Even a casual glance at the above mentioned features would suggest what Lenovo is serious about in Vibe Shot. The camera is where all the focus is on and it is aimed at growing tribe of serious mobile photographers.
Does it click a winning shot? Let’s check that in this review.
The Vibe Shot is a clear winner on design scale. A rectangular glass slab with a metal frame might be a standard clothing for flagship devices these days but the Vibe Shot manages to capture the attention. A brushed metallic sheet covering around half and inch of one side of the rear beneath the glass back panel adding a tremendous visual appeal to the otherwise black slab.
The triple LED flash, laser eye and the 16MP camera along with Lenovo Vibe branding are positioned prominently on that layer. The rear camera is too close to the edge and initially few pictures I shot were spoiled by my finger getting in between, till I got used to the positioning.
The the physical camera button on the right side bottom along with a shift for auto and pro mode makes the Vibe Shot exciting visually, on the top half this side is the volume rocker and power buttons.
And then there is this lanyard loop something which we don’t see in mobiles these days (when was the last time you see anyone hanging a phone on a strap?!) on the left corner of the bottom.
A a nicely stacked array of pins for the speaker grille on either side of the microUSB port, though the one part is dummy to maintain the design balance and also hides the primary microphone.
The metal frame gives it an industrial design, microSD and dual microSIM trays are located on the left side and needs a pin to eject.
Audio jack, microphone and an antenna cutout are carved to the top.
The front is an all black slab with three capacitive buttons which are hardly noticeable when the screen is suspended but they are backlit. A 8MP front camera along with earpiece are the only noticeable markings when the screen is dimmed out.
The metal frame that comes in metallic red, white or grey accent but the grey accent is easily my pick. At 7.3mm its got the right flab and the 145grams doesn’t feel hefty nor too light.
So the design does look premium, right? But you are reading to know what is behind the good looks. So let’s unravel it.
Display
The Vibe Shot’s 5-inch IPS LCD display uses fullHD (1920 x 1080) resolution packing up 441 pixels per inch pixel density. The color reproduction are great with rich colors, the brightness level gets the high scores too. The contrasts are better and viewing angles are perfect with good outdoor visibility. The phone’s IPS display brings highly precise color accuracy with realistic saturation and a comfortable dynamic range. When you view the photos taken on the phone screen it is very good and also when you transfer it to a good quality computer display it is identical. In short, the display of Vibe Shot leaves no space for complaints and stands amongst the few best in this segment.
Software
Feasting on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with Lenovo’s own Vibe UI flavouring it, the Vibe Shot UI is similar to what we have seen on A7000 and K3 Note. The Vibe UI has some neat additions, foremost is the secure zone management which basically allows you to have two phones within a phone running two sets of the same apps on each zone including the ability to run two WhatsApp accounts (if you have active dual SIMs) one each one open zone and secure zone. Also, I liked the fact I can view / choose the open WiFi right from the quick settings on the notification drawer as well as keep a tab on the data usage over there.
Other software features include double tap to wake but there is no such gesture to suspend the display. There is also a floating one-touch shortcut access to quickly visit certain apps like calculator, camera, music and also the last used app. There is also call record settings which can be set to record all calls or selectively. If you are paranoid about the free permissions you give when installing apps, there is a permission manager where you can see what all permissions any particular apps been granted and choose to revoke it, if you want.
Overall, the Vibe UI is good but not the best I have come across in terms of customization. It still has some powerful features with Secure zone topping the list.
Performance
Powering the Vibe Shot is a Snapdragon 615 chipset, with four Cortex-A53 cores running a 1.7 GHz clock and additional four Cortex-A53 cores running a 1 GHz clock. The SoC is in tune with the 3GB of RAM and Adreno 405 GPU running at 550MHz.
Tech specs aside, in real terms the Vibe Shot behaves like a true-blooded flagship device. Everything runs smoothly and complex applications and games load quickly. Everyday usage of tasks are breezier and the phone has all the fire power required for most of the users. The Vibe Shot sits on a reliable hardware platform in combination of a good display, highly capable chipset, decent and nimble OS and a good amount of storage. The phone comes with a 32GB of internal storage with an provision for a microSD card that can manage up to 128GB.
When you take tons of pictures, which is what Vibe Shot users are expected to, the device would be obviously power hungry. A 3000mAh is a neat addition considering the thin profile. The Vibe Shot manages to deliver a decent battery performance considering you might also fire up the triple LED flash while snapping. It can go through the entire day and is a decent shot at the battery level too.
Camera
Vibe Shot comes with a big expectation on the camera front, does it live up to the hype? The answer is Yes.
16 MP, autofocus,
triple-LED (dual-tone) flash
Optical Image Stabilization
Low light sensor
Laser tracking
6-piece lens
16:9 BSI sensor
1080p@30fps video recording
8MP front facing camera
Front camera with fullHD video recording
manual shutter button
Camera with Pro and Auto modes
https://youtu.be/K0JXCCr0kt0
The camera tries to cover both the amateur clicks as well as a full blown Pro mode with a manual shutter button. A tiny rocker situated on the right side switches between the two auto and pro modes but is a little too awkward to shift easily.
Auto mode is kept minimal, unlike some of the camera apps we have seen in most devices of late it does not offer presets and limited to a flash toggle. On a good note, you just click and get a good results, even in low lights. It’s care free job at auto mode and it delivers good shots with rich details, right exposure and with good dynamic range.The two-tone triple LED flash in particular is very effective and combined with infrared auto-focus with laser technology, the pictures come above average in low light conditions with a good throw of flash light. You can opt for 16:9 aspect ration or 4:3 shots. The OIS is active while shooting FullHD videos too and the videos also come very well with right mix of detailing.
The Pro mode opens an entirely different gamut of photography tools. You can manage the focus point, exposure length and ISO sensitivity. If you really know how to use them, the Vibe Shot comes alive and kicking for a wider range of photographic possibilities.
The Pro mode also offers many predefined sets of options catering for specific shooting needs which might handy for people who might not be well-versed with manual controls. There is a super HDR mode, that makes some unrealistic but interesting over-saturated HDR pictures. The most interesting part is the creative lighting modes that is fun to play with lights, which otherwise only a real Pro can make. There are various presets in the creative lighting and is one of the really interesting part of the camera app, I would like the users to try out.
The front-facing camera has 8-megapixels and can clearly outshine many of the flagship phones. Simply put, the Vibe Shot lives up to its hype and is easily one of the best camera phones out there.
Conclusion
The Vibe Shot is simply a great camera phone. For those who love mobile photography, this is a phone to seriously consider with its auto and Pro modes. Even for those who are not used to the manual settings, it offer a gamut of presets in the Pro mode to make them feel at ease and click brilliant images. Camera aside, the Vibe Shot also delivers good performance to satisfy most of the needs. The Vibe Shot sits pretty in the upper-mid range segment and a good buy if you set your eyes upon it.
What I liked
The Design – A characteristic, modern industrial design with glass and aluminum finish
