Introduction
The gaming smartphone segment has grown steadily over the last couple of years. Lenovo today (22-July) announced the world's first gaming smartphone to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset, called Legion Duel. As you can expect from a modern flagship phone, Lenovo's first Legion gaming phone comes with 5G support, up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. The phone also has a 144Hz display and dual ultrasonic trigger buttons along with dual vibration engines.
Price and availability
The Legion Duel comes in blue and red colors and will go on sale in China on August 5. The phone will be available for pre-order later today. Later, it will be made available in other select markets in the Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The device is priced at below:
8GB + 128GB: CNY 3499 ($500)
12GB + 128GB: CNY 3899 ($557)
12GB + 256GB: CNY 4199 ($600)
16GB + 512GB: CNY 5999 ($740)
Design and display
The Lenovo Legion Duel has a gaming-aesthetic design language, with sharp and bright color accents across different parts of the device to give it a more appealing look. It has a multicolor LED on the rear, in the ‘Y’ shape formation. One of the most interesting things about the phone is its side-mounted pop-up selfie camera (which makes it different from other smartphones). In terms of display, the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel offers you a 6.65-inch full-HD+ (2,340x1,080 pixels) AMOLED panel that has 144Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. There is also a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The Lenovo Legion Duel has dual ultrasonic shoulder keys that are paired with dual x-axis linear motors and 3D motion sensors to provide a realistic gaming experience. You'll also get dual front-facing stereo speakers. In addition, the phone measures 169.17x78.48x9.9mm and weighs 239 grams.
Front and rear cameras
The Legion Phone Duel arrives with a dual rear camera setup that includes a 64-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.89 aperture and a 16-megapixel secondary camera that has a 120-degree, f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens. There is also a 20-megapixel selfie camera that has an f/2.2 aperture and is available on the side pop-up module. This helps record videos or capture selfies while playing games in the landscape mode. Further, the Lenovo phone has mobile broadcasting features. It also has four noise-cancellation microphones to provide an enhanced audio experience while recording videos or live streaming games.
Processor, software, and battery
The gaming phone draws power from the Snapdragon 865 Plus Chipset clocked at 3.1GHz. The SoC is coupled with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage Lenovo has provided connectivity options including 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, and NFC. Sensors onboard include an accelerometer, ambient light, gyroscope, magnetometer, proximity sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor. There is also an in-display fingerprint sensor for authentication. Lenovo Legion Phone Duel runs on Android 10 with ZUI 12 (Legion OS). The proprietary skin brings a lot of software-level customizations including the horizontal UI option that lets you easily play games and interact with other gamers in a landscape mode.
Further, there are six customized layout themes, each with different interface elements, colors, and icons. The phone also has Audio to Vibration (A2V) feature that analyses audio directional signals to trigger associated stimulations. Moreover, the phone has two 2,500mAh batteries that jointly offer 5,000mAh typical capacity. There is also up to 90W Turbo Power Charging support that can add as much as 50 percent of juice in just 10 minutes. The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel has dual liquid-cooling along with copper tubes.