Lenovo A6000 is the country’s cheapest 4G LTE-capable device at this time. The phone also packs in a lot of features, giving competition to the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi 1S and Asus ZenFone 4.
Lenovo A6000 doesn’t look very different from other Android smartphones available at this price. It essentially sports the same rectangular form factor combined with rounded corners and a plastic shell, which we’ve seen in phones such as the Redmi 1S. The phone is pleasantly lightweight which makes it easy to lug around. The front of the phone is dominated by a 5-inch HD screen.The three capacitive touch navigation buttons are placed right below the display and were pretty responsive. Unfortunately, the keys are not backlit. A 2MP front-facing camera is placed right above the display next to the earpiece.
The right edge of the phone houses the volume rocker and power keys. Both of the keys offer good tactile feedback and were responsive. The left and bottom edges are barren while the top sports the 3.5mm headset jack as well as the micro-USB port.The back cover wraps around the front panel and hides the 2300mAh battery (removable), two micro sim card slots and a microSD card slot. The back panel sports a matte finish and offers a good grip. The 8MP camera lens and LED flash are placed towards the upper portion of the back.
The phone features a 5-inch IPS HD (720x1920p) display which offers good viewing angles and vibrant colours. Sunlight legibility was also good but the only issue we faced was that the display is prone to smudging. It doesn’t feature Gorilla Glass protection so it’s better to use a screen protector (included in the box). The touch was also reasonably responsive.
The A6000 comes with a heavily customized version of Android 4.4 KitKat. Lenovo deploys its own UI skin to offer enhanced features and customization options.
Just like Xiaomi’s MiUI and Huawei Honor 6, the phone’s default UI is devoid of an app drawer and app icons and widgets are spread across the home screens. The unified home screen-app launcher style may come across as user-friendly to people who have not used an Android phone before. But it will take some time to get used to if you have already been using an Android smartphone. You can of course download and install an alternate launcher.
The phone also comes with two themes each of which comes with a different set of icons, wallpapers, font style, sounds, and lock screen styles. There’s no way to download or install new themes but existing ones can be customized.
The software does not include any stock Android app and everything including the Gallery, Calculator, Calendar and Email apps are built by Lenovo’s software team. The apps look beautiful and offer additional value added features.
Lenovo bundles a large number of apps with the A6000 including a Security app, its SyncIt, CloneIt and ShareIt apps, Guvera music streaming app, Route 66 navigation, WPS Office, UC Browser, Txtr eBooks app and a number of Gameloft games. Thankfully, the third party apps can be uninstalled to free up storage space.
Lenovo A6000 sports an 8MP rear camera (with auto focus and LED flash) and a 2MP front facing camera. The phone features Lenovo’s own camera app that offers settings for all optical attributes, HDR (including auto-HDR), Panorama and Timer modes, among others.
Images captured by the camera in day light turned out well with decent level of detail, accurate colour reproduction and good contrast. Images shot in low-light were grainy but comparatively better than other phones available in the same segment.
The front camera is also good for clicking selfies and for video calls.
