Original lenovo s660. Review of the Lenovo S660 smartphone in a metal case. Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge necessary for their functioning.

2 years ago 0

Price/quality combination: the device is made of high-quality materials, everything works clearly and smoothly (for now), even the proximity sensor doesn’t get stuck (by the way, this common problem has a solution if you read the forum) I don’t want to reflash, the shell is normal. Personally, I’m happy with the lock button side There is no point in talking about the rest (design, camera, size, screen, processor, etc.) it’s a matter of taste and color

2 years ago 0

Battery life!!! It works quite quickly. Metal body.

2 years ago 0

Beautiful design, capacious battery, 2-SIM, normal format SIM cards, memory cards.

2 years ago 0

Already listed by previous speakers

2 years ago 0

powerful smart

2 years ago 0

Battery, communication.

2 years ago 0

Battery! Design, metal looks good Nice bumper included

2 years ago 0

nimble and fast

2 years ago 0

The phone is super by all criteria, long battery, camera is good, fell hard three times, screen glass without cracks, this is a big plus (+), although the right corner is scratched on the case, the look is stylish, I really like it, and also, it was updated on the fifteenth September until Android 4,4,2, please note, even though when I bought it it was Android 4,2,2

2 years ago 0

Pros: Loud, good battery life, good camera, bright clear screen. Convenient to write SMS.

2 years ago 0

If you nitpick:
Sharp engraving on the back, although this is completely invisible to the touch of the finger, dirt can simply collect there over time
Firmware in Chinese may not be fully translated; Chinese characters appear in some places, English characters appear in others
I didn’t like how auto brightness works (it sets the desired brightness with a long delay, it may take a few seconds)
A bright indicator that has a directional glow (this drawback is only noticeable at night)
Takes selfies poorly)

2 years ago 0

If we really find fault, we can note the desire of the device to slip out of your hands.

2 years ago 0

Slippery metal body, no otg support, very weak front camera. Despite the release date, 4.4.2 kitkat is only available through custom firmware.

2 years ago 0

The proximity sensor always turns on, but when you remove the phone from your ear, the screen often does not turn on. So you have to first press the blocking button, and then hang up.
And the most important drawback - refute if this is not so! Because on the sixth day I dropped it on a concrete floor and there were 2 cracks in the screen. The pipe was without a cover, I don’t like these clothes. And now I’m thinking about getting a new one, since glass replacement costs 4,500 rubles. - the glass there is all glued together, one whole. So about the disadvantage - it loses coordinates during gsp positioning. Often. Not from time to time, but during one session! It just shows an arrow, and now there’s a circle somewhere away from the real location. Tested in Yandex maps, Google, and 2GIS. And since I constantly use a navigator, this sad fact is completely about

2 years ago 0

The camera is so-so, there is no stabilization, it moved a little, everything is blurry.
I reset it to factory settings once (it turned itself off) after that there were no glitches.
proximity sensor sucks

2 years ago 0

2 years ago 0

Almost immediately after the purchase, problems began - spontaneous unlocking of the screen, glitches of the proximity sensor, but most importantly, why the phone was bought - disgusting performance of the navigator!

2 years ago 0

I used it for about a month, they couldn’t get through to me on both SIM cards, they called me the fifth time, I thought it was the firmware, but neither the update nor the reset helped. took it to the store. They said something was wrong with the communication module!

2 years ago 0

The drawback is that you always want something better, and when unlocking the screen it began to slow down, because you have to unlock it several times, the lock does not always open the first time!

2 years ago 0

Flaws:
The vibration mode is very weak. It's been glitching lately. During a call, the screen goes dark. To hang up, you need to highlight the unlock button on the side. But it doesn’t always work, and it’s impossible to stop the conversation. Once, even in this case, the body began to ripple and reset itself to the factory settings. The last recorded contacts have been erased. Perhaps it's a Chinese assembly issue.

For Lenovo, 2014 was a very productive year. The lineup has been expanded to include both budget devices and powerful smartphones. One of the new products presented was the S660 model.

Design

The Lenovo S660 phone is a fairly compact device. The size of the device is slightly smaller than usual due to the 4.7-inch screen. A slight reduction in the diagonal made it possible to make a gadget that is comfortable to use. The user can operate the device even with one hand.

The material of the case has undergone fundamental changes. In Lenovo S660, plastic has been replaced by aluminum. This solution significantly increased the smartphone's resistance to scratches and dents. Of course, if you want to, it’s not difficult to damage the device, but metal saves you from accidental injuries.

Such an interesting case material also has its drawbacks. The surface of the smartphone collects fingerprints incredibly quickly. Naturally, wiping your phone is not difficult, but it is unpleasant.

Due to the metal, the device looks solid and quite stylish. Although there are no significant changes in appearance, there is definitely some zest in the device.

The front side houses the display, sensors, camera, speaker, touch buttons and logo. On the right side there is a volume control and a power button. The back side has a logo, main camera, speaker, flash and microphone. The top end became a shelter for the headphone jack, and the bottom was reserved for USB.

In general, the device has an interesting appearance. The build quality is not satisfactory, and the durability of the device is excellent. Quite a suitable design for an entertainment smartphone.

Display

The C660 was equipped with a screen of only 4.7 inches. Quite a strange decision for a company that equips even budget devices with a large size. Low resolution will also be an unpleasant fact. The Lenovo S660 smartphone has only 960 by 540 pixels. This is an incredibly low specification and is more suitable for phones with four inches. Accordingly, the pixels are visible even to the naked eye.

The IPS matrix of the smartphone brightens up the situation somewhat. The screen on the Lenovo S660 is quite bright, which ensures high-quality work in the sun. There are also manual and automatic display settings. In addition to brightness, the device boasts a high viewing angle.

Despite the entertaining direction of the series, this representative did not have the best screen parameters. In terms of characteristics, even budget representatives of category “A” beat the C660.

That's what the manufacturer took care of protecting the display. The device is equipped with glass. There is no need to worry about scratches and damage to the screen.

Camera

The Lenovo S660 received the usual 8 megapixels for inexpensive models. The camera, which is acceptable for a budget employee, looks rather strange in a more expensive series. The resolution of 3264 by 2448 also worsens the impression. All characteristics indicate average image quality, but things are much worse.

In fact, the device takes photos that are more likely to be expected from a five-megapixel camera. The device lacks sharpness, but there is too much noise. Setting up the Lenovo C660 will not solve the problem either. The user will have to forget about night photos, since the pictures turn out incredibly bad.

A similar situation happened with video recording. The filming takes place in HD quality, but the result is disappointing. The video camera has the same problems as the photo camera.

The poor implementation of the main camera does not give hope for the front camera. The phone has a peephole of only 0.3 megapixels and is only suitable for video calls. You shouldn't expect more from the front camera.

Filling

The strongest point of the Lenovo S660 is its hardware. The company equipped the phone with the MTK processor common to the Chinese. Naturally, Snapdragon would be a better choice for an advanced model, but the Chinese took the path of saving. The processor has four cores, each of which operates at a frequency of 1.3 GHz.

Although there is no doubt about the performance of the filling, similar parameters are present in many of the company’s state employees. There is a feeling that the “S660” is not in its series.

The smartphone has a gigabyte of RAM. This amount of memory is quite enough to maximize the potential of the device. The combined efforts of the RAM and processor allow the C660 to easily solve a lot of problems.

Another parameter will not particularly please owners of the Lenovo S660. We are talking about 8 GB of native memory. Unfortunately, the user will only be able to use 6 GB. The remaining memory is allocated for Android. You can increase the memory with a 32 GB card.

Battery

Since the device belongs to the “S” entertainment series, the battery is installed accordingly. The battery capacity is 3000 maH, which is quite enough for long-term operation.

Active use of the gadget will drain the charge in about 6-7 hours. Quite good for functionality. Adjusting the screen brightness and disabling unnecessary processes will significantly increase the operating time.

The smartphone does not suffer from a lack of battery capacity; this is facilitated by the economical filling. Most of the charge will be spent solely on the display.

System

The device runs under the now outdated Android 4.2.2. The system has the design of the company Vibe UI with installed applications. Some programs will come in handy. If the question arises of how to take a screenshot on Lenovo S660, additional applications will help.

There are also more modern versions of the system for the C660. You can update Android using either FOTA or

Sound

You can't expect any special frills from the speaker. The sound for a device running on Android is quite acceptable and does not cause negativity. The included headset is not good for almost anything. The user will be forced to change headphones to get high-quality sound.

Connection

The device works with 2G and 3G, and the connection quality is quite high. The device also supports 2 SIM cards. Unfortunately, when making calls, one of the cards is disabled, since the smartphone only has one radio module.

The phone supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS functions. Unfortunately, the phone does not have OTG.

Price

You can become the owner of a “C660” for approximately 9 thousand rubles. Considering the characteristics of the device, the price is definitely too high. Some representatives from the “A” series have brighter parameters and lower cost.

Negative reviews

The most painful place of the device is its display, and many people note this. Conspicuous pixels definitely do not improve the user's mood. Despite the IPS matrix, the more important characteristics are not encouraging.

A weak camera is another drawback of the phone that buyers point out. Even under ideal conditions and great efforts of the owner, the picture can turn out bad. The reason for this, naturally, is the low resolution and 8 megapixel cameras. Solutions such as setting up the Lenovo S660 will not bring much results.

An out-of-date version of the system is also not a pleasant thing. The need for an update confuses a lot of users. Without experience in firmware, it will be difficult to update the device.

Positive reviews

The advantage of the C660 is its productive hardware. The phone is really powerful and can handle even demanding games, gamers appreciate it. The problem will occur in 3D applications, but reducing the quality will solve the problem.

It is worth paying tribute to the stunning appearance. In addition to the fact that the phone is well-built, the device has a stylish design that is appreciated by its owners.

The autonomy of the device is the main feature of the series. The capacitive battery allows you not to worry about the state of charge.

Bottom line

The smartphone turned out to be not the most successful. In a detailed comparison, the S660 device is inferior even to some Lenovo budget phones in terms of characteristics and cost. A bunch of shortcomings, as well as an inflated price, do not create much attractiveness.

Small smartphone with a metal body and long battery life

The family of “long-lasting” Lenovo smartphones, in the company’s classification of mobile devices united by the letter “P” (from the word Professional), has been replenished with another interesting product. The Lenovo S660 smartphone is distinguished by an advantageous combination of balanced technical characteristics, a relatively affordable price, as well as some “proprietary” features of the line, such as a metal body and an increased battery capacity. All this makes this device quite attractive in the eyes of a certain category of users.

If you try to understand the position of the device being studied today in the mobile market, then it is worth noting, first of all, the fact that the device has a high-capacity battery. This allows the smartphone to work without recharging much longer than conventional modern mobile devices, which automatically distinguishes the Lenovo S660 into a separate specific product niche. The Lenovo S660 is not alone in this niche; other manufacturers also have similar solutions, for example, the recently tested Fly Evo Energy 4, which is equipped with a record-breaking battery, performed very well. Lenovo also has similar solutions: the most famous of them is the Lenovo P780 smartphone, which we talked about in due time, so today’s test subject will have someone to compete with.

Key Features of Lenovo S660

• SoC MediaTek MT6582, 1.3 GHz, 4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7
• GPU Mali 400 MP
• Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Touch IPS display, 4.7″, 960×540, 234 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB, internal memory 8 GB
• microSD memory card support
• HSDPA+ data transfer: up to 21 Mbps
• Dual SIM support (Dual SIM Dual Standby)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
• GPS, A-GPS
• Position, proximity, lighting sensors
• Camera 8 MP, autofocus, flash
• Camera 0.3 MP (front), fixed. focus
• Lithium polymer battery 3000 mAh
• Dimensions 137x68.8x9.9 mm
• Weight 151 g

Contents of delivery

The Lenovo S660 smartphone is sold in a small hard cardboard box with one single compartment inside. At first glance, the packaging does not pretend to be premium, but when you look inside, the attitude immediately changes. The internal structure of the box, the care and attention to detail with which everything is done, and even the appropriate notes in the internal compartment, marking what is located where - all this puts you in a very positive mood and adds sympathy and respect to the product contained inside.

The kit consists of a compact charger (5 V, 1.5 A), a Micro-USB connecting cable, a primitive-quality wired stereo headset with a thin round wire and plastic headphones without vacuum ear pads. In addition, in some delivery options you can find a plastic case that is pleasant to the touch, made of a rough matte material that does not leave fingerprints. In addition to the obvious purpose of protecting the case from damage, this case has another function - with the help of a folding leg it can turn into a table stand.

Appearance and ease of use

In terms of dimensions, the Lenovo S660 smartphone is not too large; it fits perfectly in any hand, even a woman’s. True, the body of the device has a decent thickness (reaches a whole centimeter) and is weighty (weight is more than 150 g). With its small size, but decent thickness and weight, the device feels like a weighty block in the hand, but there is an excuse for this: most of the body of the Lenovo S660 is occupied by a very large battery, so in this case the excess thickness and weight are forgivable.

The smartphone has a very calm design, neat, but without any frills or special charm - before us is a modest-looking, simple workhorse, the main purpose of which is not to show off, but to work hard and hard. The smartphone is not too easily soiled - all its surfaces, except, of course, the glass of the screen, are matte, rough, and there are practically no fingerprints on them.

The back cover is a fairly thick all-metal plate; we often see such solutions in Lenovo mobile products. The company, by the way, presents the body of its S660 as “metal”, but it is partially plastic with a metal-like coating. This applies to all four wide side edges, which look like blackened metal, but are actually plastic.

But the lid is actually made of real metal, which, naturally, gives the device’s body strength, but it does not fit like a glove on its latches, unlike plastic lids. The material of plastic lids is usually more flexible and ductile; it stretches slightly when the fasteners are snapped into place, and the lid fits very tightly, which metal cannot have. In any case, the cover of the Lenovo S660 moves a little along the body, bends a little and creaks, which is slightly annoying.

The cover is very difficult to remove; trying to pick it up and pull it off with your fingernail is problematic and even painful; it is better to use some hard tool at hand. Under the cover there is a removable battery and two full-size Mini-SIM SIM card slots, located one above the other. Memory cards are also supported here, so you can also find a third slot nearby. Most of the internal space of the case is occupied by the battery, which, of course, makes the largest contribution to the total weight of the smartphone. The battery is removable, but it supports all three card slots from below, so hot-swapping them is impossible.

On the outer side of the back of the smartphone there is a small square window for the main camera, framed by a slightly protruding rim, a single-section LED flash, and below there is an array of small round holes that make up the main speaker grille.

The speaker grille overlaps the surface of the table, which partially muffles the sound of a lying smartphone. The single-section LED flash can be used as a flashlight using pre-installed software. The flashlight has a flashing alarm mode, the flash shines quite brightly.

The entire front panel is covered with flat protective glass without edges; a hole is cut in it for the longitudinal metal grille of the speaker. Nearby you can see the eyes of the front camera and sensors. Another useful element, the LED notification indicator, shines with a bright dot right here, in the upper part.

Below the screen there is space left for hardware buttons to control the system and applications. There is, perhaps, too much space left here: the small, neat buttons get lost in the background and don’t need that much free space at all. These buttons, naturally, are touch-sensitive, have a dim white backlight, the central icon is made in the form of the recognizable “quatrefoil”, traditional for Lenovo mobile products, and not the classic “house”.

There are only two mechanical keys on the sides of the device; they are located on the right side. Large metallized buttons have a soft, springy action and a clear response; they are easy to find blindly. Considering that the lock key is located not on the top, but on the side, there are no complaints at all about the mechanical controls of the Lenovo S660.

The Micro-USB connector is placed at the bottom end, and the headphone output is at the top. The device does not support the mode of connecting external devices (USB OTG, USB Host) to the USB port. The smartphone connectors are not covered with any plugs or covers, because the device is not protected from water and dust. There was no fastening for the strap on the case either.

On sale you can find the Lenovo S660 smartphone in only one color - the one shown in our pictures. The developers themselves dubbed this color “Titanium”.

Screen

The Lenovo S660 smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix of good quality, but not of the highest resolution. The physical dimensions of the display are 58x103 mm, diagonal - 4.7 inches. The screen resolution is 960x540, which gives a good, but very far from record dots per inch density of 234 ppi.

The display brightness has both manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. The Lenovo S660 also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 5 simultaneous touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Lenovo S660, then they can be distinguished by size):

Due to the difference in size and color tone of the screens, it is difficult to visually accurately determine which screen is actually darker, but statistics from the graphics editor show that the Lenovo S660 screen is slightly darker (its brightness in the photo is 93 versus 100 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Lenovo S660 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (not very effective - the finger glides poorly), so fingerprints are removed more easily and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 500 cd/m², the minimum was 12 cd/m². The maximum brightness is very high, which means, given the good anti-glare properties of the screen, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an excellent level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness increases, but decreases only after some actions on the part of the user, for example, after the “put to sleep mode - activate” cycle. In complete darkness, in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 12 cd/m2 (a little dark, but you can still read), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux), the brightness is set to 220 cd/m2 (just right), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to 420 cd/m², that is, not to the maximum. It turns out that the automatic brightness adjustment function does not work entirely correctly. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant color shift even with large deviations of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades (the very, very dark ones when the gaze is deviated to the right). For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of the Lenovo S660 and Nexus 7, with the screen brightness initially set to approximately 200 cd/m². There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the acceptable uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field (when photographing, the color balance in the camera is forced to 6500 K). And a test picture:

Color reproduction is good and colors are rich on both screens, although there are differences in color balance. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that color rendering from this angle in the case of the Lenovo S660 has not changed much. And a white field:

The brightness at the angle of the screens decreased (at least five times, based on the difference in shutter speed), and decreased by approximately the same amount. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a purple tint or remains almost neutral gray. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is quite high - about 850:1. The black-white-black response time is 23 ms (11.5 ms on + 11.5 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 36 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.32, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power-law dependence:

Color gamut is almost equal to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, since the color temperature is noticeably higher than 6500 K and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is quite large. However, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the smartphone can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. The auto-brightness mode has limited usefulness as it only works upwards, and even then in very bright environments it does not increase the brightness to the maximum value. The advantages of the screen include the absence of flickering and air gaps in the layers of the screen, good uniformity of the black field, equal to sRGB color gamut and good - when visually assessed - color balance. The main disadvantage is the low stability of black to gaze deviation from perpendicular to the screen plane. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is nothing special. There is only one main speaker; it sounds loud enough, but without a noticeable presence of low frequencies. The earpiece sounds about the same. However, this does not particularly affect the perception of sound during a conversation - the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable. The sound is significantly muffled if the device is placed on a hard surface with the screen facing up. To play music, the device uses the stock Google Play Music player with standard sound settings, such as an equalizer with several preset values. In general, the sound capabilities of the smartphone are modest; the Lenovo S660 is not a solution for music lovers.

The device cannot use built-in tools to record a conversation from the line. The smartphone is equipped with a built-in FM radio, which traditionally only works with headphones connected as an external antenna.

Camera

Lenovo S660 is equipped with two digital camera modules. The front camera here is equipped only with a VGA module with a resolution of only 0.3 megapixels; it takes pictures measuring 640x480 and does not have autofocus. The quality is such that it is difficult to make out anything in the photo - the front camera is here, rather, for show.

The main rear camera is equipped with an 8-megapixel module with manual and automatic autofocus and shoots with a maximum resolution of 3264×2448. The settings menu here is classic, familiar from other Android devices that are not burdened with third-party user interfaces. The menu has several shooting modes, including HDR. Shooting can only be done by touching the screen - the volume key in this mode is responsible for digital zooming.

The camera can shoot video at a maximum resolution of 1080p (30 fps), examples of test videos shot in bright sunlight and in cloudy weather are presented below.

• Video No. 1 (51 MB, 1920×1080)
• Video No. 2 (53 MB, 1920×1080)

	The foliage was done well, but the camera was a little off with the exposure.
	Good sharpness in the background and across the entire frame.
	Perhaps the picture could have been taken lighter.
	The camera copes well with backlight.
	There is no strong noise in the shadows.
	On light walls you can see a good result of the noise reduction.
	The number plate of the nearest car is visible.
	Toward distant plans, the sharpness drops very slowly and smoothly.
	Even in medium shots the foliage does not merge yet.
	The camera copes poorly with macro photography.

The camera turned out to be pretty good. It works honestly with its 8 megapixels, producing a picture that is pleasing to the eye. Sharpness is quite uniform and very good in almost all plans. The noise reduction does not work perfectly, but it does its job well - the shadows are quite clean, although in some places you can see some graininess, as well as artifacts at the boundaries of objects, which can ruin small details. There is no noticeable sharpening in the images, which speaks not only in favor of the program, but also in favor of the module itself. The camera's dynamic range is quite wide, but exposure errors sometimes occur.

In general, the camera is quite suitable for shooting various scenes.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; there is no support for fourth generation (4G) networks, NFC is also not supported. The maximum wireless data transfer speed is limited by the HSDPA+ standard (up to 21 Mbit/s download). As a standard, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels; Wi-Fi Direct is supported. The navigation module only works with the GPS system (with A-GPS) - there is no support for the domestic Glonass system. The magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the electronic compass of navigation programs usually operates, was not found among the modules of the device. There were no spontaneous reboots/shutdowns observed during testing, as well as system slowdowns or freezes.

Drawing letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite comfortable to control. The layout and location of the keys are standard: switching languages ​​here is done by pressing a special button with a globe image; there is no dedicated top row with numbers - you will have to switch the layout each time. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out in contacts. In the keyboard settings, among other things, you can enable the continuous sliding input mode from letter to letter. You can also move the keyboard closer to one of the edges for ease of use with one hand, but with a 4.7-inch screen this does not seem such a serious need. This opportunity was most likely inherited by the smartphone from its larger brothers in the mobile family.

The smartphone supports working with two SIM cards, and in general, working with them in the menu is organized according to a familiar principle: you can designate any of the SIM cards as the main one for organizing voice calls, transferring data or sending SMS messages. When dialing a number, you are also given the opportunity to select the desired card. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G networks, but only one of the cards can work in this mode at the same time (the second will only work in 2G). Work with two SIM cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

Lenovo S660 is currently running on the Google Android software platform, which is not the latest version 4.2.2. The manufacturer has changed the appearance and configuration of the user interface quite a bit, which is noticeable only in the absence of an application menu - all icons of installed programs are immediately placed directly on the desktop. Naturally, the creation of folders is supported, and most of the pre-installed programs are already organized into them by the developers themselves. Otherwise, the interface is practically no different from the proprietary Android interface. There are a lot of pre-installed programs, and in addition to really useful ones, such as an office suite and a file manager, you can also find several games and many Yandex programs here. All these applications are free, and they could easily be downloaded from the Play Store yourself if the smartphone owner had such a desire.

Performance

The Lenovo S660 hardware platform is based on the MediaTek MT6582 single-chip system (SoC). This is not the most powerful of the MTK platforms: although it has 4 processor cores, these are not very powerful Cortex-A7 cores. The processor cores here operate at a frequency of 1.3 GHz, and the Mali-400MP video processor, which is far from the most productive, is also responsible for graphics processing. The device has only 1 GB of RAM. The situation with the built-in memory of the smartphone is no better - it is only 8 GB nominally, but of this only about 5.5 GB is available to the user for his needs. True, to expand the built-in memory, you can install a microSD card in the smartphone, but, unfortunately, the device does not support the mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG) - it will not be possible to read information from a flash drive connected to it.

To get an idea of ​​the platform performance of the smartphone under test, a standard set of tests was carried out. Based on the results of the data obtained during testing, the Lenovo S660 system demonstrated not very high performance indicators quite expected from this MediaTek platform.

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed their “obstacle courses” on previous versions of test programs.

In general, according to the results of all tests, the Lenovo S660 can be classified as a device with average (even slightly below average) performance. In any case, at the moment, the hardware performance of the smartphone should be enough to perform most basic tasks that applications from the Google Play Store can perform, not counting perhaps demanding 3D games, but this device is not intended for them. The display, modest in size and resolution, and the large-capacity battery make it more of a reliable business assistant than a multimedia entertainment machine.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

When testing the graphics subsystem in the cross-platform 3DMark test for the most powerful smartphones, it is now possible to run 3DMark in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the testing results, the Lenovo S660 was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, in this case audio, which are necessary for full playback of most of the most common files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, even in it you will first have to change the settings, switching from hardware decoding to software or to a new mode called Hardware+(not supported by all smartphones), only then will sound appear. All results are summarized in a single table.

¹ MX Video Player only played sound after switching to software decoding or a new mode Hardware+; The standard player does not have this setting

To test the output of video files on the screen of the device itself, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). In our tests, we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode, since there were a lot of artifacts in the “Hardware+” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

The intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate slightly unevenly and in the case of files with 50 and 60 fps, some frames are always skipped. However, in general, if we limit ourselves to 24 fps typical for movies and TV series, then there are no special complaints about video playback. When playing video files with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (720p and 1080p), the image of the actual video file is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-polymer battery installed in the Lenovo S660, of course, does not reach the record value of the Fly Luminor IQ4501, but, nevertheless, it is a significant 3000 mAh. According to the manufacturer itself, the smartphone is capable of operating for up to 36 hours in talk mode and up to 35 days in standby mode. The numbers look fabulous (in both senses), but in reality everything turned out to be more prosaic. According to the test results, the test subject demonstrated excellent battery life results in its class, but the device is not a record holder in this regard.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted 25 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 9.5 hours, and in 3D gaming mode - just under 5 hours.

Bottom line

As for the cost of the Lenovo S660, in our market the price of this smartphone is set at approximately 8 thousand rubles or slightly higher (gray devices can be purchased at a price of 6,000 rubles). Based on the testing results, the new product can be safely classified as average: the device has a very good screen with a comfortable diagonal, a very strong and well-built body with a metal lid, quite passable ergonomics and good hardware performance. And of course, here it is necessary to once again note the most important feature of the tested device - its unusually long battery life. Combined with the listed advantages and a very low price (for the Russian market), this makes the Lenovo S660 quite an interesting purchase in the eyes of those users who value their mobile assistant not for its image, but for its performance qualities. The Chinese have come up with an excellent balanced model, and the gradual reduction in price is only good for it.

The hero of today's review, the Lenovo S660 smartphone, has many similarities with other company smartphones. Technical characteristics and equipment are reminiscent of the model, and the large battery and the use of metal body elements are reminiscent of the P780 and models. At the same time, we can say with complete confidence that it has its own “face” and will not get lost in the close ranks of Lenovo smartphones. We won’t bore you, but we’ll just tell you what we liked and didn’t like about this device.

Equipment

In it you will find: a smartphone, a charger unit with an output current of 1.5 A, a cable, a simple headset, the necessary minimum documentation and a case. Let's look at it in more detail.

What we have here is a typical cover-cover for the back of a smartphone, the main feature of which is a cutout in the back, into which a metal plate covered in rubber is inserted. The metal is springy and bends in a semicircle, which allows you to use the case as a stand, fixing your smartphone in a horizontal or vertical position. A similar case comes with the Lenovo S650, only this time the manufacturer used dark blue matte plastic.

Design and ergonomics

From the front, the Lenovo S660 looks like any other mid-size smartphone. Accessories for Lenovo smartphones display a logo and touch keys with a characteristic pattern and backlighting that lights up when touched. Other elements here include a thin speaker grille, a window for proximity and light sensors, a camera lens, and an indicator for missed events. When viewed from the right angle, it shines too brightly, but when the smartphone is lying on the table at a short distance from you, its blinking is simply quite noticeable.

The smartphone is framed by a strip of plastic interspersed with sparkles. Physical control keys are located on the right: volume and lock keys. The volume button this time really resembles a rocker - its middle is slightly sunken, and the edges are raised, it can be easily felt blindly, and is convenient to use. The power key, on the contrary, is slightly rounded towards the body, which does not significantly worsen its ergonomics. Audio and interface connectors are located on the left side of the top and bottom edges, respectively.

The back cover is made of a single piece of metal, a glossy logo is engraved on it, and there are slots for the camera, flash, second microphone and ringing speaker grille. Under the cover there is a removable battery and slots for a memory card and two Mini-SIMs, located one above the other. Replacing them will require removing the battery.

A collapsible body with metal elements is not the easiest design task. However, among the smartphones of the last five years, we can recall several examples of its successful solution - for example, Samsung Wave, Wave 3 and Captivate had different, but quite successful and reliable cover designs. Lenovo decided to go their own way and designed the cover similarly to plastic ones - it is a plate with small latches around the perimeter. Plastic is more flexible, so these covers can be easily removed and replaced. With the Lenovo S660, everything is more complicated: to remove the cover correctly, you need to pry it off with your fingernail, then swipe it right and left, gradually releasing the latches. Intuitively, you just want to pull the cover towards you, which can easily damage the plastic grooves. Of course, removal instructions are in the documentation, which no one reads, and on the inside of the cover, but a sticker on the body would also be nice. Because of all of the above, the cover does not sit very tightly in its place, there are no sealing stickers on it, it bends a little towards the battery and has some play at the bottom. All this is invisible in the case, but because of it, not the thinnest smartphone becomes even thicker.

Perhaps the strange cover is the main disadvantage of the device’s design. Otherwise, it fits comfortably in the hand, the metal and weight feel quite pleasant in the hand.

Operating system and shell

One of the advantages of using skins as pure Android is the same user experience. In Fly smartphones you can always see “pure” Android, in Samsung and LG – TouchWiz and Optimus UI shells, which have almost the same appearance and functionality on devices of different price categories. At Lenovo, until recently, everything was exactly the same. But in the S660, about 30% of the shell consists of the Lenovo launcher, the rest is pure “robot”. Many of the usual Lenovo applications, such as the energy manager, are missing. Thus, the lock screen, notification line, camera and settings menu are standard, and the desktop on which all installed applications are located is from Lenovo.

The desktops retain the usual functionality: support for themes, customization of animation, circular paging and support for gestures (for example, by swiping down on the desktop, you can open the notification line, up - a list of recently running applications).

This list can be presented in two forms: if you hold the “Menu” key for a long time, a standard list for the operating system opens, if you use a gesture, a stripped-down version from the Lenovo shell opens.

All this beauty, literally “stretched” on Android 4.2.2, is perceived too negatively and raises questions, especially when you know that Lenovo Launcher (or Vibe OS) is a beautiful and functional shell, especially since hardware similar to Lenovo is already on the market An S650 that makes everything look the part. We can only hope that this misunderstanding will be corrected in the latest firmware.

Hardware platform

The “heart” of the smartphone is the MediaTek MT6582 SoC - four Cortex-A7 cores operating at 1.3 GHz, plus a Mali-400 MP2 GPU. The amount of RAM is 1 GB, of which about 700 MB remain free, internal memory is 8 GB, of which 5.59 GB is allocated for user data. You can install a memory card and use it as your default storage.

The platform's capabilities are sufficient for smoothly scrolling through desktops, for most modern games, and for playing high-definition videos. In everyday life, there are no problems with performance; it is at a normal level, typical for most smartphones in the mid-price segment.

The operation of the Wi-Fi and GPS modules is satisfactory; they are sufficiently sensitive and work quickly.

Multimedia functions are implemented in the smartphone at an average level. The set of test videos traditionally does not play AC3 sound and for some reason there was no picture in the ParallelUniverse.avi video, including in the omnivorous MX Video Player. When playing music on headphones, the sound quality is good, slightly above the average level of devices based on MediaTek chipsets, and the volume is high.

Playing video files:

Telephone functionality is implemented at the proper level - the volume of the ringing and conversational speakers is sufficient in most situations, the vibration alert is average in strength and is not always felt. You can record conversations from the line using standard means; the speakerphone works fine. The operation of two SIM cards is implemented as standard - you can set the parameters of their operation in the settings, and then quickly change them using the switches in the notification shade. You cannot assign separate ringtones and messages to different cards.

The smartphone is powered by a 3000 mAh battery. This is noticeably less than that of the record holders - their batteries have a capacity of 4 Amperes and higher, but more than the average 2000-2500 mAh for devices with a screen diagonal of up to five inches. In Antutu Tester, Lenovo S660 shows a decent result at 760 points, but in other tests of autonomy the results are slightly less than expected.

In standby mode, the smartphone practically does not discharge. You can expect it to last about two days under medium load and about three days under light load.

In reading mode, all wireless communications are disabled, including data transmission on the mobile network, and the display brightness is set to 200 cd/m2. When listening to music, automatic data synchronization and data transfer worked. The sound volume in the headphones is at 12 out of 15 possible levels. All music files are in MP3 format, bitrate 320 Kbps. Navigation includes getting directions in the Google Navigation app. The brightness is set to 200 cd/m2, all data communication modules are disabled. When playing a video, data transfer is active on the mobile network, the display brightness is set to 200 cd/m2, the sound volume in the headphones is at level 12 out of a possible 15. The video file format is MKV, resolution 1024x432 pixels, frame rate 24. Playing video from Youtube was accompanied not only by work in Wi-Fi networks, but also active data transmission. The display brightness is set to 200 cd/m2, the sound volume in the headphones is set to 12 out of 15 possible levels.
* – data obtained under similar conditions, but with brightness set to 50% and possible
You can familiarize yourself with the testing methodology in this material

Display

The Lenovo S660 has a 4.7-inch diagonal IPS matrix with a resolution of 960x540 pixels, there is no air gap. The minimum screen brightness is 9.6 cd/m2, 25% brightness corresponds to 120.4 cd/m2, 40% - 200 cd/m2, 50% - 234.6 cd/m2, 75% - 351.1 cd/m2, 100% - 460.7 cd/m2. Contrast – 1:606. In terms of brightness adjustment range, the screen looks quite decent. Checking the quality of the factory calibration showed that the matrix used is of good quality; its color temperature is increased to 7500 K.

In real life, the screen looks good - the picture is bright and smooth, pleasing to the eye, viewing angles are high, it is easy to read in the sun, and it is comfortable to work with the smartphone in the dark. The only noticeable drawback is the lack of an oleophobic coating, which is why the glass quickly becomes covered with fingerprints, which are difficult to remove.

Cameras

The smartphone has two cameras – the main one with a resolution of 8 megapixels with autofocus and flash, and the front one with a resolution of 0.3 megapixels.

The main camera is capable of taking good pictures in natural light, but noticeably suffers when there is little light. FullHD video is of average quality, but the front camera is present purely nominally; cameras of similar quality are found in most budget smartphones costing 1,500 hryvnia.

Results

As a result, the Lenovo S660 turned out to be a smartphone not without its shortcomings. The relatively critical ones are the design of the cover and the quality of the front camera, and the rest, we hope, will be eliminated in more recent firmware. At the same time, the smartphone performed quite well in everyday use and is a pleasure to use. The very fact of having a metal cover, a good screen and a high-capacity battery is captivating, in this case the overpayment looks reasonable. If the Lenovo S650 is more of a women's smartphone, it can already be seen in the hands of many girls, then the Lenovo S660 is well suited for a man who needs a strict-looking smartphone with a screen diagonal of less than five inches to solve simple tasks.

Lenovo s660 is a compact smartphone with a metal body and long battery life. This is perhaps the only smartphone of its kind with similar characteristics produced by Lenovo. Small size, original design, rich display colors - all this makes this device attractive and will not leave anyone who uses the gadget indifferent.

The Lenovo s660's pleasant-to-touch back panel is made of a metal base and does not leave fingerprints. So you can safely not let go of your smartphone for a whole day without fear of leaving fingerprints on it. The Lenovo s660 smartphone fits easily even in a small woman's hand. But this does not mean that this device is intended exclusively for women. The strong half of the population will also find its advantages in the Lenovo s660.

Although the device is small in size, it has a very decent thickness, which makes a smartphone with such dimensions a kind of chubby thing. But there is a completely logical explanation for this, it’s all about the voluminous battery, which gives the smartphone its thickness. To many, the design of this device may seem boring and uninteresting, but the appearance does not at all affect the speed and quality of the smartphone.

The back cover of the gadget is made of real metal, which gives the body stability. Unfortunately, it adheres to the smartphone less easily than the plastic cover, which has a more flexible shape, thanks to which it adheres more tightly to the device. Under the cover of the smartphone we see a 3000 mAh lithium-ion battery, two slots for mini SIM cards, and a slot for a memory card that supports up to 32 GB. Although the battery is removable, it backs up all three slots, so hot-swapping cards is impossible.

The outer side of the back of the Lenovo s660 has a main 8-megapixel camera with a built-in LED flash, which can also be used as a flashlight when installing the desired program. At the bottom of the cover is the main speaker, made in the form of a small grille. When the smartphone is placed on the table with the speaker facing down, the sound becomes significantly worse.

The Micro-USB connector is located on the bottom end of the device, and the headphone jack is on the top, which is quite convenient for using the device. However, there is one drawback - the connectors are not covered with anything, so the smartphone should be carefully protected from moisture and dust.

Despite all the pros and cons, the Lenovo s660 smartphone has more pros than cons. This is expressed in its rich color reproduction, clarity - both the front and main cameras, the operational operation of the 4-core processor and the matte rough metal body that leaves almost no fingerprints.

Technical characteristics of the Lenovo S660 smartphone