Lenovo's new online-only brand is aimed at countering the rise of Xiaomi in China, which too has followed a low-cost online-only model. The company was expected to start operations in China in April; though it has only launched its first product in August.
The Zuk Z1 features metal frames around the handset and includes no branding from Lenovo. There is only a Zuk logo branding at the back of the handset.
(Also see: Zuk Z1 vs. OnePlus One)
While Lenovo so far has not detailed any plans to launch its online-only smartphone brand outside China, it is expected the company may bring the brand to other markets.
The Zuk Z1 features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display and sports a physical home button on the front panel. Notably, the home button on the Z1 smartphone also embeds the fingerprint scanner. Much like recently launched flagship smartphones, Lenovo's Zuk Z1 features the USB Type-C 3.0 port.
Under the hood, the new smartphone packs a dated Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHZ coupled with 3GB of RAM and Adreno 330 GPU. The handset supports dual Nano-SIM cards and runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. It packs 64GB of inbuilt storage.
(Also see: Lenovo Considering Setting Up Smartphone Manufacturing Unit in India)
The smartphone sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with Sony sensor (IMX214) and optical image stabilization (OIS), another feature that's found in high-end smartphones. There is an 8-megapixel front-facing camera also on board. It packs a large 4100mAh battery and will be available in White and Grey colours. The Zuk Z1 smartphone measures 155.7x77.3x8.9mm and weighs 175 grams.
The model launched in China supports both 4G LTE bands in India (FDD-LTE Band 3 1800MHz and TDD-LTE Band 40 2300MHz). Other connectivity options on the Zuk Z1 include Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, and Glonass. It features an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, digital compass (magnetometer), and proximity sensor.
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