Lenovo has kicked off 2014 with four new smartphone announcements, ahead of their event at CES this month. The Chinese company has unveiled their new flagship smartphone, alongside three other high-end devices, all running Android.
The Lenovo Vibe Z is the new flagship and it looks to be the competitor in CES, with a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 full HD display, quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP rear camera in a silver or titanium unibody.
This is definitely the best of the bunch and Lenovo’s next flagship device. It is thin, light and looks impressive, with high-performance internally to match what is available currently. It may be a little low on the specs when Samsung and other OEM partners show their next generation devices, but for now, its safe.
The other three devices share similar features with the Vibe Z, but Lenovo has changed the size, specs and design of each device to make it less appealing to a high-end user and more appealing to someone looking for a mid-range device or a phablet smartphone.
Starting with the Lenovo S930, the difference in features are the size of the screen and the resolution, with a 6-inch 1280 x 720 display and front speakers, something we would have liked to have seen on the Vibe Z.
The Lenovo S930 and S650 come with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 8GB of storage, 1GB of RAM and 8 megapixel camera, the difference between the two is the S650 comes with a 4.7-inch 960 x 540 display and a $229 off contract price.
Lenovo’s last smartphone is the A859, a low-end smartphone costing less than the S650. It is in the same league as the Moto G in terms of price, starting at $219 off contract and it comes with a 5-inch 1280 x 720 display, 1.3GHz MediaTek processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage.
The question stands as to why Lenovo priced the A859 at less than the S650, considering the cheaper one has better internal specs. It may be something to do with design, all four smartphones should be running Android KitKat 4.4, taking advantage of that optimisation Google has just added.
