TMCnet News

First impressions: Lenovo Vibe X2 [Mobiles] [Times of India]
[November 08, 2014]

First impressions: Lenovo Vibe X2 [Mobiles] [Times of India]


(Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) NEW DELHI: Lenovo has launched its new mid-range smartphone, Vibe X2, in the Indian market. The phone sports a 'multi-layered' design with its edges giving the impression of different coloured layers stacked together. It also ticks almost all the right checkboxes when it comes to hardware specifications. We've been using the phone since the last few days and here are our initial impressions...



With the advent of touch screen phones, it has become hard for device makers to differentiate their phones from other offerings in the market. Phones these days, are mostly rectangular glass slabs with some curves thrown in. Lenovo tries to distinguish the Vibe X2 with the concept of coloured layers in a unibody form factor. The phone's edges give an impression that several layers have been stacked on each other, to make the design interesting. It surely is a good deviation as the phone looks pretty different with three coloured layers - golden, orange and red stacked below the black display panel layer. As we mentioned, these are not actual layers as the phone's internals are placed inside the phone's body.

The phone's edges are not rounded and even the rounding at the corners is very subtle, giving the phone a very sharp look with the dominant straight lines.


At 120gram, the Vibe X2 feels very light and the dimensions (68.6x7.27x140.2mm) make it ideal for one hand use. Despite the low weight, the phone doesn't feel flimsy or fragile.

The phone sports a 5-inch full-HD display that looks bright and vivid. The display offers wide viewing angles and decent outdoor legibility. Text and images look sharp and crisp and colours were accurate.

The capacitive touch navigation keys are placed below the display and offer good touch sensitivity.

The right edge sports metallic keys for volume control and power. The keys bear the same colour as that of the layer they're placed on, have a brushed metallic finish and offer great tactile feedback.

The left edge holds the sim card tray that has both micro and nano sim card slots.

The top edge features the 3.5mm headphone jack while the micro-USB port is placed at the bottom edge. The back has a gold coloured matte finish which is not very prone to smudges and looks good. The rear camera lens and LED flash are placed towards the left side and are flush with body of the phone. There's some Lenovo branding and a small speaker grill at the back.

Lenovo Vibe X2 sports a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. Pictures shot in day light appeared good and even the low-light performance was decent. The 5MP selfie camera clicks good quality selfies and there are a number of gestures available to fire the front shutter. We'll have a detailed look at the camera in our full review.

The phone is powered by a MediaTek MT6595 octa-core processor and 2GB RAM, and comes with 32GB internal storage. It is the first phone to be powered by MediaTek's new 4G-LTE-enabled chip that will sell in the Indian market. The phone comes with a 2300mAh battery. So far, we're pretty satisfied with the everyday performance of the phone. However, we'll have more in our full review.

Lenovo also offers Xtensions or rear covers that fit tightly with the phone and enhance functionality. We've seen a battery Xtension that charges the phone and a music Xtension that adds an external JBL speaker. The concept looks interesting, however, the Xtensions do add some extra bulk.

In terms of software, the Vibe X2 comes with a heavily customized version of Android 4.4 KitKat. Just like Xiaomi's MiUI and Huawei Honor 6, the phone's default UI is devoid of an app drawer and app icons and widgets are spread across the home screens. The phone also comes with six themes each of which comes with a different set of icons, wallpapers, font style, sounds, and lock screen styles. There's no way to download or install new themes but existing ones can be customized.

Navigating through the home screens and opening and switching between apps was pretty smooth.

Overall, the Lenovo Vibe X2 looks like a good package. Having said that, the phone would face competition from the likes of Huawei Honor 6 and the forthcoming OnePlus One and Xiaomi Mi 4 phones.

(c) 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]