A gadget with a full set of the most popular features is the Lenovo A369i. It is his capabilities, as well as the software and hardware stuffing of this gadget that will be considered in this review material. It will also show its advantages and disadvantages, on the basis of which recommendations are given regarding the acquisition of this device.
Gadget segment
All Lenovo smartphones, whose model designation begins with the letter “A”, belong to the budget segment. A369i in this regard is no exception. This is a typical budget device, in which there are all the most popular functions and there is nothing superfluous. It easily solves most everyday tasks today. This is a great device for chatting, reading books, browsing websites and videos.
Smart Phone Package Contents
The delivery set for this budget device is as follows:
- The “smart” phone itself with a pasted protective film.
- 1500 mAh battery.
- Economy class stereo headset with mediocre sound quality.
- Charger.
- User manual in several languages.
- Interface cord.
- Warranty card.
Immediately it is worth noting that the kit comes with really high-quality and detailed instructions. "Lenovo A369i" is equipped with a protective film (it is immediately pasted onto its front panel). Therefore, the list of complete accessories lacks only 2 components: a memory card and a cover. They will have to be bought at an additional cost. Music lovers will definitely not like the sound quality of the complete stereo headset, and they will still have to purchase separately a high-quality wired speaker system.
Design and Management
On the front panel of the device there is a display whose diagonal is 4 inches modest by today's standards. A conversational speaker is displayed above it, and below is a typical panel for controlling the device, consisting of 3 touch buttons without backlight. Below the panel there is a hole in the earpiece microphone. There are no interface or control elements on the bottom edge and the left edge of the smartphone. The lock button and ports are grouped on the upper end of the device: a 3.5-mm audio jack and micro-USB. On the right side of the smart phone are two buttons to control its volume. The back cover shows the holes for the loud speaker and the main camera. There is also a manufacturer’s logo. There are three color options for the case of this device: white, yellow and black. In the first two cases, the coating is glossy and fingerprints and dirt are well collected on it. But in the black version the surface is loose and such problems do not arise for the owners of this gadget.
Smartphone processor
The basis of the Lenovo A369i is a very modest chip by today's standards. This is MT6572 with the index "W". It has only 2 computing modules based on the energy-efficient A7 architecture, but it cannot boast a high level of performance. The processor itself is manufactured according to the standards of the 28-nm process. The clock frequency of each of the modules can reach 1.3 GHz at maximum load. This CPU can easily cope with tasks such as browsing Internet resources, reading books, listening to radio and music, simple entry-level games. Even movies can be watched on it, but not in 1920 x 1080 resolution (although this may work in some cases). What certainly will not be launched on this device is the most demanding 3D toys. This chip is not designed for them - for these purposes you need to buy a more expensive device.
Display and graphic accelerator
The screen size of this smartphone is very modest, as at the present time, and is only 4 inches. The display resolution is 800 x 480. The screen matrix is ​​made using the TFT technology. There is also an air gap between the touch surface and the screen. Therefore, the display quality is far from ideal, and at viewing angles other than 90 degrees, the picture is distorted. The indisputable advantage of this device is the presence of a graphics accelerator - "Mali-400MP". He cannot boast of an outstanding level of performance, but his hardware resources are enough to display the image on such a small display. In this case, additional load is removed from the central processor, which will not additionally process graphic information.
Device camera
There is only the main camera in the Lenovo A369i. Photos and videos obtained with its help are of very modest quality. This is not surprising: it is based on a sensor of only 2 megapixels. This is clearly not enough to get high-quality photos and videos. Also, the smartphone does not have a backlight and autofocus system. That is, this device cannot take pictures when there is a lack of lighting, and when you try to capture the text, it will turn out to be blurry in most cases. A video camera can only shoot in 720 p.
Memory
Lenovo A369i boasts a total of 512 MB of RAM. This is clearly not enough to run demanding applications. In this case, the user can count on a maximum of 200 MB. The remaining 312 MB will be occupied by the operating system and preinstalled software. The capacity of the integrated drive is also quite modest: only 4 GB. The user of them can use only 1.27 GB for his needs. The rest is occupied by the operating system and preinstalled software with a proprietary shell. A kind of compensation for the small capacity of the built-in drive is the presence of a flash card installation slot, the maximum size of which can be 32 GB. But again, not all programs can be installed on an external drive, and at a certain stage you will have to choose the software that you can’t do without. But personal photos and videos need to be stored on some cloud service. This will avoid their loss in case of loss of the device or its breakdown.
Gadget Autonomy
The small capacity of the complete battery is one of the main disadvantages of the Lenovo A369i. Its characteristics are really not impressive: only 1,500 mAh and 1-2 days of battery life at an average load level. Demanding toys on this smartphone cannot work normally, and the owners of this device will not be able to reduce the battery life of less than 24 hours. Well, in the case of using the phone as a regular “dialer” for calls and SMS, the autonomy time will increase to 3 days. The output current of the complete charger is 700 mA. Accordingly, one battery charge will take: 1500 mAh / 700 mA = 2.15 hours. That is, every 1-2 days you have to spend on charging the smartphone.
Data exchange
The list of wireless interfaces is as follows:
- Wi-Fi (maximum speed of 100 Mbps, perfect for downloading large files).
- Bluetooth (allows you to connect various devices to the smartphone and exchange a small amount of data with similar "smart" phones).
- Mobile networks of the 2nd and, of course, 3rd generation (in the latter case, the speed can reach 7 Mbps, this is enough to make a video call, only the communication process will be difficult in this case: one camera on the back side will lead to that either you will see the interlocutor, or he will see you).
There are only two wired interfaces in this device: micro-USB and a 3.5-mm audio jack.
System software
The Android OS is quite outdated version 4.2 and the proprietary shell from the manufacturer’s company is a system software that runs the Lenovo A369i smartphone. You do not have to wait for updates for it. The device has been on the market for a long time, and during this time the manufacturer did not release any new modifications of the system software. For the rest, the device has a standard set of software installed: clients of international social networks, built-in miniprograms and a set of software from Google. Everything else, the newly made owners of this gadget will be forced to install from the company’s application store or other sources. Only here, many programs cannot be installed: there is very little internal memory.
Price today
Phone "Lenovo A369i" at the time of the start of its sales - in November 2013 - was estimated at 120 dollars. Now its cost in black version has decreased almost 2 times and is equal to 65 dollars. In turn, less practical yellow and white cases are priced at $ 4 more - $ 69. For the money you get a gadget with a full set of the most requested features. In this niche, this is one of the best smartphones to date.
Owner reviews
Many shortcomings are in the Lenovo A369i. Reviews highlight such of them:
- Lack of GPS sensor. Locate the device can only be using the A-GPS system. In the city, this system works quite correctly. But on the track there may be an error of several kilometers. This point is not critical for those who do not plan to use a smartphone as a GPS navigator.
- Low quality of the screen and the main camera, which are offset by the democratic price tag of $ 65.
But the advantages of this device are as follows:
- High build quality.
- An excellent software component, which is based on the Lenovo Laucher branded shell.
Summary
Of course, “stars from the sky” lacks the “Lenovo A369i”, but it’s certainly an excellent “workhorse” for every day with the necessary set of functions. If you need just such a device, then you can safely buy. This smartphone will meet all your expectations in this case.