Lenovo A2010 in-depth review

Lenovo A2010 Review

There are many options available for budget price today in Android smartphone and Lenovo A2010 is definitely one of them. It is priced at just Rs.4990 and it comes with latest Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box. Well it has compact size, latest Android, 4G support and affordable price, but is it worth buying considering other phones available in same price like ZTE Blade Qlux, Phicomm Energy 653, InFocus M2 4G and upcoming YU Yunique? Let’s find out in my Lenovo A2010 review.
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What’s in the Box?

In the box you get a Handset, Power adapter, USB cable, headphone, warranty card and user manual. Nothing special as you do not get screen guard or case for A2010. Headphones are NOT in-ear type and USB cable is short in length compare to what we get with other devices.

Lenovo A2010 review - In Box

Lenovo A2010 – Quick Specifications

  • 4.5 inch display (480 X 854)
  • 1 GHz Quad-core MT6735
  • Mali-T720 GPU
  • 8 GB internal storage + SD card slot
  • 1 GB RAM
  • Android 5.1 Lollipop
  • Dual Sim (4G + 2G)
  • 5 MP rear camera + 2 MP front camera
  • 2000 mAh Battery
  • Accelerometer, Proximity, Light Sensor

 Design & Build

Lenovo A2010 has plastic body design and feels sturdy in hand. Back cover is removable and there are 2 sim slots with microSD card slot which supports up to 32 GB external memory. First sim slot supports 4G & 3G where as second sim slot is 2G only. 2000 mAh battery is removable as well. On front from top there is 2 MP front facing camera, below that 4.5 inch display and 3 touch type capacitive buttons Menu, Home and Back. At the bottom there is primary microphone and an indent to open back cover. On left side there are volume & power buttons. On top there is 3.5mm headphone jack with micro USB port for charging and data transfer. At the back you will find 5 MP camera, LED Flash and opening for the speaker. The design reminds me of Redmi 2, the difference being slightly curved top and bottom. Though the plastic used on back is of matt finish, it attracts fingerprints easily.

Display

4.5 inch display on Lenovo A2010 sports resolution of 480 X 854. There is NO display protection like Gorilla Glass or other toughened glass. Viewing angles are not good as if you look from side angles the display colors get washed out. It supports only 2 point multi touch which is downside for A2010. Colors look good but Lenovo should have provided at least 720p display. Even YouTube video playback is restricted to 480p max.

 Software & User interface.

Lenovo A2010 runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Lenovo’s custom UI on top. Surprisingly it already received 2 updates after I received phone for bug fixes and improving user experience. There is no app drawer and all apps stay on Home screen, though you can install third party launchers. Lenovo’s VIBE UI offers Theme Center but there are only 2 themes available. There are other options in theme center like Wallpapers and scrolling effects.

Software update Screenshots

Settings Screenshots

Storage & Apps

There are some bloat ware apps found on first boot and only 2.6GB space is available to user. After removing some of the unwanted apps still I was left with only 2.8GB storage. There is option to switch your primary storage to SD card by default and you can install apps and games on SD card directly which is Plus point on A2010 (but note that some apps can’t be installed on SD card). I found that RAM management is also good in my usage as at any point of time there is more than 400MB RAM free which helps in multitasking and gaming. I did not found noticeable lag in operating but multitasking like switching from one app to another is annoying as most of the apps (except system apps) reload when you open them from multitasking window. Games like Subway Surfer & Temple Run play smoothly on the device. Due to small screen size and just 1 GB RAM I did not tried large and heavy games on Lenovo A2010. During my testing i found that Lenovo A2010 does not support USB OTG.

Lenovo A2010 Benchmark & 4G Speed Test

These are benchmark & 4G speed test results of Lenovo A2010.

Battery

2000 mAh battery can last you full day if you do not play more games. Screen On time I got varied from 2 hours 50 minutes to 3 hours 40 minutes in my testing. I found there is some bug in battery status display in settings where device is NOT showing screen idle time on graph. At night when phone is idle for about 7 – 8 hours, battery drain was about 7 -10 % with 4G on all the time.

Camera

There is nothing much to talk about camera on Lenovo A2010 as both front and rear camera are Fixed Focus so do not expect good photos from it. There are options in camera like Live Photo Mode (records video of 5 seconds), Motion Track Mode, Face Beauty Mode, Panorama, Multi Angle view Mode, Smile detection and HDR. Video recording from rear camera is restricted to 720p max and video quality is OK, not good. Check Camera User interface below.

These are the camera samples taken indoor and outdoor. All images were taken in Auto Mode and last image was captured in HDR Mode.

Conclusion

I think Lenovo A2010 is good for those who switch from feature phone and looking for budget Android smartphone under Rs.5000. Call quality and speaker volumes are decent. 4G support is a bonus for those looking for higher data speed on budget phone. Build quality is good, User interface is almost lag free. Keep in mind that you get only about 2.5 GB storage left for apps and games so microSD card of at least 16GB is MUST in my opinion. Camera is downside on this phone so if you are looking for budget phone with good camera then this phone is not for you.

Pros

  • Build Quality
  • 4G support
  • Price
  • Android 5.1 Lollipop

Cons

  • Camera
  • Low internal storage

Buy Lenovo A2010 from Flipkart.com

Pritesh Palan is the founder-editor of Smart Gizmo. He is a tech geek and learns something new everyday. Technology excites him, specially Smart Phones. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and he is also active on Quora.
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About Pritesh Palan

Pritesh Palan is the founder-editor of Smart Gizmo. He is a tech geek and learns something new everyday. Technology excites him, specially Smart Phones. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and he is also active on Quora.
Pritesh Palan is the founder-editor of Smart Gizmo. He is a tech geek and learns something new everyday. Technology excites him, specially Smart Phones. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and he is also active on Quora.

5 comments on “Lenovo A2010 in-depth review

  1. i m currently using lenovo a2010, can we move apps to SD card? I can’t find that option in any of the apps’ settings. This option is available on my parents’ (HTC Desire 526g and Galaxy grand i9082) and also on my old android phone without rooting any of them. Can’t find the option on this phone. Why? I have to use my computer (wondershare MobileGo) to move apps to SD card. That is very inconvenient. Please help.

  2. I found out the hard way too… For anyone considering this phone, know before you buy that you can’t install or move apps on to the SD card. It’s too bad, because everything else about the phone is pretty good.

    Before buying, I looked at the storage option under settings and saw detailed on-screen instructions on how to manage apps, and to move them to the SD card. Based on that bit of info, I thought that it would be pretty easy to do so, and bought the phone plus a 32GB SD card.

    When I actually tried to move the apps, I found out that:

    1. there is no option to move the apps like the instructions said, and
    2. there is no button at the bottom of the screen to move the app (as shown on the many instructional videos found on the internet)

    Because the Lenovo A2010 is a low-end phone, I don’t expect that we’ll ever see this situation fixed. You will have just a few gigabites of onboard storage to install apps.

    A few gigabites may sound like a lot, but it is not, for a few reasons:

    1. the phone comes with many default apps that take up a lot of space, and cannot be deleted, and
    2. modern apps keep getting larger in storage size with each update, so you will burn through the storage space very quickly

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