The Lenovo S60, the non-budget version of the Lenovo A6000 Plus, is available in select stores in India at a price of around Rs 14,000.
The phone, which is costlier than even the Lenovo A7000, has features that set it apart from Lenovo’s two A series budget phones.
The main difference is that the S60, as its name implies, belongs to the ‘S’ series, which is a mid-range and and therefore, higher sub-brand from Lenovo compared to the ‘A’ series.
In other words, the A6000+ and the A7000 have been designed primarily as a way to deliver a decent HD LTE handset at the lowest price point possible to the masses. The Sisley S60, on the other hand, has been built with greater emphasis on looks and build quality.
The first thing you’ll notice about the phone is its 5-inch display. Though the resolution is still the same at 720p, the S60 has a more vivid display with colors just popping out. In fact, the display looks like an AMOLED one, though the specifications of the Lenovo S60 (already launched in foreign countries) just says ‘IPS’.
In fact, many reports and reviews say the display is actually AMOLED.
The S60 is the not the first ‘Sisley’ that Lenovo’s launched in India. That distinction belongs to the higher end S90, which was launched at Rs 19,900 some months back and is still selling for around Rs 19,000. According to user reviews of the S90, that phone actually comes with an AMOLED display, which increases the chance that the S60 also comes with one.
The launch comes close on the heels of the unveiling of the P70, a big-battery version of the A6000 Plus.
The S60 also has improvements over the other two phones in the camera department. It comes with a 13 MP camera at the back and a 5 MP shooter at the front.
In comparison, the A6000+ and the A7000, being budget phones, have 8 MP cameras at the back. The A7000 has a 5 MP shooter up front, while the other budget phone makes do with a 2 MP front camera.
RAM is the same at 2 GB, as is the processor chipset of Snapdragon 410. In fact, the A7000, with its MediaTek MT6752 chipset, has 50% more power than both the other phones.
Another distinct feature that sets apart the S60 is design. While the budget phones look, well.. budget, this one looks premium.
Unfortunately, internal storage is just a measly 8 GB, the same as that of A7000, but half that of the A6000+. This could be a deal breaker for those who like to install apps (who doesn’t?), though some of the limitation can be overcome by using a MicroSD card.
Another disappointment is that it comes with Android 4.4 and not Lolipop. Battery is decent at 2.15 Ah.
So, should you buy it?
We believe the phone will not make economic sense to 90% of the customers, who would be better off buying the A6000 Plus. However, the S60 is not aimed at the 90%, but the 10% who don’t mind shelling out some extra cash for getting a great looking phone, and who don’t care that much about the limited internal storage.
The S60 is attractive because it is one of the few models, perhaps the only model, from reputed brands that comes with an AMOLED display and is priced at less than Rs 15,000. The Samsung Galaxy E5, which also has a similar AMOLED display, is currently priced at Rs 15,300, but does not have LTE.
The Galaxy E7, which has both AMOLED displays and LTE, however is priced at Rs 19,500. In terms of looks, the Lenovo S60 looks more premium compared to the E5.
[socialpoll id=”2269372″]