Lenovo announced the Vibe K5 Plus, which not too long ago would’ve been seen as an upper mid-range smartphone, for only $149. Unfortunately, it won't be available in the U.S.
The device comes with a Snapdragon 616 chip, which includes eight Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of 1.7 GHz each, an Adreno 405 GPU, which supports OpenGL ES 3.1, and a Cat. 4 LTE modem (150/50 Mbps data speeds).
The device has a 5” Full HD display, 16 GB of internal storage with support for another 32 GB expandable storage via microSD, 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM, as well as dual-SIM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.1 support. It also has a 2,750 mAh replaceable battery, which is reasonably large for a device this size and with this screen resolution.
The Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus will feature a 13MP rear camera that can shoot 1080p video, and a 5MP front-camera, which uses only fixed-focus (pictures will be blurry if you don’t keep the optimal distance).
The smartphone will run the older Android 5.1 operating system out of the box. Lenovo didn’t say whether it will receive further updates, which could be an issue for Android buyers that want either the latest version of Android or want their phones to be kept up to date and secure.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus |
|---|---|
| CPU | Octa-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | Adreno 405 |
| Display | 5" Full HD |
| Chipset | 1.2 GHz Quad-Core |
| Camera | Rear 13MP / Front 5MP |
| Memory | 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM |
| Storage | 16 GB ROM / MicroSD (32 GB) |
| Battery | 2,750 mAh (removable) |
| OS | Android 5.1 Lollipop |
| Thickness | 8.2mm |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n / Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Colors | Platinum Silver / Champagne Gold |
| Price | $149 |
| Availability | March 2016 |
The 8.2 mm device will be available in Platinum Silver or Champagne Gold colors, and it should arrive on the market in March, this year.
Lenovo also announced its slightly lower budget brother, the Lenovo Vibe K5 (or Lenovo K5), which should be identical except that it has an HD screen and a Snapdragon 415 (also octa-core, but lower frequency). The K5 will cost $129 and should also arrive in March. Neither of the two phones will be available in the U.S., according to Lenovo.
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware. You can follow him at @lucian_armasu.
