Xiaomi's reign in India is now threatened by Lenovo, which will release a new budget 4G smartphone in the country. The Lenovo A6000 was introduced during the Consumer Electronics Show and it would not take long for the Chinese firm to release its new offering in the market as it will be put up on sale next week. Lenovo is making its presence known there as the A6000 is to be sold through Flipkart flash sale, the same method Xiaomi Redmi 1S was put on the Indian market. So is the A6000 a worthy substitute for the 2014 Xiaomi handset?
The Lenovo smartphone comes relatively bigger than the Redmi 1S. The former sports a 5-inch display while the latter has a 4.7-inch screen. Both deliver a decent 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. The A6000, though, went for a 294 ppi pixel density, which proves that Redmi 1S should have the crisper visuals with 312 ppi.
Xiaomi's smartphone has the older processor under its hood. It had a 1.6 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8228 400 while its new rival houses a 1.2 GHz 64-bit quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, as detailed by IB Times. Both phones, nonetheless, offer an 8 GB memory and a 1 GB internal memory. Each one can also be expanded up to 32 GB with an SD card.
The Xiaomi Redmi 1S and the Lenovo A6000 also have the same primary camera unit, an 8-megapixel rear-facing shooter. The A6000 is loaded with a 2-megapixel selfie snapper whereas its contender has a 1.6-megapixel front camera. The phones have the much-needed dual-slim slots as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.
In terms of operating system, both phones lag a bit behind. Redmi 1S dawdles with its Android 4.3 Jellybean support, while the Lenovo phone runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat straight out of the box. Battery life-wise, the phones should be head to head with the latter packing a 2300 mAh battery unit and the former using a 2000 mAh battery.
In terms of price, the Xiaomi offering is still the less pricey one of the pair. With a price tag of only Rs 5,999 (that's around $97), it is still more affordable than the Lenovo A6000, which will be on sale for Rs 6,999 ($113). However, with minor upgrades done in the latter, the Rs 1000 price difference is still reasonable.
Interested buyers in India should register on Flipkart from 6 p.m. on Jan. 16 to Jan. 27 to avail of the Lenovo A6000, which will be on sale only through the said outlet starting Jan. 28 at 2 p.m.
