PHAB Plus at IFA 2015: A First Look at Lenovo's First Phablet

The first phablet by Lenovo, PHAB Plus, debuted at IFA 2015. This is a hybrid of a tablet and a smartphone, focused primarily on mobile entertainment and social networking. The gadget, of course, is not massive: the devices of the PHAB line (yes, this will be a separate product series) are designed for those users who want to benefit from two types of gadgets. Our internal analytics testify in favor of the fact that they are fully capable of becoming very popular. First of all, in the home market of Lenovo, in China, where PHAB Plus will debut soon. We will look at sales results, evaluate them and make a decision on deliveries to Russia. In the meantime, some details about the new tablet.



Lenovo PHAB Plus - the device is large, but still not so much that it does not fit, say, in a jeans pocket. The screen diagonal of the device is 6.8 inches, which dictates the overall dimensions of the device. The height of the gadget is 186.6 mm and the width is 96.6 with a thickness of 7.6 mm. As a result, it is quite convenient to hold it in one hand, but, of course, it will be easier to interact with applications supporting the transition to the horizontal mode, if you hold the device on both sides and press on the touch screen with two thumbs.


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Although the option of reducing the working area and shifting it to any angle, which is quite traditional for phablets, is already provided - this way you can type messages with one hand on the go.





The PHAB Plus case is almost completely metal, only behind there is a small plastic insert, under which is quite a powerful speaker by the standards of smartphones and tablets. The new Lenovo phablet is not a gadget for audiophiles, but it still surprises with something. For example, with the built-in Smart Amplifier amplifier and the ability to transmit virtual surround sound.



The arrangement of the functional elements is quite traditional. Top connector for headphones.



Right metal volume buttons and the power button. Just like in the Lenovo Vibe S1, about which we recently wrote .



Tray for installing SIM-cards and memory cards on the left:



The keys “Back”, “Home” and “Menu” are not analogous - for them a part of the space on the screen itself is reserved. It would be illogical to increase the dimensions of the device even more for the sake of individual sensor controls.



Phablet has a very nice display: watching movies or serials on a display with a diagonal of 6.8 inches and an IPS matrix at the base is really comfortable.



Inside the device is quite a productive eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset. In combination with 2 GB of RAM, its capabilities are enough not only for such modest entertainment as watching a movie or virtual communication, but also for launching modern mobile games. Perhaps not with the maximum graphic parameters of graphics, but still. Unfortunately, we cannot demonstrate the figures from the benchmarks, since it would not be very correct to judge it by the pre-production sample.

The internal memory in the Lenovo PHAB Plus is 32 GB, to which you can add another 64 GB via a memory card (microSD format). In addition, there is support for all important wireless standards for today's users: Bluetooth 4.0, LTE and Wi-Fi 802.11ac at 2.4 GHz. Well, since no one bans the use of Bluetooth on the stand, we’ll share with you a few test photos taken on a Lenovo PHAB Plus 13 megapixel main camera.









And self portrait with a 5 megapixel front camera.



Lenovo PHAB Plus is so far only the first device in the new line of phablets, soon followed by the “usual” Lenovo PHAB. Much more affordable, with a slightly larger screen diagonal and a more capacious battery, but somewhat simplified other technical characteristics. And the back panel will be not metal, but plastic, like this:



If you still have questions about Lenovo PHAB, then welcome to the comments. And finally - some technical characteristics of both devices from the new line.