Lenovo Vibe K5 was launched for Rs. 6,999. This Vibe K5 review will give you an idea if it is really worth buying this handset. K5 is powered by snapdragon 415 octa core processor with 4G LTE support and exclusively available on Amazon.in.

Vibe K5 unboxing

Box Content : handset, free screen guard, data cable, travel charger 5V / 1.5A, quick start guide and warranty card, earphone is not included. SAR value : 0.884 W/kg @ 1g head and 0.947 W/kg @ 1g body.

Design, Display and OS

The Lenovo Vibe K5 is using a plastic body with metallic finishing (aluminum on the back with plastic coating inside). It is available in 3 different color options Gold, Grey and Silver – I bought the silver one for the review. Build quality and finishing is very good. Handset looks good but when you hold it you get that plastiky feeling.

Lenovo Vibe K5 review and unboxing

Weight with removable battery is 145 grams and dimensions are 71.14 x 142.04 x 8.24 (mm). Power button and volume rocker is on the right side, audio jack and micro USB port is on the top. There are dual mics one at the bottom (primary mic) and other on the back near the camera module (secondary mic).

Lenovo Vibe K5 unboxing

The back panel can be removed – it is a bit hard to remove. There are dual micro SIM slots and a separate micro SD card slot (32GB max). 4G works on both the SIM slots.

Lenovo Vibe K5 dual SIM (Micro SIM) + micro SD card

Vibe K5 sports a 5 inch IPS screen with 1280 x 720p resolution. Color reproduction and touch response is good, viewing angles are okay.

K5 also comes with LED indicator – when you get a notification the LED lights up if handset is in standby mode, now the LED does not blink as seen on other smartphones but it’s always on and switches off only when you check the notification message.

This handset is loaded with good number of sensors – accelerometer, proximity, light, gyro and magnetic.

Vibe UI over Android Lollipop 5.1 runs out of the box.

Memory and Storage

Vibe K5 comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM. There is micro SD card support too. Apps are getting installed on internal storage and there is option to move them to external storage. OTG is supported you can connect external pen drive.

Performance

This handset is using Qualcomm Snapdragon 415 64 bit 1.4GHz octa core processor coupled with Adreno 405 GPU. Most benchmark apps will list this chipset as Snapdragon 615. Performance is smooth, a little laggy when it comes to gaming and heat up is under control – max battery temperature I encountered was 39 degrees.

Benchmark

  • Quadrant – 15473
  • Antutu (64 bit) – 28201 | 3D score – 3845
  • Nenamark 2 – 59.3fps
  • Internal storage Speed – Read (92MB/s), Write (14MB/s)
  • Multi Touch – 5 Point

Gaming

I tried MC5 and Asphalt 8. Modern Combat 5 game played well, though I did feel it lagging occasionally, at higher levels it will lag more. The same goes for Asphalt 8 – it was playable in high visual quality mode but not very smooth, for this game too at higher levels it lagged, you can however reduced graphics quality to medium for smoother experience.

Camera

A 13MP AF camera is packed on the back and a 5MP camera on the front. Rear camera can shoot full HD videos. There is some issue with auto focusing; it takes time and sometimes not accurate. Video recording format mp4.

Lenovo Vibe K5 Camera quality – Just about Average.

Check sample images and videos at the end of this review.

Others

K5 is using Dolby Atmos technology and no doubt the sound output is really good. There are dual Speakers on the back and sound output is loud and clear. I did not face any issues with in-call sound, call quality, network signal etc, 4G, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth worked well.

Vibe K5 Battery

This handset gets power from a 2750 mAh removable battery. Battery life is decent you can expect 3 to 5 hours of non-stop usage. For mixed usage (normal usage  – 1.5 days, medium usage – 1 day and with heavy usage less than 24 hours).

Lenovo Vibe K5 removable 2750 mAh battery

Lenovo Vibe K5 Battery Performance (time / battery % drop / estimated battery temperature).

  • Running Benchmark app – 9 minutes / 5% / 38 degrees
  • Played MC5 + Asphalt 8 – 19 minutes / 7% / 39 degrees
  • FHD video playback with full brightness (WiFi /4G on) – 34 minutes / 10% / 34 degrees.

It took me 2 hour 25 minutes to charge the handset using wall charger from 3% to 100%.

Verdict

The Vibe K5 is a good handset but not the best, it looks premium but when you hold it in your hand you don’t really get that premium feel. There are better options available in the market. I guess you don’t have to worry about the 2nd flash sale.

Rating:  3 out of 5.

Lenovo Vibe K5 is priced at Rs. 6,999.

K5 Image Gallery

Lenovo Vibe K5 video review

Vibe K5 rear camera sample

Front camera sample

FHD sample shot using Vibe K5 handset

By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in