Lenovo P780 Review: It just goes on, and on, and on...

A recent survey by Nielsen found that for Indian buyers, battery life is the second most important decision factor in buying a smartphone -- right after brand and before screen size. Indeed, we have argued before that battery life is the only spec that matters. So the Lenovo P780 is bound to get our attention with its mammoth 4,000 mAh battery and decent specifications, all at a mid-range price. Is this the best battery life you can get on a smartphone?

What is it?

The Lenovo P780 is the successor to the P770, which also had an impressive 3500mAh battery. The new model steps up the game in all the specs though, packing a 1.2GHz quad-core Mediatek MTK6589 processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB internal memory. It also sports a 5-inch HD IPS screen (1280x720 px) but without any scratch-resistant glass. There's an 8MP rear camera that also shoots high-def video, and a VGA front camera. And it's all powered by Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, customized with Lenovo's own skin and a few apps.

Who is it for?

Long battery life is something most of us desire, so if that's your biggest concern with an Android smartphone, the P780 is made for you.

Design

You would think that a phone with such a huge battery would be big and bulky, but the P780 surprised us with how pocketable it is. It's not what we would call sleek, but it's not too hefty either. Heavier than others? Yeah, but you get used to the weight in a few days. At 10 mm thick, we have no complaints.

Plus, it's got that cool metallic back plate that's quite neat to hold. Of course, this is sandwiched upon either side by plastic coloured to deceive the eyes, but you can't fool the fingers. The back plate can be removed to reveal the dual SIM slots for standard-sized cards, as well as microSD card slot. But surprisingly, the 4000mAh battery itself can't be removed -- there's no recess to put your fingers in and lift it out. It's quite baffling -- why have a removable back plate if you can't swap out the battery? If it was just to pop in your SIM and memory cards, Lenovo could have gone in with a unibody design and had external slots for the cards.

That apart, the phone has a pretty standard design, with the only notable element being a flap for the microUSB port. We found it a bit flimsy and tacky. Also, the flap gets half-compressed by a microUSB cable's rubber edge -- not a major design flaw, but one of those things that will irk those who look for perfection.

Using It

If you have used any 5-inch HD smartphones from some of the Indian manufacturers, you will know exactly what the Lenovo P780 is all about. If it wasn't for the battery, there's little to distinguish it from others in its class.

Well, the battery and the unattractive skin Lenovo repeatedly pushes into its smartphones. As we have mentioned in reviews of phones like the Intel-based K900, this is Lenovo's big failing -- one we fail to understand given how beautiful Android is now. The icons look childish and packaged apps -- like SuperCamera, SuperGallery or the power enhancements -- offer nothing that the Play Store doesn't already have in free apps. Points for preloading them? Sure. Points negated by the lack of design sense? Yup.

The performance is satisfactory, playing games and high-def videos well and having no major issues with multi-tasking.

The camera is nothing to write home about. It's actually decent in both bright light and indoor environments, although the latter can be grainy when used without flash. Its big problem, however, is that the colours are wildly distorted. Light brown became orange, teal became green -- it was an annoying experience. Things got a little better when not using the preloaded SuperCamera app, but not enough to be something you can use without needing filters. Also, there is a noticeable purple fringe around light sources.

The screen is among the best quality ones we have seen though, with colours that are far better than any of the Indian manufacturers. The Canvas 4 had the best screen we had seen in this price range, but the P780 snatches the crown away. Sunlight legibility is an issue, but no more so than any other Android in this price range.

Tragic Flaw

But the missing Gorilla Glass screen is something that rankles us. Smartphones that cost this much money should have the ability to give you a scratch-resistant screen. If not Gorilla Glass, then something else like Dragontrail. Otherwise, you need to put scratch guards. Scratch guards invariably pick up scratches more easily than a glass would, so it looks ugly. And most of them also affect your sunlight legibility as well as viewing angles. Of course, if you don't put the scratch guard, you can still carry on using the phone, but you will always be a little cautious in how you handle it, which again mars the experience.

The Best Part

Where it fails on scratch resistance, the P780 makes up for with its battery. Oh man, this is the best we have ever gotten, bar none. On a pure video playback test, the P780 managed 18 hours and 20 minutes on average in 3 tests. Browsing on Wi-Fi with Chrome, we got 10 hours and 50 minutes on average in 3 tests. On medium to heavy usage, with 5 hours of phone calls, 3 hours of HD gaming, half an hour of HD video, 2 hours of music and continuous social networking, IMs, email and other internet usage, the P780 lasted for an impressive 31 hours. In short, on normal usage, this one should get you through two days without needing to be charged.

Test Notes

-Given it's a huge battery, you can expect it to take some time to charge. From 0% to 98%, it took us 2.5 hours. From 98 to 99, another 15 minutes. After that, the phone goes into trickle charge mode, so it will take a long time to get to 100 -- but you really don't need to wait. Just unplug and be on your way.

-Apart from its great battery life, the P780 also supports USB OTG (On The Go), which lets you connect another phone to it to charge that other phone. That's right, your P780 is also a portable battery pack! It did a decent job too. On a 1500mAh phone, it took us 2.5 hours to go from 0% to 50% while being charged by the Lenovo P780.

-The 4GB of internal memory is only 2.4GB user available memory. On Android Jelly Bean, which insists you install apps on the internal memory first, this space runs out way too quickly. In fact, this is one of the biggest problems in using the phone on a regular basis if you are someone who downloads apps often.

-While the battery isn't removable, there is a reset button under the back panel in case you need to hard reboot your phone.

-The call quality on the phone is quite good and it got network in areas where other phones in this price range didn't. However, the dual-SIM is not dual-active, it's dual-standby i.e. if you are talking on the phone through one number, someone who tries to call you on the other number will get you as "not reachable".

-The packaged earphones aren't very good and if you care about your music, you should invest in a better pair.

Should I buy it?

If battery life is the main criteria for your mobile phones, then yes, the Lenovo P780 is the best you can get. Even apart from that, it's a good phone for its price -- the only real Android competitor is the Micromax Canvas 4.

Between the two, Canvas 4 gives you Gorilla Glass protection and 16GB built-in memory, but the P780 offers far better battery life and build quality. Apart from that, both phones share their highs and lows, whether it's the performance or the camera. If you can live with a screen guard, the Lenovo wins the battle hands down. If the scratch-resistant glass is more important, the Canvas 4 is still better value for money.

Currently, the Lenovo P780 is being sold at its official store for Rs. 18,799, although Lenovo is throwing in a few freebies: a Jabra Bluetooth headset, a 16GB microSD card and a USB OTG cable -- all of which put together would cost you another 2000 rupees or so. Given that, the price is actually quite fair. Just be aware that you will have to live with the unprotected screen and the limited internal memory.

For ease of usage, we would back the Canvas 4 over the Lenovo P780. But that battery life is hard to ignore.