Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Review: The First Google Tango Phone

For the past few years, Augmented Reality has been a dream just information technology'due south finally becoming a reality (no pun intended). The Pokemon Go game became a rage, with people affectionate its AR way and now, Lenovo has come out with its kickoff Google Tango smartphone, dubbed the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. Google Tango has been a project that the folks over at Google's Advanced Technology and Projects grouping have been working on for the past few years merely it'south just now that the projection has seen the light of day in full fledged form. So, if you have always wanted to see how dinosaurs would look like standing adjacent to y'all or if you desire to run across if a sofa y'all desire to purchase fits in your space or not, well, Google Tango has you lot covered.

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is the first Google Tango smartphone and information technology's the only one you can buy right now (the Asus Zenfone AR arrives in Q2 2017). The device has been making a lot of headlines, all cheers to the moniker, "the outset Tango device". However, the device is indeed a run a risk for Lenovo because there are a lot of questions around the device, as well equally Tango. Is Google Tango gear up for prime time? Is the Phab two Pro a revolutionary AR device? Should you buy the get-go Tango phone or wait for a more refined product? Well, we are certain you want to know how the get-go Tango phone fares. And so, permit's find out everything in our review of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. Let'due south begin, shall we?

In The Box

Before we starting talking about the device itself, let'south take a look at the in-box contents of the Lenovo Phab ii Pro:

• The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro
• microUSB cable
• Charger adapter
• JBL earphones
• Quick Start and Warranty guides

While the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro box does look unique, the contents inside are pretty generic and something that nosotros're used to seeing in nearly smartphones. The inclusion of JBL earphones is certainly a nice impact though.

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Specifications

Dimensions	179.8 x 88.6 ten x.7 mm
Weight	259 grams
Brandish	6.4-inch of Quad Hard disk drive (2560x1440p) resolution
Processor	64-bit Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor
RAM	4 GB
Storage	64 GB, expandable up to 128 GB
Cameras	16 MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash and light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation detection autofocus, 8 MP front-facing photographic camera. Google Tango module (a wide-angle camera and an infrared emitter)
Battery	4,050 mAh
Sensors	Fingerprint scanner, proximity, gyroscope, compass, accelerometer
Connectivity	WiFi dual band 802.11 a/b/m/n/ac, Bluetooth iv.0, Dual SIM, microUSB two.0
Cost	$499

Blueprint and Hardware

Talking nigh the pattern and build of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, the starting time thing you volition notice when you kickoff take the device in your hands in the enormous size and heft of the device. With its massive 6.4-inch display and metal unibody design, the Phab 2 Pro is past no means, a pocket-friendly device. If you idea the iPhone 7 Plus, Pixel Forty or even the Nexus 6P are huge devices, well, think again.

The Lenovo Phab ii Pro looks and feels like a beast. It measures 179.8 x 88.half-dozen ten ten.seven mm and weighs in at a hefty 259 grams. If you plan on using the Phab 2 Pro equally your daily driver, be ready to look very absurd when you are talking on the device.

If you forgive the substantial weight and size of the device, the Phab 2 Pro looks like most other Lenovo smartphones out there. The front features a full slab of Gorilla glass, with two.5D curved edges. On the bottom, there are the three navigation buttons and the meridian features a multi-colour LED, an 8 MP camera, earpiece and proximity sensors. The left side of the device features the SIM and microSD tray, while the right side features the volume rockers and the power/lock push button. On the bottom, there is the microUSB port along with the speakers and the top features the iii.5 mm headphone jack. While I similar the fact that in that location'southward the 3.5 mm jack, I would take preferred the USB Type-C port instead of the at present ageing microUSB port.

The rear of the device is where the nigh action lies. It features the Tango logo (forth with Lenovo's), fingerprint sensor, the hugedepth perception sensor and a rectangular bar that packs in the dual-tone flash, the IR emitter and the 16 MP camera. The Tango module features a couple of cameras. One packs in an infrared emitter to decide the distance from objects while the other is a broad-angle camera with a fish center lens to support the device's motility tracking system.

When it comes to the looks, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro looks like a premium device, thanks to chamfered edges and a brushed metal aluminium back with antenna bands. Likewise, the device might be gigantic only it is easy to hold due to its slightly curved back. It's available in ii versions: Gunmetal Grey and Champagne Gold. We take the Gunmetal Grey version with us and information technology looks amazing. If yous tin can get past the massive size and bulk of the Lenovo Phab ii Pro, you volition find a smartphone (or phablet) that looks great.

Display

With then much focus on its AR capabilities, we are glad that Lenovo has incorporated a huge 6.4-inch IPS LCD display of Quad Hard disk drive (ii,560 x 1,440p) resolution. On paper, it seems like a great display but I wasn't too impressed by information technology. While the text and everything else looks crisp and sharp, the brandish isn't very brilliant (425 nits at maximum effulgence), which would have been understandable had information technology been an AMOLED display.

When you compare it other LCD packing devices like the iPhone 7 or even the AMOLED-packing Pixel, the brightness just falls brusque.

On the brighter side of things, viewing angles are nifty and the color reproduction is good but if you lot are a fan of AMOLED displays, you'll miss the vibrant colors. Having said that, since it's an "assertive" IPS LCD display, y'all can customize the hue and colors in the display settings of the device. To sum things up, the display on the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro does not really lucifer flagship standards only information technology'south still pretty decent.

Google Tango

Google Tango has been in works for more than than a couple of years now and information technology's supposed to revolutionize Augmented Reality on smartphones.The engineering identifies objects in the existent world along with depth and their dimensions to better overlay 3D objects in the real world. So, how is the Google Tango experience on the Lenovo Phab two Pro?

When you start fix up the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, y'all are greeted with the "Discover Tango" screen at the end, which introduces you to the Tango experience through a demo that  shows you how the tech uses depth perception, surface area learning and motility tracking to
overlay 3D objects in the real globe. Phab 2 Pro also comes with the Tango app pre-loaded, which is home to the diverse Tango-enabled apps. The device comes with 3 apps pre-installed.

There's the Measure out app, which every bit the name suggests, lets y'all measure length, height and even volume of objects. You tin can fifty-fifty take pictures of the measurements y'all make. The accuracy of the app is debatable but it's nonetheless a good example of how AR tin can come in handy.

Another pre-installed app is Amazon Product Preview, which as of now, only lets you run into how certain TVs will look in your wall. It works peachy and you can even buy i of the TVs from the same page. The third pre-installed app is the Lenovo AR Camera, which lets you lot put AR pets alongside you.

Other than that, at that place are effectually 35 Google Tango-enabled apps on the Play Store. In that location are fun games like Ghostly Mansion, in which you lot are ghost exploring a 3D mansion. Some absurd apps like Solar Simulator, which brings various objects from the space into your living room. There are as well diverse apps that let yous see how a piece of furniture looks or fits in your house. As of at present, the number of apps isn't great but the number should increase in the nearly future, with more Tango devices upcoming.

When it comes the experience, Google Tango is amazing when it works. The technology is even so fairly budding and so, inaccuracies are understandable. Having said that, Google is certainly on the right direction and we hope the company continues to innovate on the AR forepart.

The Android Feel

The Google Tango platform is definitely the USP of the Lenovo Phab ii Pro but it's important to know about the Android feel, if you are shelling out 500 dollars. I haven't really been a fan of Lenovo'south Android pare and and then, I was pleasantly surprised when I institute out that the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro features an Android build that is mostly stock. Sure, at that place are some elements that remind you that this is a Lenovo device, like the notification shade & app drawer UI, different icons when compared to stock Android, bundled apps similar SHAREit, McAfee Security, AccuWeather, its very own Gallery and Photographic camera app etc. However, the interface is by and large stock, which is something I definitely dear about the device.

While it looks like stock Android, Lenovo has added a few of its very own options and features. For instance, there's Lenovo's Smart Assist, which brings features for one-handed usage, double tap to wake, Smart Reduce (reduces ringtone volume when you pick up a call) etc.

All is not skilful though. The device comes with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, which is a shame, because Android 7.0 Nougat has been hither for quite a few months now. Nougat's features like multi-window would have actually enhanced the experience on the Phab 2 Pro. While we can expect the update to get in sooner or later, it would take been much better had it come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

Cameras

The cameras are an essential to showcase the Google Tango AR platform and thus, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro features some power-packed cameras, at to the lowest degree on newspaper. On the front, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro features an 8 MP camera, while the back features a 16 MP camera with light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation detection autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash.

Talking about the rear photographic camera beginning, it's surprisingly non that impressive. It does take some great shots when there'due south aplenty low-cal just information technology struggles when it comes to low light photography. I'll recommend yous to use the HDR fashion to capture photos because it does have better photos. Nevertheless, photos taken in low light or at night come with a lot of noise, and they are even a bit blurry, thank you to its focusing problems. Fifty-fifty with that laser autofocus module, the rear camera has its issues focusing. There's "frame lagging" too, that is, when you movement the device, the camera viewfinder just takes too much time to reposition. We don't know if that'due south a software trouble only if it is, we hope Lenovo fixes information technology with a software update.

The conclusion is, if you use the Phab 2 Pro camera to accept shots in daytime, you will exist pleased just not so much if you lot honey taking photos in low low-cal or at nighttime. Here are some shots I took from the camera with HDR mode turned on:

Video recording with the sixteen MP rear photographic camera isn't that impressive either. My biggest gripe is the fact that the device is express to recording 1080p videos and because the device packs in a QHD display, information technology'due south a shame it does not even take reward of the display's full resolution, let lone record 4K videos. There are focusing problems just other than that the videos are.

Moving on to the front end-facing or the selfie camera, as people like to telephone call them these days. The viii MP camera does an okay-ish job, really, and the fact is, I have seen style better selfie cameras on other devices. While information technology takes clear photos, the colors just look a scrap washed out and the camera sensor is a bit inconsistent in capturing light. Overall, the front camera on the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro should be good enough for your occasional selfie only don't expect it to have mind bravado photos. Here's a selfie our very own Devinder took:

To sum things up, I find the cameras on the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro to exist but average and because the cameras have such a large function to play in AR, it'south sad. Having said that, if you lot just want to experience Google Tango, you should be fine with the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro.

Performance

When it comes to the internals, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro does not qualify as a very high-end device. Under the hood, the device is powered past the 64-bit Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor with Adreno 510 GPU. There'southward 4 GB RAM for all your multitasking needs, along with 64 GB internal storage (expandable up to 128 GB).

According to Lenovo, the chipset is custom designed to handle Google Tango's AR needs. If you worry about heating of your Android devices, yous'll be happy to know that Phab 2 Pro has been designed in a style that the heat dissipates from outer edges of the metal frame and information technology'due south cooled down speedily, thanks to the shielding on the processor.

All of that aside, you must be wondering, how does the device perform in real life? Well, I institute the Lenovo Phab two Pro's operation to be average. While information technology handles certain day to day tasks with ease, information technology does struggle a bit when it comes to intensive apps. For instance, I usually scan the web on Chrome, while also multitasking betwixt Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram and for my personal utilise instance, the device performs decently. However, there was this occasional hiccup and dropped frame rates when it comes to all-encompassing Tango apps and games.

I did a benchmark of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro in a couple of apps, AnTuTu Benchmark and Geekbench iv. Well, it did quite decently and here are the results:

Telephone call Quality and Speakers

Equally I have mentioned, the Lenovo Phab ii Pro is massive and if you plan on using it for phone calls, well, good luck with that. Having said that, I made a few calls from the device and the telephone call quality seems decent. I could listen to the caller clearly and the caller too suggested that the voice was articulate enough.

When it comes to speakers, the device packs in loud speakers, comparable to that on an iPhone vii simply it lacks the bass I would have liked. Plus, information technology featuresDolby Atmos back up, which claims to bring loudness without baloney, enveloping sound field etc. for an enhanced music feel. The Dolby Atmos app on the device brings various sound profiles, which really enhance the sound feel when you accept earphones plugged in.

Battery Life

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro comes with a fairly big 4,050 mAh battery, which is more than what near smartphones (even high-end ones) offer. While the advantage with a larger battery is slightly negated due to the huge display but it even so performs admirably. On heavy usage, the device lasts for a mean solar day and a half. On moderate usage, the device easily lasts for a couple of days. The Phab 2 Pro does run out of bombardment apace when running Tango apps.

So, if you program to constantly utilize Tango apps, you can expect it to still concluding for effectually 7-8 hours. Well, the battery performance is where I detect the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro very impressive.

Connectivity

The Lenovo Phab two Pro packs in the connectivity options that we've come to await from a modern-day smartphone. There'south WiFi dual band 802.xi a/b/grand/northward/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, Dual SIM, USB OTG support and microUSB 2.0 connectivity. Information technology also packs in the of import sensors like fingerprint scanner, proximity, gyroscope, compass and accelerometer. Apparently, the but thing it lacks is NFC support.

Pros:

• Premium metallic unibody
• A look into the hereafter with Tango
• Nifty battery life
• Value for coin

Cons:

• Enormous and bulky
• Inconsistent performance
• Average camera

Meet ALSO: 5 Best Fantasize VR Apps You lot Should Try

Lenovo Phab two Pro: A Look Into the AR Future

Every bit you must have noticed, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro isn't without its flaws. It's a massive device, falters when it comes to performance and features an underwhelming camera but if you accept into account that it's the first Google Tango phone and information technology's existence offered at $499, you'd know that information technology's non actually a bad deal. You are getting a decent smartphone, forth with a look into the AR future. However, there are a number of other smartphones in the same price range that offer amend functioning. There'south the OnePlus 3T, Moto Z, ZTE Axon seven etc. Having said that, if you want to experience Google Tango and you cannot look for the Asus Zenfone AR, y'all should get the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro.

Well, that is it for my Lenovo Phab ii Pro review just I'd honey to know your thoughts on the kickoff Google Tango phone. Sound off your views in the comments section below.

Source: https://beebom.com/lenovo-phab-2-pro-review/

Posted by: knoxmersed70.blogspot.com

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