It was inevitable that the gaming line will get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and here it is, powering the Lenovo Legion Y90. This phone starts at 12 GB of RAM and has 16 and 18 GB options as well. The two lower configurations come with 256 GB storage, the top model has split storage 640 GB in total - 512 GB UFS + 128 GB SSD, in RAID 0, at least that what's Lenovo says. Naturally, the phone runs Android 12 with ZUI 13.
The massive 6.92” display on the front is
a Samsung AMOLED panel (E4) with 1,080 x 2,460 px resolution (20.5:9), HDR10+
support and near perfect color reproduction (deltaE < 0.6). Peak brightness
is 1,300 nits. It has a high refresh rate, of course, 144 Hz and 720 Hz touch
sampling rate. Lenovo advertises a response time of just 3.4 ms. There are
shoulder keys on the side (acting as L1, L2 and R1, R2), plus two pressure
sensitive zones on the display (for L3 and R3).
For a more immersive game play, the phone
is equipped with dual Z-axis linear motors and stereo speakers (1.48 cc, with
Dolby Atmos support, 40% louder than previous generations). The front facing
camera (16 MP) is embedded in the bezel to keep it out of the screen. Flipping
over to the back, there is a 64 MP main camera and a 13 MP ultra wide (120°).
Both are positioned towards the center of the phone, so you won’t smudge them
with your hands (this phone is designed to be held horizontally). Also here is
the Legion logo, complete with RGB backlighting (which can cycle through 262K
colors).
The Legion Y90 has a fairly large 5,600
mAh battery, enough for 8 hours of gaming or 13 hours of streaming video. It
supports 68W fast charging and can do the 0-100% sprint in 35 minutes. Like
other members of its family, it has two USB-C ports – one on the bottom, one on
the side (again, designed to be used horizontally). Note that the side USB-C
port is 3.1 Gen2, the bottom one is USB 2.0. The phone can intelligently switch
between 144, 120, 90 and 60 Hz depending on the content to save battery.
Connectivity includes 5G (of course) and
Wi-Fi 6 (ax, 2x2 MIMO). There is no 3.5 mm headphone jack (previous Legions
didn’t have one either). At least you still have two wired ports (USB-C, so
you’ll need an adapter). The Lenovo Legion Y90 is already available for
pre-order in China, open sales will start on March 10. The 12/256 GB model has
an MSRP of CNY 4,300 (US$ 680/€ 610), but is dicounted to CNY 4,000 to celebrate
the launch. The 16/256 GB model is CNY 4,600, the 16/640 GB one is CNY 5,300
(this is without the CNY 300 discount).
