Alright! Lenovo has officially launched the A7000 and this is a perfect contender to join in the other two who are currently ruling the scene of 5.5″ + 4G LTE midrange about the 10,000INR mark! While the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G has been highly successful the YU Yureka is still a very desirable phone, so good one at that and so hard to get one’s hands on it as it gets sold out even before you can click the BUY button. Lenovo is now going to give you an option in case you wanted to move off the Redmi Note and Yureka, with a device that has similar specs and around the same price range. Is it really going to smoke the other two out? Will the Lenovo A7000 be able to dent into that market share of the other two? Let’s start by comparing the specs.
| Lenovo A7000 | YU Yureka | Xiaomi Redmi Note | |
| Display | 5.5-inch HD (1280 x 720) IPS display (~267 PPI pixel density) | 5.5 inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen. 720 x 1280 pixels (~267 PPI pixel density) Gorilla Glass 3 | 5.5 inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen. 720 x 1280 pixels (~267 PPI pixel density) Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Form Factor | 7.99 mm thick, 140gms in weight | 8.8 mm thick, 155 gms in weight | 9.45 mm thick, 185 gms in weight |
| Processor | MediaTek MT6752m 1.5GHz Octa-Core 64-Bit | Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 Quad Core | Qualcomm MSM8928 Snapdragon 400 Quad Core |
| Memory | 2GB RAM | 2GB RAM | 2GB RAM |
| Storage | 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD | 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD | 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD |
| Connectivity | 4G LTE; FDD Band 1, 3, 7, 20; TDD Band 40, BT 4.0 | 4G LTE; LTE 1800 TD-LTE 2300 (Bands 3, 40) | TD-LTE 1900 / 2300 / 2600 |
| Camera | 8MP auto-focus rear camera w/ LED flash; 5MP fixed-focus front camera | 13MP auto-focus rear camera w/ LED flash, with Slow Motion capture; 5MP fixed-focus front camera | 13MP auto-focus rear camera w/ LED flash; 5MP fixed-focus front camera |
| Battery | 2900mAh (Li-polymer, replaceable) Talk time: Up to 39 hours (2G), 16 hours (3G), 4G voice not supported Standby time: Up to 11 days (2G/3G), 12 days (4G) | 2500mAh (Li-polymer, replaceable) Talk time: Up to 8 hours Standby time: Up to 9 days | 3100mAh (Li-polymer, replaceable) Talk time: Up to 14 hours Standby time: Up to 12 days |
| SIM | Dual, Micro SIM | Dual, Micro SIM | Single SIM |
| Colors | Onyx Black and Pearl White | Black | White and Black |
| Price | 169$ (10,500 INR) – Unofficial | 8,999 INR | 9,999 INR |
| OS | Vibe UI – Android L | Cyanogen OS 11S | MIUI v6 |
Initial thoughts
Processor and OS
When you look at the specs, the A7000 comes with a MediaTek processor while the other two come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon. No matter how good the MTKs perform much of the crowd is still not going to lean to the MTK and one of the main reasons being development community support. Yureka comes with the Cyanogen OS and the Cyanogen team was spotted in MWC with a Yureka running on Android Lollipop and this will be great news! Redmi Note on the other hand has just got the MIUI v6 which is nothing short of a stunning OS. Having said that, the all-new Vibe UI has been a good improvement when compared to earlier and we will have to see how it performs with the Android L upgrade. But overall, it’s still the Yureka with an edge over the two.
Camera
While the A7000 has received an improvement in the camera department it still does not match up to the ones on the Yureka and the Redmi Note and this is one area where it may still struggle to nudge the competition of their comfort zones, as the camera has become one of the primary needs of a smartphone user. Both Yureka and Redmi Note have stunning cameras (in that price range) and they will be tough ones to beat.
Pricing
A7000 is speculated to be priced around the 169USD mark bringing it close to the 10,500INR mark. But Lenovo might choose to bring it for a lesser price like the way we have seen them do with the A6000.
Lenovo is moving in the right direction by quickly releasing a successor to the A6000 which is currently basking in success. However, YU has crunched in so much goodness at such a less price that it will be a tough contender to beat given the fact that it has the highly desirable Cyanogen OS. Redmi Note also has been a highly successful one but the demand has dropped down due to competition. We will wait and see.
