Lenovo A6000 Plus beats Xiaomi Redmi 2

Lenovo A6000 Plus is out in market with some definite improvements over its predecessor A6000 in terms of RAM and storage capacity while retaining its other strengths. On the other hand, Xiaomi, promising to accelerate your life at a surprisingly low price, has recently brought out its next best creation Xiaomi Redmi 2 that comes with significant design improvements over Redmi 1 which has already played its successful inning. Both Lenovo A6000 Plus and Xiaomi Redmi 2 reignited the market expectations and, therefore, competition too. Since both the devices are out on similar price points, they call out for a comparative review. 

LOOK & FEEL : 

We start with the look and feel of the two devices. The overall physical dimensions of Lenovo A6000 Plus are 141x70x8.2mm and it weighs 128g, where as Xiaomi Redmi 2 comes in dimensions 134x67.2x9.4mm and weighs 133g, which makes Lenovo’s device slightly bigger but lighter in weight than Redmi 2, which is although smaller in size but weighs more. Moreover, A6000Plus is pleasing to the eyes because of its built quality due to the usage of polycarbonate in its outer body. On the other hand, Redmi uses finely textured and matte-sprayed back cover that feels great, and it is also fingerprint and grease-resistant. Furthermore, while Lenovo Plus comes in black colour that promises to never get out of fashion, Redmi 2 is available in multiple colour variants including stylish black, white, yellow, pink and green. 

DISPLAY : 

On the display front, the first difference is in the screen size. Lenovo Plus comes with 5inch screen, slightly larger than 4.7inch screen of Xiaomi Redmi2. However, both the devices have capacitive touchscreen and produce 720x1280 pixels resolution and somewhat comparable pixel density that is 312 pixels per inch for Redmi 2 and 294 pixels for Lenovo. On the whole, while the quality of visuals in terms of crispness and sharpness may be almost the same in both the devices, a larger display screen size provides Lenovo a slight leg up over Redmi 2. 

PERFORMANCE : 

Both the devices are powered by 1.2 GHz Quad-Core processors, however Lenovo A6000Plus has a definite leg up over Xiaomi Redmi2 on three counts, i.e. operating system, RAM and storage. Firstly, A6000Plus runs on Android 4.4.4 OS where as Redmi 2 runs on a slightly older version Android 4.4 OS. Secondly, Lenovo comes with 2GB RAM, which is double of Redmi2 that has 1GB RAM. Thirdly, with its 16GB internal storage expandable to 32GB, Lenovo is clearly ahead of Xiaomi that comes with 8GB internal storage expandable to 16 GB. Furthermore, while Xiaomi Redmi2, with its skin MIUI6, allows you to discover new functions, shortcuts, customisations and animations, Lenovo offers similar possibilities with its VIBE 2.0. On the whole, Lenovo A6000 Plus is relatively better placed to make apps run smoother with reduced time hold-up and provide overall quality of user interface and experience. 

ADDITIONAL FEATURES : 

Besides Internet browsing, emailing, app downloading and gaming, increasingly the photography has become an integral part of smartphones. Both Lenovo and Xiaomi understand this aspect, particularly the growing trend of selfies. Both the devices are comparable on the camera front, as they come with 8 megapixel primary (Rear) cameras and 2 megapixel secondary (Front) cameras with flash. Furthermore, another important indicator is the battery capacity. On this count, Lenovo A6000 Plus, with its 2300mAh battery capacity, is slightly more dependable in comparison to Xiaomi Redmi 2 that comes with 2200 mAh battery capacity. Other facilities like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM etc. are all available in both the devices. In terms of connectivity, both devices are available in 3G and 4G depending on the market. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS : 

Going by specifications, we note that Lenovo A6000 Plus clearly steals the show from Xiaomi Redmi 2 with its larger display screen-size, more advanced OS, bigger RAM, larger internal as well as external storage and slightly higher battery capacity. There are distinctive design elements too, which include overall size, shape and colour variants that are a matter of individual preference. 

Last but not the least, we looked at the price tag on leading shopping portals like Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal with India in mind, where both the devices are priced at around INR7,000. Therefore, Lenovo A6000 Plus stands out as a more sensible choice over Xiaomi Redmi 2, unless one has specific preference of design and colours.