Lenovo S Series

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, Qualcomm Snapdragon SD 636
Graphics Adapter: Qualcomm Adreno 506, Qualcomm Adreno 509
Display: 5.70 inch, 6.20 inch
Weight: 0.155kg, 0.17kg
Price: 170, 300 euro
performance: 77%, display: 77%, mobility: 73%, workmanship: 97%

 

Lenovo S5

Remember the days when Lenovo owned Motorola? I do. They bought it, sold it, said they were leaving the smartphone business or something similar to that, and voilà, they are back at it again.

I can not say they are looking to be competitive, because in today’s market, while the decline in notebook and PC sales is still on-going, there is a huge shift in the smartphone business. Whether you are Lenovo or someone else, unless you are truly specialized in the PC business (such as Gigabyte, MSI), you need new areas for growth. In my thinking, this is what Lenovo is trying to achieve.

The Lenovo S5, from the first moment of unboxing, gives you the impression of a low mid-range phone. Low, because of the plastic case. Mid because, well, it has dual cameras,  a fingerprint sensor on the back, no headphone jack, etc.

The main issue, and the reason for the low-end feeling, is that all the surfaces are fingerprint magnets. The rear cover is easy to scratch. I mean, workmanship, this is what is lacking.

Hardware-wise, there are two variants. In terms of the processor, both are the same, equipped with a Snapdragon 625. Then 3 GB of RAM with 32 GB of ROM or 4 GB of RAM with 64 GB of ROM.

I am trying to find something special that could differentiate it from the competition, but as I said, this literally looks like an effort to exist in the smartphone market. The device looks pretty similar to the Xiaomi Mi 5X, maybe you could say it has similar hardware to the Huawei P20 Lite, but in terms of haptics, it is far away from it - the Huawei P20 Lite is, in simple terms, very beautiful. The Lenovo S5? No.

So, why on earth would you buy this phone? Well, it is cheap. Starting around 175-200$, it comes with stock Android 8.0, so it is up to date. That is it.

Now, with all my reviews, would I buy this, or would I buy this phone for my mum? For my mum, yes. For myself, I am in doubt. For me, what matters is audio quality, usability. Audio quality is a question with this device. Other than that, I can use it for checking email and browsing. If you spend too much time on the phone talking, then it is not for you.

Do I give it a thumbs up? Nope. Check for other options in this price range, and then decide what suits you better.

Hands-on article by Umit Yilmaz Gunes

Specifications

Notebook: Lenovo S5
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
Graphics Adapter: Qualcomm Adreno 506
Display: 5.70 inch, 181:9, 2160 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 0.155kg
Price: 170 euro
Links: Lenovo homepage

Pricecompare

Average Score: 78% - good

 

Foreign Reviews

 

Lenovo S5 Pro

The Lenovo S5 Pro is a revamped version of its predecessor, the Lenovo S5. It is a mid-range smartphone with dual cameras on its front and back. Additional features of the dual cameras include optical zoom and support for artificial intelligence (AI) powered portrait shots for the rear cameras, which seems to be the trend for smartphones nowadays. The Lenovo S5 Pro is available in gold, black and blue color. More specifically, the dual front camera on the Lenovo S5 Pro is a 20-MP + 8-MP camera with f/2.2 dual apertures. The inclusion of an infrared-powered IR camera in the notch enables accurate face unlocking. It works well even in a dark environment. The front camera can capture enhanced selfie shots and stylized portrait shots. It is a 12-MP + 20-MP dual camera with f/1.8 aperture lens and f/2.6 aperture lens. The smartphone is quite slim at only 7.7 mm and it weighs at 170 grams. The Lenovo S5 Pro's metal unibody design has a premium feeling on the touch. Besides the camera, the rear of the smartphone also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and loud 2-channel stereo speaker setup. As for hardware specification, the Lenovo S5 Pro has Snapdragon 636 onboard. The SoC is coupled with 6 GB of RAM and it comes in storage choices of 64 GB and 128 GB. There is also a hybrid storage / dual SIM slot to expand storage by an additional 128 GB. As for the operating system, the Lenovo S5 Pro runs on Android Oreo version 8.1 and Lenovo’s ZUI 5.0 skin will go on top of the system. To game without having notifications to distract users, Lenovo has included a gaming mode on the phone. For display, the Lenovo S5 Pro features a large 6.1-inch Full HD+ display which has a screen resolution of 1,080 x 2,246 pixels. The bezels are very small and the aspect ratio is at 18.7:9. There is a notch on the top-center of the screen, which is the common design on recent smartphones to maximize screen size and houses the front camera. Besides that, the 3,500 mAh battery of the phone carries support for 18W fast charging. As a conclusion, the Lenovo S5 Pro is a mid-range smartphone offering an impressive camera and decent hardware specifications. It is not as high performing as the top range smartphones, but it is enough to satisfy most users who love taking photos on smartphones and run multiple apps without big issues. Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

Specifications

Notebook: Lenovo S5 Pro
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon SD 636
Graphics Adapter: Qualcomm Adreno 509
Display: 6.20 inch, 18.7:9, 2246 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 0.17kg
Price: 300 euro
Links: Lenovo homepage

Pricecompare

Average Score: 83% - good

 

Reviews

Foreign Reviews

 

Comment

Lenovo: Lenovo ("Le" from English legend, novo (Latin) for new) was founded in 1984 as a Chinese computer trading company. As of 2004, the company was the largest laptop manufacturer in China and, after acquiring IBM's PC division in 2005, the fourth largest in the world. In addition to desktops and notebooks, the company manufactures monitors, projectors, servers, etc, and specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, enterprise solutions and related services.

In 2016, the company ranked first in the world in computer sales. It still held it in 2023 with about 23% global market share. Important product lines are Thinkpad, Legion and Ideapad.

In 2011, it acquired a majority stake in Medion AG, a European computer hardware manufacturer. In 2014, Motorola Mobility was purchased, which gave Lenovo a boost in the smartphone market.

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Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.

Qualcomm Adreno 506: Integrated graphics card in the Snapdragon 625 SoC and based on the new 500-series architecture with support for Vulkan, OpenGL ES 3.1 + AE (3.2) and UBWC.

Qualcomm Adreno 509: Integrated graphics card in the Snapdragon 636 SoC based on the Adreno 500 architecture. Most likely featuring a slightly higher core clock compared to the Adreno 508.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

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Qualcomm Snapdragon:

625: Mid-range octa-core SoC with eight ARM Cortex-A53 cpu cores at up to 2 GHz, an Adreno 506 GPU, a DDR3L-1866 memory controller and a X9 LTE (Cat 7) modem. Manufactured in the modern 14nm process.

SD 636: Mid-range octa-core SoC with eight Kryo 260 cpu cores at up to 1.8 GHz, an Adreno 509 GPU, a LPDDR4-2666 memory controller and a X12 LTE (Cat 13/12, 300 / 150 MBit) modem. Manufactured in the modern 14nm process.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

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» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

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No weight comment found (one expected)!

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79.25%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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