Samsung is undoubtedly one of the front runners of the Android race while Lenovo are catching up with them fast. Samsung has been looking to expand its Galaxy portfolio and the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is a result of company’s interest in the 6inch+ category while the Lenovo K900 is Lenovo’s current flagship powered by an Intel processor.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 was launched at the end of May in Indian while the Lenovo K900 has been available since June although it had been announced way back in January earlier this year. Despite being different devices of different capabilities, they are priced almost similarly and lets check out which of the two performs better.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTWIIW1szXM
Design, Build Quality
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 has the typical Samsung plastic build which is a little played out while the Lenovo K900 has an all metal build with a rectangular slab design.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is taller, thicker, wider and heavier than the Lenovo K900 and that is mainly because of the bigger 6.3 inch display. Despite being bigger, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 feels more comfortable in hand than the Lenovo K900 because of the curved edges.
On the front, we have the display above which we have the earpiece and front cameras along with ambient and proximity sensors on the right side on the Galaxy Mega while the front camera is on the left side of the earpiece on K900.
On the Galaxy Mega, below the display, we have a physical home button with capacitive touch keys on either side, but on the K900, there is no physical key, but all capacitive touch keys with a unique home icon.
The positioning of keys is similar with only the power lock key on the right side on both the phones while on the K900, we have a microSIM card slot also. The power lock button is towards the top of the K900 while it is more towards the center of the Galaxy Mega.
Both the phones have the microUSB port and microphone on the bottom while the K900 has the 3.5mm audio jack too.
On the left side, we have just the volume rocker on the both the sides.
On the top of the Galaxy Mega is the 3.5mm audio jack, IR blaster and secondary microphone while there is nothing on the K900.
The quality of the keys used is completely different and the metal keys of the K900 offer better feedback and feel quite solid.
Moving to the back side, differences seem more clear with completely different materials and design language. On the Galaxy Mega, the 8MP camera with single LED flash is located at the top center while the 13MP camera with dual LED flash in K900 is located at top left corner. The secondary microphone is right next to the camera on the K900. The Galaxy Mega has a very glossy and fingerprint prone plastice back while the K900 has a metal back with screens on four edges that separate its back from the top the bottom metal strips.
The Mega 6.3 has a removable battery cover and beneath the cover, we find a hot-swappable microSD card slot and microSIM slot.
Overall, the all plastic build of Galaxy Mega 6.3 feels less premium when compared to the Lenovo K900, but the curved edges and corners make the Galaxy Mega much more comfortable to hold. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is an all plastic, but comfortable to hold phone while Lenovo K900 is a solidly build rectangular metal slab which can be tough to hold.
Display
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a giant 6.3inch SC LCD HD display having a pixel density of 230ppi which is very less compared to the 401ppi of the 5.5inch IPS Full HD display in the Lenovo K900. The brightness on both the displays is good although we found that the Galaxy Mega 6.3 was a tad higher.
The display on both the phones is quite good with true colors, very good viewing angles although the higher pixel density on the K900 gives it an advantage.
Hardware and Performance
The major differentiating factor between the two phones is the processor – Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400, 1.5GB and Adreno 302 GPU while the Lenovo K900 is powered by a 2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Atom Z2580, has 2GB RAM and graphics are taken care by PowerVR SGX544 GPU.
The Galaxy Mega comes in 8/16GB variants (we have the 16GB variant) while the K900 has just 16GB internal storage. Out of the 16GB, Galaxy Mega has 12GB available while the Lenovo K900 has 4.68GB for apps out of which 1.17GB is available and 9.77GB user accessible memory. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 comes with a microSD card slot while the Lenovo K900 doesn’t have support for expandable storage.
Out of the 1.5GB RAM in Galaxy Mega 1350MB is usable and 700MB is free when the device is idle. In the K900, out of the 2GB RAM, 1.9GB is usable and 1GB is free when the device is idle.
In terms of day to day performance, both the phones are quite snappy. Opening apps and switching between them is very fast.
In benchmarks, the measure of performance could not be gauged as Galaxy Mega 6.3 beat the K900 in few benchmarks like LinPack(Single and Multi), Vellamo 2(HTML5) and Quadrant while the K900 beat the G Pro in AnTutu, Vellama 2(Metal), Sunspider Javascript and NenaMark 2.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 8MP camera at the back and a 2.1MP camera at the front while the K900 has a 13MP at the back and 2MP camera at the front. Both the phones can record 1080p videos at 30fps with stereo sound from rear camera while only K900 records 1080p videos from front camera.
The camera UI is different on both the phones with some skinning from the manufacturers. The Galaxy Mega has same screen for photos and videos while the K900 has separate screens for photos and videos. The K900 has a lot of filters compared to the G Pro. Various shooting modes like HDR, Panorama are found in both the devices.
In terms of image clarity, the K900 was better with less noise, more details, better contrast and true colors. You can check out the video below to know more.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqoTTx0uVbo
Software features
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Lenovo K900 run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). Galaxy Mega 6.3 has lots of software customizations like one handed use in dialer. It has Samsung specific features like Multi-Window, smart stay, S-Beam, Air View and Pop out videos. Any such customization is absent in the K900 and we get only skinned version of the basic apps.
In terms of software, both the Galaxy Mega is way ahead of the K900 with lots of software goodies.
Gaming
Gaming on the Galaxy Mega is good and it is not that smooth in the K900. The Intel Atom processor seems to undermine the performance of the device and there are occasional glitches in the games. The games run relatively better on Galaxy Mega.
Battery and Connectivity
Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 3200mAh battery while the K900 has 2500mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the bigger battery in Galaxy Mega is definitely better.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, WiFi Direct and microUSB(MHL) connectivity. However, only Mega 6.3 has support for WiFi 802.11 ac and NFC.
Conclusion
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is a very huge phablet with an excellent display and high midrange specs while the Lenovo K900 is a good high end device selling at a lesser price point.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 retails for Rs. 29,000 while the Lenovo K900 retails for Rs. 26,000 and the difference in the price is mainly for the brand value. The Samsung Galaxy Mega offers a better gaming experience and has better software features while the relatively cheap Lenovo K900 is a better built metal device with excellent display and a better camera.
Contributed by Monish Kumar.