Lenovo K3 Note review: Note for less

Synthetic benchmarks

"True octa-core" is what Mediatek likes to call the architecture of the chipset inside the Lenovo K3 Note. The MT6752 is a rather common SoC in midrange devices on a budget, and can be found in vivo and Meizu offerings as well as more affordable HTC and Sony models.

The CPU relies on eight Cortex-A53 cores, which can peak as high as 1.7GHz, all of them simultaneously, when the task at hand requires top performance. The MT6752 is then bound to excel at CPU tasks, especially ones that can make full use of multiple processor cores. The main competing chipset - the Snapdragon 615, should be left behind in such cases.

There is 2GB of RAM on board, and while we've been getting spoiled by an increasing number of midrangers sporting 3GB of RAM, two gigs are more than enough at this price point. The GPU inside is Mali-T760 MP2, clocked at up to 700MHz, which typically makes for a satisfactory performance on a 1080p display. Which is about as much as could be said of the Adreno 405.

We start off with Geekbench 3 and the octa-core CPU is quick to show its strength. The MT6795 (or Helio X10, but we prefer meaningless alphanumeric strings) inside the Xiaomi Redmi 2 pulls ahead thanks to the higher clock rate of its otherwise identical processor cores. Another MT6752 device, the Sony Xperia C4 Dual performs slightly better than the K3 Note, and the Meizu m1 is right behind the Note's back, but other than those three, the K3 Note has little competition.

Snapdragon 615 representatives Xiaomi Mi 4i and Galaxy A7 (not really a competitor given its price) show significantly lower scores. The Galaxy J7 with its Exynos 7580 does better, but still trails behind the Lenovo phablet.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  4589
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  4242
• Lenovo K3 Note
  4067
• Meizu m1 note
  3988
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  3647
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3619
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  3557
• Meizu MX4
  3556
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  2880
• Meizu m2 note
  2649
• HTC Desire 820
  2586
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  2451
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2336
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1468

It's a similar story in Antutu, but here it's the MT6595-packing Meizu MX4 and Lenovo Vibe X2 that lead the way. The K3 Note is on par with the Xperia C4 Dual and Redmi Note 2, comfortably ahead of all competition, both MT6752 and Snapdragon 615.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Meizu MX4
  46922
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  46666
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  46307
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  46307
• Lenovo K3 Note
  46283
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  39637
• Meizu m1 note
  39224
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  38263
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  34491
• Meizu m2 note
  32054
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  31436
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  29907
• HTC Desire 820
  27070
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  21562

Moving on to Basemark OS II 2.0, which is another compound benchmark, where the K3 note flies high. Only the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 scores higher in the overall result, but it is Mediatek's top-dog inside that one. The Xperia C4 Dual gets the closest to the K3 Note, The Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5) does an okay job to defend the S615 camp, which the Mi 4i tries hard to embarrass.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  1063
• Lenovo K3 Note
  984
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  939
• Meizu m1 note
  880
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  813
• HTC Desire 820
  728
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  725
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  709
• Meizu m2 note
  673
• Meizu MX4
  666
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  580
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  296

The Xiaomi 5-iincher then redeems itself in the single-core portion of the benchmark, where it places second to the Redmi Note 2 (clearly, an all-round favorite). The K3 Note is a close third but more importantly ahead of any rivals, be they Mediatek- or Qualcomm-powered. Which leads us to the multi-core test, where the Lenovo K3 Note takes the lead, even outpacing the Redmi Note 2 and its Helio X10.

Basemark OS 2.0 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  3434
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  3008
• Lenovo K3 Note
  2990
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2900
• Meizu m1 note
  2617
• HTC Desire 820
  2546
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  2480
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  2438
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  2436
• Meizu MX4
  2219
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1818
• Meizu m2 note
  1709

Basemark OS 2.0 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Lenovo K3 Note
  24538
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  24035
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  21516
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  19629
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  18968
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  16640
• Meizu m1 note
  14565
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  13521
• Meizu MX4
  12671
• HTC Desire 820
  10275
• Meizu m2 note
  8105
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  7551

The excitement quiets down when we examine the graphics performance, though it's certainly not disappointing for the combination of GPU and display resolution. On the contrary, the K3 Note places towards the top in Basemark X, only behind the MT6595 and MT6795 and their PowerVR6200. The Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5) is the closest-ranked Adreno 405, while the Galaxy J7 is even further down with its Mali-T720 MP2.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  8518
• Meizu MX4
  8324
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  6512
• Lenovo K3 Note
  5656
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  4953
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  4875
• HTC Desire 820
  4859
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  4802
• Meizu m1 note
  4617
• Meizu m2 note
  3946
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  3934
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3922
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1915

GFXBench gives a more detailed representation of what you can expect in an actual gaming environment. For one, the Lenovo K3 Note posts identical scores in the onscreen and offscreen tests, which is to be expected since the resolution is 1080p in both, but we've seen anomalies in this respect.

There's little here to split the MT6752 and Snapdragon 615 crowd here. 15 fps in the T-Rex portion of the benchmark is an average result, though the Mi 4i manages to underdeliver and only does 14.

The more intense Manhattan test sees the fps count drop to 6.1 for the K3 Note and here the differences are marginal as well. The Redmi Note 2 is consistently towards the top, and the few 720p displays in the chart give the respective phones a boost due to the lower pixel count, but other than that it's a close call between the Adreno 405 and the Mali-T760 MP2.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  23
• Meizu MX4
  22.7
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  17.8
• HTC Desire 820
  15
• Lenovo K3 Note
  15
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  15
• Meizu m1 note
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  15
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  14.2
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  14
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  12
• Meizu m2 note
  12
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  11
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  5.3

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 820
  26
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  23
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  22
• Meizu MX4
  21.3
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  20
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  17
• Meizu m1 note
  16
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  15.1
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  15
• Lenovo K3 Note
  15
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  14
• Meizu m2 note
  12
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  9.6

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  8.5
• Meizu MX4
  7.9
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  6.2
• Lenovo K3 Note
  6.1
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  6.1
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  6
• Meizu m1 note
  5.8
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  5.8
• HTC Desire 820
  5.7
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  5.7
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  4.9
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  4.1
• Meizu m2 note
  2.3
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1.8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 820
  12
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  10
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  8.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  7.9
• Meizu MX4
  7.4
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  6.4
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  6.2
• Lenovo K3 Note
  6.1
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  6.1
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  6
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  5.8
• Meizu m1 note
  5.7
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  3.9
• Meizu m2 note
  2.3

Browser performance is another excellent area in the K3 Note's benchmark scorecard. While the Lenovo Vibe X2 is in a class of its own in Kraken 1.1, the Lenovo K3 Note is the best among the midrange chipsets at munching on JavaScript.

The Snapdragon 615 only reminds of its existence in Browsermark 2.1, where the Galaxy A7 is second to the Vibe X2, followed closely by the K3 Note.

It's also worth noting that we ran all tests with the pre-installed browser. We then installed Chrome, as it often yields better results, but on the K3 Note it scored significantly worse. So it speed is what you're after, the built-in in browser is the way to go.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Lenovo Vibe X2
  4747
• Meizu MX4
  9408
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  9504
• Lenovo K3 Note
  10712
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  11410
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  11439
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  12038
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  12266
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  13462
• HTC Desire 820
  13568
• Meizu m2 note
  14462
• Meizu m1 note
  15055
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  15815
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  18124

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Lenovo Vibe X2
  2211
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
  1655
• Lenovo K3 Note
  1554
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  1508
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  1505
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  1396
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  1344
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  1343
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  1175
• HTC Desire 820
  991
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  793
• Meizu MX4
  720
• Meizu m2 note
  656
• Meizu m1 note
  536

To sum it all up, the Lenovo K3 Note is an excellent all-round performer all in itself, but even more so when you factor in its asking price. Offerings with competing hardware can come with a price tag 2 to 3 times higher and still trail behind it in benchmarks.