Lenovo's new quad-core, mid-range S60 smartphone launches India; iPhone 6-esque looks and all

It's only natural that, for the most part, the higher-tier mobile devices command the lion's share of the headlines, but the mid-range market has been improving with some gusto in recent times. Today, Lenovo has launched its new S60 smartphone in India at the cost of ₹12,999, which equates to around US$204, and for the money, it packs a solid punch. 

The S60 offers a 5-inch display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, while the 64-bit, 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 should keep everything ticking over nicely. The SoC is allied to a substantial 2GB of RAM, although the 2,150mAh battery capacity is, if anything, a tad lower than that of comparable handsets. There's also LTE support (Cat. 4), offering a maximum downlink of 150Mbps.

The front-facing, 5-megapixel camera is allied to a 13-megapixel rear shooter, and although you only get 8GB of on-board storage, you can readily top it up thanks to the microSD slot. Along with the potential to add more space, you can also slide in a second SIM card with the S60 thanks to its dual-SIM capability. 

In terms of design, the S60 offers plastic, unibody aesthetic, and is uncannily similar-looking to the Apple iPhone 6. In fact, Lenovo appears to have paid quite a bit of attention to the profile of Apple's flagship, but given its popularity and strong sales, it's not surprising that Lenovo has taken cues. As well as looking like an iPhone, the S60 also tries to be impressively thin, at 7.7mm thin, while weighing in at a relatively light 128g.

The only real downside is that it doesn't run Android Lollipop out of the box. In picking up this handset, you'll be met with the aging Android 4.4.4 KitKat coupled with Lenovo's own Vibe UI 2.0. While a Lollipop update for the Lenovo S60 is promised in the near future, these things have a tendency of dragging out, and if you are keen to roll with Lollipop and its Material Design, you might want to shop elsewhere.

As affordable smartphones go, the Lenovo S60 is a reasonably attractive prospect, although the Xiaomi Mi 4i has single-handedly redefined the level of hardware one can expect at a mid-range price point, at least when the Eastern markets are concerned. In fact, the Mi 4i, which launched a couple of weeks back across the Indian market, costs ₹12,999 as well, and given that you get many additional perks over the S60 including that 1080p display, Lenovo's new mid-market effort may already be a tad on the late side. 

source: Lenovo via Android Authority