At the beginning of this month, Lenovo rolled out the Android 8.0 Oreo update for the users of Lenovo K8 Note. However, the update has brought along plenty of issues to the device. Apparently, K8 Note users who have encountered multiple problems after installing the update have flooded the official forum site with numerous new topics and most of them have been created without checking whether the topics already exists or not. In a bid to control the situation, the company has decided to temporarily disallow users from creating new threads.

One of the forum site administrators named Andy_Lenovo has created a new topic that reads “Why Can’t I Create a New Topic?” (as shown below in the image). The post states that majority of threads that have been created in the last few days are duplicates since members have added new topics without checking whether the same topic exists on the forum or not.

Since the forum got flooded with duplicate topics, the option to create new topics on the forum site has been disabled. The administrator added that the existing duplicates are required to be merged with base threads or locked which is a time-consuming process. Also, he has requested users to even stop searching for topics before adding a new post because administrators and moderators require more time to deal with the existing threads. As expected, Andy_Lenovo’s post has also met with fresh set of complaints.

Many smartphone OEMs have encountered problems while pushing Android Oreo update to their devices. Almost every smartphone OEM had to stop the rollout of the Android Oreo update due to unexpected bugs. As far as Lenovo K8 Note is concerned, some users have complained that they are facing camera lag after installing the firmware update while others have claimed that the notification LED has stopped functioning.

Read More: Another Lenovo Z5 Teaser Suggests That it Will Indeed Offer 95 Percent Screen-to-Body Ratio

Some are experiencing lag while accessing the systems apps such as call history in the phone app or the Settings app. Apart from system apps, those apps that have been installed through the Play Store are also working sluggishly even after reinstalling them. Some users have said that the device is heating up after the update and it is taking more time than usual to charge the phone. Some settings like the Dolby Atmos quick action has disappeared from the quick settings.

As of this writing, there is no confirmation from Lenovo on when it will be rolling out a stable Oreo update for K8 Note.

(source|via 1, 2)

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Lenovo has today confirmed that it will roll out Android 8.0 Oreo update for its three smartphones — Lenovo K8, K8 Plus and K8 Note.

The company has also revealed the timeline for the update. The Lenovo K8 will be the first smartphone to get the latest Android version update, in June next year. Update for the Lenovo K8 Plus and K8 Note will be rolled out a month later, i.e. July 2018.

This new information revealed by the company also confirms that other than these three devices, no other smartphone from Lenovo will get the Android 8.0 Oreo update.

Lenovo has confirmed that the company is already working on the Oreo update and the process is “in progress”. The company has not cleared whether the phones will be upgraded to 7.1 Nougat for now, or they will skip it altogether and move directly to Oreo.

Currently, these three smartphones — K8, K8 Plus and K8 Note are running on Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. Considering the timeline, there is still a lot of time before the smartphones get the Oreo update.

This is surprising given that the smartphones run on stock Android and should not take such long for the company to roll out updates.

By the time Oreo reaches the Lenovo K8 series, it will be at least ten months old. Looking at the timeline for the Android version launch, Google could launch Android 9.0 in August 2018.

Read More: Latest OxygenOS Open Beta Update Brings Android Oreo to OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T

Recently, Motorola — which is a sub-brand of Lenovo, had confirmed that it is working to upgrade 12 smartphones to Oreo very soon. This includes Moto Z, Moto Z Droid, Moto Z Force Droid, Moto Z Play, Moto Z Play Droid, Moto Z2 Play, Moto Z2 Force Edition, Moto X4, Moto G5, Moto G5 Plus, Moto G5S, Moto G5S Plus, and the Moto G4 Plus.

Other smartphone companies, including HMG Global (Nokia), OnePlus, HTC, among others, have already announced their plans regarding the Android Oreo update.

(Source)

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Lenovo K8 Plus has been unveiled through a launch event that was held today in New Delhi, India at 11:30 AM. It is the second K8 series phone from the Chinese manufacturer after the launch of Lenovo K8 Note in the previous month. During the unveil event, the company spoke on the top 8 features of the Lenovo K8 Plus.

Dual Rear Cameras

The vertically aligned rear-mounted dual cameras of the Lenovo K8 Plus includes a f/2.0 aperture 13-megapixel Purecell Plus sensor that captures all the details and a f/2.0 aperture 5-megapixel depth sensor. The information captured by these sensors are fed to the dual ISPs. The Professional model will allow users to use only the 13-megapixel sensor and the Depth mode will let users to mainly use the 5-megapixel depth sensor. The dual camera sensors can be used to shoot photos with bokeh effect.

Stock Android

The Lenovo K8 Plus is running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS. It means there are no apps from Lenovo on the phone. However, it does not belong to the Android One program like the recently unveiled Mi A1 which also runs on pure Android.

Performance

The 2.6 GHz octa-core processor present inside the MediaTek Helio P25 that is built with TSMC 16nm manufacturing process. The chipset is thermal efficient and promises better battery life. At the launch event, the Lenovo K8 Plus claimed that its SoC can handle graphics intensive games without heating the device. The chipset of the K8 Plus is accompanied by 3 GB of RAM. An AnTuTu benchmarks, the Helio P25 can be seen outscoring Snapdragon 625 chipset that powers some popular phones like Redmi Note 4 and Motorola Moto G5 Plus.

As far as storage is concerned, the K8 Plus comes with a longest SIM tray Lenovo has ever used that includes dedicated slots for two nano-SIMs and a microSD card. The smartphone also supports USB OTG and carries support for 4G VoLTE.

Better Selfies

The Lenovo K8 Plus is fitted with an f/2.0 8-megapixel 84-degree wide-angle camera lens that is coupled with a Party flash for better photos in darker conditions. It comes with features such as Pro mode and Beautify mode.

Display

The Lenovo K8 Plus comes with a 5.2-inch full HD IPS display that supports 178-degree viewing angles. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass that is overlaid with a oleophobic coating that prevents fingerprint smudges.

Design

The body of the Lenovo K8 Plus is made of 5000-series aluminum. The rear panel is curved at the edges and it also features a fingerprint reader below the dual rear cameras. The smartphone will be available in two colors like Venom Black and Fine Gold.

Multimedia

The K series Lenovo smartphones offers the best of multimedia at budget price. Hence, the K8 Plus comes with Dolby Atmos that produces 360-degree surround sound. It also features a dedicated Music key. Like predecessor K series phone, the K8 Plus also offers TheaterMax cinematic experience that allows user to use a regular VR headset and enjoy virtualized large screen experience.

Battery

The Lenovo K8 Plus offers 2-day battery life through its 4,000mAh battery. It delivers up to 13 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi, up to 20 hours of video playback and up to 100 hours on music playback on headphones with the screen turned off.

Lenovo K8 Plus Pricing and Release Date

The Lenovo K8 Plus will be available for buying for Rs. 10,999 (~$172) on Flipkart in India from Sept. 7 at 12 PM. A couple of launch offers will be available with K8 Plus which can be seen in the above image.

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So far this year, Lenovo has launched ten smartphones. However, all those phones were released under the Motorola brand name. Today, it has taken the wraps of its own Lenovo branded phone, the K8 Note.

Lenovo K8 Note Design

The K8 Note employs a mixture of polycarbonate and metal for its body which is not unusual for a mid-range phone. The metal back (and frame) is of premium quality and has two thin antenna lines that appear like silver bands adorning the phone. Lenovo has adopted a vertical setup for the dual rear cameras and the housing is slightly raised from the rest of the body.

Up front, the K8 Note doesn’t hide its huge top and bottom bezels, though they appear less imposing on the black variant. There are capacitive buttons gracing the lower bezel; and a camera, earpiece and LED flash adorning the top.

The power button sits on the right just like the volume rocker but has a textured feel to let you distinguish one from the other. On the left side is a programmable music key that is painted red on both color variants and has a Play and Pause symbol inscribed on it.

Lenovo K8 Note Cameras

Like the newly announced Moto G5S Plus, the K8 Note comes with dual rear cameras. The configuration is a 13MP PureCel® Plus sensor paired with a 5MP secondary sensor that captures depth information. This allows for real-time bokeh effects and SLR-quality portrait images. The front facing camera is a 13MP sensor with a beautification mode and a dedicated LED flash for night-time selfies.

Lenovo K8 Note Specs

The K8 Note is the first smartphone to come with the Helio X23 processor. The deca-core chipset was announced in December 2016 along with the Helio X27 as successors to the Helio X20 and Helio X25. Eight months later it appears in its first phone. The tri-cluster chip is clocked at 2.3GHz and has a Mali-T880 GPU. Mediatek says it offers a 20% overall increase in performance.

The Lenovo K8 Note has a 5.5-inch display with a 1080p resolution and Gorilla Glass protection. It comes with either 3GB of RAM and 32GB ROM or 4GB of RAM and 64GB ROM. Both versions have dedicated microSD card slots for up to 128GB of extra storage.

Just as Lenovo promised that its phones will henceforth come with stock Android, the Lenovo K8 Note is the first to do so. It runs Android 7.1.1 out of the box with Google Assistant. Lenovo also adds that the K8 Note is guaranteed to get updated to the next version of Android.

The K8 Note has dual SIM slots with support for 4G LTE (special emphasis on bands 3, 5, and 40 for the Indian market) and VoLTE. There is a fingerprint scanner below the dual cameras and a 4,000mAh battery with 15W turbo-charging. The 15W turbo charge isn’t the only leaf Lenovo has borrowed from its Motorola brand. The K8 Note also has a splash proof nano-coating.

Other features include dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, a 3.5mm audio jack at the top and a micro USB port at the bottom. There is also Dolby Atmos for improved audio quality, and TheatreMax for an immersive experience when watching videos with a pair of VR glasses.

READ MORE: Lenovo Folio Foldable Concept Showcased at Tech World 2017

Lenovo K8 Note Price and Availability

The Lenovo K8 Note will come in Venom Black and Fine Gold. The 3GB RAM variant will sell for Rs. 12,999 (~$203) and the 4GB RAM model will have a Rs. 13,999 (~$219)price tag. It will be available as an Amazon India exclusive and will go on sale on the 18th of August at exactly 12PM local time.

The post The K8 Note Is Official & Lenovo Kills It With The World’s First Helio X23 Smartphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Just when we thought we wouldn’t be seeing Lenovo-branded smartphones anymore, a Lenovo K series phone was seen on Geekbench. A teaser released on their Facebook showed a partially-revealed figure “8” revealing the phone will launch as the Lenovo K8 Note.

Today, two devices have been spotted on Geekbench with the K8 name. One is the Lenovo K8 Note and the other is the Lenovo K8 Plus. The Geekbench listing shows that both devices are powered by Mediatek processors.

Lenovo K8 Note

The Lenovo K8 Note is powered by the MT6797 a.k.a Helio X20. The deca-core chip is clocked at 1.85GHz and is paired with 4GB of RAM. The benchmark results are not very far off from the first one we saw. The K8 Note scored 1551 points in the single-core test and 4664 points in the multi-core test. The device is shown as running Android 7.1.1.

Lenovo K8 Plus

The Lenovo K8 Plus on the other hand is powered by a MT6757CD octa-core SoC a.k.a Helio P25. There is 3GB of RAM and it also runs Android 7.1.1. It recorded 861 points in the single-core test and 3761 points in the multi-core test.

READ MORE: Lenovo TechWorld 2017: AI and AR Take Center Stage

Lenovo India says the K8 Note will be unveiled on August 9 (Wednesday) but we don’t know if the K8 Plus will also be released along with it. Since Geekbench doesn’t reveal much about a phone, we will have to wait till it is official to find out the rest of the specs.

Report also has it that Lenovo has dropped its Vibe Pure UI and instead will use stock Android. The “new” UI is expected to debut on the K8 Note.

(Sources: 1, 2; via)

The post Lenovo K8 Note and Lenovo K8 Plus Visit Geekbench, Both Powered By Mediatek Chips appeared first on Gizmochina.

What we can make of this is that Lenovo still want to keep selling it’s Lenovo branded models in markets were it still thrives but the whole focus will likely be on the Moto models. India seems to be one of the markets where Lenovo’s mobile brand seems to thrive as the company has disclosed some details about its future models. Gadgets 360 quotes Any Dharma, Head of Product Marketing, Smartphones at Lenovo India to have disclosed that the company would be abandoning its Vibe UI in favour of stock Android. Lenovo’s Vibe UI which was later renamed Vibe Pure UI is the company’s own customization of the Android interface. The Lenovo exec also hinted that the new development would be implemented on the Lenovo K8 Note. The upcoming model would be the first smartphone from the company to ship with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box. Subsequent K series models will also get Android Nougat and will all get upgrade to Android O when it comes out.

Read more: Lenovo Folio Foldable Concept Showcased at Tech World 2017

It is unclear if the move will be applicable to markets outside India since it is emanating from India. It is possible to replicate this style in Europe and other markets but not in China where Custom UI holds sway. Well, except the K8 Note will not be sold in China. That is possible considering that Lenovo’s Weibo account and website has been changed to Moto.

(source)

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