Lenovo's online-only smartphone brand, Zuk, has launched in China
alongside its first handset - the Z1. Priced at CNY 1,799 (approximately
Rs. 18,250), the smartphone will go on
sale
starting August 18.
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.