Lenovo took a no-holds barred approach and launched a slew of new affordable products in Malaysia last week. The higher range S-series, spearheaded by the excellent S860 is joined by the S660 and S650. Lower down is the new A-series – A859, A680 and A526. Let’s have a look at the S860, which in my opinion, is the best of the pack in terms of price-performance and value-for-money.
Design and build
The Lenovo S860 is packed with a 5.3-inch HD IPS display, measures 149.5 x 77 x 10.3mm and weighs in at 192g. It takes design cues from the flagship Vibe Z, with brushed metal back plate and pleasing candy bar design. Build quality is above average and overall nice to hold.
Specifications at a glance
- Processor: MediaTek MT6582M 1.3Ghz quad-core processor
- Size: 149.5 x 77 x 10.3mm
- Weight: 192g
- Display: 5.3″ HD {1280 x 720} IPS display
- Camera: Rear: 8MP autofocus with flash, Front: 1.6MP fixed-focus
- Colour: Titanium
- SIM: Dual-SIM
- Memory: 2GB RAM
- Storage: 16GB
- OS: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
- Battery: Li-polymer 4,000mAh
- – Standby time: up to 28.5 days (2G), upo to 40 days (3G)
- – Talk time: up to 43 hours (2G), up to 24 hours (3G)
What’s good
- Pleasing design
- Good camera
- Lots of RAM
- Dual-SIM
- Decent storage
- Big battery
- Good price
What’s not
- No expandability (micro-SD)
- Average processor
- Runs only Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Price and availability
The Lenovo S860 retails at RM1,169.00 and is available at all Lenovo authorised dealers nationwide.
Initial impressions
It’s no Vibe Z, but the Lenovo S860 should satisfy consumers looking for a big-ish smartphone at a budget. The quad-core number from MediaTek isn’t the quickest, but will run almost everything you want it to relatively well. Packed with plenty of RAM and a huge battery, the S860 is pretty well-specced for the price.
