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Lenovo K8 Plus: Sturdy dual-camera phone for budget-conscious buyers (Tech Review)

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By Krishna SinhaChaudhury
New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) After a brief hiatus in the first half of 2017, Chinese smartphone maker Lenovo announced three devices in quick succession — K8 Note, K8 Plus and K8 (the K8 would be introduced around Diwali) — in India .

K8 Plus looks like a smaller sibling of K8 Note that was launched in August, with a toned down specification-sheet.

This is the second smartphone from the handset maker to sport dual primary cameras.

Major highlights of K8 Plus are stock Android operating system (OS) and dual camera set-up at the rear.

The smartphone sports a vertical dual-rear camera set-up with 13MP “Purecel Plus” sensor + 5MP depth sensor and f/2.0 Largan Precision 5-element lens.

At Rs 10,999, let’s see how this device does in the fiercely-competitive Indian smartphone market.

Stock Android, which was once shunned by handset makers for its lacklustre features, has become the most talked-about feature in a smartphone now.

Starting with K8 Note, Lenovo did away with its propriety interface “Vibe UI” that was criticised for being a heavy and bloated Operating System (OS).

K8 Plus offers smooth performance, thanks to the stock 7.1 Android OS.

The 5.2-inch full HD display (1440 X 1080 pixels) produces vivid colours with decent sunlight legibility.

The “oleophobic” coating on the screen prevents fingerprint smudges. This is a good value addition in a smartphone that would be used in a humid and hot country like India.

In terms of design language, Lenovo has made the smartphone ergonomic enough for single-handed use. It also feels sturdy at the same time.

The rear side of K8 Plus has a smooth metal finish and the venom black coloured unit we received for review looked great.

The 13MP + 5MP dual camera at the rear was able to capture decent images with details in daylight. That being said, we found the auto focus more accurate on this smartphone than that on Lenovo K8 Note.

The dual sensors on the rear add to the camera’s performance and clicks good photographs with decent colour reproduction.

Unlike the K8 Note, this smartphone does not have a rear camera bump.

The 8MP selfie camera with LED flash is also capable of capturing good self portraits.

Lenovo K8 Plus is powered by MediaTek’s Helio P25 chipset. The Octa-core chip is clocked at 2.6GHz coupled with 3GB RAM that results in smooth overall performance.

There is 32GB storage on-board that can be further expanded up to 128GB via a dedicated MicroSD card slot.

The company had claimed that the 4000mAh battery powering the device would last up to two days. During our review, it lasted for more than a day-and-a-half with moderate usage such as browsing the Internet, watching videos and using WhatsApp.

There is a dedicated music key on the left that can be customised according to the user’s needs.

What does not work?

Lenovo K8 Plus misses out on the NFC feature which a cheaper Nokia 3 supports.

The primary camera struggled in low-light conditions and the images had a bit of noise.

Conclusion: The smartphone is the first one in the budget segment that features dual camera set-up at the rear. K8 Plus has put Lenovo on the right track of innovation and affordability.

(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)

–IANS
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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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