Today Lenovo Philippines has officially launched their newest budget VR-capable phone, the K5 Note. The K5 Note builds on the K4 Note’s focus on VR while still offering a handsome looking exterior at an attractive price point. Let’s take a look at its specs, shall we?

Lenovo VIBE K5 Note

• 1.8GHz Helio P10 Octa-Core Processor
• Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
• 3GB of RAM
• 5.5-Inch Full HD IPS LCD, 1080×1920 Resolution
• 32GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB)
• 13-megapixel Rear Camera with PDAF Autofocus and 5 Composite Lens
• 8-megapixel front camera
• Dual SIM
• 4G, LTE
• Bluetooth v4.1, WiFi b/g/n, AGPS, Fingerprint scanner
• 3500mAh Battery
• Android Lollipop 5.1
• Php 11,999.00

Initial Impressions: a little thicker than the previous iteration but has a better VR bundle

Lenovo’s been trying to unify the look and feel of their Vibe smartphones, and the K5 Note undoubtedly looks and feels like a member of the family. Despite being on the budget side of the family, the K5 Note has a solid full metal body with beautiful chamfers on the side. The phone isn’t a unibody design though, but at the price we didn’t expect it to be.

The phone is a little on the chubby side, coming at 8.49mm. It’s also weighty at 165 grams, though that may entirely be the fault of the 3500mAh battery. There’s a gentle curve at the sides of the phone as well as in its corners to make it easier to hold on to, though the slick metal back of the device means it’ll probably slip and drop on the floor if you put it on a surface at an angle.

The K5 Note uses physical capacitive keys on the front, a necessity since the device still utilizes Android 5.1 Lollipop as its OS. The power and volume rockers are on the right, while the left side of the phone holds the hybrid SIM tray. The USB port is on the bottom while the 3.5mm jack is on the top. Flip the phone over you’ll see the fingerprint scanner and the 13-megapixel camera with PDAF and 5-piece composite lens.

As far as the display goes, the K5 Note has a 5.5-inch, full HD IPS display that has overall generous viewing angles all over. Since the K5 Note is being marketed as a budget entry to VR, Lenovo is also throwing in a pair of their Ant VR headset, along with a Bluetooth VR controller.

Inside the K5 Note beats MediaTek’s Helio P10 octa-core processor, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. We’ve had a few issues with the P10 before but from the looks of it the K5 Note might have finally tamed the finicky processor – scrolling and navigating through the phone was smooth, and had absolutely no issues whatsoever. One only thing that we could see that would be a problem is the operating system – the phone uses Android 5.1 Lollipop, which is a far cry from the Marshmallow devices being released right now, though Lenovo has promised a Marshmallow update later this quarter.

That’s pretty much it for the Lenovo Vibe K5 Note. The phone is set to retail at Php 11,999 in stores, and comes with Lenovo’s Ant VR headset and Bluetooth controller.