Lenovo's Legion Y90 gaming flagship debuts UFS 3.1+SSD RAID 0 storage for smartphones

Lenovo has unveiled its latest flagship gaming smartphone as the Legion Y90 today (February 28, 2022). The long-teased re-brand comes in a design that has not changed much from that of its predecessor in truth; however, with its unusual central hump encompassing its rear cameras (clearly an afterthought in dual 64+13MP form), spinning fans and RGB-enabled logo. Hopefully, its durability has been improved in this new generation.

Its fans may indeed hope that it lasts the course, as the Legion Y90 offers an unusually large 6.92-inch display. It is based on the E4 AMOLED tech of yesteryear; however, Lenovo asserts that other specs such as its potentially advanced frame-rate, not to mention a latency rated for as little as 3.4 milliseconds (ms) and impressive 1,300 nits of brightness make up for this slight lack of screen upgrade.

Gaming on this not-so-new display is also augmented by landscape-oriented shoulder triggers, each of which is split in two for potential L1/L2/R1/R2 controls, depending on the app. Lenovo has also boosted the pressure-sensitivity of large swathes of the screen to the left and right, for what apparently amounts to a "six-key" mobile gaming experience. The UX is also enhanced with dual, albeit not front-firing, speakers and dual X-axis linear motor haptics.

In any case, the Legion Y90's rear panel might attract as much attention as its front in its case. Its dual fans have also sprouted dual fins this year, and form part of a Frostbite M cooling system in conjunction with other, more passive components such as a graphene sheet and a vapor chamber.

Lenovo claims that the Legion Y90 devotes 68,849mm² of internal surface area to thermal management in all. It will work to keep a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC cool in each unit of the phone - not to mention its battery, which is a whopping 5,600mAh in the new gaming flagship, rated to charge at up to 68W. This processor will run ZUI 13 based on Android 12 out of the box, with a RAM boost function rated to devote up to 4GB of internal storage to random-access functions instead.

Accordingly, the OEM asserts that one could say a top-end Y90 SKU has up to 22GB of RAM. Then again, it will ship with 18GB out of the box. This top-end model is also the only one with Lenovo's new UFS+SSD storage type.

It is composed of 512GB in flash storage, augmented by a 128GB SSD for potentially improved read speeds. This technically 18GB/640GB top-end model's price has been announced with an introductory price of 4,999 yuan (~US$792) for those who buy during the Y90's pre-order window, which runs from today until March 10, 2022 in China.

Similarly, the mid-spec'd 16GB/256GB version of the newly-launched flagship phone will start at 4,299 yuan (~$682). There is also an entry-level SKU - if one with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage - for 3,999 yuan (~$633). Lenovo has yet to mention international availability for this 2022 Legion phone.