Lenovo K12 Pro review: a standalone giant with a custom display

The smartphone comes in two interesting colours: purple and grey-green. The cover of the device is made of practical plastic with a rough texture, which does not slip in the hand. The camera module is slightly protruding over the body, so it is better to get a protective cover, because it is not included in the package. The manufacturer claims moisture protection, but does not specify which standard it is. On the back there is a fast-acting fingerprint scanner. The novelty is worth praising for USB Type-C and a mini-headphone jack. There is a separate Google Assistant activation button on the left end.

The phone is really bulky: the gadget is almost 10 millimeters thick, the height is 172 mm and the weight is 221 grams. The novelty received a 6.8-inch IPS matrix with an aspect ratio of 20.5:9. The non-standard format is convenient for viewing videos, photos and multitasking. However, not all games are adapted for this kind of screen, so many interface elements don't appear in their proper places. The display with such a large diagonal clearly lacks clarity due to the low resolution. Viewing angles and brightness adjustment range can't be complained about, under direct sunlight the information remains readable.

The Lenovo K12 Pro is powered by an 11nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 single-core processor, split into two clusters. The first includes four Cortex-A73 cores that clock in at up to 2 GHz, while the second consists of four Cortex-A53 cores that can be ramped up to 1.8 GHz for light-duty tasks. The graphics accelerator is Adreno 610, with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Storage can be expanded with microSD, but you'll have to choose between a second SIM and additional storage.

The power of the chipset is enough for smooth operation of the interface and fast opening of apps. Since the processor is popular, many programs are well optimized for it. The same applies to games. For example, in Genshin Impact on minimum graphics settings you can clobber with a frame rate of 26 fps. Less demanding to hardware racing hit Asphalt 9 confidently holds 27 fps at maximum settings. The device is practically immune to trotting. During the CPU Throttling Test benchmark, the device's performance slipped by just 13 percent.

Battery life is one of the key features of the Lenovo K12 Pro. The model is equipped with a high-capacity 6000mAh battery, so it will easily last the whole day in all usage scenarios. In a standard FHD video playback test at a medium brightness level, the phone will last for 21 hours in air mode, and up to 30 hours when scrolling through YouTube videos. On other smartphones in the Genshin Impact, percents of charge literally fly away before your eyes, but the K12 Pro can handle as much as 8 hours of uninterrupted gameplay. It comes with a 20W power adapter. In the first hour, the device recovers 50% of the battery's energy at the socket. A full charge takes 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The Lenovo K12 Pro has three lenses: a 64MP main sensor with an aperture of f/1.8, a 2MP macro module and a depth sensor. The manufacturer has seriously redesigned the camera app interface. Now many elements are on different places, it takes some getting used to. In addition, the program occasionally slows down. But also pluses at the software enough: the huge quantity of various presets and functions is accessible.

The device shoots video in Full HD at 60 fps. In this mode there is no stabilization, the gadget is constantly trying to refocus, but it does not always succeed.
When switching to FHD at 30 fps the device activates electronic stabilisation. However, the result of its work is not particularly noticeable. But the autofocus stops being weird: it works much faster and makes fewer mistakes.

The smartphone runs an almost pure Android OS of the tenth version. Lenovo decided not to re-invent the wheel: the shell is based on the developments of a subsidiary of Motorola. However, in the interface any mention of this brand is removed. Nevertheless it's easy to notice all branded Moto software: it's enough to go to the section with installed software on Google Play. From useful features we'll single out the gestures of switching on the torch and splitting the screen into two parts. The last option is especially convenient to use because of the elongated display. Also note the screenshot editing tool and the function that prevents the display from turning off while the owner is looking at it.

The Lenovo K12 Pro was one of the first to fall victim to the new Russian software pre-installation law. So Kaspersky Antivirus, the Mir Pay payment system, and various software from Mail.ru and Yandex have been included in the regular utilities. The good news is that all of these are easy to remove. The smartphone also features a handy equalizer for detailed adjustment of the speaker and headphone sound. An additional plus of the model is the NFC module, which allows you to pay for purchases contactless.

The Lenovo K12 Pro is a truly popular smartphone without any obvious flaws. The OS is a joy to use with fast performance and an abundance of software features that make the device easy to use. The performance is enough to run even demanding games, albeit not at maximum picture presets. The display with a non-standard aspect ratio brings a new user experience to the budget segment, and the main camera takes pretty good pictures for its class.