Lenovo P700i overview

The P700i is the last of the three new smartphones from Lenovo. A refresh to the popular P700, this phone is set to take on the budget-conscious dual-SIM market together with the IdeaPhone S560. Check out our short overview of the handset after the break.

Lenovo is looking to ride the momentum they have with their dual-SIM offerings, especially the P700. Besting its predecessor is going to be a tall order for the P700i, given that its older brother had one of the best price-to-feature ratio in the business.

Design and Construction
Everything about the P700i is pretty much an identical to its predecessor with the exception of its dual-core processor. So as to not repeat ourselves (and bore you in the process), we strongly suggest paying a visit to our review of the P700 to be familiar about the handset’s looks and some of its basic features.

Lenovo IdeaPhone P700i specs:
4-inch IPS LCD @ 800×480 pixels, 240ppi
MediaTek MT6577 1.0GHz
PowerVR SGX531 graphics
512MB RAM
4GB microSD included
Expandable up to 32GB via Micro-SD
3G/HSPA (dual-SIM)
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
5MP autofocus rear camera
720p video recording
VGA front-facing camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
FM Radio tuner
2500mAh Li-Ion battery
Android 4.0.3 ICS
Dimension: 125.6 x 64.5 x 12.8 mm
Weight: 162g

Performance

If you look at the specs closely, you’ll notice that it has a similar configuration as the Lenovo IdeaPhone S560 and as mentioned earlier, the only difference between this phone and the model prior to it is the inclusion of the dual-core processor.

The additional core made the device more able to handle tasks and score higher on our usual synthetic benchmark tests. And since both the S560 and P700i are identically speced, the benchmark results from both devices don’t differ much.

Battery

In terms of the battery life, the P700i seems to be unaffected by the additional core as it still was able to deliver outstanding mileage per charge. The device lasted for a little over 8 days with minimal use which includes 5-10 SMS, an hour worth of voice call and web browsing over cellular data and an episode of Mythbusters (which typically runs for 45-47mins) every day.

Camera
Taking pictures with P700i on broad day light (or in an area with sufficient amount of light) was also impressive. However, much like its dual-SIM brethren, the lack of a built-in flash renders the phone useless when shooting in low-light condition. Here are some sample images taken with the P700i.

[fancygallery ID= “p700i”]

Conclusion
In essence, the Lenovo IdeaPhone P700i is just an incremental upgrade to the affordable P700. We assume that Lenovo just basically took some of their unsold P700 phones, equipped it with a dual-core processor and Presto! P700i.

However, given that the you’ll get twice the processing power for the same price (PhP10,990USD 187INR 15,876EUR 178CNY 1,364) of the old one, the Lenovo P700i is definitely worth considering if you’re in the hunt for a decent dual-SIM Android smartphone.

What we liked about it:
• Simple but sturdy construction
• LONG battery life
• IPS display

What we didn’t like about it:
• Power/Sleep button is hard to reach/press
• No built-in flash
• Low probability of firmware update