Have you heard that little-known companies (mainly from China) are engaged in the production of various fakes? They often copy successful phone models from the most famous manufacturers, “stuff” them with good (and sometimes medium) equipment and sell them at a lower price.
Today we will be talking just about such a phone. This is Lenovo S850C. Customer reviews, as well as the information on the official website of the company developing the model, indicate that such a model does not exist in nature.
Therefore, in order to understand what kind of phone it is and whether it is worth buying, we write this article.
What is this model?
So, the Lenovo S850C model really does not exist. Everyone can be convinced by going to the "smartphones" section on the official Lenovo website. There is a model S850 - one of the models of the "middle class", which has excellent characteristics and a pretty attractive design. Actually, because of this, unscrupulous manufacturers also copy the phone, releasing its “clone” with the “C” index. Although in practice, the Lenovo S850C smartphone does not exist.
However, purely out of interest, we will review this model and try to find out why it is so good. After all, if you analyze the demand for the device at one of the Chinese auctions, people are very willing to take it there. Plus, on the same resource there is information about the mobile device, its characteristics, reviews. This is a great opportunity for us to find out what kind of model it is.
Housing and assembly
Let's start with how the phone is assembled. If you look at what customer reviews say about the Lenovo S850C, then overall there is nothing wrong with that. The case of the device in the photos looks pretty good. In real life, however, it turns out that this is ordinary plastic, clearly inferior to the material from which the original is made. Although in general, this can only be noticed in direct contact with the model. From afar, the phone resembles the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Thanks to this, the design of the device can be called attractive. Surely this is what the manufacturers of Lenovo S850C sought.
Device design
Since we are talking about the appearance of the phone, we will describe it briefly in this part of the article. So, nothing special, of course, the Chinese copyright infringers did not offer. The smartphone really looks like one of the latest Galaxy - the phone is very thin (only 8 millimeters thick) and large. At the same time, above and below the 5-inch screen there are indentation of the case (which are clearly smaller in Alpha). Because of this, of course, the model looks less impressive.
Nevertheless, the “home” button of the Lenovo S850C (reviews confirm this) also looks and functions perfectly. Of course, there is no sensor in it, but no sagging or irregularities are observed.
CPU
As for what the stuffing of the smartphone-clone, there is a separate story. Officially, on the page where the "original" Lenovo S850C is sold, the following technical features are indicated: MTK 6592 processor for 8 cores with a clock frequency of 2.5 Ghz. This is a very good indicator, with it the device is able to function in normal mode without delays or slowdowns. It would seem that you can safely buy such a device and not worry that it will be “buggy”.
But, in fact, the situation is a little worse. If you read customer reviews about the fake Lenovo S850C , it seems that the processor manufacturer puts the wrong one. Users noted that after conducting some technical tests on their device (which provide, for example, applications like AnTuTu), they realized that the phone has a weaker processor with a clock speed of 1.2 GHz, consisting of 4 cores. Despite the fact that the quad-core filling, it would seem, can provide excellent phone performance, users still complain about some problems with the interaction.
Smartphone memory
With the phone's memory, however, if you read the reviews about the Lenovo S850C, everything is fine. As promised, the manufacturer made available 16 GB of memory, providing, in addition, one more slot for an additional microSD card. Thus, the owner of the device has the opportunity to expand the memory of the phone if necessary.
This is useful because on such a smartphone you can conveniently watch your favorite movies and TV shows while on the go, for example.
Display
There are no complaints about the screen that Lenovo S850C has equipped with Lenovo’s copycat. In principle, the device has a typical IPS HD display typical for similar budget models of Chinese origin, which has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels.
Yes, we didn’t use any technologies that allowed us to transmit the picture more clearly (for example, the absence of glare or the same image from different angles). The image here is worse than on the flagship models of Samsung and Apple, which have more modest specifications. Apparently, the whole thing is to optimize the screens for the hardware capabilities , which always “suffered” in budget phones from little-known or noname manufacturers.
Device camera
The phone camera has the same problem. Opening the Lenovo S850C smartphone specifications, you can see that the main camera has a resolution of 13 megapixels, and the front - 5 megapixels. It would seem that these are high indicators, which should mean high quality shooting. But it was not there!
An important parameter is also the matrix, which cannot be excellent on copy phones. Therefore, if you compare the quality of photos taken by some Nokia Lumia with a 5-megapixel camera and a 13-megapixel camera from non-Lenovo (S850c phone), reviews will clearly indicate that Nokia shoots better.
The reason, again, is the development of some kind of integration solutions and technologies that “underground” companies that copy other people's devices do not have.
Battery
So, what is still important for modern smartphones is the operating time. Agree, the very unpleasant moment is when your phone is discharged at the most crucial moment. And it can be anything - the need to call, go to the online map, take a picture or watch the series. In different situations, a dead battery can seriously ruin our mood. Therefore, it is so important to choose a device that will last a long time, and need to be charged as rarely as possible.
Speaking specifically about the model that became the object of our review, the “original” Lenovo S850C (reviews of which testify to as a phone of medium endurance) has a 2800 mAh battery. Whether it’s true or not is difficult to say, most buyers do not measure the actual battery parameter of the purchased device (especially since this is a Chinese fake).
Nevertheless, on the website where the model is sold, the service life on a single charge of 2-3 days is indicated; while the real owners of the Lenovo S850C (they probably just didn’t see the specifications) note that the phone works for a day if it is actively used.
Cost
Having characterized the device, it would be time to mention its cost. So, as noted earlier, the phone (due to its illegal origin) refers to the budget models produced by noname-companies. Plus, we add the discrepancy to the declared characteristics, which customers complained about. Thus, we get a reasonable price of 120-150 dollars.
Why is the price indicated in this framework? Yes, because the sale of devices is carried out through different sellers at Chinese auctions. For this reason, one of them can find a phone for 119, and the other for $ 149. And it’s not the fact that in a couple of days their price will not change in the opposite direction.
Where could I buy?
Accordingly, we answer the question of where you can buy a fake S850C smartphone - at Chinese online stores. Of course, they are also sold at our place - you can pick up a model on any bulletin board or at any auction. Still the same phones can be sold somewhere in the transition, however, there the price will be overstated one and a half times.
As for official mobile networks, you will not find such a phone there. Like the device itself, Lenovo S850C firmware is not certified both for sale in Russia and for distribution in the world. Chinese shops are an exception - here you can buy and not such products. The main thing is that this phone is clearly cheaper here.
In order not to look for such services, we can offer you the most famous and convenient of them - the Aliexpress website. Here the specified model is present for sure - to find it is not a problem. The store offers customers from all over the world free delivery - this may already be an argument “For” the purchase here.
Guarantees
Of course, a significant drawback of acquiring the telephone to which this article is devoted is the guarantees provided by merchants on the same “Ali”.
Since even the characteristics of the model indicate slightly different data than in real life, you should not be surprised that they will want to deceive you. There are real reviews that buyers were sent non-working or defective goods, returning money for which was very difficult. The only way out of this situation is to know the rules of working with Aliexpress.
First of all, do not confirm the transaction before you receive the goods. Otherwise, nothing will prove. The second - in case of receiving low-quality goods, be sure to open a dispute with the seller (Open Dispute). In it, briefly describe the essence of your problem (you can use Google Translate).
The seller will unsubscribe in any case, but, as some reviews indicate, sometimes they write some kind of incoherent nonsense to force the user to complete the dispute. The trick is that if you do not respond within a certain period (usually 3-5 days), the complaint disappears and the dispute closes. Your task is to continue to write, complain and in no case refuse to dispute on your own. In the end, you will be refunded or agreed to send the goods. Better, of course, when creating a complaint, choose the option of returning money (Full Moneyback).
User reviews
You ask: “What about the reviews about the device itself? Is the phone working properly in everyday use? ” Well, we answer: the device performs tasks perfectly if you come across a conscientious seller. To choose this, we recommend installing a filter by the number of orders and reviews “From larger to smaller”. So you will find products that hundreds, if not thousands of people buy. The chances that they sold low-quality goods, but they did not complain, are minimal. At the same time, the likelihood that it will get you marriage is also low.
And so in general, the phone is worth the money. It is inexpensive, multi-functional (on it, by the way, is the Android 4.4.2 system) and quite attractive in appearance. It will be convenient for you to have fun with it, watching movies, reading books, and sometimes killing time with games. Actually, what else is needed from such a smartphone?