issue here. Not to mention that the problem results to unwanted processor heat which results too to some annoying heat bugging your pocket. So we suggest to carry a powerbank with you for an all day battery experience.
The Vibe shot is a breath of fresh air in the market with it’s unique positioning. The great display paired with the unique body is definitely eye catching, not to mention that the camera is an above average shooter. On the performance department the Snapdragon 615 is a good everyday and even an aggressive price of Php16,995 the Vibe shot is definitely a phone to consider if you are looking for an everyday general with a hint of good photography.
If you are interested to buy the Vibe Shot, it’s available at Lazada Philippines. Don’t forget that the order is free in delivery with free screen protector and crystal casing which is already a steal since the price is 1 thousand pesos cheaper than stores.
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