Overview of the Lenovo S660 smartphone in a metal case. Smartphones in a metal case Iron phone lenovo

The metal case is an indicator of the high status of the phone. The premium metal finish is always tactilely pleasing. A lenovo smartphone in a metal case is not just a means of communication. This is a prestigious accessory! Lenovo produces several stylish models in an aluminum case. All gadgets flaunt an excellent price / quality ratio.

Metal does not interfere with accessibility

The Vibe Shot communicator is quite accessible and cool at the same time. 5-inch 8-core smartphone got an enviable camera! In a thin 7.3 mm case, a 16 megapixel photo module "registered". Its capabilities have increased due to infrared autofocus, high-quality 6-component optics, optical image stabilization. This set is impressive. At the same time, the body of the device is stylized as a real camera. The design instantly "inspires". A very tempting phone for demanding photographers!

In the arsenal of the VIBE Z2 model, there are also "trump cards". This iron device works with a pair of SIMs, which means it will perfectly replace two annoying “tubes”. In a metal gadget "settled" quite capacious battery 3000 mAh There are no problems with autonomy. Lenovo installed here a 64-bit Snapdragon processor, supported by 2 gigabytes of RAM. Decent equipment. Back cover gadget makes a strong impression! What is characteristic: the price of the spectacular VIBE Z2 does not go beyond the affordable middle class.

Metal is very nice!

Millions of people choose aluminum over conventional plastic. Not surprising! A lenovo smartphone in a metal case is perceived differently. The characteristic feel of a monolith is liked by many users. The pleasant cold of metal is far from trifling. We at 1CLICK are always happy to review cool iron devices!

In a smartphone Lenovo S660 there is everything that commentators on the Internet usually lack: a metal case, a decent-capacity battery, a convenient case included, and support for two SIM-cards, and a reasonable price. It is probably not in vain that the models of this manufacturer evoke at least sympathy and trust among users of our country, and at most - a purchase. In terms of technical characteristics, price and other high matters, Lenovo S660 is closest to LG L90 Dual (review), which is just on the eve of the sale of the Lenovo S660 edition gg acknowledged the best buy for 3000 UAH. Therefore, we, of course, will try to give you an intelligible answer to the question of which of these smartphones is more interesting and desirable to purchase.

Specifications

In addition to the 3000 mAh battery, the model is curious for us, who are interested in all sorts of technical details, because it uses another new Mediatek processor - MT6582M. It replaced the MT6589M and differs from it in graphics (now Mali-400) and clock speed (now 1.3 GHz). The model is equipped with an IPS-screen with a diagonal of 4.7 inches and a resolution of 540x960 pixels, which, in my opinion, is the minimum acceptable for such a diagonal. The amount of memory is within the limits typical for the price category: 1 GB of RAM (only Huawei and Sony can afford 2 GB each in smartphones with HD display resolution and below) and 8 GB of internal memory. MicroSD is supported, and typical slots are unexpectedly designed for both SIM cards, no micro for you, which are often found in competitors. The smartphone is still running Android control 4.2, and a colorful and smooth shell is installed on top of the OS, which does not provide for a separate application menu.

Contents of delivery

In addition to the standard headset set, charger and microUSB, a case is included with the smartphone. Not easy, but entertaining. He knows how to be just a rubber bumper.

And such a stand.

The only pity is that the screen here, as in any Android device, is very voracious, and leaving it on all the time to view the time and other news is wasteful for the battery.

The rest of the kit.

Body Ergonomics

A smartphone with a display diagonal of 4.7 inches today no one dares to call it big, but a couple of years ago, under the reviews of the then 4.7-inch flagships easily one could find comments from outraged users about the phrases “it is convenient to operate with one hand”. Although not every journalist used such phrases in reviews, because what exceeded 4 inches was large, unusual and indecent. With Lenovo S660, things are exactly like this - the smartphone is not too large, so it fits perfectly in the palm of your hand, and the buttons fit neatly under your fingers. A thick bumper cover does not spoil the situation much.

Without a case, the smartphone, with its 10mm body, fits perfectly in the hand.

The volume and screen lock keys are located in a comfortable place - on the right side of the device. They have a soft pleasant ride. Pressing them is more fun than some flagship smartphones.

All back panel covers a metal plate, in the lower part of which there are speaker slots. When the smartphone is lying or standing on a table in a case, the sound is not muffled. The speaker is quite ordinary, loud, with a normal sound for a smartphone. But the sound in the headphones is not very good, like many mid-range and budget smartphones.

Control keys touch. With typical Lenovo icons. Smartphones of this brand cannot be confused with anything else. The keys light up when you press them.

At the top of the front panel is front-camera. And the light sensor, which is not visible at all. Automatic adjustment of the screen backlight in the settings is present. In the dark, it works in a strange way: first it decreases to the desired limit that is comfortable for the eyes, and after a couple of minutes it suddenly increases to a too bright state. Then it can decrease again and grow again. Reading the Internet at night is uncomfortable.

Despite the fact that the body of the smartphone is metal, heavy loads it heats up moderately. So, the “heater” AnTuTu test for the battery fired up the smartphone up to 37 degrees. When using the cover, the heating is not felt at all.

To install a SIM card (traditional format, by the way), you need to remove the cover. Sometimes nails break along with this action. The lid sits securely in place. Although, when closed, it bends under the fingers, especially in the lower part of the case.

Screen

Lenovo S660 is equipped with IPS-display with 234 ppi pixel density, which is typical for mid-range smartphones today. The screen is devoid of an air layer, so the image on it looks juicy, and the viewing angles are maximum from any side. It has excellent responsiveness and recognizes up to 5 touches at the same time.

The advantage of the Lenovo S660 display is its high brightness - at maximum backlight intensity (442.27 cd/m2) it will be readable under any sun, on any day. You have to pay for comfort on the street with a “gray” black color (0.69 cd / m 2), the contrast is also not amazing, but is at the same level as most screens of modern smartphones - 641:1. In the table below you can see the results of our measurements of the screens of competitors of this model, as well as devices that are exemplary in the industry.

Device name	Brightness of the white field, cd/m2	Black field brightness cd/m2	Contrast
Lenovo S660	442.27	0.69	641:1
LG L90 D405	308.55	0.44	701:1
Huawei Ascend G700	494.25	0.51	969:1
LG G2	323.81	0.4	810:1
Lenovo Vibe X	103.96	0.18	578:1
Samsung Galaxy S5	370.3	0	?
Sony Xperia Z1	400.81	0.75	534
iPhone 4S	434	0.53	818:1

Display calibration deserves the epithet “mediocre”. In the dark areas of the image on the screen, the colors are quite similar to themselves, but the situation is reversed towards the light areas. The screen is cold. But if we ignore the graphs, then the image is quite pleasing to the eye, although in well-known applications, games and tests, it is clear that the usual pictures look somehow different. The color scheme offered by Lenovo in the desktop themes is more than nice.

autonomy

The battery capacity of 3000 mAh and an energy-efficient processor, made according to the 28 nm process technology, seem to hint at the excellent autonomy of the model. The result in the AnTuTu test (conducted at maximum display brightness) - 778 points - is well above the average for the hospital. In life, autonomy turned out to be quite typical. With loads that I can describe as “below average” for my use case (about four hours of listening to music, a couple of dozen shots a day, an hour of reading news and networking), the smartphone lasts almost two working days: in the sense that on Monday morning you take it off the charger, and on Tuesday you hurry home after work to bring the gadget to the outlet.

Performance

Quad-core processor MKT6582M is slowly spreading among smartphones up to 3000 UAH. The long-lived smartphone Philips W6610 (we have a review of it) had a similar chipset, and now the Lenovo S660. The hero of this review has the same volume random access memory and similar display resolution. But its proprietary interface seems more “heavy”. In practice branded shell does not slow down the work of this model, although I expected this behavior from it. Applications open and close quickly, switching between desktops smoothly. The camera launches without a hitch (ridiculously, even faster than on the Samsung Galaxy S4 after all its updates), although the shooting, of course, is not as fast as in the flagship models. There are no hitches in games like Temple Run 2 and Real Racing 3. There are no issues with FullHD video playback either. That is, the performance of the smartphone is quite adequate for its money and for its equipment. Benchmark results - as usual in the gallery.

Interface

Lenovo S660 is running Android version 4.2, on top of which a proprietary interface is used. A distinctive feature of the Lenovo interface, as well as a number of other compatriot companies (Huawei, Alcatel, Meizu), is the absence of a separate menu with all applications, as well as cheerful design themes, of which there are only two out of the box in this model. Google Apps and some tools are sorted into folders, and for some reason, an excessive number of pre-installed Yandex services are scattered across all desktops.

In general, the Lenovo S660 user will find in his smartphone a large number of applications, including many Russian services, not all of which work in our country. Fortunately, any of these applications can be removed as unnecessary, and in this the smartphone has a clear advantage over Fly (although I don’t know how much the target audience of devices overlaps). Because the owners of devices of this brand do not have the opportunity to get rid of most unnecessary services, and are forced to put up with the fact that they take up precious space in the gadget's memory.

In addition to the garden of Russian services, the smartphone menu has a number of Lenovo-developed applications for data synchronization (Syncit), information protection, spam blocking and other things that ensure data security on a smartphone (Secureit), for connecting to a computer (Mobile Assiatant). Among other things, it is worth noting the presence of Kingston Office, a store with licensed music content MusicOn, Evernote and the UC Browser browser.

Settings menu Lenovo smartphone The S660 has typical Android 4.2 functionality, but looks more airy thanks to light hand designers who worked on the interface of the smartphone.

Camera

Over the past year and a half, the mention in the characteristics of the device that it has an 8-megapixel camera has ceased to be synonymous good quality shooting. Nevertheless, I have no complaints about the Lenovo S660 camera. In particular, I found the quality of photos taken in low light or indoors with artificial light, as well as the operation of the HDR mode, to be quite satisfactory. In the gallery below, we can see examples of pictures taken with the Lenovo S660 camera. A - original resolution.

Competitors

Recently on gg was published material dedicated to the choice of a smartphone in the price category up to 3000 UAH. Since the Lenovo S660 belongs to the same segment, if you are considering this device as a possible purchase, then I recommend that you refer to it as well. Place Lenovo S660 in this category is somewhere in the middle between the smartphone LG L90 Dual, with which the models differ in processor, OS version and body materials, and Lenovo P780, which outperforms its neighbor in the line of display diagonal and battery capacity. On the one hand, if you choose solely on the basis of characteristics, then it is more logical to choose Lenovo P780, which has a battery capacity of 25% more. On the other hand, if your main expectation from a smartphone is that it should work normally, but at the same time be “advanced”, then you can opt for the LG L90, which is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, boasts current version android, compact body, cunning system Knock Code protection and came out from the pen of a company that just recently introduced and released the very best flagship smartphone our time. It would seem that surrounded by such strong competitors, the Lenovo S660 has little chance of success. But there is some kind of charisma in this model, which in itself is a reason to buy. And, finally, for those who cannot be bought with sentimental oohs and aahs, the attractiveness of the model has been productively increased by a convenient rubber case.

In the dry matter

Smartphone Lenovo S660 joined the close and cozy company of successful models for 3000 UAH. Choosing a smartphone in this segment becomes a non-trivial task, because there are fewer and fewer models that differ from each other, and the quality of the proposed devices and the speed of their work are comparable. Weighty arguments in favor of buying this model are its reliable metal case with a functional case-stand, bright screen and at the same time good autonomy. There are two main reasons for choosing other devices. First, you are interested in a smartphone with a larger display diagonal, and for the same money you can find both a 5-inch and a 5.3-inch smartphone from Lenovo or other manufacturers. The second is the strange behavior of the display backlight in the dark. If we talk about sound quality, then this is the problem of all inexpensive smartphones. Well, the general impression of the model Lenovo S660 remains pleasant.

4 reasons to buy Lenovo S660:

• reliable metal case with excellent ergonomics;
• bright display;
• case included;
• long time battery life;

2 reasons not to buy Lenovo S660:

• you are looking for a smartphone for the same money with a larger diagonal;
• Display backlight behaves strangely in the dark.

Small smartphone with metal body and long battery life

The family of "long-playing" Lenovo smartphones, in the classification of the company's mobile devices united by the letter "P" (from the word Professional), has been replenished with another curious product. Smartphone Lenovo S660 features an advantageous combination of balanced specifications, relatively affordable price, as well as some of the "proprietary" features of the line, such as a metal case and increased battery capacity. All this makes this device quite attractive in the eyes of a certain category of users.

If you try to understand the position of the device under study today in the mobile market, then it is worth, first of all, to note the fact that the device has a rechargeable battery increased capacity. This allows the smartphone to work without recharging much longer than conventional modern mobile devices, which automatically allocates Lenovo S660 to a separate specific product niche. Lenovo S660 is not alone in this niche, other manufacturers also have similar solutions, for example, the recently tested device Fly Evo Energy 4, which is equipped with a record-breaking battery, proved to be excellent. Lenovo also has similar solutions: the most famous of them is the Lenovo P780 smartphone, which we talked about in due time, so today's test subject will have someone to compete with.

Key Features of Lenovo S660

	Lenovo S660	Fly Evo Energy 4	Huawei Honor 3x	Sony Xperia C
Screen	4.7" IPS	5", TN	5.5" IPS	5" IPS
Permission	960×540, 234ppi	854×480, 196 ppi	1280×720, 267 ppi	960×540, 220ppi
SoC		MediaTek MT6582 (4x ARM Cortex-A7) @1.3GHz	MediaTek MT6592 (8 ARM Cortex-A7 cores) @1.7GHz	MediaTek MT6589 (4x Cortex-A7) @1.2GHz
GPU	Mali 400MP	Mali 400MP	Mali 450MP4	PowerVR SGX 544
RAM	1 GB	1 GB	2 GB	1 GB
Flash memory	8 GB	4 GB	8 GB	4 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	microSD
Operating system	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2
Battery	removable, 3000 mAh	removable, 4200 mAh	removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 2390 mAh
cameras		rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (0.3 MP)
Dimensions and weight	137×69×9.9mm, 151g	144×72×10.5mm, 197g	150×77×8.9mm, 161g	142×74×8.9mm, 153g
average price	T-10725079	T-10818364	T-10616247	T-10540858
Lenovo S660 offers	L-10725079-10

• SoC MediaTek MT6582, 1.3 GHz, 4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7
• GPU Mali 400MP
• Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Touch IPS display, 4.7″, 960×540, 234 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB, inner memory 8 GB
• Map support microSD memory
• Data transmission HSDPA+: up to 21 Mbps
• Dual SIM support (Dual SIM Dual standby)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, hotspot WiFi access, WiFi Direct
• GPS, A-GPS
• Position, proximity, lighting sensors
• Camera 8 MP, autofocus, flash
• Camera 0.3 MP (front), fixed. focus
• Li-polymer battery 3000 mAh
• Dimensions 137×68.8×9.9 mm
• Weight 151 g

Contents of delivery

The Lenovo S660 smartphone comes in a small hardboard box with a single compartment inside. In appearance, the packaging does not claim to be premium, but when you look inside, the attitude immediately changes. The internal arrangement of the box, the care and attention to detail with which everything is done, and even the corresponding marks in the inner compartment marking what and where is - all this sets in a very positive mood and adds sympathy and respect to the product contained inside.

The kit consists of a compact charger (5 V, 1.5 A), a Micro-USB connecting cable, a wired stereo headset of primitive quality with a thin round wire with plastic headphones without vacuum ear pads. In addition, in some delivery options, you can find a plastic case that is pleasant to the touch, made of a rough matte material that does not leave fingerprints. In addition to the obvious purpose of protecting the body from damage, this cover has another function - with the help of a folding leg, it can turn into a desktop stand.

Appearance and usability

The Lenovo S660 smartphone is not too large in size, it fits perfectly in any hand, even a woman's. True, the case of the device has a decent thickness (reaches a whole centimeter) and turned out to be weighty (the mass is more than 150 g). With its small size, but decent thickness and weight, the device feels like a kind of weighty bar to the hand, but there is an excuse for this: most of the Lenovo S660 case is occupied by a very voluminous accumulator battery, so in this case, excess thickness and mass are excusable.

The smartphone has a very calm design, neat, but without frills and special charm - we have before us a modest-looking simple workhorse, the main purpose of which is not to show off, but to work hard and hard. The smartphone is not too easily soiled - all its surfaces, except, of course, the screen glass, are matte, rough, and there are practically no fingerprints left on them.

The back cover is a fairly thick all-metal plate, we often see such solutions in Lenovo mobile products. The company, by the way, presents the case of its S660 as "metal", but it is partially plastic with metal coating. This applies to all four wide side faces, which look like blackened metal, but in fact it is plastic.

But the cover is really made of real metal, which, of course, gives the body of the device strength, but it sits on its latches, unlike plastic covers, not “like a glove”. The material of plastic lids is usually more flexible and ductile, it stretches slightly when the fasteners snap in, and the lid sits very tightly, which metal cannot have. The cover of Lenovo S660 in any case crawls a little along the case, bends a little and creaks, which is a little annoying.

The cover is very difficult to remove, trying to pick it up and pull it off with a fingernail is problematic and even painful, it is better to use some kind of hard tool at hand. Under the cover is a removable battery and two full-sized slots for SIM-cards Mini-SIM format, located one above the other. Memory cards are also supported here, so you can also find a third slot nearby. Most inner space The body is occupied by the battery, which, of course, makes the largest contribution to the total mass of the smartphone. The battery is removable, but it props up all three card slots from below, so hot-swapping them is not possible.

On the outer side of the rear of the smartphone there is a small square window of the main camera, framed by a slightly protruding rim, a single-section LED flash, and below is an array of small round holes that make up the main speaker grille.

The speaker grill is covered by the table surface, which is why the sound of the lying smartphone is somewhat muffled. Single section LED flash can be used as a flashlight with pre-installed software. The flashlight has a flashing alarm mode, the flash shines brightly enough.

The entire front panel is covered with a flat protective glass without sides, a hole is cut out in it for a longitudinal metal grille of the conversational speaker. Nearby are the eyes of the front camera and sensors. Another useful item led indicator alerts, shines with a bright dot here, at the top.

Below the screen, there is space for hardware buttons for controlling the system and applications. There is, perhaps, too much space left here: neat buttons of medium size are lost in the background and do not need such an amount at all free space. These buttons, of course, are touch-sensitive, have a dim white backlight, the central icon is made in the form of a recognizable “four-leaf” traditional for Lenovo mobile products, and not a classic “house”.

There are only two mechanical keys on the sides of the device, they are located on the right side. Large metalized buttons have a soft springy stroke and a distinct response, they are easy to find blindly. Taking into account the fact that the lock key is located here not from above, but from the side, to the mechanical elements Lenovo management S660 has no complaints at all.

The Micro-USB connector is placed here at the bottom, and the headphone output is at the top. Connection mode external devices(USB OTG, USB Host) to the USB port is not supported by the machine. The smartphone connectors are not covered by any plugs and covers, because the device is not protected from water and dust. It was not found on the case and fastening for the strap.

On sale you can find the Lenovo S660 smartphone in only one color - the one that is presented in our pictures. The developers themselves dubbed this color "Titan".

Screen

The Lenovo S660 smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix of good quality, but far from the most high definition. The physical dimensions of the display are 58 × 103 mm, the diagonal is 4.7 inches. The screen resolution at the same time is 960 × 540, which gives a good, but very far from the record density of dots per inch of 234 ppi.

The brightness of the display has both manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. Lenovo S660 also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 5 simultaneous touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the sections "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Lenovo S660, then they can be distinguished by size):

Due to the difference in screen sizes and color tone, it is difficult to visually tell exactly which screen is actually darker, but statistics from graphic editor shows that the Lenovo S660 screen is slightly darker (its brightness in the photo is 93 versus 100 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Lenovo S660 screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the screen layers (more specifically, between the outer glass and the LCD matrix surface) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen (not very effective - the finger slides poorly), so fingerprints are removed more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with a white field displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 500 cd/m², the minimum was 12 cd/m². The maximum brightness is very high, which means that, given the good anti-glare properties of the screen, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an excellent level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). AT automatic mode when external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness increases, but decreases only after some actions on the part of the user, for example, after the “put to sleep mode - activate” cycle. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 12 cd/m2 (dark, but still readable), in an artificially lit office (about 400 lux), the brightness is set to 220 cd/m2 (just right), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - rises to 420 cd / m², that is, not to the maximum. It turns out that the automatic brightness adjustment function does not work quite correctly. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant shift in colors even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades (besides the very darkest ones when looking to the right). For comparison, here are photos in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Lenovo S660 and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m². White field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the acceptable uniformity of the brightness and color tone of the white field (when photographing, the color balance in the camera is forcibly set to 6500 K). And a test picture:

Color reproduction is good and colors are saturated on both screens, although there are differences in color balance. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the color reproduction at this angle in the case of Lenovo S660 has not changed much. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle at the screens decreased (at least five times, based on the difference in shutter speed), and decreased by about the same amount. The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted strongly and acquires a purple hue or remains almost neutral gray. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is quite high - about 850:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 23ms (11.5ms on + 11.5ms off). The transition between 25% and 75% grayscale (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 36 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with an equal interval according to the numerical value of the shade of gray did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows. The approximate exponent is 2.32, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

The color gamut is almost equal to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components to each other:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, since the color temperature is noticeably higher than 6500 K and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is large. However, at the same time, the color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the smartphone can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. The auto-brightness mode is of limited usefulness, as it only works upwards, and even then in very bright environments, it does not increase the brightness to the maximum value. The advantages of the screen include the absence of flicker and air gap in the layers of the screen, good black field uniformity, equal to sRGB color gamut and good - in visual evaluation - color balance. The main disadvantage is the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is nothing special. There is only one main speaker here, it sounds quite loud, but without a noticeable presence low frequencies. The earpiece sounds about the same. However, this does not particularly affect the perception of sound during a conversation - the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable. The sound is significantly muffled if the device is placed on a hard surface with the screen facing up. To play music in the device, the stock player is used. Google Play Music with native audio settings, such as an equalizer with several presets. In general, the sound capabilities of the smartphone are modest, Lenovo S660 is not a solution for music lovers.

The device does not know how to record a conversation from the line using the built-in tools. The smartphone is equipped with a built-in FM radio, which traditionally works only with connected as external antenna headphones.

Camera

Lenovo S660 is equipped with two modules digital cameras. The front camera here is equipped with only a VGA-module with a resolution of only 0.3 megapixels, it takes pictures at a size of 640 × 480 and does not have autofocus. The quality at the same time is such that it is difficult to make out anything in the photo - the front camera is here, rather, for show.

The main, rear camera is equipped with an 8-megapixel module with manual and automatic autofocus, shoots with a maximum resolution of 3264 × 2448. The settings menu here is classic, familiar from other Android devices, not burdened with third-party user interfaces. The menu has several shooting modes, including HDR. Shooting can be done only by touching the screen - the volume key in this mode is responsible for the digital zoom.

The video camera can shoot with a maximum resolution of 1080p (30 fps), examples of test videos shot in bright sunlight, as well as in cloudy weather, are presented below.

• Movie #1 (51 MB, 1920x1080)
• Movie #2 (53 MB, 1920×1080)

	The foliage worked out well, but with the exposure the camera missed a little.
	Good sharpness in the background and across the entire field of the frame.
	Perhaps the picture could have been taken brighter.
	The camera does a good job with backlight.
	There are no strong noises in the shadows.
	On light walls, you can see a good result of the noise reduction.
	The number of the nearest car is distinguishable.
	To distant plans, sharpness falls very slowly and smoothly.
	Even in medium plans, the foliage does not merge yet.
	The camera doesn't do well with macro photography.

The camera turned out pretty good. She works out her 8 megapixels honestly, giving a picture that is pleasing to the eye. The sharpness is quite uniform and very good in almost all plans. Noise reduction does not work perfectly, but it does its job well - the shadows are quite clean, although in some places you can see some graininess, as well as artifacts on the borders of objects, which can ruin fine details. There is no noticeable sharpening in the pictures, which speaks not only in favor of the program, but also in favor of the module itself. The dynamic range of the camera is quite wide, but exposure errors sometimes occur.

In general, the camera is quite suitable for shooting various scenes.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone normally works in modern networks 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA, no support for fourth generation (4G) networks, NFC is also not supported. Max Speed wireless transmission data is limited by the HSDPA+ standard (up to 21 Mbps per download). As a standard, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels, Wi-Fi Direct is supported. The navigation module only works with GPS system(with A-GPS) - there is no support for the domestic Glonass system. The magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the electronic compass of navigation programs usually functions, was not found among the modules of the device. Spontaneous reboots / shutdowns during testing were not observed, as well as slowdowns or system freezes.

Drawing letters and numbers virtual keyboards quite comfortable to drive. The layout and layout of the keys are standard: switching languages ​​is done by pressing a special button with the image of a globe, there is no dedicated top row with numbers - you have to switch the layout every time. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing phone number immediately carried out and search in contacts. In the keyboard settings, among other things, there is an inclusion of the input mode by non-stop sliding from letter to letter. You can also move the keyboard closer to one of the edges for easy one-handed operation, but with a 4.7-inch screen, this does not seem to be such a serious necessity. This opportunity, most likely, went to the smartphone from larger brothers in the mobile family.

The smartphone supports two SIM cards, and in general, working with them in the menu is organized according to a familiar principle: you can assign any of the SIM cards as the main one for organizing voice calls, data transfer or sending SMS messages. When dialing a number, you also have the opportunity to select the desired card. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G networks, but only one of the cards can work in this mode at the same time (the second one will work only in 2G). Working with two SIM-cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

Lenovo S660 works in this moment on the Google Android software platform is not the latest version 4.2.2. The manufacturer has changed quite a bit. appearance and user interface configuration, which is noticeable only in the absence of an application menu - all icons installed programs immediately delivered directly to desktops. Naturally, the creation of folders is supported, and most of the pre-installed programs have already been sorted into them by the developers themselves. Otherwise, the interface is practically no different from the proprietary Android interface. There are a lot of pre-installed programs, and in addition to really useful ones, such as a package office programs and file manager, here you can also find several games and many Yandex programs. All these applications are free, and they could easily be downloaded from the Play Store on their own, if the smartphone owner had such a desire.

Performance

The Lenovo S660 hardware platform is based on the single-chip system (SoC) MediaTek MT6582. This is not the most powerful of the MTK platforms: although it has 4 processor cores, they are not very productive Cortex-A7 cores. The processor cores here operate at a frequency of 1.3 GHz, and far from the most productive Mali-400MP video processor is also responsible for graphics processing. The device has only 1 GB of RAM. With built-in memory, things are no better for a smartphone - it is only 8 GB nominally, but only about 5.5 GB of them are available to the user for his needs. True, to expand the built-in memory in a smartphone, you can install a microSD card, but unfortunately, the device does not support the mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG) - it will not work to read information from a flash drive connected to it.

To get an idea of ​​the platform performance of the tested smartphone, a standard set of tests was carried out. Based on the results of the data obtained during the testing, the Lenovo S660 system demonstrated not too high performance indicators that are quite expected from this MediaTek platform.

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within a single comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed their “obstacle courses” on previous versions test programs.

In general, according to the results of all tests, Lenovo S660 can be classified as a device with an average (even slightly below average) performance. In any case, at the moment, the hardware performance of a smartphone should be enough to perform most of the basic tasks that applications from the Google Play Store can supply, except perhaps for demanding 3D games, but this device is not intended for them. A modest display in size and resolution, and at the same time a large battery, make it more of a reliable business assistant than a multimedia combine for entertainment.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

When testing the graphics subsystem in the cross-platform 3DMark test for the most productive smartphones, it is now possible to run 3DMark in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause speeds to rise above 60 fps).

The results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

	Lenovo S660	Fly Evo Energy 4 (MediaTek MT6582, 4 ARM cores [email protected].3 GHz)	Huawei Honor 3x (MediaTek MT6592, 8 ARM Cortex-A7 @1.7GHz)	Sony Xperia C (MediaTek MT6589, 4 cores [email protected].2 GHz)
Epic Citadel	59 fps	53 fps	54 fps	65 fps
Epic Citadel Ultra High Quality	no support	no support	no support	36 fps
Bonsai Benchmark	24fps/1681	27fps/1923	26fps/1822
Basemark X, Medium Quality	4790	4830	9260

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the results of testing, Lenovo S660 was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, in this case sound decoders, which are necessary for the full playback of most of the most common files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it will also have to first change the settings, switching from hardware decoding to software or to a new mode called Hardware+(not supported by all smartphones), only then will the sound appear. All results are summarized in a single table.

Format	container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Regular video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280x720 3000Kbps, AC3	Hardware+
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280x720 4000Kbps, AC3	plays fine with decoder Hardware+	Video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920x1080 8000Kbps, AC3	plays fine with decoder Hardware+	Video plays fine, no sound¹

¹ Audio in MX Video Player only played after switching to software decoding or new mode Hardware+; The regular player does not have such a setting.

To test the display of video files on the screen of the device itself, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output frames of video files with various parameters: Resolution (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps) varied. In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode, as there were a lot of artifacts in Hardware+ mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720/30p Good No 720/25p Good No 720/24p Good No

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

The intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate slightly unevenly, and in the case of files with 50 and 60 fps, some frames are always skipped. However, in general, if we limit ourselves to 24 fps typical for movies and TV shows, then there are no special complaints about video playback. When playing video files with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (720p and 1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly on the border of the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in the shadows and in the highlights.

Battery life

Capacity lithium polymer battery, installed in Lenovo S660, of course, does not reach the record value of Fly Luminor IQ4501, but, nevertheless, it is a significant 3000 mAh. According to the manufacturer, the smartphone can operate up to 36 hours of talk time and up to 35 days of standby time. The figures look fabulous (in both senses), in reality everything turned out to be more prosaic. According to the results of testing, the subject showed excellent results in battery life in its class, but the device is not a champion in this regard.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted 25 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When you continuously watch YouTube videos in high quality(HQ) with the same brightness level through the home wifi network the device lasted 9.5 hours, and in 3D-games - a little less than 5 hours.

Outcome

As for the cost of Lenovo S660, in our market the price of this smartphone is set at about 8 thousand rubles or a little higher (gray devices can be purchased at a price of 6000 rubles). According to the test results, the novelty can be safely attributed to the average level: the device has a very good screen with a comfortable diagonal, a very strong and well-built case with a metal cover, quite tolerable ergonomics and good hardware performance. And of course, here it is necessary to once again note the most important feature of the tested device - its unusual for a long time offline work. In combination with the listed advantages and a very low price (for the Russian market), this makes the Lenovo S660 a rather interesting acquisition in the eyes of those users who value their mobile assistant not for the image, but for its working qualities. The Chinese have turned out to be an excellent balanced model, and the gradual price reduction is only good for it.

Let's be clear right away: the metal case of the smartphone does not give much advantage when the device falls, but it is scratch resistant, looks great and expensive. However, after using a smartphone with a metal case, it is unlikely that you will want to return to a device with a plastic case. Unfortunately, today there are not so many smartphones in a metal case, but we have tried to highlight the best of them in our rating.

HTC One M8

HTC has established itself as a reliable smartphone manufacturer. Model HTC One The M8 is a perfect example of an excellent implementation of a device in a metal case. Previously was HTC model One and the HTC One Max, and the HTC One M8 is a more recent smartphone with a lot more metal in the body. Mostly this model consists of glass and aluminum. The diagonal of the screen has also grown here - now it is 5 inches. And in general, this device has become more brutal and stylish compared to previous models. The model is in 7th place in the review of phones under 20 thousand. If you are interested in details, then you.

However, the metal case is not the only advantage or "chip", if you like. The hardware is quite good here: a processor with 4 cores with a frequency of 2.3 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, a 4-megapixel camera and 2 loud speaker. By the way, the screen here is also excellent with a resolution of 1080 × 1920 pixels. The battery, frankly, "about nothing." Its capacity is 2600 mAh, so with active use until the evening, the battery may not be enough.

HTC One - 2nd place

It's relative old smartphone, however, even today in 2015 it is still relevant, it is easy to find it in almost any salons mobile phones. It is very similar to the device that we discussed above, but technically a little simpler. It has a 4.7-inch screen, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 2300mAh battery.

This device does not look so brutal and even stylish, and this is due to its smaller dimensions. It costs much less than the flagship HTC One M8, so it is available to a wide audience. If you are looking for a great and not very expensive smartphone in a metal case, then this device is an excellent choice. By the way, there is also an HTC model One mini- also a good gadget.

3rd place - ASUS The New Padfone Infinity

A very unusual smartphone, which is perfectly “sewn” into a metal case. The device is equipped with a docking station in the form of a tablet. And if you connect a smartphone to this station, you can get a full-fledged smartphone. The tablet itself uses the hardware of a smartphone, eliminating the need to synchronize tablet data with a smartphone. And in general, this is a unique device, where the metal case is a secondary feature.

The disadvantage of such a flagship is high price, due to manufacturability. It tops out at $1,000, which is way too expensive considering the device's hardware is roughly on par with 2013. Here is a 4-core processor with a frequency of 2.2 GHz, 2 GB of RAM. The screen of a smartphone has a diagonal of 5 inches, the screen of a tablet is 10 inches. Battery...nothing special. Its capacity is 2400 mAh, but when connected to the docking station, the tablet battery is used - 500 mAh.

4th place - Huawei Ascend P6

One of best smartphones in a metal case from the Chinese manufacturer Huawei. Its main "trick" is a design that is very much like the design iPhone smartphone. Therefore, if you like the iPhone, but don't have enough money for it, or you really like the Android OS, then this flagship is perfect for you. By the way, the device is excellent and technologically advanced. It is important to note its thickness - only 6 mm.

As for the hardware, here, alas, everything is standard: a 4-core processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, a 2000 mAh battery, a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 720 × 1280 pixels.

5th place - Lenovo K900

One of the best smartphones of last year. It has a brutal design, runs on Android, has an excellent processor and, of course, all this is “sewn” into a metal case. Inside - a powerful 2-core Intel processor Atom Z2580 with a frequency of 2000 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, a screen with a diagonal of 5.5 inches and a resolution of 1080 × 1920 pixels. However, there is a drawback - it is a battery with a small capacity of 2500 mAh. Apparently, the battery capacity had to be sacrificed in order to implement a thin case with a thickness of 7 mm.

6th place - Lenovo VIBE Z2 Pro

Another modern flagship from Lenovo in a metal case. This smartphone is a bit similar to the previous flagship and nothing more. Inside - a completely different "iron". First, Lenovo VIBE Z2 Pro surpasses its predecessor with a larger 6-inch 1440×2560 pixel screen, 2.5GHz quad-core processor and Adreno 330 GPU. 3GB of RAM along with powerful hardware is enough to support "heavy" applications and ensure multitasking.

7th place - Lenovo P780

This is an inexpensive smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer Lenovo in a metal case. A feature of the device is its powerful battery with a capacity of 4000 mAh. Because The hardware inside is not the most powerful, the smartphone in normal mode can work 4-5 days without recharging, and this is an excellent indicator!

Otherwise, there is nothing special about this smartphone: a simple 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 720 × 1280 pixels.

8th place Apple iPhone

This is one of the most famous metal case smartphones. Apple is a company that everyone knows, and huge queues line up for the products of this manufacturer. The metal-cased model is the iPhone 5S and even the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are now available for purchase.

A feature of these devices is the unique iOS OS, which is distinguished by excellent optimization. Even with relatively weak technical specifications the smartphone quickly performs tasks, supports resource-intensive applications and almost “does not blunt”.