Lenovo Z2 Plus Review: Smooth Performance At A Reachable Price

Lenovo wanted to challenge the OnePlus devices with the ZUK lineup and the ZUK Z1 was a good step toward that. the phone ticked all the right boxes and gave a great experience. The successor to that device is the Lenovo Z2 Plus. This time, they have not gone with Cyanogen and have their own ZUI running on it. The idea is to give flagship experience at a reachable cost. Let’s look at this device today.

The attempt to provide a flagship experience under 20k is very good and Lenovo has delivered most of what they set out to do. Coming to the look and feel, the design is meant to fit in and not stand out. There are no elements that jump out and grab your eyes. The design is understated and classy. Simple and keeping it straightforward. There is clearly a lot of care taken to make it fit into one hand comfortably and it does. the back is a tad bit on the slippery side but then it comes with a back cover to counter that.

Lenovo has decided to go with a smaller and more comfortable 5-inch screen on the Z2 Plus. Hence the device is one of the smallest and most easy-to-handle premium smartphones in the market today, something that will be gladly welcomed by a lot of people who want power and smoothness, but not a bulky and large phone that is hard to manage.

The device has a notably slim profile and manageable weight of 150g. Lenovo has not gone with the metal bodies that most of this phone’s competition has, this phone comes with a glass frame to keep weight down and a magnesium alloy roll cage for sturdiness. The point to be noted is that the back is a slippery smudge magnet. So there is no way you can use it without the back cover. There’s no Zuk branding; instead the back has a prominent Lenovo branding. Looks like the first step in combining all sub brands into one and it is a good idea from a buyer’s point of view.

Here are the key specifications of the device

The Z2 Plus makes full use of Qualcomm Snapdragon 820’s potential. The sensor processing unit (SPU) along with the CPU & GPU give a true flagship experience on the phone. Whatever we could throw at the phone in terms of multi tasking, heavy gaming and parallel video playing, the device took on without an hiccups. There was hardly any stutter or lag that was noticeable anywhere. ZUI is also very smooth and intuitive. No complaints at all there.

The right side of the phone has the power key and volume rocker and the SIM tray. The phone comes with dual-SIM connectivity with two nano-SIM slots, there is no expandable storage, we got the 64 GB version for review and it was more than adequate. The bottom of the phone has the speaker grille, 3.5mm jack, and USB type-C port. The 3500mAh battery not removable. The front of the phone has a multi-function home key, which also houses the fingerprint sensor. There are some nifty functions built into this.

The Ant+ sensor in the Z2 Plus is compatible with all pro grade fitness trackers like heart rate monitors, Cadence sensors, power meters, etc. Z2 Plus supports Glonass and Galileo for accurate outdoor GPS, essential for pinpoint accuracy in distance tracking. The device comes with six professional mobile sensors, that along with the Sensor Processing Unit (SPU) of Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 track real-time data for health and other applications.

Google Now is the default launcher in Z2 Plus. It is also equipped with an on screen keyboard for easy navigation. VoLTE works out of the box & Carrier aggregation is supported enabling speed up to 600 mbps. Z2 Plus comes with the innovative U-Touch Button for the true one hand experience.

Z2 Plus comes with a fast fingerprint sensor paired with a self-learning algorithm. It detects irregularities (skin peel, wound, dry skin, etc.) and adjusts accordingly. The Fingerprint module uses advanced CAC algorithm to unlock wet & oily fingers. Besides being a fingerprint sensor, U-Touch can perform 7 different tasks. And can be customized to launch your favorite apps. This is very useful to pull up frequently used apps on demand really fast.

The phone has a 5-inch full-HD LTPS LCD screen, with a density of 441 ppi. Colors pop out well and reading the screen in sunlight is good if the brightness is set high. The auto brightness is a bit of a letdown in sunlight though. We were happy with brightness at 80% setting.

The Lenovo Z2 Plus has a 13-megapixel primary camera with single-tone LED flash, and an 8-megapixel front camera. The rear camera can record video at up to 4K, while the front camera is capable of 1080p.

The camera app comes with the usual modes like panorama, time lapse, and slow-motion video, as well as basic filters and a shortcut for the detailed settings which can also be found in the main Settings app. There are quick switches for the video mode, camera switcher, flash, HDR mode, and the gallery. The images churned out by the phone are pretty good and well detailed. Like all smartphones today, low light photography part needs a bit of improving, but hey, we are not complaining at all.

Verdict

For most part, Lenovo has succeeded in making a flagship that gives an easy and smooth performance at a price that is very aggressive. The 3GB/32 GB variant comes at 17,999/- and the 4GB/64GB variant is at 19,999/- Smooth Performance, Flagship specs and value added features at a very reachable price.