Lenovo Z5 Pro GT smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

Times are changing and even the best manufacturers are losing ground. If a few years ago new models of the Chinese company Lenovo were delighted and were practically guaranteed to be sold in huge quantities, today this trend is not observed. So, even then Meizu, which was significantly lagging then, today has a significant advantage in sales. But success tends to repeat itself, and now the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT smartphone unexpectedly appears on the mobile device market, the advantages and disadvantages of which are carefully examined in this review.

Arrival of the savior

In recent years, the company has seen both a decline in sales and a decline in the development of new devices. However, the brand decides to catch up with wasted time and announces several very interesting models, the undisputed leader among which is the flagship Lenovo Z5 Pro GT. The manufacturer relies on it, and, admittedly, there are some prerequisites for the popularity of this device.

Aggression and elegance

The first thing that immediately pleases the novelty is the design. The flagship seems to have absorbed everything that users love so much - a truly frameless and large display, a dual camera and a fingerprint scanner located on the screen. However, despite its size, the Z5 Pro GT does not look bulky, but the weight is slightly higher than that of similar competitors (210 grams).

Also, a pull-out panel (slider design) with duplicated cameras framed by red circles is immediately striking, which makes it look like smartphones for games. The rear wall is made of glass and has a pleasant dark texture, reminiscent of carbon. On it are cameras, a flash and at the very bottom - the name of the company. The front part is almost entirely occupied by the screen, and the red border, bordering the surface, emphasizes the unique style. There are two buttons on the sides: volume control - on the left, power on - on the right.

The phone is comfortable in the hand and looks very good. But the weight is immediately felt, however, this is an understandable sacrifice - Lenovo's goal was to cram as many popular chips as possible and remain unique, which in general was implemented very well.

The manufacturer provides only one color option - black with red accents.

Camera features

Moving the cameras out to a separate panel is a great idea to save space for more screen real estate. True, it is not yet known how this will affect the reliability and quality, but you can talk about the characteristics right now.

So, the main cameras of the flagship are top modules from Sony, presented with a resolution of 16 megapixels and 24 megapixels. Among the interesting features - the presence of phase focusing and dual LED flash, the device can also shoot video in 4K. But super slow motion is absent, as well as optical stabilization. Front cameras have received a resolution of 16 megapixels and 8 megapixels, they support shooting in Full HD (1080p).

How the Lenovo flagship photographs at night or in the sun is unknown, but the presence of serious modules from Sony suggests that the quality will be at a decent level (for night photography, a double flash can be very useful).True, users will rather be upset by the lack of additional features (available even in cheaper models) than the quality of the photo, but only an example photo after the start of sales can give real answers.

Power or advertising

In 2019, mobile devices are developing quite rapidly, as games and applications require more and more resources. However, sometimes you may notice that some models differ in excessively good characteristics (and in reality they do not find real use and the user actually pays for nothing). Something similar is present in the new Lenovo product, but the fact that the smartphone turned out to be really interesting for active games is a fact.

Performance

The power of the Z5 Pro GT is the company's trump card. Despite the sensational novelties from many brands, it was Lenovo that was one of the first to apply the latest developments in its brainchild. So, the device will be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor (8 cores, frequency up to 2.84 GHz) in conjunction with Adreno 640 graphics and will be the first smartphone to use these components. Another incredible feature will be the presence of a whopping 12 GB of RAM (again, this will be the first phone with such characteristics).

Remembering the flagships of other brands, models with Snapdragon 660 and 8 GB of RAM come to mind, which are positioned as super-gaming devices. And indeed it is. For all modern games, such characteristics are enough with your head. As for the fabulous filling of the Z5 Pro GT, the aggressive policy of the Chinese brand is clearly seen here - to create a device that has no equal. And this goal is very close to completion, however, it will not bring real benefit to users.

Repository of information

Any modern manufacturer understands that buyers do not want to think about free space. But in practice, it is not so easy to solve the problem - no matter how much memory there is, it will still end. But on how quickly this happens, you can already play and try to bypass competitors.

Lenovo offers three options:

• 128 GB - for 26 thousand rubles;
• 256 GB - for 33 thousand rubles;
• 512 GB - for 44.5 thousand rubles.

Undoubtedly, the decision to create different versions is very reasonable, because each person will be able to choose the required volume and not pay for the excess. True, there is also a nuance here - when choosing a phone, the buyer must understand that it will not work to increase the storage using SD cards - there is no slot for external memory.

operating system

And here the company's decision is not entirely clear. Provide the most top-end filling and make the not the newest Android 8.1 a stock version. And it is worth noting that right from the box on top of Android there is a proprietary ZUI 10 shell, which greatly changes the interface.

It would seem that when the problems with the hardware are solved, nothing bad (except for the price tag) can already be. But a snag with the OS can be a disadvantage. And not because someone might not like the shell, there is a much more serious problem here. Buying such a smartphone, the user is counting on a certain "safety margin" of his device in terms of performance, that is, that it will be relevant and after some time. But knowing how hard (and rare) OS updates for Lenovo smartphones come out, it is not difficult to guess that the user risks being left with the eight forever. And with the pace of development of new versions of Android, it looks like a rather significant drawback.

Display

There are no complaints about this point and cannot be. The 6.39-inch screen (88.3% of the surface used) with Super AMOLED matrix and a resolution of 2340x1080 (Full HD +) provides an incredibly realistic and vivid picture. The image is crisp with wide viewing angles and enviable contrast.

Previously, Lenovo did not have much love for Super AMOLED. However, using this matrix is ​​a really good solution.

Battery

Autonomy can be a bit frustrating for users. The promised 3350 mAh battery is hardly enough for an active gamer for a day. Under normal conditions, the indicator increases to one day.

A large screen, powerful hardware and a small battery are standard stories for many smartphones.But if thin devices are forgivable, then for the wide Z5 Pro GT it is a clear disadvantage. It is also worth noting that nothing is known about wireless charging, but there is definitely a fast charge function.

Technologies, communication standards, dimensions

Nothing revolutionary happened here, everything is as it should be for a flagship:

• Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi ab / g / n / ac, LTE, Bluetooth 5.0 (A2DP, EDR, LE), NFC;
• Navigation: A-GPS (Beidou, GLONASS);
• Network and Internet: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, 4G;
• Dimensions: 155.1x73x9.3 mm. Weight 210 grams.

Outcome

If we regard Lenovo's long “silence” as preparing a number of new smartphones led by Lenovo Z5 Pro GT, we can safely say that the move was very reasonable. By releasing a model of this level towards the end of the outgoing year, a company from China is significantly biting its competitors. As for the smartphone itself, it's not perfect. There are a number of serious drawbacks, but since most of them have not yet been confirmed or are easily eliminated, it cannot be said about a complete failure. But the presence of so many really cool features make it perhaps the most interesting smartphone of the outgoing year.

• Unique design;
• Excellent technical characteristics;
• Quality Sony cameras;
• Lots of popular "chips";
• Pioneer (RAM and processor);
• Price (depends on the amount of RAM and ROM, on average 33 thousand rubles);
• Models with different amounts of RAM and ROM;
• High quality Super AMOLED matrix.

• Autonomy;
• Width and weight;
• Lack of a slot for a memory card;
• Stock OS.

Unexpected and almost perfect

Lenovo managed to surprise. Despite the fact that the company is going through hard times, it is not that premature to talk about leaving the smartphone market, but even not worth it. After all, if you look at it, the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT is really unique and has no analogues. Incredibly powerful, stylish, and in addition, and inexpensive (focusing on the average price and compared to the popular models of competitors), it is definitely worth your attention, and with timely revision and the right advertising campaign, it has every chance of becoming another bestseller.