Lenovo Zuk Z1 – Old wine in a better bottle (Review)
Zuk is a Hongkong based mobile manufacturer which has been acquired by Lenovo. Apart from Motorola, this is yet another company with which Lenovo is involved and selling mobiles apart from its own brand. Since we came to know about the Zuk Z1 device an year ago, it has been an exciting device and now it is available in India. It is an year old model, but still it makes a lot of sense in the current market.
Design
The Zuk Z1 has a simple design and it has a metal body construction. The metal frame is of aviation grade and a total of 209 CNC machining process has gone into making one frame. It has a very sturdy feel and very comfortable to hold and operate. The volume and power buttons are on the left while the SIM tray is on the right. The top has the audio jack and the bottom is busy with speaker grill, mic and USB Type C port. The front has a 5.5 inch display with a physical button on the bottom. The physical button is also a fingerprint sensor, but it cannot unlock from sleep screen. The screen has to be awake for the fingerprint scanner to work. That is a bit of a pain but it also prevent any accidental touches.
The off screen navigation keys are back lit, but barely visible. Also it is just painted dots and user could get confused about back or task button, initially. The back is non-removable and it has the rear camera with LED flash and ZUK branding. ZUK Z1 may not be a head turner or a fashion statement. It gives a feeling of a work horse which is meant for performance and not just looks.
Display
Zuk Z1 has a 5.5 inch IPS LCP screen capable of 1080p resolution. The viewing angles are good and sunlight readability was commendable. It has “LiveDisplay” feature which automatically adjusts the color temperature of the display based on the time of the day. This is different from adaptive brightness which adjusts the display brightness based on the ambient light and also different from automatic outdoor mode, which bumps up the contrast under bright sunlight.
Hardware and Performance
Zuk Z1 was announced about an year after the OnePlus One. It has almost similar configurations with the OnePlus One. It runs on a 32 bit Snapdragon 801 which is known for its power packed performance. Now that the 801 chipset is an old choice, it is less expensive and much better than the entry level 64 bit processors. The 801 is a charm to use and it runs Android smoothly without any lag. It has 64 GB of internal storage and 3 GB of RAM. It does not have microSD card support. It is a great choice of hardware spec and it works in synergy to bring out a very good experience. There was no heating issues while playing games and the mobile shows no signs of struggle while using resource intensive apps or games.
Though it is comparable with OnePlus One on many angles, it does have a few differences. For a starter, the Z1 has fingerprint scanner with the OnePlus One did not have. The scanner is fast, but works only from wake screen. The scanner is also a mechanical button to wake up the screen. But the response time was fast and it is an accurate scanner. Registering a finger print took about 12 taps and though it was a pain, its a one time process. The Z1 does not have NFC which is a regression from OnePlus One. Z1 has a USB C port while the OnePlus One has micro USB port.
Camera
The mobile has a 13 MP camera with 5 element f/2.2 lens and 1.12um Sony sensor. It has optical image stabilization. The front has a 8 MP camera. The images from the camera is impressive when shot in ample day light. The saturation is a bit deep and the warm white balance makes the images appear a bit unrealistic, yet it is pleasing for regular users. It has a good dynamic range and the colors are vivid. Low light images tend to gather up noise and loose out on details. Under challenging light conditions the image quality is unpredictable. There is no control over the images and the UI lacks a pro mode. The UI is from Cyanogen and it has a few modes that can be made available on a swipe gesture in the app. Overall, the Zuk Z1 has a decent camera and it would appeal to a most mobile camera users, though the color reproduction is a bit off the mark.
Check out the camera samples
User Interface
The primary highlight of the Zuk Z1 is its Cyanogen OS. It runs on Cyanogen OS 12.1 on top of Android 5.1.1. Cyanogen is an exciting UI to use as it offers tonnes of themes to customize and stable set of features that makes sense. It has true integration with apps like TrueCaller, Skype, Boxer mail to give you a seamless experience. The Cyanogen OS launcher is very close to stock experience and it is very snappy. The mobile runs the UI without any lag. The UI and the hardware compliment each other enhancing the Zuk Z1 user experience. It does not run on the latest Andorid M out of the box, but an update is expected soon.
Battery
The Zuk Z1 has a massive 4100 mAh battery. It is non removable as the body construction is unibody. With my normal usage which includes 30 mins of calls, occasional browsing, frequently checking WhatsApp and FB notifications, 1 hour of gaming it lasts for about 37.5 hours. With intense usage of 1 hour GPS navigation along with 30 min of calls and and frequently checking Whatsapp and FB, I get a screen on time of about 5.5 hours. On GeekBench battery test the mobile went from 98% to 1% in 7:21:10 hours. Now that is very impressive battery life and one of the best I have seen in a powerful mobile in this price range. Also it comes with a 2.5 A charger. In 5 minutes the charger gave it 7% boost and in 1 hour it charged upto 55%. It took a whole 3 hour to charge 100%. It has fast charge support, and given the size of the battery, the charge time is acceptable.
Verdict
Yes, I agree that the Zuk Z1 is an year old model that has been recently launched in India. But at a price of Rs 13499, is it a very powerful mobile and a highly sensible choice. The design is a bit non-interesting I would say, but it has a solid metal body construction. It feels very sturdy and the curvy back adds comfort while holding it. The Full HD display is good for your daily driver, if not an outstanding display. The 32 bit processor is enough for all of your regular tasks. The massive 64 GB onboard storage and 3 GB of RAM gives a lag free experience. The camera is very good and pleasing on daylight. The massive battery is a huge bonus. It runs on Cyanogen OS but not on the latest Android OS. At this price band Lenovo Zuk Z1 competes with Lenovo’s Moto X play and Moto G4 Plus. But the Zuk Z1 has a powerful processor and better battery life compared to any competition in this segment. It is now available exclusively on Amazon on flash sales, but is soon expected to go on open sale. GadgetDetail recommends the Zuk Z1.
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