Lenovo K3 Note Review

Item: Lenovo K3 Note
Rating: 4.3
Author: Louie Diangson

Last month, we provided you a first impressions of the Lenovo K3 Note – a phablet that packs a 5.5-inch Full HD display, MediaTek 64-bit octa-core CPU, dual-SIM with LTE, 3,000mAh battery, and Android Lollipop. Now we’re back with the Lenovo K3 Note review to show you how much this device has to offer at under Php8K.

Editor’s Note: This is not the official release of the K3 note in the Philippines and, as such, might have different configuration when the official one arrives.

Design and Construction

The K3 Note sports a 5.5-inch IPS Full HD display at 401ppi on the front. It has relatively thin bezels on the sides which helps in flaunting the device’s large screen. Above it are the earpiece, 5 megapixel camera, and the notifications light. Down below are three unlit capacitive buttons for navigation.

On the right are the textured physical keys with chrome finish for the volume and power/lock. Found right up top are the microUSB port and headset jack, while down at the bottom is a pinhole for the microphone.

Flip it on its back and you’ll see the white removable cover, 13 megapixel camera, dual-LED flash, secondary microphone, the Lenovo branding, and speaker that is placed on the right-hand part just like the Lenovo A7000.

On hand, the K3 Note feels light as it only weighs 150g and it’s relatively thin too at 7.6mm. Design-wise, the K3 Note has curved sides at the back (similar to the design of the Xiaomi Mi Note) which also aids in gripping. It is also attractive thanks to the pearlascent coating with matte finish.

Display and Multimedia

The K3 Note sports a 5.5-inch screen with Full HD resolution for a good 401ppi. The display is crisp and vibrant with good viewing angles thanks to IPS. When used under direct sunlight, legibility degrades but the display is capable of producing enough brightness for it to be still usable.

The speaker, which is located on the right hand side at the rear, can produce good sounds with the right amount of bass and treble. Although sound quality is good, it could use some boost when it comes to loudness. To sum it up, the K3 Note is also a good multimedia companion for those who want to enjoy movies and music on the go.

OS, UI, and Apps

The K3 Note has Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box with Vibe UI skin on top which uses multiple home screens instead of an app drawer. The OS is one of the strengths of the K3 Note as some of Lenovo’s phones (at this writing) are yet to receive the Lollipop upgrade.

Since the unit came from China, the phone is pre-installed with apps like DU Speed Booster, UC Mini browser, TouchPal keyboard, Baidu Browser, and Clean Master (the last two can’t be uninstalled). One of our favorites is the Lenovo Music app which lets you stream and download music for free. As for your app needs, no need to worry as it comes with Google’s Play Store.

As for its storage, the K3 Note starts with 16GB of internal storage with around 11GB as usable as the system takes a whopping 5GB. The good news is it has support for microSD cards up to 32GB and USB OTG.

Camera

Handling the K3 Note’s imaging department 13 megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5 megapixel front camera. The front camera will suffice for solo and group selfies thanks to its wide-angle lens.

The rear camera is capable of producing photos with good colors and details especially in bright conditions. However, colors sometimes appear washed out or have a bluish tinge. In low-light, noise and focusing is an issue.

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As for video recording, it can record videos at 1080p at 30fps in MP4 format. Check out the sample video below:

The clip is very clean and crisp and always on focus. Contrast is not that good but color saturation is spot on.

Performance, Benchmarks, and Call Quality

Powering the K3 Note is a 64-bit MediaTek MTK6752 octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz, Mali-T760 GPU, and 2GB RAM. Performance is good in all tasks including gaming. Stutters sometimes occur while playing games but only when you have lots of other apps running in the background. Make sure clear those up before playing a game.

AnTuTu – 44,685
Quadrant Standard – 15,707
Vellamo – 1,147 (Vellamo), 1,919 (Multicore), 3,017 (Chrome)
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited – 10,613
Temp while gaming – 41-degrees C

As for call quality, we didn’t encounter any problems as voice calls were loud and clear. Network compatibility is not an issue as it supports local 4G and 3G networks. ~~Do note though that 4G and 3G connectivity is only available on SIM slot 1 while SIM slot 2 can only accommodate 2G.~~ Both SIM slots support 4G and 3G connectivity although not simultaneously – one will use 4G/3G while the other will use 2G. You can assign which slot will utilize 4G by going to Settings –> SIM management.

Battery Life

Providing juice for the K3 Note is a 3,000mAh battery. On PCMark’s battery bench it scored 6 hours 24 minutes of battery life. With our usual test which includes playing a 1080p video on loop in Airplane mode at 50% brightness and volume with headset plugged in, the result is 9 hours and 15 minutes of playback.

Conclusion

The K3 Note is a strong offering from Lenovo that packs a good set of hardware and software with an affordable price. It has a great display, very capable processor, LTE connectivity, and Android Lollipop out of the box.

At Php7,990, it will be in a stand-off between the Lenovo A7000, Alcatel Flash Plus, and ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE500CL. Its biggest disadvantage is that it’s not officially offered yet in the Philippines so you don’t have Lenovo’s local support. But if it’s something you don’t mind, the K3 Note is still a great phone to have.

Lenovo K3 Note (K50-t5) specs:
5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, 401ppi
1.7GHz 64-bit MediaTek MTK6752 octa-core processor
Mali-T760 GPU
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
Expandable up to 32GB via microSD
13MP rear camera w/ LED flash
5MP front camera
Dual-SIM, Dual-Standby
4G LTE, 3G HSPA+
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0, A2DP, LE
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
FM Radio
Android 5.0 Lollipop w/ VIBE UI
3,000mAh removable battery
152.6 x 76.2 x 7.6mm
150 grams
White, Yellow

What we liked:
* Good design and display
* Solid build quality
* Good performance
* Great battery life
* Affordable price

What we didn’t like:
* Unlit navigation buttons

The Lenovo K3 Note (K50-t5) is available at Widget City for Php7,990. See listing here.

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62 Comments

Amber Jan · 10 years ago

where can i buy this in the philippines?

Pol · 11 years ago

Hi napansin ba ninyo kung hirap mag pick up ng signal? Yung kasi m1 note ko minsan hirap compare to my htc m7 same area. Not sure kung dahil sa cpu yun?

Andrew · 11 years ago

Otg capable?

joseph · 11 years ago

WARNING!!! When i got my unit, the seal was open and was already rooted. The phone installs apps on its own, when surfing, it redirects on its own. It has a life of its own. So disappointed. Sana nag flash plus n lng ako. Nabasa ko forums ng k3 note. Ang daming pre installed na malware and viruses na hnd mabura. May mga fix naman sa forum kaso for a new phone, hassle agad at stress ang ibibigay. Kala ko pa naman, mga ganito kalakas na smart phone eh d na kailangan ng root at custom rom. got mine from kimstore. At feeling ko lahat ng k3 note na hnd official release ng lenovo phil, ganyan ang problema.

Gen · 11 years ago

I’m so excited to have mine! I ordered my phone at Kimstore :) Sana okay talaga siya. :(

Kenneth · 11 years ago

Hi ask ko lang po na may official release po ba nyan dito ?

karlo · 11 years ago

hi ask ko lng po if sa widget city lng po ba available si k3 note?!
thanksbfor reply.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 11 years ago

Yes

hopeless wanderer · 11 years ago

Hi I bought one via widgetcity, one thing I noticed is it is already rooted with supersu preinstalled and the character settings which you supposedly find in the settings by which you can set to double tap the phone to wake the screen up while asleep is just missing, even the wide screen function, whicj i dont really know what it is, gives an error message when you try to enable it, somebody here care to explain?

bob · 11 years ago

Same here, must be a bug in the stock rom?

Layz · 11 years ago

I have exactly the same problem. If anyone knows how to fox this please help

carlo.edmon · 11 years ago

I recommend installing a new ROM for those missing the Character Settings. I’m currently using Vibe UI 2.8 build 1529 by CUOCO92. Latest version (eventhough beta version) pretty smooth and very stable for me.

I’ve bought mine in OLX and sa Widget City nabili nung seller. Just like you, wala yung double-tap feature and no Character Settings at all. I’m sure most of you also bought your phones from Widget City with pre-installed SuperSU. If that’s the case, no problem installing TWRP recovery then replace the stock ROM with the one I mentioned above.

Believe me, you will all thank me after that. :)

rjnap · 11 years ago

Alcatel flash plus or this?

hablaasta · 11 years ago

I’ve ordered an UMI eMax for $109.99 (P5000.00), which has not yet been shipped. They told me they can only ship through Sweden Post (20-30days?) at the moment and I’m afraid Customs might charge around 1,200 to 1,500 (which puts it around the same price of Alcatel Flash Plus). I’m thinking of cancelling the order and ordering either a Lenovo A7000 or a K3 Note, if I value display quality and camera over others, which of the 2 should I get?

Edwin · 11 years ago

Hi Sir! Have you tried inserting an LTE SIM and changing the 4G to The 2nd sim slot??? I tried mine and both sim card slots are capable of LTE 4G =) you just need to configure it SIM MANAEGEMENT =) once confirmed, please do the necessary edits =)

Louie Diangson · 11 years ago

Hi Edwin,

Thanks for the tip. You’re right. Both SIM slots support 4G and 3G. Article already updated.

Cool =) at first I was disappointed when I saw that SiM 2 has 2G label only. But exploring the phone, I found out that both sim cards indeed support 4G..=) anyway, I enjoy using this phone… very Light and Snappy! Cheers!

ayan · 11 years ago

Looks like myphonerio

ahahi · 11 years ago

ang panget yata ng UI? 5.5 in ang screen tapos 4 columns lang ang pagkalalaking icons?

Alex Elle · 11 years ago

Hi Sir Louie,

Awesome review! I’m planning to purchase one because of its specs, but sir, can you verify if it really has the Gyroscope sensor as written in GSMarena? I want to use it for the Google VR cardboard. Its a booming feature for android and it would be great if you could try some apps verifying the gyro or might as well install the Cardboard app. :)

Thank you sir!

Yes it has a Gyroscope.

Mr A · 11 years ago

Will the chinesse unit’s LTE work in the Philippines?

Yes, the LTE Bands are supported.

accel · 11 years ago

For the price, I’d say it’s not worth it given the fact that Lenovo is notorious for not giving a damn about software updates to their phones – flagship or not.

pedro · 11 years ago

wrong sir, i have a k3 note and my rom is the official vibeui from china almost every week it has updates.

We’ll see if that will still be the case once Android M is finalized. The updates you’re receiving right now are just updates containing bugfixes. Not gonna buy a Lenovo again after their incompetence to update the Lenovo K900 a year ago.