Lenovo Vibe K5 review

Synthetic benchmarks

A chief difference between the Vibe K5 and the K5 Plus is the chipset. Whereas the Plus relies on the Snapdragon 616, the K5 gets a 400 series chip, the Snapdragon 415. Unlike the 410, however, the 415 incorporates an octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A53 cores that go up to 1.4GHz, and another four capped at 1.0GHz. So in effect, the 415 sits closer to the 616, than it does to the 410 with its quad-core CPU.

And it's not just the processor, the GPU is the same Adreno 405 as in the K5 Plus' Snapdragon 616. Both SoC's are manufactured on a 28nm process too. Additionally, the Vibe K5 comes with 2GB of RAM, just like its Plus sibling.

All this considered, we didn't expect significant differences in benchmark performance, certainly not to the extent suggested by the 600 vs. 400 family difference. If anything, the lower resolution of the K5 coupled with otherwise similar hardware might actually mean better scores, we thought.

Well, it doesn't, not for the most part. In GeekBench, where raw CPU performance is measured, the K5 is only some 11% behind the K5 Plus in single-core tests, though the difference becomes more pronounced in multi-core.

The quad-core budget Galaxies and the Xperia E5 are no match for the K5, not in single-core and certainly not in multi-core tests. Then again, 600-series Snapdragons found in the Moto G4 and Oppo F1, for example, are noticeably more powerful.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  883
• Meizu m3 note
  807
• Lenovo Moto G4
  713
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  689
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  616
• Sony Xperia E5
  540
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  396
• Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016)
  385

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  4825
• Lenovo Moto G4
  3182
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  3038
• Meizu m3 note
  3028
• Oppo F1
  3014
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2842
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2493
• Sony Xperia E5
  1490
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  1247
• Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016)
  1207

Overall performance is examined in Basemark II 2.0, and the Vibe K5 does a reasonably good job. Again quad-core entry-level devices are far behind, but the K5 is the lowest-ranked of the octa-cores. The Snapdragon 616-equipped Redmi 3 isn't much better though, and neither is the Helio P10 in the m3 note. The Oppo F1 makes better use of its S616, in this test at least, and the Xperia XA proves the P10 is capable of a lot more.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  1039
• Sony Xperia XA
  1013
• Oppo F1
  961
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  884
• Meizu m3 note
  852
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  804
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  789
• Sony Xperia E5
  575
• Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016)
  406
• Lenovo Moto G4
  341
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  326

Antutu comes next, in current and older flavors. In the latest pre-6 release, the Vibe K5 scores about 35K points, inching ahead of its Plus brother. Order is restored in Antutu 6, where the Plus regains the lead over the plain K5.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  49508
• Meizu m3 note
  41838
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  35295
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  35141
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  34077
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  21536

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA
  47170
• Lenovo Moto G4
  46949
• Meizu m3 note
  44898
• Oppo F1
  35353
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  35291
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  33414
• Sony Xperia E5
  32248
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  31353
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  24884
• Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016)
  24697

When it comes to graphics performance, you can easily tell that the Adreno 405 is much happier pushing 720p than FullHD, just by a quick glance at GFXBench numbers. In the offscreen test the the K5 lags behind the K5 Plus (lower clock rate possibly to blame), but pulls ahead in the onscreen part, rendered at the devices' respective actual resolutions. That said, the Oppo F1 and Xiaomi Redmi 3 still manage a couple of fps more than the K5.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  8.4
• Sony Xperia XA
  7.2
• Lenovo Moto G4
  6.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  5.8
• Oppo F1
  5.8
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  5.5
• Meizu m3 note
  5.4
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  4.8
• Sony Xperia E5
  3

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  12
• Oppo F1
  11
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  9.4
• Meizu m1 metal
  8
• Lenovo Moto G4
  6.8
• Sony Xperia E5
  6
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  5.5
• Meizu m3 note
  5.4

Basemark X levels the field to 1080p rendering and the K5 is again slightly behind the Plus, but the Redmi 3 and the Oppo F1 speak louder for team Snapdragon 616.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 metal
  8526
• Lenovo Moto G4
  6932
• Sony Xperia XA
  6420
• Oppo F1
  5314
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  5108
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  4863
• Meizu m3 note
  4567
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  4263
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  1424
• Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016)
  1419

So all in all, the Vibe K5 is marginally slower than the K5 Plus, with the exception of 3D gaming, where it can do twice as many fps as its slightly more expensive FullHD bro owing to the having a lowe screen resolution but the same GPU. Snapdragon 616 devices outperform the K5 in general, but the difference isn't as substantial as the difference we saw between last year's S615 vs. S410, and the K5 is certainly not lacking in oomph, especially given its price.