Chinese tech giant, Lenovo, has announced a couple of new smartphones in India. While one of the two is an interesting variant of a device that was launched in the country earlier this year, the other is a brand new one for India, even though it has been on sale in China for some time now. The Vibe K5 Plus, which is itself an upgraded version of the Vibe K5 (also on sale in India currently), will now be available in an all-new avatar which will have one little change in the hardware department, but a rather massive one on the software side of things. The new Vibe K5 Plus model will sport 3GB of RAM instead of just 2GB that’s found in the current model, but that’s as far as the hardware differences go between the two.
The real change is actually in the all-new user interface which will reportedly give users an almost stock Android experience, meaning, users will not have to navigate their way through rather heavy Vibe UI that Lenovo devices normally ship with. The launcher will also be customizable, offering users more options to personalize their phone. The Android version, however, remains unchanged at Android 5.1 Lollipop. The device comes with the same name – Vibe K5 Plus – as its previous version, and will ship in three different colors – Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold and Graphite Gray. It will have a price-tag of Rs. 8,499 ($127 USD). Interestingly, that’s the same price-tag the 2GB version was initially launched with, even though it is currently going for Rs. 7,999 ($119 USD) on Flipkart.
The second device, meanwhile, is actually an all new smartphone that has finally been launched in India after having already been on sale in Lenovo’s home country for several weeks. It happens to be the Vibe K5 Note – a successor to the Vibe K4 Note that Lenovo had launched in India earlier this year. The device, like the other Lenovo models currently on sale in the country, will also be exclusive to online retailer Flipkart, and will go on sale from midnight on August 3rd. It will come in two different versions with different amounts of RAM. While the 3GB model will have a price-tag of Rs. 11,999 ($179 USD), the 4GB variant has been priced a tad higher at Rs. 13,499 ($202 USD).
The launch offer will also include a VR bundle (TheaterMax controller and ANTVR headset) for Rs. 999 ($15 USD) and a gaming bundle (Amkette Evo Gamepad Pro 2 and ANTVR headset) for Rs. 1,999 ($30 USD). While those offers are from Lenovo, Flipkart has also announced a few offers of its own, including a flat 25% discount on purchases over Rs. 1,349 ($20 USD) made on Flipkart-owned online fashion retailer, Myntra, as well as gift vouchers from PVR Multiplexes, although that will be limited to only 200 customers.
Taking a quick look at the Vibe K5 Note, the device features a 5.5-inch 1080p display panel with a 178-degree wide viewing angle, 450 nits brightness and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. The device will be powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 processor that comes with a 1.8 GHz octa-core CPU and a 550MHz Mali T860 GPU. As mentioned already, it will come in either 3GB or 4GB RAM depending on the model, but both will have 32GB of built-in storage with support for a micro SD card of up to 128GB in capacity. The primary camera will have a 13-megapixel sensor with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF and an f/2.2 aperture. The 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, meanwhile, will have a 77.4-degree wide-angle lens. The phone will also feature a fingerprint scanner, carry a 3,500mAh battery and support 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS.
