Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong

Anjie lou delos Reyes
2
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong

INTRODUCTION:

Last April, Lenovo Mobile Philippines launched three devices, the A316i dubbed as Hip and Fun, the A859 as Powerful and Industrial, lastly the A680 as the Bold and Strong.

It sports a 5-inch capacitive touchscreen display encased in a black polycarbonate body. Under the hood is a quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor clocked at 1.3GHz each, 1GB of RAM for smooth multitasking and 4GB of native storage expandable up to 32GB via micro SD card for your multimedia contents.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
About phone

The A680 can accommodate two SIM cards, both of which are of regular size and supports 3G capability. It runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and a 2000mAh battery powers the device from the inside.

For unboxing, hardware, display, sensors and benchmarks, you can check the link below:

>>>Lenovo A680 Unboxing, Preview And Initial Impression<<<


INTERFACE:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Start-up

Upon first boot, the A680 will guide you to set-up the basic settings of your phone from WiFi up to creating or signing in to your Google account.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lockscreen

The lockscreen is the usual padlock icon which you can swipe to any direction to unlock your device. If you have a missed call or unread message, it will appear below the clock widget and you can drag it towards the circle to view that notification immediately.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Homescreen

The homescreen has 5 shortcuts docked at the bottom, the middle always opens the app drawer while the remaining four can be customized. You can add applications, shortcuts, folders and widgets on the homescreen.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Default apps
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
App drawer options
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Apps that are removable

There are 54 applications installed by default, 28 of them can be removed without the need for root access. You can arrange them alphabetically, by installation time and more. There is also an option to hide apps, change the icon layout, decoration and animation.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Notification and quick toggle

The notification area is accessible by swiping one finger from the top of the screen while the quick toggle settings will appear when you use two fingers. The former house all types of notifications and the options you can do with them, the latter on the other hand gives you access to the most commonly used settings like WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.


DUAL SIM FUNCTIONALITY:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
SIM Management

The A680 has dual SIM slots, you can assign which SIM to use for a specific purpose by going to Settings>SIM Management.


TELEPHONY:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Telephony

The dial pad supports smart dialing, it detects matching number and contacts as you type. If you have incoming call, you have three options to respond - answer, cancel or cancel with a message. The overall call quality is good, both parties can hear each other loud and clear.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Call log

The call log houses all the types of calls happened on your phone, you can filter it by SIM card used (SIM1, SIM2 or both) and by the type of calls (answered, outgoing and missed).


PHONEBOOK:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Contacts
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Group

The phonebook uses a tabbed interface for groups, contacts and favorites, which can be saved either on the phone or online accounts like Google. Each contact can contain almost virtually unlimited information while the group is a collection of contact that belongs to the same category.


MESSAGING:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Messaging

The messages are displayed based on the latest time of arrival, if you have an unread message, it will appear next to the name of the sender. In a specific conversation, your message appears on the right while the one you received is on the left. You can insert almost anything on the message and if you do, the SMS will be converted to MMS.


EMAIL:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Email

The A680 has both the Gmail app and stock Android email app, both are relatively very easy to setup and use plus they can contain multiple accounts and shared inbox.


MULTIMEDIA:

Gallery:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Gallery
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Gallery options

The gallery houses all the videos and photos on your device whether it is in the default storage or external SD card. You can filter them by albums, locations or times and can be viewed either by grid or filmstrip. There is also an option to share any item under the gallery via Bluetooth, Email or social accounts.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Photo editor

The photo editor app is also present and can be found as part of the gallery, any picture can be enhanced by selecting the edit option or pressing the three overlapping circles located at the lower left of the photo.

Video Player:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Video player

The video player displays all supported files on your device, it displays the thumbnail, title, length and file size of each video. The player interface is very simple, a time scroll is available at the bottom, you can press the screen for the play/pause option plus pressing the capacitive menu will give you additional control (stop, loop, previous and next).

The device can play almost any video file I threw at it, .avi, .mp4, .3gp and .mkv, it can also play videos up to 1080p resolution. Watching movies or TV series on the A680 is good only for personal consumption since the viewing angles are limited. One of the things I commend this phone is for having a good speaker, the audio output is loud enough and

Music Player:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Music player

The music player has four tabs namely artist, albums, songs and playlists. It supports album art and display it accordingly. There is a time scroll in between the song title and the usual control buttons. If a song is playing and you minimize the player, a mini player will be available under the notification area.

FM Radio:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
FM Radio

The FM radio needs a wired headset connected for it to work, you can scan the channels manually or automatically. At the upper portion there is a four buttons that corresponds to headset/speaker toggle, record, search and channel list. Below them displays the channel frequency followed by the previous, stop and next button.

Camera and Video:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Camera and Video

The camera and video have separate shutter buttons located at the bottom part of the interface, at the upper left is the main/front camera toggle, at the upper right is the capture mode while the thumbnail of the last item taken is at the lower right corner.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Camera and video options

Pressing the settings button on the lower left corner will bring up the available options both for the camera and video like picture size, quality and more.

Sample Shots:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Sample shots

The Lenovo A680 has 5MP main camera, however it is only fixed focus and does not have LED flash. The output produced is a mixed bag, sometimes it creates nice images, but sometimes the colors are a bit dull and  grainy. Taking photos at night or not so well-lit places will result to images that are darker that the actual environment.

Browser:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Stock browser
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
UC browser
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Chrome

Love browsing the web? No problem, the A680 got you covered with not one, but three pre-installed browser, namely the stock Android, UC and Chrome.

Gaming:

Temple Run 2

Asphalt 7

Dead Trigger 2

The A680 can play games, even those with those with high graphics with little to no lags or hiccups. The problem is the accelerometer, those games that use this sensor like the Temple Run 2 and Asphalt 7 are not really playable because the phone does not react when you tilt your phone. You almost need to turn the phone at 90 degrees before it reacts.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Gameloft live
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Little Big Cite
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Block Breaker 3

The Gameloft Live application is installed by default together with the two other games, thankfully you can uninstall them without the need for root access.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Storage and move to SD

The apps and games can be installed on your SD card, once you insert the memory card choose it as the default write disk so that you can install more. Though the A680 uses unified storage, the remaining storage out of the 4GB is only 2.19GB.


CONNECTIVITY:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
3G and Tethering
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Data usage

The A680 supports dual 3G, which means that you can assign the 3G service on either SIM, this is very useful if you are using SIM cards from two different networks because you can switch the service to the SIM card with a better signal. This high speed data connection can be shared via WiFi hotspot, USB or Bluetooth tethering. You can also use the Data Usage found under the Settings to monitor your data consumption.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
WiFi

The WiFi works as it should, it can detect various signals from different channels, the reception is good and I never encountered dropped connection.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Bluetooth

The Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack and micro USB port complete the connectivity list, the latter does not support OTG function.


PRODUCTIVITY:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Calculator
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Calendar
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Clock
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
File Manager
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
KingSoft Office and EverNote

The organizing and productivity tools include the usual sets of stock Android apps which include the calculator, calendar, clock, file manager and sound recorder. In addition, there is also EverNote and KingSoft Office.


GPS:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
GPS

The GPS has both A-GPS and EPO assistance for a faster and better location tracking. Using GPS Test, I got a satellite lock for lest than 10 seconds with an accuracy of 10 feet.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Route 66

There is a pre-installed navigation app called Route 66, but it is only a trial version, so if you won't purchase it better to uninstall it after the free 30 day trial.


BATTERY:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Battery Stats

I looped a 720p video with both sounds and brightness set at half, the A680 managed to last for 6 hours and 40 minutes before the 15% battery warning appeared. I also played an HD game continuously and it lasted for 3 hours and 32 minutes.


OTHERS:

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Secure It

The A680 also comes with Lenovo software goodies, one of them is the Secure It, an app that protects you, your phone, its data and other persons that use it. It has anti-virus, privacy guard for restricting apps access, anti-spam for calls and texts, private space for hiding SMS, call logs and contacts, anti-theft and parental control.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Share It

The Share It is an app that allows you to share files even without internet connection and it is 60x faster than Bluetooth. It uses the WiFi direct function to do so, however, both device should have it installed in order for it to work.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Sync It

Sync It, as the name suggests, is an app that allows you to sync your contacts, SMS and call history. You can back up this data on your SD card and set a schedule to automatically do it every now and then.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Mobile Assistant

The Mobile Assistant is an app that lets you control your mobile phone using your computer. You need to install the software on your PC as well as enable debugging mode on your phone in order to use it.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Google Apps

I used and reviewed many Android phones, but the Lenovo A680 has the most number of Google Apps installed by default, luckily most of the can be removed/uninstalled.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
News & Weather
Lenovo A680 Review: Black and Bold


The News and Weather app is also installed, but if you need more weather information there is also AccuWeather app available.

Lenovo A680 Review: Bold and Strong
Facebook and Twitter

Facebook and Twitter are the only two popular social networking app installed by default, but if you need another app/s than them you can simply go to Play Store.


CONCLUSION:

The Lenovo A680 packs a 1.3GHz MT6582 quad core processor and 1GB of RAM, which is powerful enough to give it a swift UI transition, smooth game play and seamless video playback. However, there are some hardware limitations that hinder its potential, both cameras are just fixed focus and the main one does not even have an LED flash, there is no ambient light sensor for auto brightness and there is an issue on the accelerometer.

PROS:

Large display
Quad core processor
1GB RAM
Solid build quality

CONS:

Fixed focus camera
No light sensor
Accelerometer has issue

Specifications:

  • Triple band 2G, dual band 3G
  • Dual SIM (regular+regular) dual standby
  • 5-inch capacitive  FWVGA (854x480) touchscreen display
  • Dimensions:  145mm x 73.5mm x 10.8mm
  • Weight: 165 grams
  • Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
  • 1.3GHz Quad Core Cortex-A7 CPU, Mali-400 GPU, MediaTek MT6582 chipset
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 4GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via micro SD
  • 5MP fixed focus main camera without LED Flash,
  • VGA secondary camera
  • Multimedia Player
  • FM Radio
  • 3.5 Audio Jack
  • GPS with A-GPS and EPO assistance
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Micro USB 2.0
  • Bluetooth v3.0
  • Sensors: accelerometer, proximity
  • 2000mAh Li-Po battery
  • Price: Php6,400

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