Chinese multinational PC and smartphone maker Lenovo has introduced a new super entry-level LTE-enabled smartphone in India, dubbed the A2010. The device has been listed as “Coming Soon” on the website of online retailer Flipkart at a price of Rs. 4,990, which is around $80 in US currency. The handset was already launched in Vietnam earlier this month, and online speculations suggested that the device might get an Indian launch sometime during this month. Quite a few handset makers have started launching ultra-affordable LTE smartphones in India, with more carriers rolling out LTE outside the major metropolitan cities. The country’s largest carrier Airtel has already expanded its LTE footprints to around 300 towns and plans to roll out its 4G services universally soon. But what is really expected to give LTE uptake a giant push in the country, is the December launch of a whole new LTE-only carrier – Reliance Jio – from the country’s largest conglomerate – Reliance Industries.
Coming to the A2010, while the device is still to be officially launched by Lenovo, its listing on Flipkart already gives us a fairly detailed look at its hardware features. The Lenovo A2010 features a 4.5-inch FWVGA (854—480) display, and is powered by the MediaTek MT6735M SoC, which comes with an embedded 64-bit quad-core CPU clocked at 1 GHz, along with a Mali T720GPU. The phone comes with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of built-in storage, which can be further expanded by up to 32 GB with the help of a microSD card. The Lenovo A2010 comes with a 5-megapixel fixed focus rear-facing camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing selfie cam. The device runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with VIBE UI laid on top. It also carries a removable battery of the Li-ion variety, which is rated at 2,000 mAh. Lenovo claims, the battery is powerful enough to give 8.5 hours of talk time and 276 hours of standby time. Coming to the connectivity options on the Lenovo A2010, the smartphone supports 4G LTE as mentioned already, alongside Wi-Fi, GPS, A-GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and microUSB 2.0.
The phone will go on sale from September 3rd exclusively on Flipkart via the ‘flash sales’ formula which has served Lenovo well. The registrations for the first round of sales have already begun as of Wednesday afternoon Indian time. The handset is being offered by Lenovo in two different color options – White and Black. The smartphone measures 131.5 mm in length, 66.5 mm in width and is 9.95 mm thick. As for its weight, the A2010 reportedly weighs 137 grams. When launched, the Lenovo A2010 will compete with other LTE-enabled smartphones in the market like the ZTE Blade Qlux 4G and Phicomm Energy 653, both of which retail at about the same price.