EDIT: If you’re after a more powerful device in the PHP 10,xxx range, check out the Lenovo P700 that runs on Ice Cream Sandwich, has a bigger 4″ screen and a larger battery life. It’s also dual SIM.
Met up with John Rojo, the new Business Unit Head of Lenovo Mobile (Open COmmunications) and he showed me a bunch of new tech they have coming. One of these was the new Lenovo A65 which is their exciting follow up to the A60 released in October of last year.
Well guess what? I forgot to take photos. Because I was took busy making chika. You know. So instead, here’s a photo of the A60, because the A65 looks very similar and the differences are really in the internals.
For one, the new A65 comes with the latest firmware update that is a MUST. If you were an early adopter, the old issues had a recurring problem with SMS getting disabled. Fortunately Lenovo addressed this with a firmware update that fixed this one and only issue.
The new A65 is near-perfect given its price point of below PHP 6,000. It levels up the competition with the Samsung Galaxy Y and the Alcatel Blaze / Alcatel Glory because it sports a bigger 3.5″ screen and a faster 800Mhz processor (the A60 had a 650mhz processor).
So, really. Reasonably fast user interface, Android 2.3 OS (you don’t need ICS for this), dual SIM, huge 3.5″ screen. Then factor in a price point of only PHP 5,499.00 and it’s really a steal. A bigger steal than its precursor which retailed for above PHP 7,xxx.xx
Verdict: Highly recommended. I wouldn’t call it a budget phone because ‘budget’ connotes sacrificing functionality. But it doesn’t. I’m still wow-ed by the impressive price-point.
