Last month, Lenovo launched its new flagship phone, the Vibe Z2 Pro. Its use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 6-inch 2K display screen, and 16mp active lens camera has gotten a lot of attention. Before the launch of the Z2 Pro, Lenovo released the following devices: K800, J860, K860i, K900, and K910. Since the K910, Lenovo has been using metal cases for their phones. The K900 and K910 had not fulfilled Lenovo’s expectations. How does the K910’s follow-up, the Vibe Z2 Pro, fare? Here’s the reviewer’s answer after a two-week trial use.

The Vibe Z2 Pro was named as such after the K-series merged with the Vibe series.

Strong metallic texture is not suitable for holding phone with one hand

The Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro’s appearance is much different from the K910. This phone made a great impression on me when I first got it. Because of its very slim, it has a high screen ratio although this leaves little space to press the three buttons at the bottom. As a result, it was hard for me to press the buttons of the phone using one hand.

What stands out most about the back of the phone is that the Vibe Z2 Pro sports a 16mp camera. The sides are covered by a red metal. Unfortunately, the camera points out so far that it makes the desktop a bit unstable making it hard to play games or look at the news. It is surrounded is surrounded by an acrylic plate.

The Vibe Z2 Pro is only 7.7mm high but weighs 179g. Overall, the design is pretty good and users should not have a hard time holding it.

There are still some imperfections with the Vibe Z2 Pro’s design. The volume button is located at the top left side of the phone making it hard for the user to press when holding the phone singlehandedly. There is also the SIM card slot. The Z2 supports 4G internet dual-Micro SIM, but it is hard to open the SIM card slot with the pin that came with the device. A longer pin can solve this problem.

2K screen delivers results

Many phones on the market right now have 2K screens. The Vibe Z2 Pro also sports a 6-inch 2K IPS screen. I was quite impressed with its pixels, clarity, and colors. It probably even surpasses the LG G3.

One problem with 2K screens though is that it can hurt the speed and clarity. Furthermore, more power is consumed.

Hardware: Good for games but overheats easily

The Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro uses the 2.5Ghz Snapdragon 801 chipset and has 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM. It is one of the biggest examples of a mid- to high-end Android phone out right now. Big games can be played on this phone without much difficulty but because of its metal case, its heat release failed to live up to our expectations. Playing games for a long time may cause the phone to overheat. The Z2 Pro managed to score 41999 in the Antutu benchmark test.

OS has a lot of features but not enough improvements

      Lenovo’s UI system has already been upgraded to the Vibe 2.0. Lenovo decided to redesign the icons in this OS. It has a very fashionable flattened interface.

After a while, I got used to cleaning the interface turning off the background when the system is slow. It’s a simple and straightforward process. We can see more icons by pulling down the scroll-down menu.

The most important thing about the Vibe 2.0 is its built-in settings. More interesting is its one-hand micro-screen. Because the Vibe Z2 Pro is bigger, we can do a “C” motion on the app window or shrink the window to make it easier to handle with one hand. This makes it easier to do things like locking the phone.

This OS also includes a multi-task button similar to Apple’s iOS.

Overall, the Vibe Z2 Pro’s UI is not that hard to use and has a lot of functions although there are problems with stability. For example, when I open the photo album, sometimes, it would crash as soon as the photos are loaded. When this happens, I just restart the phone again.

Camera: Samples show great quality although improvements could be done in photo capture

       The Lenovo VIBE Z2 Pro sports a 16mp OIS-supported camera. Users can choose between two types of camera modes, a smart mode or professional mode. In Pro mode, we can see the numerical data on the viewfinder screen such as the degree of light, shutter speed, ISO, and color temperature. These are all automatically adjusted. Below are photos taken using the Z2 Pro.

Overall, the Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro maintains the high quality of the photos which, when enlarged, look as clear as ever. When shooting a dynamic image, the subject may move too fast for the camera. You can see how the blurry the background is in the photos. I can’t say that I am impressed with the focal distance. The biggest strength of the Vibe Z2 Pro’s camera lies in night photography. Because it has an active lens, you can take photos at night without anything getting blurry no matter how slow the shutter is as long as you hold the phone steady.

Due to 2K screen, phone’s battery can only last for about a day

The Vibe Z2 Pro uses a 4000mAh battery. When the phone is fully charged is connected to 4G, battery seems to die within a day. I made phone calls, accessed WeChat, took photos, etc. I did play any games though. I am not surprised though as the 2K screen consumes a lot of power.

Conclusion: The pros and cons are clear in this expensive phone

After trying out the Vibe Z2 Pro for two weeks, I was very impressed with the phone’s metallic texture and screen although it is best to handle with two hands. The default interface is too flashy and colourful and clashes with its more business-like style. The improvements on the OS are not that great and sometimes apps crash. There are some problems with the photos but, hopefully, they can be improved in the future. It runs out of power in a day which is enough for an Android phone. Don’t forget that the Z2 Pro is 4799 RMB (781.53 USD). Many will be surprised by this so we will just have to wait if it will sell well with the public.

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