Lenovo Vibe P1 Express Review: Yes, this is the best battery in a phone

Smartphones have got smarter. They do much more than they could a couple of years ago. But the phones we used before the smartphones came around, did leave us in the constant fear that we will run out of juice before we reach home or just when we have to make an important call. The fear of a dying battery is without doubt the biggest fear of the smartphone generation. But are we finally nearing a fix?

Lenovo Vibe P1

Lenovo has over the past couple of years sold at least two phones that have left their users satisfied on the battery front. Now, it is upping game with what it calls the ultimate business phone, one with a 4900 mAh battery.

Specs: 5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels; ~401 ppi pixel density) IPS display | Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53) | 2GB RAM | 32GB Internal memory, expandable up to 128GB | 13MP rear camera + 5MP front | 4900 mAh battery | Android 5.1 with Vibe UI

What is good?

Yes, the best thing is the battery. And I see a lot of people buying this just because they need a phone with a battery that will last. And this phone does last, at least two days with full use on 4G. Three days if you are switching on the ultra-power saving mode. Over a week if you are not receiving calls. As of now this is the best battery I have seen in a smartphone.

The battery is large enough to charge another phone using OTG charging. While this phone has two SIM slots and most people using it won’t have another phone, this is still a great feature to have as most of us have one thing or the other that needs a bit of charge.

Lenovo has launched a new Rocket Charge with this phone which helps charge this giant battery in the time of a regular battery. But also, if you are in a hurry, 10 to 20 minutes plugged in should get this up and running for a few hours easily. This is the sort of convenience we want.

The P1 has a very decent camera that clicks really crisp photos and that too very fast. The camera might not be among the touted features of this phone, but it is something that adds real value to the P1.

Overall, performance is decent if not great. You will not have issues with multi-tasking and this phone does not heat up.

Lenovo is promoting a new secure zone concept with this “business phone”. You can add apps and services to this secure container from which you cannot move anything out to the open zone. You cannot even copy text between the zone. This is sure to capture the attention of some CTOs across India.

What is not that good?

The Vibe UI is something you will have to learn to live with. I initially got the feeling you will get used to seeing the icons differently, but I didn’t over the many months that I have tried out different Vibe phones. It ended up as being an unending fight with muscle memory installed by Android. The good thing here is that now you have the option of running the phone on stock Android. Seems Lenovo got some good feedback.

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Lenovo has done a good job, but still it is hard to hide a 4,900 mAh battery. So the Vibe P1 is among the larger and heavier phones in the market at the moment. It is still not as large as some of the 5,000 mAh battery packs doing the rounds here.

Should you buy?

Of course, if battery is your biggest pain point. I don’t think people who spend a lot of time on the move and on the road should look for a better option. The only other phone with a battery this large is the Marathon series from Gionee, but then the Vibe P1 offers much more.