The one trend that has dominated smartphone technology in recent years is the ulta-competitive race to the bottom. With components constantly becoming cheaper, and more importantly, more reliable at those lower price points, there has been an incredible concentration of value in the sub-10k space. While premium smartphones struggle to distinguish themselves with gimmicky features and styling, the workhorses have come of age and become the true standard bearers of the mobile revolution. Lenovo, which has barely any devices on offer above the 20k price barrier (3 according to a cursory scan of their Flipkart page), is a company that has recognised this trend and focused all their efforts on getting their budget phones right. The headlining feature of the Vibe P1m, their latest offering priced in the 10k vicinity, is a massive battery that promises to snap the invisible bond most smartphone users invariably form with the nearest available wall socket. It also packs a decent amount of compute power and a refreshingly functional custom software package into a drab but functional design that has all the makings of a sleeper hit. 

Design 

If you’ve seen one budget smartphone, you’ve seen them all. They are uniformly rectangular with rounded corners, made almost entirely of plastic and feature removable back covers. The P1m is no exception from this norm but the build quality of the Lenovo appears to be sturdy enough to survive a beating. Removing the rear cover gives you access to the solitary microSD and two SIM slots, but there are no less than three stickers warning you not to remove the battery – two of them pasted in strategic locations that could easily void your warranty. The display is a 5-inch IPS panel that is capable of 720p resolutions. The colours on this panel do not pop in the same way that they might on a high-end HD display, the difference is negligible unless you are one of those who primarily use their smartphone for browsing and texting, like most people do. It has fairly accurate colour reproduction and is quite readable even under sunlight. 

The one design feature of note on the P1m is the hardware toggle on the left side of the device, which activates a limited functionality mode that maximises battery. A dedicated switch for a battery saver mode is a unique and innovative feature that certainly lends credibility to the cord-cutting prowess of the Vibe. 

Performance

The Vibe P1m is powered by a MediaTek MT6735P system-on-chip (SoC) that features a quad-core processor paired with Mali-T720 graphics and 2 GB of RAM. This is a budget SoC from the MediaTek stable, on par with the Snapdragon 410 in terms of benchmark performance. It is possible to put this combination of internals under stress without trying very hard.

Graphics-intensive games at maximum settings are a definite no-no, but the generous provisioning of RAM means that multitasking and most normal usage is fluid and lag-free. The device comes with 16 GB of onboard storage space and supports microSD cards albeit only upto a capacity of 32 GB. This is a device that has modest processing power compared to the stalwarts of today, but low-end processors are no longer exercises in frustration; they cope quite well with the majority of use cases Camera Photography on the Vibe P1m is handled by a 5 MP shooter in front and an 8 MP camera, equipped with flash, in the rear.

The key to capturing pictures with a budget smartphone is managing expectations. The hardware on the P1m gave us a few decent shots, but only under ideal lighting conditions. The focusing mechanism is a little iffy and shutter performance has enough built-in lag to ensure that capturing moving images is all but impossible. Under low-light, the reduction in detail is obvious and noticeable. In comparison with its peers in the budget-to-midrange smartphone category, the P1m will not disappoint (significantly), but don’t expect to fill a gallery with the images this device produces. 

Battery life 

With their smartphone as with their cars, the Indian consumer often measures the value of a product with a simple question – “kitna deti hai?” And in the case of the Vibe P1m, the answer is a lot. The quad-core SoC and sub-HD display that power the device add up to deliver an ultra-frugal package when it comes to power consumption.

The 3,900 mAh rapid-charging equipped battery unit consistently topped the charts on all the benchmark tests we ran, and in real world usage, it survived two days of heavy usage easily, nearly making it a third whole day without needing a recharge. For those craving even more juice per charge, there’s the battery saver toggle we mentioned earlier.

With 15 per cent charge, the device provides a frankly ridiculous estimated uptime of approximately 12 hours in battery saver mode. We haven’t extensively tested this feature, but if the handset can last even half as long as it claims it can, that would be an impressive feat. However, the fact that applications like Facebook and Chrome are allowed to run in this mode means that your mileage is likely to vary depending upon usage.

Software 

The P1m runs a heavily customised version of Android 5.1 Lollipop. We were impressed by the additions Lenovo had made to the stock feature set, if not some of the third party apps they’ve bundled. Granular permission control, expanded quick access toggles and support for themes are all welcome additions. The home screen replaces the app drawer as in most Chinese smartphones.

The interface is heavy on animations but not to the extent of being annoying. Most manufacturers seem to have gotten the message on custom skins after the initial years of bloatware and heavy customisations. In keeping with this trend, Lenovo too has turned out a UI that stands out, but not in a bad way. 

Verdict

The Lenovo Vibe P1m is an absolute champ in the budget space. It might not offer the same level of performance as competing devices from Xiaomi or Yu, but it compensates with a battery that just doesn’t quit.

The trade-off is absolutely worth it in our opinion, and will undoubtedly agree with large numbers of buyers who simply need their smartphone to call, text and browse for as long as possible. 

Price: ₹8,500

Love: Battery life 

Hate: Camera 

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