Lenovo launched the re-branded variant of the ZUK Z2, called the Lenovo Z2 Plus in India in September 2016. Packed with high-end specs, the phone certainly looks good on paper, but does it perform equally well in real life? Is it worth buying? Read on to find out Lenovo Z2 Plus review with reasons to buy and reasons to not buy.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Review: Reasons To Buy

Here are 12 reasons why you should buy Lenovo’s latest flagship phone- the Z2 Plus:

1. Design

First reason is its beautiful design and sturdy build quality. It flaunts its roll-cage design that mounts all the key components on a metal frame to increase the structural integrity of the phone. The frame of this phone is made of Fiberglass which is lighter and stronger than aluminium. The rear is entirely glass, which looks really great but it attracts fingerprints. We have talked about this flaw in reasons to not buy in the later section of this post. Overall, it is a it is a very light weight and compact device with striking design and fits comfortable in one hand.

2. Display

It features a 5-inch Full HD 2.5D curved glass display with 1080p resolution. The screen is bright and sharp. Colors are accurate and sunlight legibility is also good. There is an adaptive brightness feature as well that adjusts the brightness of the screen based on surrounding lighting conditions. It also comes with a Color Mode that lets you choose from different modes like Warm, Cool, Standard and Night Mode, depending on what sort of colors you prefer.

3. High End Specs & Powerful Performance

It is armed with a Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15GHz  paired with Adreno 530 GPU. It comes in two variants based on RAM and storage- one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage while other variant 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. We tested the 4GB RAM variant on AnTuTu and got score of around 1,30,500. It handles multitasking smoothly and gaming experience on this phone is a lot of fun. We played a few games like Asphalt 8 on this phone and it handled them all with ease. This phone is certainly not going to disappoint you as far as performance is concerned.

4. Software

Unlike the predecessor ZUK Z1, which runs Cyanogen OS, the Z2 Plus runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The interface is very smooth and engaging. You get a full page view of the apps. Swiping down in the screen shows notification while swiping up shows shortcuts to settings.

5. U Health App

There is a U-health app onboard for daily activity tracking. This always on app tracks steps taken by the user, distance travelled, calories burnt and more without impacting battery life or performance of the phone.

6. Battery / USB Type-C

It packs a non-removable 3500mAh battery with support for Dual Fast Charging and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. This phone comes with a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfers. The battery of this phone is good enough to last through the day with moderate usage.

7. Fingerprint Sensor With U Touch

The home button of the phone doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. The  fingerprint reader features U-Touch 2.0 technology that besides unlocking the phone quickly and accurately, also lets users perform various operations. The button can activate 7 different programmable functions and can be used for basic navigation, app shortcuts, for complete multitasking control and more.

8. Speakers

The speaker grille located on the bottom of the phone produces very loud and clear sound.

9. SIM

It is a dual SIM phone that offers dual-SIM connectivity with two nano-SIM slots.

10. USB OTG

It supports USB OTG allowing you to watch movies and videos directly on the phone using pendrive, without transferring them. You can also use it as a backup storage option for your files from your smartphone.

11. Affordable Price / Value For Money

It carries a price tag of Rs. 17,999 for 3GB RAM+ 32GB storage variant and Rs. 19,999 for 4GB RAM+ 64GB storage variant. It comes bundled with a Matte Black Stealth case worth Rs. 699.

12. Accessories

Lenovo has announced some accessories for the phone which will have to be purchased separately. The accessories include Chrono case for Rs. 1,299 and Skullcandy Ando earphones for Rs. 1,299.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Review: Reasons To Not Buy

Here are 6 reasons why you should not buy the Lenovo Z2 Plus:

1. Camera Capabilities

First reason is its average camera capabilities. The Z2 sports a 13 mega pixel primary camera with LED flash and an 8 mega pixel front facing camera. The rear camera comes with PDAF, Hybrid Auto Focus and is capable of capturing 4k videos, time lapse videos  and slow motion videos.  The front camera is capable of 1080p videos.

Camera specs are good, but our actual photography experience with this phone was not very impressive. The images taken with this phone are just average and are not like what you would expect from a flagship phone. Colors come out to be bland and low light photography is also substandard. This phone is suitable for casual photography, but if you are a photography buff, then this phone may not live up to your expectations.

2. Heating Issues

It gets slightly warm on extended usage. While playing graphic intensive games as well, this phone tends to get slightly heated up.

3. No Expandable Storage

It doesn’t support expandable storage via microSD card. It comes in two storage variants- one is 32GB while the other one is 64GB variant and you will have to restrict the storage to the available limit.

4. No NFC

It doesn’t support NFC or Near Field Communication which a bit disappointing for a phone in this price range.

5. Glass Back

The glass back does look elegant but it has a downside as well. It acts like a fingerprint magnet and you may find yourself cleaning the rear panel for most of the time.

6. No Fast Charger

It supports fast charging but Fast Charge 3.0 capable charger is not bundled in the box. You will have to purchase a fast charger separately.

Verdict

Lenovo Z2 Plus is great blend of refined looks and functionality. It is an excellent mid-ranged flagship smartphone that offers elegant design, top of the line specs, powerful performance, U-Touch fingerprint sensor and more.

Also Read: Lenovo A6600, A6600 Plus And A7700 With 4G VoLTE Launched In India