Meet Lenovo’s Affordable Phablet Offering

If you’ve been eyeing a phablet from Lenovo but you really couldn’t afford the Lenovo K900 or the Lenovo S920, you now have a more affordable option with the Lenovo A850. Priced at Php9,999, the Lenovo A850 offers a 5.5-inch IPS screen with qHD resolution. It’s powered by a respectable 1.3GHz MTK6582M quad-core processor combined with 1GB RAM and it’s “Pinoy-friendly” since it’s dual-SIM, dual standby.

We’ve had a unit for a few days now and we’d like to share with you guys the unboxing as well as our initial impressions with a full review to follow next week. Before we get to that though let’s quickly take a look at the full specifications.

Lenovo A850 Spec Sheet

• 1.3GHz MTK6582M Quad-core Processor
• 1GB RAM
• 4GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 32GB via microSD card
• 5.5-inches IPS Capacitive Touch Screen, qHD Resolution
• 5.0-megapixels primary camera with LED Flash and Auto Focus
• VGA secondary camera
• Dual SIM, Dual Standby
• 3G, HSPA+, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth, GPS/aGPS
• Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
• 2,250mAh Battery
• SRP: Php9,999

Not bad right? The 4GB internal storage might be a bit lacking but everything else checks out. Anyway, let’s jump into the unboxing!

Packaging and Unboxing

From the outside the packaging of the Lenovo A850 looks like the standard Lenovo box. However they actually kind scrimped here (we don’t mind though). Usually with Lenovo we have very fancy boxes, especially with their most recent line-up composed of the P780, S920, and S820. With the A850 there’s no “box-within-the-box”. When you pop open the lid at the top you’ll find the phone and the accessories stuffed inside separated by a carton divider. It actually doesn’t do justice to the phone but hey if that’s the price to pay to keep the price a bit lower then it’s okay, hehe.

We unglamorously pulled out the Lenovo A850, still wrapped in plastic, out of the box. It definitely felt and looked like a phablet with its imposing 5.5-inch display. As with any other phablet, the A850 polarizes the market. Some people will love it while some will hate it. That’s the brutal reality of the phablet category.

Other than the A850 the box had the usual stuff in it like the USB to micro USB cable, wall charger, earphones, and manuals/certificates. Unfortunately there weren’t any extraordinary freebies (huhu).

After fiddling around with the stuff in the box we picked up the Lenovo A850 and fired it up.

Initial Impressions

In terms of build the Lenovo A850 felt solid, sturdy, and big but didn’t feel “premium” because of the all-plastic construction. Fortunately Lenovo was able to make the plastic compact so that the back plate or any other part of the device feels too soft.

Up front we have the massive 5.5-inch screen. It’s not scratch resistant so best to get a screen protector for the device. In terms of resolution it’s at 960×540 (qHD). We would have preferred the display to be at least HD but we were still pleasantly surprised when we saw the quality of the images when we turned on the phone.

All the buttons and ports were neatly situated along the sides of the device. At the back we have the removable cover with the Lenovo logo squarely placed at the center.

On the software side the Lenovo A850 delivers a modestly speedy performance. The quad-core processor and 1GB RAM clearly more than enough to power the qHD 5.5-inch screen. Transitions and animations were smooth and fluid and the phone rarely stuttered even if we had a live wall paper running with a couple of active widgets on the home screen.

As far as our initial impressions go, we feel that the Lenovo A850 is a reliable and good value phablet. Sure there are cheaper options with almost similar specifications from local brands out there but we can rest assured that this particular device is more durable and has better after-sales support.

Lenovo A850 on the Unbox Podcast

We recently featured the Lenovo A850 on the Unbox Podcast. If you want to see it on video check out the latest episode below. Lenovo segment should start around 7 minutes with Ms. Patricia Paredes (Lenovo Mobile PH) as our guest.

Full Review Coming Soon!

We’ll put the Lenovo A850 through the paces and share with you guys the full review next week! We’re keen on testing the battery life and the gaming capabilities of this phablet. Hopefully it won’t leave us wanting.

The Lenovo A850 is now available for Php9,999.

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