Lenovo K6 Note review: Noteworthy

Telephony and loudspeaker

The Lenovo K6 Note is offered as a dual-SIM device in most markets. It's a nice touch that you can set different ringtones and message tones for each SIM. You can pick the preferred card for calling, texting and data. The data SIM will switch into 3G/4G mode while the other one will stick to 2G/EDGE. As previously mentioned, the dialer does lend itself to some UI modification through the themes platform.

The dialer • Call log • All contacts

The dialer is split into several tabs. It supports Yellow pages integration, but it has been moved into the More tab (this feature performs a search for local businesses and is probably best geared for the Chinese/HK market). You have a Call log that can be filtered by received/missed/outgoing calls, but not by SIM card.

You guessed it, the More tab holds a few additional features. There are call and message blocking options (blacklist/whitelist by phone number). You can also enable Automatic call recording (it starts as the call connects), but keep in mind this feature isn't legal in some regions of the world.

More features: Yellow pages • Call blocking • Block list • Call recording

The Lenovo K6 Note managed to score a very respectable "Good" mark in our loudspeaker test. Mind you, we achieved the result while using the Dolby Atmos equalizer on the Music preset. Turning it off yields lower scores.

Text input

Lenovo is relying on Google for the default keyboard. This used to mean the regular AOSP Google Keyboard, but since GBoard is now gaining traction, Lenovo has decided to switch things up and include it by default.

That means you get to enjoy some great new features, like the built-in search functionality, multilingual autocomplete and GIF integration, where supported.

GBoard

Messaging itself is handled by a very straight-forward custom app. Nothing really too special.

Other apps

Lenovo has really toned down the amount of bloatware it pre-loads on its handsets. For the better part, just like a recent Moto offer, the Lenovo K6 Note relies heavily on the familiar Google suite of apps to get through most common tasks.

Unlike the Moto branch, however, there are luckily no extremes on the Lenovo side, with obvious missing things, like a file manager app. The K6 Note has a dedicated one. It can handle searching and sorting pretty well, as well as archives. Some previous Lenovo handsets did use a more feature-rich version of the browser, complete with FTP support. It is missing this time around.

The default file manager is pretty straight-forward

The Lenovo Companion is a mobile troubleshooter. You can search for walkthrough's for your device (in written or video form), you can check for firmware updates (with data back up included) and diagnosing all the hardware of the phone (e.g. testing the vibration or the loudspeaker).

Lenovo Companion can help you find and correct issues

SYNCit allows you to backup Contacts, SMS and Call log to the Lenovo cloud. If you don't want to set up an account, you can backup to the SD card.

SYNCit backup: Contacts • SMS • Logs • Other tools

There is also a SHAREit app. For the most part, it tends to work as advertised for exchanging files, as long as there are Lenovo handsets on both ends. Other devices can expect a various degree of success.

SHAREit app

There aren't many other custom apps to really note on the handset. There is a compass, as well as an audio recorder, but that is about the extent to which Lenovo has went in its app development effort.

Compass • Sound recorder