Lenovo K6 Power review: A closer look

Design

Speaking of Xiaomi, there is no doubt what the inspiration for Lenovo designers has been. Like its larger sibling, the K6 Power is an unabashed rip-off of the Redmi Note 3 design. The two phones look comically similar except for minor differences, and we can't help but feel Lenovo went for the sincerest form of flattery here.

Redmi 3S Prime, K6 Power, Redmi Note 3

On the front of the phone is a large glass panel going edge to edge with a thick plastic rim around the edge. The glass is scratch-resistant and has an oleophobic coating. Above the display is the earpiece, the front-facing camera, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, and notification LED. Below the display are the three navigation keys that aren't backlit.

Front side

On the right side of the phone are the volume and power keys that are easy to reach and work well. On the left side is a tray that holds two nano SIMs or one nano SIM and a microSD card. The top and bottom of the phone look like someone swapped them; on the top of the phone is the headphone jack and the microUSB port, and on the bottom is a microphone.

Having the USB port on the top is an unusual solution, but it saves cost as that's where the entire motherboard is on phones where the battery spans the whole width, so no additional circuitry is required at the bottom of the phone.

Right • Left • Top • Bottom

On the back is a microphone at the very top followed by the camera lens, a single LED flash and the fingerprint sensor. Near the bottom are stereo speakers in the most pointless position possible; both the speakers are right next to each other near the lower part on the back of the phone. When you are watching a video or playing a game in landscape mode, they might have put a single speaker there and we wouldn't have noticed the difference. Moreover, the left and right channels point in the right direction when the back of the phone is facing towards you but when you turn it around and use it as you normally would the channels get reversed. All in all, not the brightest moment in Lenovo's design history.

Back

That aside the phone feels reasonably well-built and has a somewhat premium feel to it due to the use of metal on the back. The 5-inch form factor also makes it quite compact and easy to use with one hand, although the curved sides offer little grip and the phone is quite slippery.

Display

The K6 Power has a 5-inch, 1920x1080 IPS LCD. Out of the box, the display comes with saturated colors that don't look very good. Fortunately, Lenovo has taken a page out of Motorola phones and provided an option to change the display saturation levels between Normal and Vibrant.

Display color settings

Switch to Normal and suddenly the color accuracy is practically spot on for sRGB, with the only deviation being the slightly cool white point. Apart from that, the display looks excellent and it's quite wonderful to see this level of accuracy in a budget device. Other aspects of the display, such as the viewing angles, brightness, and touchscreen response are also satisfactory.