Lenovo K10 Note Review

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Lenovo branded phones have made a grand comeback and so has the “Killer Note” series. Back in the day, these Lenovo Notes were formidable challengers to affordable Redmi Phones and brought in some bold and exciting features like the Theatermax and Dolby Atmos, but the line was later abruptly discontinued. (Lenovo K10 Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

Lenovo is now back in action with three new launches – Lenovo Z6 Pro, Lenovo K10 Note, and Lenovo A6. Of these, the Snapdragon 710 powered K10 Note is the most aggressively priced and lands in the most competitive price zone. Can the K10 Note stand up to the likes of Realme 5 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro?

We have been using 4GB RAM variant of the phone for the last couple of weeks and will now share our experience in Lenovo K10 Note review that follows.

Page Contents:

Lenovo K10 Note Specs

Model Lenovo K10 Note 
Display 6.3-inch IPS screen, 1080 x 2340 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, Waterdrop notch
Processer Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC
RAM 4GB/6GB
Internal Storage 64GB/ 128GB UFS (expandable up to 512GB, Hybrid slot)
Software Android 9 Pie with ZUI
Rear Camera 16 MP + 8 MP + 5 MP
Front Camera 16MP
Battery 4050 mAh, 18W Charger bundled
Indian Price Rs 13,999/ Rs 15,999

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Lenovo K10 Note Unboxed

The K10 Note has a pretty standard brick size package. The only thing that caught us off guard was the branding of Lenovo’s subsidiary Motorola on the back of the box. But, I guess no point reading too much into it.

Box contents include K10 Note handset with a built-in battery, Travel Adapter, a USB cable, and a user manual. The biggest omissions are the lack of a protective case and pre-installed screen protector. There are no headphones either, but that wasn’t unexpected.

Lenovo K10 Note Review: Design and Build

The first thing we noticed is that the K10 Note is lighter than most other phones that we get in this price segment (or rather across the board) even when it harbors a beefy battery. Our Midnight Black K10 Note variant comes off as sober and elegant choice with the old-school reliability of a capacitive sensor and an ergonomic casing.

Of course, Lenovo does its best to stick to modern trends. The K10 Note has a customary almost-bezel-less screen with about 90 percent screen-to-body ratio, a USB Type-C port at the bottom, and a regular V-shaped notch.

The glass finish on the back is actually from a glossy plastic shell with extremely fine patterns etched underneath, and the end result looks pretty classy. The other color option at launch is Stardust black that goes through eight layers nanometer NCOC optical gradual plating process to achieve this distinctive look.

The overall look isn’t anything flashy or perky, but we’d take it over gaudy blue variants any day.

The handset has triple rear cameras on the rear that jut out a bit and the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is within easy reach. Lenovo decision to not offer any protective case with the K10 Note might not sit well with buyers, especially since the polycarbonate back is quick to smudge and scratch. The build is pretty solid though and there are no flexes or creaks in the body.

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Lenovo K10 Note Review: Display

The IPS LCD panel that dominates the front measures 6.3-inches diagonally. The display has Full HD+ resolution and is very crisp. Outdoor visibility is reasonably good too.

Lenovo has managed to calibrate the screen well. Colors are quite punchy for an IPS LCD panel and pop nicely. There are options to make color adjustments under display setting as well.

While the display has the required pixels for HD streaming, it lacks Widevine L1 certification which is essential for streaming HD content on apps like Netflix and Prime videos. It remains to be seen if Lenovo adds the required L1 certification via an OTA update in the coming weeks.

Lenovo K10 Note Review: Performance and Software

The Lenovo K10 Note is driven by a powerful chipset which has time and again proven its mettle but was still caught in the crossfire between Xiaomi and Realme’s war of words. Yes, we are talking about Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710.

The octa-core chipset has been a part of popular phones from Vivo, Realme and even Xiaomi phones (in some regions). The SoC has two Cortex-A75 performance cores ticking at 2.2 GHz and six power-efficient Cortex A55 cores for less demanding tasks.

In terms of performance, our Lenovo K10 Note with 4GB RAM dealt with most of our day to day tasks with aplomb. The 710 once again proved itself by delivering consistent performance in PUBG Mobile gaming o with regular web surfing. By default, PUGB Mobile runs in HD graphics and high frame rate. Suffice to say, we didn’t face any difficulty making our way to chicken dinner.

The Android 9.0 based Lenovo’s ZUI gives a stock-ish Android feel but once you start using the phone, you realize that things are quite messy. There are more than half a dozen bloatware apps on the phone and even when there is ample free storage and an option to uninstall them, this still remains a peeve point.

Lenovo has added a slew of own customizations, gestures and a few other things it feels smooth. The gesture navigations are convenient and the interface has some cool animations. Ram management is quite aggressive and we noticed that the phone actively pushes idle apps out.

If the benchmarks hold value to you, the following table has results of the various tests we ran on the K10 Note.

Benchmark Test Score
AnTuTu 158776
Geekbench 4 Single-core 393
Geekbench 4 Multi-core 1308
3D Mark Sling Shot 1855
3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme 1747

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Lenovo K10 Note Camera

Lenovo had a lot to say about the K10 Note’s camera at the launch presentation. The K10 Note rear camera hardware includes a triplet where a 16MP sensor is tasked as main sensor, 8MP telephoto lens is used for up to 2X optical zoom and a 5MP sensor helps understand the depth of field for enhancing bokeh in portrait mode. There’s also a 16MP sensor on the front.

The camera app on the Lenovo K10 is a bit weird and it’s not always easy to find what you are looking for. There’s a handful of mode at disposal while AI works behind the scenes to enhance images.

How’s the K10 Note camera performance?

The K10 Note clicks good images in favorable lighting conditions. It managed to preserve a lot of details and colors lean towards natural tones. The phone locks focus quickly and there is no visible shutter lag.

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Indoors, the camera visibly struggles. We noticed that we could use the Night mode to brighten and enhance shots clicked indoors (not dark scenes) and, at times, even outdoors.

The night mode takes some time processing and is meant for shooting in much darker ambiance, but we found ourself using it a lot in varied scenarios just to get better metering and better dynamic range.

In actual dark scenes, the night mode requires you to have very steady hands or else the motion blur creeps in.

The Telephoto lens does prove its worth. The optical zoom on the K10 is quite good when pitched against what you usually get on affordable phones.

Perhaps, the same can also be said about the portrait mode. The camera can detect subject edges consistently in proper lighting.

The Selfie camera on the front has beautify turned on by default, which is something that irks us. Quality of selfies is decent enough, but not outstanding.

Overall, the Lenovo K10 camera is certainly above average and we did like quite a few aspects of it. At the same time, it’s a work in progress and there are a few kinks Lenovo needs to address with software updates.

Lenovo K10 Note Review: Battery

The K10 Note also impressed us with its battery endurace. The 4050mAh battery managed to clock 12 hours and 58 minutes in our battery loop test. As for real-world the performance, It managed to serve the K10 Note for more than a day for us where we played some games, had our social accounts on sync, music streaming, and clicked some photos and videos.

The Lenovo K10 Note comes bundled with an 18W fast charger. It takes around two hours to go from 0 to 100 on the K10 Note with the bundled charger. Charging speed is faster for the first 50 percent.

ALSO READ: Asus ROG Strix G Review (G531GT)

Lenovo K10 Note review verdict: Should you buy it?

Considering the price, the K10 Note as a phone has hardly a bad bone. The phone packs capable hardware (Read: powerful Snapdragon chipset), a good set of cameras and a massive battery with fast charging -which covers pretty much everything that most young buyer in this segment ask for.

The design of both the hardware and the software is in good taste and that should make the K10 Note preferable to consumers who are averse to Xiaomi or Realme offering in the same price bracket.

The K10 Note starts at Rs 13,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant and the 6GB RAM/128GB model costs Rs 15,999. We’d say the pricing is competitive and that’s saying something considering the ongoing blood bath in the 10K to 15k price segment.

Pros 

  • Elegant look
  • Powerful chipset
  • Decent cameras
  • Decent Battery with fast charging

Cons 

  • No DRM L1 certification
  • Protective case not bundled in the box
Deepak RajawatDeepak Rajawat
Experienced technology journalist with over 7-years of experience. Before embracing online journalism, he has worked with several legacy publications including print editions at Hindustan Times and The Statesman. He also has a keen interest in Sports, which he used to cover with equal enthusiasm in his early career.

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3 Comments
User
Namrata
Anonymous
3 years ago

This phone is an utter failure and money waste . My phone stopped working in one month and compnay cites all kinds of excuses to not cover it under warranty despite no ipact damage ! Do not buy Motorola-lenovo ever !poor product even worse service!

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User
C
Anonymous
3 years ago

Can you describe the battery loop test? I want to buy this phone because I like stock android, and it’s now priced at ₹9000. But I am worried about the battery life as I mostly stay out from 7am to 11pm. Please recommend. Does the K10 note have stock android features like one button navigation and swipe on fingerprint sensor to open notification pane? Please also review Motorola One Macro and tell if it has better battery life.

Reply
User
Manish patel Hyd
Anonymous
4 years ago

Manish patel Hyd

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