Lenovo A889, 6-inch IPS display & 8GB storage

It is not every day that manufacturers produce 6-inch smartphones. In fact, the Lenovo A889 is set to compete with only a handful of other phablets in the market such as Tecno R7 and Infinix Alpha X570. If you are into this size of smartphones, then the Lenovo A889 will only set you back Sh. 17,999. As you might have anticipated, there are a few cutbacks that have been made to realize such a price. One of the compromises is the display itself which sports a mediocre pixel density of 184 pixels per inch. However, with such large displays, the effect of large pixels might not be as obvious as on ‘smaller’ devices such as the Nokia XL.

Lenovo A889
Lenovo A889 might not have the pixels but it is a great gaming device. Featuring a Quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a Mali-400 graphics unit, this handset is quite capable of running a good number of high definition games from the Play store. IPS display technology ensures for sharper contrasts therefore better looking textures and graphics in games. By capitalizing on IPS’s wide-viewing angle, you and a group of friends can enjoy watching a video on the device without straining so much. For the size, finer details that often go unnoticed on smaller devices are clearer and sometimes even captivating.

The handset supports Dual SIM with 3G enabling you to use two SIM cards and browse the internet and download files at faster speeds. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 also made it onboard making this a complete smartphone when it comes to connectivity options. We are not complaining about its lack of dual-band Wi-Fi or DLNA since the phone is also quite affordable. Whenever you want to share your 3G internet connection to other devices, you can activate Wi-Fi hotspot functionality which is native to almost every Android smartphone. This allows up to eight devices to connect to your Lenovo A889 at a go.

I couldn’t complete this overview without mentioning the camera capabilities of this handset. You have an 8MP primary camera with LED flash and autofocus, nothing fancy. You can make video calls as well through the dedicated 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera. I have seen much better selfie cameras in this price range; the Infinix X570 and Nokia XL for instance offer 5MP and 2MP snappers respectively which is something worth aping for Lenovo.

Technical specifications

Device type  - Phablet
Dimensions - (LxWxD)164 x 85.4 x 9 mm
Weight -  192 grams
OS -  Android OS, 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Processor - 1.3 GHz Quad-core, MediaTek MT6582 chipset
RAM -  1GB
GPU-Mali-400
Internal storage-8GB
External storage - MicroSD, up to 32GB
Screen size - 6.0 inches
Resolution - 540 x 960 pixels
Pixel density - 184 ppi
Screen type-IPS capacitive, 16M colors
SIM - Yes, dual SIM
Speed - 3G HSDPA
Wi-Fi - Yes
Bluetooth - 3.0
Battery - 2500mAh
Camera - 8MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels
Video - Yes