Lenovo P2 review: Charge & Go

Display

The Lenovo P2 employs a Samsung-made 5.5-inch Super AMOLED panel of 1080p resolution and it's protected by a 2.5D shaped Corning Gorilla Glass 3 piece. The colors are nicely saturated, and the viewing angles are quite good. The pixel arrangement is Diamond PenTile, which is usual for these screens and works out to a sufficiently sharp image because of the 401ppi pixel density.

There is a dedicated High Sensitivity Touch option - once enabled, you should be able to operate the P2 with regular gloves.

We suspect the P2 relies on the same 5.5" AMOLED screen like the Moto Z Play, and our display tests will shed some more light on the matter.

The color rendering turned out quite good. If you settle for the Normal color mode (Vibrant is default), you'll get an excellent color accuracy with an average DeltaE of 2.1 and maximum deviation of 4.8.

The default Vibrant color mode adds extra saturation, so you get a very punchy image, but the color accuracy suffers as the average DeltaE increases to 5.6, and we get some notable peak deviations in colors such as red, green, and blue.

The Super AMOLED panels deliver infinite contrast and, as expected, the P2 aces this chart. Regarding brightness, the maximum level we get with the P2 is 346nits. It's not an impressive number, but we've seen a few Samsung devices with similar brightness results.

Luckily, you can enjoy an even higher brightness level if you've set the brightness setting to automatic and the ambient light is bright enough to trigger this overdrive mode. In these circumstances, the screen can light up as bright as 510 nits, which is more than enough for even the brightest of days.

Finally, you can find the so-called Brightness Protection setting in the Display section. When turned on, it reduced the screen brightness for night time usage in the dark. It allows the screen brightness to drop to as low as 0.7 nits should you need it to - it's the lowest number we've seen so far.

The sunlight legibility is very good, although somewhat below the average for Super AMOLED screens. Still, you should have no problem seeing what's happening on the screen even under bright sunlight.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• OnePlus 3T
  4.232
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  3.935
• Lenovo Moto Z
  3.931
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  3.688
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Huawei Mate 9
  3.68
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  3.526
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Oppo R9s
  3.352
• Oppo R7
  3.320
• Lenovo P2
  3.316
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  3.228
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  2.893
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Lenovo Moto M
  2.813
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• Meizu MX6
  2.751
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.679
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  2.679
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  2.658
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  2.563
• Lenovo K6 Note
  2.544
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Meizu m3 max
  2.447
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
  2.145
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

Battery life

Lenovo P2 is powered by a massive 5,100 mAh battery. The phone supports Rapid charging technology of undisclosed type and comes with a 24W charger in the retail box. According to the official specs, the charger should fill up the large battery from 0 to 48% in only 30 minutes. An hour of charging should restore up to 78% of the battery capacity. These are some spectacular numbers. Unfortunately, we couldn't put them to test as we didn't get the charger in question.

We initially thought that the Rapid charging tech used by Lenovo must be Quick Charge 3.0 since the P2 uses a Qualcomm chipset. However, our third-party QC3.0 charger didn't charge the P2 particularly fast, so the jury is still out on whether Lenovo is using a proprietary charging technology.

What's more important, however, is that the Lenovo P2 turned out one of the best all-time performers in our battery test with a 149-hour Endurance rating. It did a fabulous job of all tested scenarios - video, calls, web browsing and even stand-by performance (27 days).

The rating of 149 hours means you can rely on the Lenovo P2 for north of six days if you do an hour of 3G calls, web browsing, and video playback each day.

Lenovo has put a dedicated switch on the left side of the P2, which turns on the Ultimate Power Saver mode. This special mode switches to a black screen with just a few monochrome shortcuts - Phone, Contacts, SMS, Alarm, Calendar, Calculator. There is also an option to use the FM radio, if you like. This power saver should be enough for you to use the P2 for much longer on the remaining battery charge.

Ultimate Power Saver

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

Connectivity

The Lenovo P2 is available in a Dual-SIM configuration in certain markets. As already mentioned, the downside is that it uses a hybrid tray, so you have to sacrifice one of the SIM cards to get some extra storage. LTE is also on-board with a speed cap set at Cat.6 or 300 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps up.

The P2 comes with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac support. Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC are available. There is also an FM radio on board - a rare sight these days.

The microUSB 2.0 port supports USB-On-The-Go so that you can hook up flash drives and other USB accessories to it. It cannot output video, as there's no MHL or SlimPort functionality.