Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 Review

Verdict

The gaming telephone as an idea has been round for some time now, and it’s nonetheless not sure whether or not this explicit area of interest has any type of future. Whether or not or not that is the case, the Lenovo Legion Cellphone Duel 2 does loads to justify its existence.

Introduction

Gaming telephones are a comparatively new idea within the smartphone world and the Lenovo Legion Cellphone Duel 2 is among the newest. The premise is easy, these units will deliver all the facility you want to actually let unfastened and sport the way in which you wish to, at nearly any price.

The hallmarks are massive batteries, brash designs and even larger screens, with over-the-top specs in nearly each space.

Lenovo’s newest effort ticks every of those packing containers after which some, going additional than a lot of the competitors in its try and steal the crown of one of the best telephone for gaming.

It has a landscape-first design, RGB lighting, a motorised selfie-camera, twin turbocharging, air triggers and extra RAM and storage than most laptops – however is all of this sufficient? And within the race to be fully excessive, is sufficient consideration paid to the person expertise?

The Lenovo Legion Cellphone Duel 2 is out there now immediately from Lenovo within the UK and Europe for £699/€799. No phrase has been given on availability within the USA and different markets. The bottom mannequin comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, one color choice is out there.

Design and Display screen

• Flat display screen with no curves
• Gorilla Glass 5 on the entrance and rear
• Made for panorama use specifically

The phrase ‘Gamer’ when utilized to product design has sometimes meant one factor over time, a type of gaudy, bolshy, Lynx deodorant-style of extra.

The Legion Cellphone embraces this look wholeheartedly, however fortunately it does so with a modicum of restraint.

The machine is a tasteful black, and presents little clue from the entrance that it’s in truth a gaming machine.

On the rear, issues turn into a bit of totally different, with a central ‘island’ within the center which comprises the entire cameras (all of that are flush with the casing) an RGB ‘Legion’ brand and a small exhaust fan. That this aspect of the telephone is kind of a bit uglier than the entrance is a given, however moreover the purpose.

It is a machine which is probably not fairly as at residence within the boardroom as it’s in the lounge, however it’s definitely an enchancment over a number of the competitors, together with the Asus ROG telephone.

Appears to be like apart, this can be a very giant smartphone, one-handed use can be fully out of the query for many. At nearly 1cm thick, and weighing in at 259g it’s a chunky buyer, although the heft is reassuring somewhat than daunting. It is a machine that feels definitely worth the weight and the asking value, with a rock-solid aluminium body, good construct high quality and a troublesome normal really feel. It’s a glass sandwich after all, so we might be very hesitant to topic it to any type of drop.

So the Legion telephone is undoubtedly a gamer telephone, nonetheless Lenovo has gone a step additional in excited about how these folks would possibly use the telephone and made inclusions that aren’t merely skin-deep by way of their usefulness.

These embrace a side-mounted USB-C port which permits for twin fast-charging, or for charging whereas gaming, and a pop-up selfie digicam housed below the facility button. The latter can be of explicit curiosity for individuals who prefer to stream stay whereas gaming.

As a bonus, the included fan appears to help efficiency considerably, kicking in quietly when a sport is launched and serving to to maintain the thermal efficiency and keep away from throttling.

With a gamer-focussed telephone comes an obsession with body charges and excessive refresh charges, which means in the end how ‘clean’ the telephone will really feel typically use.

Typical smartphone shows refresh the display screen round 60 occasions per second (although most of the finest Android telephones have already upped this), whereas the Legion telephone can go all the way in which to 144 occasions per second. What this implies is that not solely will the smartphone really feel sooner than these with out this perform, however that sure cell video games which assist the characteristic will unlock an additional degree of efficiency.

I definitely discovered the excessive refresh charge to be nice, and matched with the quick contact pattern response charge this can be a telephone that flies.

The remainder of the show itself is nothing wanting cutting-edge and glorious. It expands over 6.92-inches, at a 1080p decision, presents assist for HDR10 content material and is an AMOLED panel so delivers infinite blacks and nice distinction.

With no pinhole selfie digicam or notch both, the display screen is totally uninterrupted, making this nice for watching motion pictures, or certainly gaming.

Digital camera

• Two digicam modules, one normal and one broad angle
• No optical stabilisation
• Has a pop-up selfie digicam

Although the main target elsewhere is on extra with the Legion telephone, there does come some extent when price financial savings have to be made.

On this case, it’s with the digicam – although the system supplied does look good on paper, it’s clear that imaging efficiency was on no account meant to match processing efficiency right here.

The Legion Cellphone Twin 2 comes with two sensors in tow, a 64MP f1.9 fundamental sensor and a 16MP f2.2 ultrawide. Neither presents any fancy auto focusing capabilities, optical picture stabilisation, claims for picture high quality or frills typically.

This lack of focus will be seen within the digicam app, which is considerably overstuffed and tough to navigate. Many choices are supplied, however with little rationalization as to what they obtain. An instance is ‘HD picture’ which presumably makes use of the 64MP decision to supply a extra detailed last picture, however that is mere hypothesis. I couldn’t discern any variations utilizing it throughout testing.

Shifting on to picture high quality, this can be a blended bag as is perhaps anticipated. In good gentle, and with a straightforward topic (comparable to a constructing) picture high quality, throughout the context of the value level, is passable.

There’s first rate element, affordable saturation and hues aren’t overblown like a number of the competitors.

Issues start to degrade as the sunshine goes nonetheless, with the dearth of any picture stabilisation which means that photographs lack element and saturation.

The state of affairs does enhance barely with using the included ‘Night time mode’, however right here one of the best digicam telephones, particularly the likes of the iPhone 12, are extra achieved. Issues solely deteriorate with the broad angle sensor, which showcases affordable color and dynamic vary however crushes element with heavy-handed processing.

The selfie digicam is particularly disappointing, contemplating it makes such an entertaining entrance.

I discovered that the little pop-up sensor prompted envy from household and associates, who had been then baffled on the delicate, overblown outcomes produced. In case you are somebody who units nice inventory by a selfie, there are once more higher choices accessible elsewhere, and for a cheaper price level.

Efficiency

• Runs a Snapdragon 888
• Comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage by default
• Cooling fan included to assist with sustained efficiency

The beating coronary heart of any gaming smartphone is after all its processor. To justify their very existence, they want one of the best of one of the best after which some, something to present some feeling of an edge in use.

Lenovo has outfitted the Legion telephone, suitably, with one of the best. It incorporates a Snapdragon 888, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of quick UFS3.1 storage, greater than sufficient to benefit from the likes of PUBG. In tandem, they make for a telephone which is definitely highly effective sufficient to work as a each day machine.

Although the telephone feels quick, it doesn’t benchmark significantly greater than the competitors, even with using its cooling fan. It managed a single core rating of 1127 and a multi core rating of 3724 in Geekbench 5, which is consistent with that achieved by different units sporting a Snapdragon 888. So although there isn’t a actual benefit displayed over the competitors, the takeaway is that this can be a telephone with energy to spare.

In video games, that is aided by an overlay that seems when swiping down. This presents controls over brightness and quantity, the power to spice up the fan velocity and, extra curiously, the power to map the air triggers.

Positioned on the highest of the machine, these act equally to the equal of the triggers on an Xbox or PlayStation controller, and will be mapped to ‘press’ any a part of the display screen. An instance could be a taking pictures sport, the appropriate air set off will be mapped to the ‘hearth’ button, which means that the set off can then be used for that perform, liberating up display screen house.

Although these don’t work on each sport, and are generally redundant for these constructed on swipe contact interfaces, they work very properly for console-ports and for emulation. As is perhaps anticipated, the concentrate on the haptic suggestions for these interprets to the remainder of the machine, its haptic response typically is tight and satisfying.

That is the tip of the gamer-themed customisations so far as the software program is anxious, the remaining is a comparatively muted pores and skin of Android that doesn’t offend in any means. It’s a ‘inventory’ themed model, which implies that apps are put in on the homescreen, and that there’s additionally an app drawer and so forth. The settings menu is the place probably the most customisation will be discovered, providing finer grain controls over the likes of the display screen white level and refresh charges.

The front-firing audio system are a pleasing shock. They’re loud, vibrant, provide some semblance of stereo separation and even some first rate bass. I discovered them to simply be the equal of a £20 Bluetooth speaker, and they’re an actual deal with for watching motion pictures and TV.

Battery life

• 5500mAh battery
• Able to ‘twin’ quick charging
• Comes with a quick charger within the field

It has been stated already that the Legion telephone is a really giant handset, one which simply wears the ugly moniker of ‘phablet’, being massive is a part of its core identification.

A nice aspect impact of its additional girth is the simple inclusion of a monster battery pack inside. At 5500mAh it’s among the many largest accessible in a tool at this value level, and it’s positively wanted.

On a mean day, I managed round 5 hours of screen-on time, with a mixture of messaging, watching video, listening to music, shopping the web and indulging in a bit of cell gaming.

So for most individuals, the Legion Cellphone Duel 2 may have sufficient battery to make it by the day and right into a second with out an excessive amount of difficulty.

The state of affairs after all modifications with the inclusion of heavier gaming periods. When enjoying the likes of PUBG or extra intensive titles, energy consumption elevated significantly, dropping the display screen on time by round 90 min most often. That is nonetheless a stable displaying, these in search of lengthy gaming periods can be properly served.

And when the time involves do a fast top-up, the Legion Cellphone Duel 2 has a trick up its sleeve in twin fast-charging.

It might probably settle for two charging cables directly (each of those plus a quick charger are included within the field). With each of those connected and with the appropriate quick charger used, I managed to high up over 90% in 30 min, which could be very quick certainly.

Actually the one knock in opposition to the Legion telephone within the battery division is the dearth of wi-fi charging, although whether or not this qualifies as a flaw will rely closely in your preferences.

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