Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus review: Positive vibes

Synthetic benchmarks

One of the most popular chipsets in last year's midrange, you can easily call the Snapdragon 615 ubiquitous. We have about 70 devices powered by it in our database, and the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus uses a slightly updated version of that SoC, which Qualcomm calls Snapdragon 616. The difference is so subtle that popular apps like CPU-Z report it simply as Snaprdragon 615.

Anyway, here half of the 8 Cortex-A53 processor cores can reach up to 1.5GHz (so slightly lower than Qualcomm's nominal 1.7GHz), while the other 4 are capped lower, at 1.21GHz. The GPU is the familiar Adreno 405, and operating memory is 2GB. The setup is so common for a reason and the reason is that it provides adequate overall performance over daily use.

Starting with raw CPU performance, we ran the K5 Plus through Geekbench, where it scored nearly identical results to the Oppo F1, itself powered by the S616. Popular S615 devices like the Motorola Moto X Play and Sony Xperia M4 Aqua are trailing behind, but they were never among the best ambassadors for the chip, at least as far as benchmarks are concerned. More importantly the Vibe K5 Plus bested one chief competitor in the face of the Xiaomi Redmi 3.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  4825
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  4537
• Lenovo K3 Note
  4067
• Meizu m1 note
  3988
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  3570
• Huawei Honor 6
  3081
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  3038
• Oppo F1
  3014
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2842
• Huawei P8lite
  2813
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2745
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  2683
• Meizu m2 note
  2649
• Motorola Moto X Play
  2608
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2375
• Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM
  1589
• Samsung Galaxy J5
  1418

Basemark OS II 2.0 is an established compound benchmark, which can give you an idea of the overall performance you can expect from the Vibe K5 Plus. With a score in the high 800s, the smartphone is somewhat behind the Oppo F1, but it's equally ahead of the Redmi 3, so another win against its archrival. The major names like the Moto X Play and Xperia M4 aqua are left behind too.

Basemark OS II 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1537
• Meizu m1 metal
  1039
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  1018
• Lenovo K3 Note
  984
• Oppo F1
  961
• Huawei Honor 6
  888
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  884
• Meizu m1 note
  880
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  858
• Motorola Moto X Play
  809
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  804
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  757
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  729
• Huawei P8lite
  691
• Meizu m2 note
  673

The Redmi 3 suffers another loss in the older version of Basemark OS II, where the K5 Plus' lead is even more pronounced. Then again, the F1 is further ahead of Lenovo's entry, too. The Xperia M4 Aqua does redeem itself a bit, but not so for the Moto X Play.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Oppo F1
  1055
• Lenovo K3 Note
  1053
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  956
• Meizu m1 metal
  943
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  883
• Huawei Honor 6
  863
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  861
• Meizu m2 note
  794
• Motorola Moto X Play
  764
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  737
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  727
• Meizu m1 note
  715
• Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM
  619
• Huawei P8lite
  600
• Samsung Galaxy J5
  503

Antutu's become another industry standard benchmark, even if its numbers are too often used for bragging rights. We haven't yet had the opportunity to build an extensive database of scores from the latest benchmark version, especially when non-flagships are concerned, but we do have a few affordable entries to compare the Vibe K5 Plus with.

The good thing that can be said is that the Lenovo smartphone posts a virtually identical number to the Oppo F1, which is markedly more expensive. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3's are flying high here, especially the Snapdragon 650 version.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  75051
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  45474
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  38359
• Oppo F1
  35353
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  35291

Antutu 5 is where we've got a larger selection of smartphones, and a wider base for comparison. Similar figures as the Redmi 3 here, both ahead of the Xperia M4 Aqua, but still not on par with the Moto X Play.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  49508
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  47816
• Lenovo K3 Note
  46283
• Huawei Honor 6
  42688
• Meizu m1 note
  39224
• Motorola Moto X Play
  37020
• Huawei P8lite
  35205
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  35141
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  34077
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  32217
• Meizu m2 note
  32054
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  29452
• Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM
  24293
• Samsung Galaxy J5
  21422

Graphics performance is where the Snapdragon 61x typically struggles with 1080p displays. The Vibe K5 Plus is no different in this respect, only managing 5.5fps on GFXBench Manhattan. Onscreen or off, the Vibe K5 Plus put out the same frame rate, its display being 1080p, which is the standardized resolution for the off screen test.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8.5
• Meizu m1 metal
  8.4
• Huawei Honor 6
  8.1
• Lenovo K3 Note
  6.1
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  5.9
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  5.84
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  5.8
• Motorola Moto X Play
  5.8
• Oppo F1
  5.8
• Meizu m1 note
  5.8
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  5.5
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  4.2
• Meizu m2 note
  2.3
• Samsung Galaxy J5
  1.8
• Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM
  1.7

Most others fare better when rendering in their native resolution - one of the few advantages of 720p displays. Both the F1 and the Redmi 3 fall in this category, and so does the M4 Aqua, and all three manage more than twice higher frame rates. That said, even the Moto X Play with its FullHD display scores about 10% higher than the K5 Plus.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  12.2
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  12
• Oppo F1
  11
• Huawei Honor 6
  8.7
• Meizu m1 metal
  8
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  7.9
• Lenovo K3 Note
  6.1
• Motorola Moto X Play
  6.1
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  5.9
• Meizu m1 note
  5.7
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  5.5
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  4.2
• Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM
  3.9
• Samsung Galaxy J5
  3.8
• Meizu m2 note
  2.3

In Basemark X the K5 Plus loses to the Xiaomi Redmi 3, if only 5% behind. All of the usual suspects have overtaken the Lenovo, though, the Oppo F1 by the longest margin.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14732
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8540
• Meizu m1 metal
  8526
• Lenovo K3 Note
  5656
• Oppo R7 (retail)
  5382
• Oppo F1
  5314
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  5108
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  5105
• Motorola Moto X Play
  5032
• Huawei Honor 6
  4868
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  4863
• Meizu m1 note
  4617
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  4072
• Samsung Galaxy J5
  4034
• Meizu m2 note
  3946
• Huawei P8lite
  3648
• Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM
  1866