A while ago I decided to buy my dad a new phone for Father's Day. I thought it was time to replace his aged Desire HD after four years of use. Before scouring the internet for possible replacements, I observe how my dad uses his smartphone and asked him what he liked about his old Desire HD.
After some researching, I decided to get the Lenovo S660 online for about US$130. Before I gave it to my dad, I took it for a spin for about a week and used it as my only phone and decided to write this review because I was quite impressed by how the phone performed.
Design
The Lenovo S660 looks are generic and minimal which isn't at all bad. It's a slab with the front fully covered in glass and the screen, with invisible capacitive buttons on the bottom. What's surprising is the removable back cover - all brushed metal. Extremely rare on US$132 phone (the price I payed) and something my dad would appreciate as his old Desire HD also has a metal cover. It gives the phone a premium look to it.
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| The removable brushed metal back cover is a welcome addition at this price point. |
I find fingerprints and smudges impossible to notice even in close sight on the back plate. There are no buttons on the left side while the right has the power button, and the volume rocker. These effortlessly blend with the phone's color. It's slightly larger in size than much of 4.7 inch phones. In comparison, it's slightly taller and wider than my old Nexus 4.
Battery life
I was very impressed with this phone's battery life. Its removable 3,000 mah battery coupled with the efficient quad-core processor lasted a good two days! The best of any smartphone I've used - including my Moto G! My dad travels often so this adds to his convenience especially since he's not a heavy smartphone user like me. Could probably last him a day more than what I observed.
Screen
The Lenovo S660 has a 540 x 960 resolution screen. It's not HD unfortunately. But it's expected at a phone this price. Honestly though, I can't tell the pixels apart - no matter what the geeks out there say.
I can tell that my Moto G looks 'sharper' but not necessarily better. It didn't make any difference for me at least. In fact, I zoomed-in less when reading non mobile optimized website on the S660.
Performance
My dad's needs for a smartphone is minimal. Basic calls and text is a must, but he also checks email, WhatsApp, web browsing, FM radio (yes, he still listens to radio), news, some light gaming (chess anyone?), and watching videos over at YouTube. The Lenovo S660 handled all of these with ease and I did not experience any hiccups in my week of use. Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook and Quickoffice ran smoothly. The MTK6582M chip used in the device isn't build for intensive gaming, but if all you play is Candy Crush and Angry Birds and, well, chess, this phone will handle them just fine.
Camera
The phone's main 8 megapixels camera is nothing to brag about. It's still a generally good camera though, with acceptable sharpness and vibrant colors when used to shoot outdoors. Indoor shooting however proved it limits - high noise, low contrast, and poor details. The rear flash helps...a little. However, focus was snappy and there were no lags taking shots. You could also use the volume buttons as triggers.
User Interface
I'm an avid fan of the pure Google experience so I wasn't a big fan of Lenovo's 'Vibe' UI which follows a similar approach to IOS. There is no app drawer. All your apps are on your homescreens which makes it a chore to organize them into folders. They're not alphabetically arranged so I'm forced to go through all the homescreens to find an app if I haven't moved it into a folder. And when installing new apps, it creates a new homescreen to place that app instead of utilizing unused space on existing homescreens. It wasn't user-friendly so I ended up downloading the Google Now launcher. Setting up the dual-sim function was straightforward however. Easier than the stock android approach. And the auto-reboot scheduler is a simple but amazing feature to keep your phone lag-free from all those system build-up (or whatever they call it) all day.
GPS
On GPS performance, under the sky, the phone was quick to pick up signal outdoors (under 20 seconds) but if you're in a car, it takes about a minute or two for it to grab a signal. If you're not connected to WiFi indoors, don't even bother. My dad doesn't use GPS often (if at all) so this drawback doesn't really affect him.
Conclusion
Lenovo build a darn cheap phone that looks premium (gotta love that metal backplate), has impressive battery life and performs just as well as phones twice its price. The battery life was amazing, and multitasking was effortless. Bear in mind that this is not a phone for power users who use complex apps and play high-end games on their phone. It is however a phone for everyone else.
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