Revisiting the Lenovo Z2 Plus (ZUK Z2): Is it still worth it?


As our Editor Yash pointed out in his review of the Z2 Plus, this is one of the best sub $300 phones we’ve had in our hands this year and he’s not wrong. It’s not every day a bargain basement price phone gets incredibly similar internals as a Samsung Galaxy S7. Even the Oneplus 3 starts at $400USD.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Second Opinion

When the phone was launched, I was arguably overhyped. The specs below looked extremely tempting, and the dearth of high end 5″ phones was getting to me. However, a spec sheet is far from adequate in one’s decision to purchase a phone and for that, reading the full review is your best bet. However, once you’re done that, come back here for a second opinion on this incredibly well specced phone.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Specifications

Processor Snapdragon 820 Quad Core 2.0GHz
Display 5″ 1920 x 1080 px, IPS LCD
RAM 4GB
Storage 64GB
Operating System ZUI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Cameras 13MP, f/2.0 PDAF Front Camera, 5MP f/2.0 Rear Camera
Battery 3500mAh, Qualcomm Quickcharge 3.0
Physical Properties 149g, 141 x 68.9 x 8.5 mm

About this Article

This article is intended to be a second opinion, a companion piece to our official GizChina review. A review is defined as an evaluation of a product based on his or her experience as a user of said product. An experience is not 100% objective, and therefore neither is a review. Each reviewer will have a slightly different experience based on their preferences, daily usage patterns, and even location and each reviewer has different ideas on what makes a smartphone good. Maybe one reviewer will spot something another one didn’t. As I said before, Yash reviewed it, thought it was great, and so do I. Yet, there are a couple of things we disagree on. Read on to find out.

I used the Zuk Z2 on Fido (Rogers) 4G/LTE in Toronto, Canada. The phone was running ZUI 2.3.042 ST during testing.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Hardware

lenovo-z2-plus-second-opinion-2

For a phone that I like so intensely, this phone is off to a pretty bad start. I’ve come to intensely dislike glass covered devices not because of their feel, but because of their inherent fragility. Less important but still annoying is the ease with which this device picks up smudges and oil, and is clearly visible on the black version of this device.

Much like a small child, this phone is incredibly hard to keep clean. Obtaining the white model negates the oil/smudge problem to a great extent, but it wasn’t wise either, as it looks more like a cheap, plastic phone than the black version. At least no one will try to steal this from me.

lenovo-z2-plus-second-opinion-6

The phone is the perfect size for me. Having recently moved from the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (which is a great phone in its own right), my small hands are absolutely loving the size. I will admit that my penchant for small phones is probably more extreme than most, but a smaller device also means a smaller chance of the user dropping the phone as well.

However, I will say that the squarishness of the frame does dig slightly into my hands somewhat having just moved from the Redmi Note 4 with it’s graceful, ergonomic curves, but it’s not too big of an issue.

“a small but fragile phone”

lenovo-z2-plus-second-opinion-7

lenovo-z2-plus-second-opinion-10

Elsewhere, the 5.0″ screen is nice to look at, but screen technology has advanced to the point that the difference between high end screens and low end screens is shrinking fast. The screen looks nice, but I find that it’s pretty difficult for any one screen to really take my breath away.

Most phone manufacturers are now playing the spec game, cramming more and more pixels into the same area. Lenovo has refused to participate in this pixel war, and that is a decision I very much appreciate.

The same goes for the audio. It’s very difficult for audio quality to blow me off my feet, and the Z2 Plus does not do that and is merely decent. The speakers are not front facing either and the speaker positioning does not help. But volume is definitely loud enough.

lenovo-z2-plus-second-opinion-3

Lenovo Z2 Plus Battery

Yash mentioned in his review that the Z2 Plus has a good battery life, however, my battery standards are higher than most, so I disagree slightly.

If you’ve been following my reviews on YouTube and here on GizChina, you’ll know that I’m absolutely neurotic about battery life. That is because I was spoiled by the very first Chinese device I owned, the THL5000 (5000mAh). From that moment on, I’ve made it a point to ensure that every single one of my daily drivers has a battery capacity above 4000mAh, the Mlais MX Base, Xiaomi Redmi 3, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.

This Lenovo Z2 Plus is the very first device with a significantly smaller 3500mAh battery.

“great battery, just short of amazing”

For those of you looking for more nuggets of info, the 3500mAh battery was able to net me roughly the same amount of usage as my previous daily drivers, with the big difference of having almost no buffer at the end of the day.

Where the Redmi Note 4/Redmi 3 could take me through a 16 hour day with 6 hours of screen on time with 25-30% left before bedtime, the Lenovo Z2 Plus fared worse. It managed a 16 hour day with 6 hours of screen on time, but with just 9% left (do keep in mind that 4% with the Z2 Plus is enough for a good hour or two of light use).

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Unless you’re an absolutely insane power user (which I very much doubt you are, I’m on the upper limits of insane already), this phone won’t present you an issue. On certain phones, I also perform a rather unrealistic test to gauge the upper limits of battery life, and that would be constant YouTube playback.

On the Redmi devices, I could play back 8 hours of Youtube video (straight from the charger) and still have 10-15% left for the rest of the day. On the Lenovo Z2 Plus, I’m left with a much smaller buffer of 7%. Do with that what you will, but nobody (unless you’re me) can take issue with the battery life here.

Quick Charge 3.0, I coupled it with my Quickcharge 3.0 charger and it charged plenty quick. I also sometimes wish for wireless charging, but that would be a nicety that I wouldn’t be willing to pay more for.

Lenovo Z2 Plus U-Touch

lenovo-z2-plus-second-opinion-6

I’ve given the home button its special section here as I feel that the button warrants its own section. Unlike battery life, fingerprint accuracy is much less quantifiable. As someone who never locks their phone, I easily get tired of using fingerprint sensors due to their inaccuracy and slowness on a lot of phones. There are two exceptions to this; those being the UMi Super and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.

And now there’s a third, the Z2 Plus.

It’s incredibly fast and accurate, fighting neck and neck with the likes of the Pixel and Note 7 (if yours hasn’t exploded yet). I do have one minor complaint, you can only input 5 fingerprints instead of 10 on a lot of other devices, and I’m used to registering both thumbs and indexes, and then giving each family member a finger to unlock it as well, but I can’t do that here (as I have 4 other family members).

In addition, building in gesture functionality into the home button is an absolute stroke of genius. Instead of closing the app I’m in to open another one or opening up the app tray, I just swipe left or right to switch between apps. The crowning achievement is the ability to customize actions for certain gestures, chief of them being long touch to sleep.

I never use buttons anymore.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Software

Please note that any software issues mentioned in this section are only relevant if you purchase the Zuk Z2 from certain resellers, and you will not have these issues if you purchase a Lenovo Z2 Plus.

My phone I obtained from Gearbest did NOT come with the stock Lenovo ROM but instead contained a custom ROM that did not have the security permissions manager nor did it come with the crucially important OTA update app. I had to manually flash the stock ROM onto the device to get the phone to update. This is not a problem everyone will face, but if your purchase your device from a certain set of resellers (known offenders include Oppomart, Spemall, and Gearbest), you have to manually flash the stock ROM onto your device.

Sadly, Lenovo is not one of the companies content with shipping their devices with stock Android. On the bright side, the skin that it ships with is unobtrusive. Dubbed ZUI, it replaces the stock launcher and reskins the settings menu as well. The first thing I did was install Google Now Launcher on it.

The Snapdragon 820 tears through every day use like a champ, and coupled with 4GB of RAM, nothing fazes this device at all. General use was fluid with no hiccups, waiting or the like. I was never able to use up all 4GB of RAM, only coming close to 3.5GB when opening multiple games. This phone rips through any game in the store like butter. I was able to play any and every game I desired, taxing or not.

Update: I was able to install the official chinese ROM and it works very well, I had some problems with notifications but I was able to solve that. I installed the official Indian ROM and I like it a lot better. It comes with Google Now Launcher and Google Keyboard preinstalled as default apps. Battery life and speed is also much improved as well. However, notifications do not work and alarms do not work either, which is incredibly annoying and almost deal breaking, I’m trying to figure out a solution to this.

EDIT (Nov 12 2016): User 10BaseTom in the comments section below brought to my attention a very useful post over on www.zukfans.eu detailing every single custom and official ROM available. I’m currently back on the latest official Chinese ROM, but if you are experienced/courageous enough, there are quite a few custom ROMs for you to try. The post can be found here.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Software Updates

Probably the biggest issue with the software I have are the OTA updates. If you purchase the Zuk Z2 (instead of the Lenovo Z2 Plus), OTA updates are blocked unless your IP address originates from China. This requires obtaining a VPN to tunnel into China (Hong Kong works too) to update every time an OTA is released. Is it easy to do? Yes, but it’s also incredibly annoying.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Camera

One of the crowning features of this camera is the ability to shoot in 4K resolution at 30fps. Footage is definitely very good, but it does lack the clarity that is present in other 4k capable phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the iPhone 7.

The Z2 Plus is a capable photographer. In anyone’s hands, it takes nice photos easily in great lighting conditions. Move to low light and you’re going to have a harder time. However, the biggest potential dealbreaker here would be the lack of OIS.

I have a relatively steady hand so taking pictures isn’t too much of a problem, but if you move slightly, the picture becomes blurry quite easily. Compare this to other Chinese phones in its price range, it takes great photos. Compare it to the S7 and the Pixel however, and it merely takes serviceable photos.

Is there a significant gap between the Z2 Plus and the S7/iP7 in terms of photo quality? Objectively, yes. But the jump in picture quality is good to great instead of bad to good.

img_20161015_140825-good

Bottom Line

For many people, the primary factor in a phone purchase is price. Some won’t even consider paying $400 for a phone (like me), and even more won’t even entertain the thought of spending $700 on a top end flagship (ahem, looking at you, Pixel).

The Galaxy S7 is fast, incredibly fast, but so is the Z2 Plus. However, the camera on the S7 is objectively better than what’s found on the Z2 Plus, and the S7’s software will be supported long after the Z2 Plus has been abandoned. But are those improvements (yes there are other improvements, but these are the big ones) worth the extra $500 odd dollars? If you think so, I completely respect that, but I personally couldn’t stomach it.

A more apt comparison is the OnePlus 3 (review here), which costs a much more reasonable $400. Apart from a sigificant difference in software updates, the OnePlus 3 and the Z2 Plus for all intents and purposes trade blows quite evenly. Which phone will you pick? I’ll leave that decision up to you.

In my opinion, this phone is so close to being perfect, with two objective flaws and a subjective one. Let’s start with the subjective; I hate glass covered phones because of their fragility, but Samsung’s top flagship does exactly that so glass covered devices must be in vogue.

The first objective flaw in this device is the camera. No OIS and less than stellar low light performance hamper it somewhat. The second flaw is the software, but this only applies if you purchase a Zuk Z2. If you do, you will need to flash the stock ROM and then install a VPN to obtain OTA updates, a huge hassle, but definitely worth it due to it’s low price. If you get the Lenovo Z2 Plus from Amazon, then the software quirk doesn’t really apply to you at all.

For $270, you get performance on the level of top end flagships and much better battery life than said flagships. If I’m complaining that I “only” have 14% left after 6 hours of screen on time, you know there’s something wrong with me, not the phone. The Z2 Plus flirts with perfection, and if you can look past the camera, it’s a great buy.

You can purchase the Zuk Z2 for $250 here.

Previous OnePlus 4 could have a dual camera design
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178 Comments

  1. Marius Cirsta
    November 14, 2016

    A friend bought this phone and there were some software related problems with it.

    1. It came pre-installed with some crappy software ( from Gearbest but I hear other online stores have it with the same software )
    2. After installing the official software with some PC tool it still wasn’t great ( signal was stuff in 4G only for a while)
    3. An update came and fixed the fallback to 3G but … after about 30 day from first use something in the modem related software just got corrupted during normal use and it became unusable as a phone ( modem was just not working anymore )

    I’m not sure how often this happens, it might be a Snapdragon 820 problem or whatever but still … this is the first phone that broke in only 30 days so I’m not too excited about it.
    It is a very good phone hardware wise and my friend might have just been unlucky but …. it still left a bad feeling regarding the quality of the software found on the phone.

    • November 14, 2016

      Tell your friend to try either the Indian ROM, or CM13. He might have better luck with those

      • Marius Cirsta
        November 14, 2016

        Sadly the modem was just gone, whatever official ROM he tried.
        I actually recommended the Zuk Z2 to him so …
        From what we read online it seems to be a problem with some modem related partition somehow becoming corrupted.
        It can be fixed but you need a backup of your own phone.
        In the end he decided to just return it for a refund because it was less than 45 days.
        He got a Redmi Pro instead… The Helio X20 actually has a good CPU , comparable to the Snapdragon 820 but the GPU is very weak, hence the bad Antutu scores.

        • November 14, 2016

          But the GPU is still more than powerful enough to play all the games on the Play Store no?

          • santhu
            November 15, 2016

            Hi in the final discussion you said these words”If you get the Lenovo Z2 Plus from Amazon, then the software quirk doesn’t really apply to you at all.” What this mean, I did not get. Can you please tell me clearly. I have purchased z2 plus from Amazon.

            • Luis Bastos
              November 15, 2016

              Man, it is normal to find smartphones with issues when we are talking about a brand that sells in China, India and even other countries all over the world through resellers!
              The more amount of smartphones sold the higher the risk to find some with bugs and hardware issues!
              Still a friend of mine bought one here in Portugal because of me and this thing is great!
              At the same price as the Huawei P8 lite there are no doubt about this being a flagship compared to the others that are sold at the same price!
              There are no perfect smartphones, and if you are willing to pay the triple you are going to find some of the best smartphones, but don’t forget that in one year there will be more and more smartphones, more capable and stuff
              The thing he talked about the camera, I compared it with the Redmi Note 3 Pro that my father has and it is even better!
              So, I think it is not smart to say this smartphone has some drawbacks considering the price tag, it is perfect or almost perfect to its price tag, and I will definitely buy one for me to replace it from my old ZTE Z5S!

            • November 15, 2016

              I respectfully disagree with you. Battery life for me personally is a dealbreaker. And if I can’t get 5 hours of SOT, even if this phone was $50 I still wouldn’t buy it. That’s the reason why I mentioned the drawbacks, because you and I don’t know which aspects of a smartphones are dealbreakers for every single person who reads this review so as a reviewer, I have to talk about all of them, and its up to you, the reader, to pick and choose which ones you are OK with and which ones you are not.

            • Luis Bastos
              November 15, 2016

              I am not saying you are not right about that, what I am saying is that sometimes we are not fare trying to compare something that is 3 times less expensive as a Samsung S7 or some iPhones!
              It’s just not fare!
              For example, people say that the mi4 is outdated and that there are lot’s of phones that are better than this one, but hey, it costs more a less 100$!
              Here in Portugal you can only find smartphones with the MediaTeck 6580 and 1GB of RAM or less with this amount of money!!
              It’s just insane that you can buy a SnapDragon 801 and 3GB of RAM for less more than 100 dollars!
              And, don’t get me wrong, I love the SnapDragon 801 chip, I already had a OnePlus One and it was just awesome…
              So yeah, you are right when you say that you have to tell what the drawbacks are and the deal breakers, but try not to compare a 200$ smartphone with a 600$ smartphone, cause I am pretty sure that ZUK was not tempting to be better that Samsung with it’s S7…
              Maybe OnePlus was with it’s OP3 and the Xiaomi with the new Note 2 but yeah, I think you can understand my point of view..

            • November 15, 2016

              Oh I understand now. Let me clarify why I compare phones like this to the best in the market: because they have the same processor. And its amazing to get a $190 phone that is as fast as a $700 phone. However, I can’t just compare the processors and leave it at that, I have to compare the rest as well.

              And even after a full comparison, its obvious that the only downside is the low light camera performance (well the software as well, but that depends on which model you get), meaning that this phone has so much value.

            • Luis Bastos
              November 15, 2016

              Well I might agree with some things that you said but..you shouldn’t do it by the spec’s, you should compare the price tag, because in reality that is what matters, and to be really really fare you should compare this smartphones with others that cost the same 220$ has this one right now…
              That would be fare, and you would see that even the low light performance is negligible when comparing it with other smartphones in this price tag!
              But you are right, you have to compare it with something, I just think you are not comparing it with the right characteristics, that’s all
              But well, it would be really hard to compare it cause, in my opinion, the only smartphone that is really close to this one is the Xiaomi Mi5 and, even though the Mi5 is better (especially when talking about camera performance) it is more expensive, even the more affordable 32GB variant, wich has less RAM (it might be noticeable), less memory (with is an huge drawback for me) and the chip is under clocked (wich in my opinion tends to be good cause the SD820 is a beast, and in this way battery will last longer, but it is still a difference)…
              So yeah, don’t get me wrong, I have to tell you that I really enjoyed reading your review, but I think there are some things you could change in some next review, if you agree of course!

            • November 16, 2016

              Hey no worries, feedback is what allows me and others to improve, so bring it on!

              Also yes, I have the Mi5s in my hands and am currently testing it.

            • Jh1
              November 16, 2016

              Looking forward to seeing that review

            • Jh1
              November 15, 2016

              I’m right there with you on battery life being a priority. Have a redmi 4 prime on the way to replace my m2 note. Very much looking forward seeing what the combination of the SD 625 and 4000mah battery can do.

            • November 15, 2016

              Most likely a lot. The SD625 benchmarks almost as high as the SD650. I’m itching to get my hands on the Redmi 4 Prime but its pretty scarce.

            • Jh1
              November 15, 2016

              That’s what I’m hoping. It has more than enough processing power for my needs, and seems to be extremely efficient. Hoping the camera is decent. I was planning to wait for reviews of the 4 prime first, but the battery on my m2 note is fading and I was able to find one for a decent price on 11.11. Looking forward to seeing it.

            • November 16, 2016

              Yup I’m desperately looking for one. I’m going to see if I can’t get my hands on one.

            • November 16, 2016

              I thought it was 4100mAh?

            • Jh1
              November 16, 2016

              Yes, It Is 4100mah, typo on my part.

          • Marius Cirsta
            November 15, 2016

            I assume it’s OK for casual games but benchmarks put it at half the performance of the Adreno on the Snapdragon 820.
            I was still surprised that it’s able to compete with the flagship Qualcomm SOC on CPU power though. Good enough for me. And there’s also the Helio X25 which is probably even better than the Snapdragon 820 in terms of CPU power.

            • November 16, 2016

              Oh definitely. If you’re a PC enthusiast, imagine the Adreno in the 820 as a Titan X and the GPU in the X20 as the GTX1070. Both more than capable of 1080p gaming on highest but one is much less powerful than the other

  2. newphoenix
    November 14, 2016
    • Ibrahim Bahakim
      November 14, 2016

      Good deal, but I alread bought the Mi Mix and Mi Note 2… It better be worth it or else I will be so sad >.>

      • November 14, 2016

        Are you rich or something?

        • Ibrahim Bahakim
          November 14, 2016

          Well…. umm not really…
          It is a long story but I won’t bother you with, but in short, I have a Chinese businessman who I always but from. Like 1-3K USD monthly, so when I ask him for a small favour like this mobile he gives me a crazy low price..
          Mi Note 2 was only 500USD and Mi Mix was 620USD. I am talking about:
          -best versions so 6GB 128GB and 6GB 256GB
          -a total of 4 cases ‘2 for each’ and 6 tempered glass protectors.
          -Aramex express which is the best for Saudi people.
          So yeah I got a pretty good deal out of them..
          Happyyyy :3

          • November 14, 2016

            Hope you like it and share your experiences with us!

            • Ibrahim Bahakim
              November 14, 2016

              Will do! ^_^

  3. Venci
    November 14, 2016

    Damn Gizchina shop has Zuk Z2 for 200$. Good job, really good!

    Btw are Cyanogenmod again the fault for Zuk’s own rom, or Zuk have ended their contract with them? Anyone knows?

    • November 14, 2016

      I’m quite sure Oneplus and Cyanogen broke up because they disagreed over the direction the ROM should head in, so I wouldn’t be surprised if CM and Zuk had the exact same falling out.

      • Raky_b
        November 15, 2016

        And some money 🙂

        • November 15, 2016

          Most likely true. Both Oneplus and Zuk have razor thin profit margins so…

  4. Julian
    November 14, 2016

    How about the Xiaomi Mi5? Very similar specs and price…

    • November 14, 2016

      Great guess…. 🙂

    • Raky_b
      November 15, 2016

      Nope… fragile, and those black bazels…

      • November 15, 2016

        Nice guess again…. and yes, those black bezels are huge.

  5. osx86_mac
    November 14, 2016

    Banggood is cheaper for lenovo zuk z2.
    coupon zukz21111
    $219→$189.19
    https://goo.gl/Ws9n5M

    • osx86_mac
      November 14, 2016

      sorry
      $219→$209

      • Raky_b
        November 15, 2016

        You know that Disqus has “edit” option!?

    • osx86_mac
      November 14, 2016

      I made a mistake again.
      $219→$189.19
      There is no doubt at this price.

  6. Raky_b
    November 14, 2016

    and now, One+3 would cost 200$ more, allmost duble !

    • November 14, 2016

      I agree, when I reviewed this, it was almost $270 meaning just $130 less than the Oneplus 3. But now, its a lot cheaper. You thinking of buying this?

      • Raky_b
        November 15, 2016

        Actually not, i had ZUK Z2 Pro on my short list(with Axton 7 and HTC 10) but then changed my mind and decided to opt for One+ because of EU availability and service, but now i am not shore in that either.
        I won’t give same money for One+3T,as i would give for SGS7 or HTC 10,and it seems that they will discount sales of a regular model. (plus i am living in Norway, where One+ is not available, so either i order it from EU or China, i have to pay VAT, witch means that even 400$ model of One+3 would cost me more than a many big brands flagships if i wouldn’t have other ways to buy a phone, and order it directly here)
        Anyway, we’re going to see what’s going on today, and then i will decide.
        I’m not in a hurry, have few devices around me that still do their job, but i was hoping to get something to myself for a Christmas 🙂

        • November 15, 2016

          Must you have an SD820/821 device? The Redmi Pro is a good choice. The Mi5s also is a good choice (some minor quirks but small enough to live with). Oh how about the Xiaomi Mi Max. Only $800USD!

          • Raky_b
            November 15, 2016

            I am going away from Xioami, i don’t can’t stand all problems that their devices have, and wrongly adressed “fixes” for miui.(they are fixing minor, unimportant things, but some problems that came with devices are not fixed even in year or more).
            Plus, it’s not coming with international warranty…
            So, even black (and black only) Mi5 is nice looking phone, that crossed my mind, especially after price cut, those things i can’t unseen. Black bazels, edge and “2,5D” screens…those are not something i want on my device.
            Same as phone size, i just can’t hold and work with something bigger than, let’s say SGS7.
            So my phone should be 5′ or little bit bigger, but wit really thin bazels.

            Generally, i do not need SD821 device, but my last two weren’t flagships, and that was mistake… Plus, this year was good to me, so i have deserved best 🙂

            So, in few hours i’ll see, new One+, HTC 10 or maybe even Huawei P10…as i said i am not in a hurry, so i can wait for that one also.

            • November 15, 2016

              You know what. I agree with most of the things you said here. I can’t stand MIUI anymore, the cartoony style is just too much for me. However, they have a ton of features. The Mi5/Mi5s looks absolutely amazing when the screen is off, but turn it on and earrgh. Those bezels. The Oneplus 3T is going to be $480 most likely.

            • Marius Cirsta
              November 15, 2016

              I actually had a lot of Xiaomi phones both for me and bought for friends. While none of them were really spectacular they did do the job quite well and the ROMs are decent, even the development ones.
              It’s a bit bad since they only make China versions of the Mediatek ones but you can find ROM from Xiaomi EU ( unofficial ).

            • Raky_b
              November 15, 2016

              istill do use Xiaomi, i know what i am writing about…
              all good as long as something doesn’t go wrong…then, you are on your own

      • Lazar Prodanovic
        November 15, 2016

        As I am at the quest of buying a new phone in this price range you won’t believe what I have found. I found a HTC 10 Lifestyle that hire where I live is priced 270€ (same as Lenovo Zuk Z2) for in land purchase. It’s basically a bit striped down HTC 10 only RAM (3GB DDR3) & SoC (S652) differ. That is not a deal breaker to me S652 is really potent enough. The deal breaker is a 2K display with 3000mAh battery still as the regular HTC 10 manages a 5 h of SOT I guess this one will be closer to 6. It’s a audio/camera centric phone, only couple phones go over it (Mate 8 with audio output over headphones & Pixel with camera) but only a tad. Much more like you I also more like a phones with large battery & SOT so I aimed for a Xiaomi Mi Max Prime originally but the pricing of it is a bit ridiculous (so much ridiculous that where I live a Samsung A9 is better choice & similarly priced). Firmware & generally user experience are rather very good. I will probably go for it even it’s not exactly what I whose looking for.

        • November 15, 2016

          Haha your first sentence reads like those clickbait sidebar ads “You won’t believe what this guy found!”. But that’s a great price for an HTC device. Since its an SD652, I recommend waiting for custom ROMs that mess with the ppi that can bump that res down to 1080p. What about the Redmi Pro? You get better battery life in exchange for using a Mediatek device and less audiocentric features.

          • Lazar Prodanovic
            November 15, 2016

            Those two ain’t on pair. Redmi Pro costs around 240€ hire where I live for 3/64GB version but to much cutbacks; no gorila glass, no headphones (those JLB ones with HTC 10 cost at least 25€ all do I don’t prefer neither in ear nor JLB) & no fast charger. So HTC 10 is much better barging even I will get a little less SOT, by the way HTC game booster app that is in the firmware already run games at FHD. Camera’s & audio aren’t really comparable & I don’t believe their will be much costume development for HTC 10 Lifestyle but that doesn’t really bother me much as everything works rather well out of the box which is rarity this says & I do like AOSP like feel & look. Mi Max should still be my first choice but price is really really bad 320$ Hong Kong.
            Best regards.

            • November 15, 2016

              Fair enough, didn’t know the Redmi Pro cost that much in EU.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 15, 2016

              I am not in EU & preferre to shop in land for a security & warranty. I live in Bosnia. Culd asked a best man to bring me a Mi Max Prime base variant 3/64 for 250$ with free DHL shipping from mainline China as he will be coming in couple of days but we’ll to late now for that. Never mind… Find also a Galaxy Note 4 Exunos for a same price as HTC 10 Lifestyle, it’s a bit old product but still capable & with good SOT. Will pick something.
              Thanks for helping.

            • Raky_b
              November 15, 2016

              Di ga nadje!?
              Zanimljiv je to uredjaj, a i po oglasnicima se za 400-450€ daju naci novi sgs7, HTC 10i alicni uredjaji.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 15, 2016

              Ovdje moš malo bolje, za 375€ P9, Mate 8, S7 za 400€, HTC 10 je skup i košta 425€ a npr ima Samsung Galaxy A9 za 300€ i sve na Pik-u. Malo je ludo tržište pa stariji brand name ili manje uspješni koštaju ko i Kinezi. Sve je naravno u radnji sa pečatom i fiskalnim računom tako da je garancija od godinu dana sigurna. HTC 10 Lifestyle koji sam našao je vjerovatno za Poljsko tržište a cjena je vjerovatno takva jer HTC ih ima hrpu koje nisu mogli prodati a kako i bi kada su tražili 500$ za njega.

              Pozdrav.

            • Raky_b
              November 15, 2016

              Stvarno dibre cijene, tesko da se isplati narucivati nekog “kineza” i placati PDV pored takve ponude

            • Marius Cirsta
              November 15, 2016

              I just got the Redmi Pro from China for $170 from China and if you don’t pay too much in customs ( the friend I got it for will probably pay no customs at all ) it’s a damn good phone at that price.
              Also different people have different needs and many already have good headphone or don’t need any.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 15, 2016

              I have couple of good headphones mainly Chinese or manufactured in China ones like Superlux HD-668B or Panasonic HTF600 both of which certainly better than packed in JLB ones. I rarely use in ear one’s, prefer semi open over ear ones. Thing is Xiaomi often doesn’t do good when it comes to audio output trough headphone port on both software and hardware front this is even case with QC SoC’s (Impressive audio support) all do Max is exception but they lately bricked it there also. Things are much worser with MTK SoC-s regarding audio. Comparing Redmi Pro to both HTC 10 with an AMP & cetera & Samsung Note 4 exynos with Wolfson DAC is childish.
              I really dislike X20-25 so I certainly won’t buy Redmi Pro. Do like Max but pricing is bit ridiculous & where I live I would certainly had to pay import taxes & significant ones. Culd had one brought to me from GB but now it’s a bit to late for that.

  7. Marius Cirsta
    November 14, 2016

    A friend bought this phone and there were some software related problems with it.

    1. It came pre-installed with some crappy software ( from Gearbest but I hear other online stores have it with the same software )
    2. After installing the official software with some PC tool it still wasn’t great ( signal was stuff in 4G only for a while)
    3. An update came and fixed the fallback to 3G but … after about 30 day from first use something in the modem related software just got corrupted during normal use and it became unusable as a phone ( modem was just not working anymore )

    I’m not sure how often this happens, it might be a Snapdragon 820 problem or whatever but still … this is the first phone that broke in only 30 days so I’m not too excited about it.
    It is a very good phone hardware wise and my friend might have just been unlucky but …. it still left a bad feeling regarding the quality of the software found on the phone.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 14, 2016

      Tell your friend to try either the Indian ROM, or CM13. He might have better luck with those

    • Marius Cirsta
      November 14, 2016

      Sadly the modem was just gone, whatever official ROM he tried.
      I actually recommended the Zuk Z2 to him so …
      From what we read online it seems to be a problem with some modem related partition somehow becoming corrupted.
      It can be fixed but you need a backup of your own phone.
      In the end he decided to just return it for a refund because it was less than 45 days.
      He got a Redmi Pro instead… The Helio X20 actually has a good CPU , comparable to the Snapdragon 820 but the GPU is very weak, hence the bad Antutu scores.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      But the GPU is still more than powerful enough to play all the games on the Play Store no?

    • Guest
      November 15, 2016

      Hi in the final discussion you said these words”If you get the Lenovo Z2 Plus from Amazon, then the software quirk doesn’t really apply to you at all.” What this mean, I did not get. Can you please tell me clearly. I have purchased z2 plus from Amazon.

    • Luis Bastos
      November 15, 2016

      Man, it is normal to find smartphones with issues when we are talking about a brand that sells in China, India and even other countries all over the world through resellers!
      The more amount of smartphones sold the higher the risk to find some with bugs and hardware issues!
      Still a friend of mine bought one here in Portugal because of me and this thing is great!
      At the same price as the Huawei P8 lite there are no doubt about this being a flagship compared to the others that are sold at the same price!
      There are no perfect smartphones, and if you are willing to pay the triple you are going to find some of the best smartphones, but don’t forget that in one year there will be more and more smartphones, more capable and stuff
      The thing he talked about the camera, I compared it with the Redmi Note 3 Pro that my father has and it is even better!
      So, I think it is not smart to say this smartphone has some drawbacks considering the price tag, it is perfect or almost perfect to its price tag, and I will definitely buy one for me to replace it from my old ZTE Z5S!

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      I respectfully disagree with you. Battery life for me personally is a dealbreaker. And if I can’t get 5 hours of SOT, even if this phone was $50 I still wouldn’t buy it. That’s the reason why I mentioned the drawbacks, because you and I don’t know which aspects of a smartphones are dealbreakers for every single person who reads this review so as a reviewer, I have to talk about all of them, and its up to you, the reader, to pick and choose which ones you are OK with and which ones you are not.

    • Luis Bastos
      November 15, 2016

      I am not saying you are not right about that, what I am saying is that sometimes we are not fare trying to compare something that is 3 times less expensive as a Samsung S7 or some iPhones!
      It’s just not fare!
      For example, people say that the mi4 is outdated and that there are lot’s of phones that are better than this one, but hey, it costs more a less 100$!
      Here in Portugal you can only find smartphones with the MediaTeck 6580 and 1GB of RAM or less with this amount of money!!
      It’s just insane that you can buy a SnapDragon 801 and 3GB of RAM for less more than 100 dollars!
      And, don’t get me wrong, I love the SnapDragon 801 chip, I already had a OnePlus One and it was just awesome…
      So yeah, you are right when you say that you have to tell what the drawbacks are and the deal breakers, but try not to compare a 200$ smartphone with a 600$ smartphone, cause I am pretty sure that ZUK was not tempting to be better that Samsung with it’s S7…
      Maybe OnePlus was with it’s OP3 and the Xiaomi with the new Note 2 but yeah, I think you can understand my point of view..

    • Marius Cirsta
      November 15, 2016

      I assume it’s OK for casual games but benchmarks put it at half the performance of the Adreno on the Snapdragon 820.
      I was still surprised that it’s able to compete with the flagship Qualcomm SOC on CPU power though. Good enough for me. And there’s also the Helio X25 which is probably even better than the Snapdragon 820 in terms of CPU power.

    • Jh1
      November 15, 2016

      I’m right there with you on battery life being a priority. Have a redmi 4 prime on the way to replace my m2 note. Very much looking forward seeing what the combination of the SD 625 and 4000mah battery can do.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Oh I understand now. Let me clarify why I compare phones like this to the best in the market: because they have the same processor. And its amazing to get a $190 phone that is as fast as a $700 phone. However, I can’t just compare the processors and leave it at that, I have to compare the rest as well.

      And even after a full comparison, its obvious that the only downside is the low light camera performance (well the software as well, but that depends on which model you get), meaning that this phone has so much value.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Most likely a lot. The SD625 benchmarks almost as high as the SD650. I’m itching to get my hands on the Redmi 4 Prime but its pretty scarce.

    • Jh1
      November 15, 2016

      That’s what I’m hoping. It has more than enough processing power for my needs, and seems to be extremely efficient. Hoping the camera is decent. I was planning to wait for reviews of the 4 prime first, but the battery on my m2 note is fading and I was able to find one for a decent price on 11.11. Looking forward to seeing it.

    • Luis Bastos
      November 16, 2016

      Well I might agree with some things that you said but..you shouldn’t do it by the spec’s, you should compare the price tag, because in reality that is what matters, and to be really really fare you should compare this smartphones with others that cost the same 220$ has this one right now…
      That would be fare, and you would see that even the low light performance is negligible when comparing it with other smartphones in this price tag!
      But you are right, you have to compare it with something, I just think you are not comparing it with the right characteristics, that’s all
      But well, it would be really hard to compare it cause, in my opinion, the only smartphone that is really close to this one is the Xiaomi Mi5 and, even though the Mi5 is better (especially when talking about camera performance) it is more expensive, even the more affordable 32GB variant, wich has less RAM (it might be noticeable), less memory (with is an huge drawback for me) and the chip is under clocked (wich in my opinion tends to be good cause the SD820 is a beast, and in this way battery will last longer, but it is still a difference)…
      So yeah, don’t get me wrong, I have to tell you that I really enjoyed reading your review, but I think there are some things you could change in some next review, if you agree of course!

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      Hey no worries, feedback is what allows me and others to improve, so bring it on!

      Also yes, I have the Mi5s in my hands and am currently testing it.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      Yup I’m desperately looking for one. I’m going to see if I can’t get my hands on one.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      I thought it was 4100mAh?

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      Oh definitely. If you’re a PC enthusiast, imagine the Adreno in the 820 as a Titan X and the GPU in the X20 as the GTX1070. Both more than capable of 1080p gaming on highest but one is much less powerful than the other

    • Jh1
      November 16, 2016

      Yes, It Is 4100mah, typo on my part.

    • Jh1
      November 16, 2016

      Looking forward to seeing that review

    • Ibrahim Bahakim
      November 14, 2016

      Good deal, but I alread bought the Mi Mix and Mi Note 2… It better be worth it or else I will be so sad >.>

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 14, 2016

      Are you rich or something?

    • Ibrahim Bahakim
      November 14, 2016

      Well…. umm not really…
      It is a long story but I won’t bother you with, but in short, I have a Chinese businessman who I always but from. Like 1-3K USD monthly, so when I ask him for a small favour like this mobile he gives me a crazy low price..
      Mi Note 2 was only 500USD and Mi Mix was 620USD. I am talking about:
      -best versions so 6GB 128GB and 6GB 256GB
      -a total of 4 cases ‘2 for each’ and 6 tempered glass protectors.
      -Aramex express which is the best for Saudi people.
      So yeah I got a pretty good deal out of them..
      Happyyyy :3

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Hope you like it and share your experiences with us!

    • Ibrahim Bahakim
      November 15, 2016

      Will do! ^_^

  8. Venci
    November 14, 2016

    Damn Gizchina shop has Zuk Z2 for 200$. Good job, really good!

    Anyone knows why Cyanogenmod and Zuk aren’t partners anymore? Same shit story as Oneplus case?

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      I’m quite sure Oneplus and Cyanogen broke up because they disagreed over the direction the ROM should head in, so I wouldn’t be surprised if CM and Zuk had the exact same falling out.

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      And some money 🙂

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Most likely true. Both Oneplus and Zuk have razor thin profit margins so…

  9. Jh1
    November 14, 2016

    Excellent, well written, and detailed review. Andi and Yash have some competition. Good work.

  10. Julian
    November 14, 2016

    How about the Xiaomi Mi5? Very similar specs and price…

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 14, 2016

      Great guess…. 🙂

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      Nope… fragile, and those black bazels…

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Nice guess again…. and yes, those black bezels are huge.

  11. Guest
    November 15, 2016

    Banggood is cheaper for lenovo zuk z2.
    coupon zukz21111
    $219→$189.19
    https://goo.gl/Ws9n5M

    • Guest
      November 15, 2016

      sorry
      $219→$209

    • Guest
      November 15, 2016

      I made a mistake again.
      $219→$189.19
      There is no doubt at this price.

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      You know that Disqus has “edit” option!?

  12. bojan radovanovic
    November 15, 2016

    and now, One+3 would cost 200$ more, allmost duble !

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      I agree, when I reviewed this, it was almost $270 meaning just $130 less than the Oneplus 3. But now, its a lot cheaper. You thinking of buying this?

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      Actually not, i had ZUK Z2 Pro on my short list(with Axton 7 and HTC 10) but then changed my mind and decided to opt for One+ because of a EU availability and service, and now i am not shore in that either.
      I won’t give same kind of money for One+3T,as i would give for SGS7 or HTC 10 (just won’t give it), and it seems that they will discount sales of a regular model. (plus i am living in Norway, where One+ is not available, so either i order it from EU or China, i have to pay VAT, witch means that even 400$ model of One+3 would cost me more than a many big brands flagships if i wouldn’t have other ways to buy a phone, and order it directly here)
      Anyway, we’re going to see what’s going on today, and then i will decide.
      I’m not in a hurry, have few devices around me that still do their job, but i was hoping to get something to myself for a Christmas 🙂

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      As I am at the quest of buying a new phone in this price range you won’t believe what I have found. I found a HTC 10 Lifestyle that hire where I live is priced 270€ (same as Lenovo Zuk Z2) for in land purchase. It’s basically a bit striped down HTC 10 only RAM (3GB DDR3) & SoC (S652) differ. That is not a deal breaker to me S652 is really potent enough. The deal breaker is a 2K display with 3000mAh battery still as the regular HTC 10 manages a 5 h of SOT I guess this one will be closer to 6. It’s a audio/camera centric phone, only couple phones go over it (Mate 8 with audio output over headphones & Pixel with camera) but only a tad. Much more like you I also more like a phones with large battery & SOT so I aimed for a Xiaomi Mi Max Prime originally but the pricing of it is a bit ridiculous (so much ridiculous that where I live a Samsung A9 is better choice & similarly priced). Firmware & generally user experience are rather very good. I will probably go for it even it’s not exactly what I whose looking for.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Haha your first sentence reads like those clickbait sidebar ads “You won’t believe what this guy found!”. But that’s a great price for an HTC device. Since its an SD652, I recommend waiting for custom ROMs that mess with the ppi that can bump that res down to 1080p. What about the Redmi Pro? You get better battery life in exchange for using a Mediatek device and less audiocentric features.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Must you have an SD820/821 device? The Redmi Pro is a good choice. The Mi5s also is a good choice (some minor quirks but small enough to live with). Oh how about the Xiaomi Mi Max. Only $800USD!

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      Those two ain’t on pair. Redmi Pro costs around 240€ hire where I live for 3/64GB version but to much cutbacks; no gorila glass, no headphones (those JLB ones with HTC 10 cost at least 25€ all do I don’t prefer neither in ear nor JLB) & no fast charger. So HTC 10 is much better barging even I will get a little less SOT, by the way HTC game booster app that is in the firmware already run games at FHD. Camera’s & audio aren’t really comparable & I don’t believe their will be much costume development for HTC 10 Lifestyle but that doesn’t really bother me much as everything works rather well out of the box which is rarity this day’s & I do like AOSP like feel & look. Mi Max should still be my first choice but price is really really bad 320$ Hong Kong.
      Best regards.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Fair enough, didn’t know the Redmi Pro cost that much in EU.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      I am not in EU & preferre to shop in land for a security & warranty. I live in Bosnia. Culd asked a best man to bring me a Mi Max Prime base variant 3/64 for 250$ with free DHL shipping from mainline China as he will be coming in couple of days but we’ll to late now for that. Never mind… Find also a Galaxy Note 4 Exunos for a same price as HTC 10 Lifestyle, it’s a bit old product but still capable & with good SOT. Will pick something.
      Thanks for helping.

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      I am going away from Xioami, i don’t can’t stand all problems that their devices have, and wrongly adressed “fixes” for miui.(they are fixing minor, unimportant things, but some problems that came with devices are not fixed even in year or more).
      Plus, it’s not coming with international warranty…
      So, even black (and black only) Mi5 is nice looking phone, that crossed my mind, especially after price cut, those things i can’t unseen. Black bazels, edge and “2,5D” screens…those are not something i want on my device.
      Same as phone size, i just can’t hold and work with something bigger than, let’s say SGS7.
      So my phone should be 5′ or little bit bigger, but wit really thin bazels.

      Generally, i do not need SD821 device, but my last two weren’t flagships, and that was mistake… Plus, this year was good to me, so i have deserved best 🙂

      So, in few hours i’ll see, new One+, HTC 10 or maybe even Huawei P10…as i said i am not in a hurry, so i can wait for that one also.

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      Di ga nadje!?
      Zanimljiv je to uredjaj, a i po oglasnicima se za 400-450€ daju naci novi sgs7, HTC 10i alicni uredjaji.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      You know what. I agree with most of the things you said here. I can’t stand MIUI anymore, the cartoony style is just too much for me. However, they have a ton of features. The Mi5/Mi5s looks absolutely amazing when the screen is off, but turn it on and earrgh. Those bezels. The Oneplus 3T is going to be $480 most likely.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      Ovdje moš malo bolje, za 375€ P9, Mate 8, S7 za 400€, HTC 10 je skup i košta 475€ a npr ima Samsung Galaxy A9 za 300€ i sve na Pik-u. Malo je ludo tržište pa stariji brand name ili manje uspješni koštaju ko i Kinezi. Sve je naravno u radnji sa pečatom i fiskalnim računom tako da je garancija od godinu dana sigurna. HTC 10 Lifestyle koji sam našao je vjerovatno za Poljsko tržište a cjena je vjerovatno takva jer HTC ih ima hrpu koje nisu mogli prodati a kako i bi kada su tražili 500$ za njega.

      Pozdrav.

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      Stvarno dibre cijene, tesko da se isplati narucivati nekog “kineza” i placati PDV pored takve ponude

    • Marius Cirsta
      November 15, 2016

      I just got the Redmi Pro from China for $170 from China and if you don’t pay too much in customs ( the friend I got it for will probably pay no customs at all ) it’s a damn good phone at that price.
      Also different people have different needs and many already have good headphone or don’t need any.

    • Marius Cirsta
      November 15, 2016

      I actually had a lot of Xiaomi phones both for me and bought for friends. While none of them were really spectacular they did do the job quite well and the ROMs are decent, even the development ones.
      It’s a bit bad since they only make China versions of the Mediatek ones but you can find ROM from Xiaomi EU ( unofficial ).

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      I have couple of good headphones mainly Chinese or manufactured in China ones like Superlux HD-668B or Panasonic HTF600 both of which certainly better than packed in JLB ones. I rarely use in ear one’s, prefer semi open over ear ones. Thing is Xiaomi often doesn’t do good when it comes to audio output trough headphone port on both software and hardware front this is even case with QC SoC’s (Impressive audio support) all do Max is exception but they lately bricked it there also. Things are much worser with MTK SoC-s regarding audio. Comparing Redmi Pro to both HTC 10 with an AMP & cetera & Samsung Note 4 exynos with Wolfson DAC is childish.
      I really dislike X20-25 so I certainly won’t buy Redmi Pro. Do like Max but pricing is bit ridiculous & where I live I would certainly had to pay import taxes & significant ones. Culd had one brought to me from GB but now it’s a bit to late for that.

    • bojan radovanovic
      November 15, 2016

      istill do use Xiaomi, i know what i am writing about…
      all good as long as something doesn’t go wrong…then, you are on your own

  13. teby thomas
    November 15, 2016

    can you please explain how to get the latest OTA using the VPN you were talking about??I am completely alien to it. I have Indian Lenovo z2 plus. Please help..

    • November 15, 2016

      Download flyvpn from the play store and connect to the Indian server. Then you have to go into settings>applications and force stop the system update and clear the cache. Then reopen it and you can update.

      • Jh1
        December 5, 2016

        Are you still using the Indian ROM? Any luck with notifications? I have a Z2 on order. Assuming it will come with the reseller rom. Debating whether to flash the Chinese or Indian rom when it arrives.

  14. Simion Florin
    November 15, 2016

    Keep up the good work man, i like your style, sharp and detailed. Also i like the fact that u value battery life on a phone. Most review-ers dont talk that much about bettery life section.

    • November 15, 2016

      I agree. One of the reasons why I started reviewing stuff was also battery life, reviewers usually tell you a little bit about how long it lasts like 5 hours SOT but that’s not enough information. The only review outlet that gives more battery info than me is GSMArena.

  15. G'n'T
    November 15, 2016

    A very detailed and honest review. Thanks Zi Jin. I was looking at this phone as well but my two big negatives are the screen size (I won’t look at anything smaller than 5.5inch) and the camera performance. It seems Lenovo’s camera performance in most models is average in low light which is a big factor for me. I know the price here stipulates performance sub to that of flagships but if Lenovo put a little more effort in the software side of the camera, it would win a lot more buyers IMHO.

    Great review and look forward to more quality work like this. Thank you.

    • November 15, 2016

      Low light camera performance is a problem in almost all Chinese manufacturers. The only difference is to what extent the camera fails in this regard. Lenovo doesn’t do a very good job obviously at low light but certain manufacturers do better. The Oneplus 3 (technically a Chinese company) and the Xiaomi Mi5s (*wink *wink) do a lot better in low light, but still fall short of the best.

      • G'n'T
        November 15, 2016

        Thanks for your reply Zi Jin. What about Vivo and Oppo. What are your thoughts on their low light performance?

        • November 15, 2016

          In my opinion Huawei has the best low light performance, followed closely by Vivo. Oppo and high end Xiaomis are neck and neck, then everyone else. Still ready to be proven wrong though.

          • G'n'T
            November 15, 2016

            Thanks for your insight here Zi Jin. Much appreciated.

            • November 15, 2016

              Are you in the market for a phone? Because if low light performance is important to you, your options just got cut by about 95%

            • G'n'T
              November 15, 2016

              It isn’t the primary factor but an important one yes.. I could easily go get one of the big brands like Apple or Samsung but where’s the fun in that? Would much rather get something a bit different to all the usual big name brands. However I know low light performance isn’t a strong point with most of the phones discussed or reviewed on GizChina.

            • November 15, 2016

              Fair enough. I think its going to be a while before chinese phones catch up to what this year’s Google Pixel is able to achieve with their incredible software

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              Let’s hope Xiaomi manages to iron out software side for the Mi 5s regarding camera & they will catch it up (almost as it’s F2. 0).

            • November 16, 2016

              Might not be for a while though. Even if they fix it, they could still lack the expertise Google has in optimizing the camera software

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              Did you reed any decent review of Pixels? The software is far from good optimized one & they did have camera related problems all in all not so good but let’s face it fat bottom girl will resolve & tune it & everyone else is less capable & that worries me a lot.

            • November 16, 2016

              I thought the only problem they faced was lens flare? And that’s a hardware issue is it not, based on the lens they use?

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              Flare issue whose software related & they fixed it by now but generally over the board Pixel performance is under expected one when compared to similar competitors with same hardware & very, very far of from the best like One +3 for instance.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016
            • November 16, 2016
            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              In God we trust & Anandtech makes best hardware reviews. Especially dip dives in SoC and how things really work. ?

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              In God we trust & Anandtech makes best hardware reviews. Especially dip dives in SoC and how things really work.

          • Lazar Prodanovic
            November 15, 2016

            From Chinese brand’s yes but globaly Huawei is still behind; Google, iPhone, HTC, Samsung…

            • November 16, 2016

              100% agree. But the new P9 with a dual camera is inching ever closer.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              Yes it is but let’s face it when it comes to software optimizations Huawei simply suck & I had couple of Huaweis in my time. That is probably the only reason why they are behind now when they use top sensors and lenses (even better than competition).

            • November 16, 2016

              Well, when you say top lenses I think they just used the Leica brand for marketing.

            • Lazar Prodanovic
              November 16, 2016

              Lecia wouldn’t allow something like that I think. Ruining the name they have built in year’s.

  16. November 15, 2016

    The best part of the Z2 is that since ZUK has opened up its source code, you can root and flash custom ROMs to your heart’s content. Now that it’s widely available for under $200, it’s hands-down the best value in SD820 phones.

    Here’s a nice comparison of some of the more popular ROMs:
    http://zukfans.eu/community/threads/new-users-start-here-comparison-of-available-roms.507/

    • November 15, 2016

      Thank you sir. I am going to sticky this link in the review. It is much appreciated.

      • Lazar Prodanovic
        November 15, 2016

        They did open the kernel code, till now it’s also opened for Pro version but their is still none development. As it is fairly popular device I am certain their will be.

  17. Jh1
    November 15, 2016

    Excellent, well written, and detailed review. Andi and Yash have some competition. Good work.

  18. teby thomas
    November 15, 2016

    can you please explain how to get the latest OTA using the VPN you were talking about??I am completely alien to it. I have Indian Lenovo z2 plus. Please help..

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Download flyvpn from the play store and connect to the Indian server. Then you have to go into settings>applications and force stop the system update and clear the cache. Then reopen it and you can update.

    • Jh1
      December 5, 2016

      Are you still using the Indian ROM? Any luck with notifications? I have a Z2 on order. Assuming it will come with the reseller rom. Debating whether to flash the Chinese or Indian rom when it arrives.

  19. Simion Florin
    November 15, 2016

    Keep up the good work man, i like your style, sharp and detailed. Also i like the fact that u value battery life on a phone. Most review-ers dont talk that much about bettery life section.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      I agree. One of the reasons why I started reviewing stuff was also battery life, reviewers usually tell you a little bit about how long it lasts like 5 hours SOT but that’s not enough information. The only review outlet that gives more battery info than me is GSMArena.

  20. G'n'T
    November 15, 2016

    A very detailed and honest review. Thanks Zi Jin. I was looking at this phone as well but my two big negatives are the screen size (I won’t look at anything smaller than 5.5inch) and the camera performance. It seems Lenovo’s camera performance in most models is average in low light which is a big factor for me. I know the price here stipulates performance sub to that of flagships but if Lenovo put a little more effort in the software side of the camera, it would win a lot more buyers IMHO.

    Great review and look forward to more quality work like this. Thank you.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Low light camera performance is a problem in almost all Chinese manufacturers. The only difference is to what extent the camera fails in this regard. Lenovo doesn’t do a very good job obviously at low light but certain manufacturers do better. The Oneplus 3 (technically a Chinese company) and the Xiaomi Mi5s (*wink *wink) do a lot better in low light, but still fall short of the best.

    • G'n'T
      November 15, 2016

      Thanks for your reply Zi Jin. What about Vivo and Oppo. What are your thoughts on their low light performance?

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      In my opinion Huawei has the best low light performance, followed closely by Vivo. Oppo and high end Xiaomis are neck and neck, then everyone else. Still ready to be proven wrong though.

    • G'n'T
      November 15, 2016

      Thanks for your insight here Zi Jin. Much appreciated.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Are you in the market for a phone? Because if low light performance is important to you, your options just got cut by about 95%

    • G'n'T
      November 15, 2016

      It isn’t the primary factor but an important one yes.. I could easily go get one of the big brands like Apple or Samsung but where’s the fun in that? Would much rather get something a bit different to all the usual big name brands. However I know low light performance isn’t a strong point with most of the phones discussed or reviewed on GizChina.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Fair enough. I think its going to be a while before chinese phones catch up to what this year’s Google Pixel is able to achieve with their incredible software

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      From Chinese brand’s yes but globaly Huawei is still behind; Google, iPhone, HTC, Samsung…

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      100% agree. But the new P9 with a dual camera is inching ever closer.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      Yes it is but let’s face it when it comes to software optimizations Huawei simply suck & I had couple of Huaweis in my time. That is probably the only reason why they are behind now when they use top sensors and lenses (even better than competition).

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      Let’s hope Xiaomi manages to iron out software side for the Mi 5s regarding camera & they will catch it up (almost as it’s F2. 0).

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      Might not be for a while though. Even if they fix it, they could still lack the expertise Google has in optimizing the camera software

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      Well, when you say top lenses I think they just used the Leica brand for marketing.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      Did you reed any decent review of Pixels? The software is far from good optimized one & they did have camera related problems all in all not so good but let’s face it fat bottom girl will resolve & tune it & everyone else is less capable & that worries me a lot.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      Lecia wouldn’t allow something like that I think. Ruining the name they have built in year’s.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      I thought the only problem they faced was lens flare? And that’s a hardware issue is it not, based on the lens they use?

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      Flare issue whose software related & they fixed it by now but generally over the board Pixel performance is under expected one when compared to similar competitors with same hardware & very, very far of from the best like One +3 for instance.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016
    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 16, 2016

      A conflicting view.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      In God we trust & Anandtech makes best hardware reviews. Especially dip dives in SoC and how things really work. 😉

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 16, 2016

      In God we trust & Anandtech makes best hardware reviews. Especially dip dives in SoC and how things really work.

  21. 10basetom
    November 15, 2016

    The best part of the Z2 is that since ZUK has opened up its source code, you can root and flash custom ROMs to your heart’s content. Now that it’s widely available for under $200, it’s hands-down the best value in SD820 phones.

    Here’s a nice comparison of some of the more popular ROMs:
    http://zukfans.eu/community/threads/new-users-start-here-comparison-of-available-roms.507/

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      November 15, 2016

      Thank you sir. I am going to sticky this link in the review. It is much appreciated.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      November 15, 2016

      They did open the kernel code, till now it’s also opened for Pro version but their is still none development. As it is fairly popular device I am certain their will be.

  22. Pungolini
    November 23, 2016

    What would you advise me to buy? LeEco Le 2 , zuk z2 or Redmi note 4 pro?
    Design and performance are the most important aspects for me. Performance-wise zuk z2 has my money but I just love Le 2’s design *-* (and performance isn’t bad either)

  23. Pungolini
    November 23, 2016

    What would you advise me to buy? LeEco Le 2 , zuk z2 or Redmi note 4 pro?
    Design and performance are the most important aspects for me. Performance-wise zuk z2 has my money but I just love Le 2’s design *-* (and performance isn’t bad either)

  24. CMSF
    November 28, 2016

    Thank you Zi Jin, great review. Could you please make a comparison between Zuk Z2 and Mi5? Pros and cons? Im still with lot of doubts about which one should I pick. Cheers!!

  25. CMSF
    November 28, 2016

    Thank you Zi Jin, great review. Could you please make a comparison between Zuk Z2 and Mi5? Pros and cons? Im still with lot of doubts about which one should I pick. Cheers!!