X

Lenovo's S850 is a hot pink phone with glowing glass and a low price

Its specs are nothing special, but you're not going to miss the S850, a cheap new phone from the Chinese manufacturer.

Nick Hide Managing copy editor
Nick manages CNET's advice copy desk from Springfield, Virginia. He's worked at CNET since 2005.
Expertise Copy editing, football, Civilization and other old-man games, West Wing trivia
Nick Hide
2 min read

BARCELONA, Spain -- Lenovo's second phone of MWC, after the heavyweight S860, is the more svelte S850. Despite the similar monikers, they're very different phones.

Where the S860 is over 10mm thick, the S850 comes in at a very slender 8.2mm. Its colour scheme and design are different too, with the S850 only available in white and pink, and its chassis is all glass, like the iPhone 4 and 4S.

It's cheaper too, with a US price of $269 unlocked, compared to the S860's $349, although it won't see a US release.

Lenovo shows off its hot pink, glowing S850 (pictures)

See all photos

On the back is a glowing Lenovo logo whose colour you can customise -- cleverly, it can be set to glow different colours for different kinds of notifications.

It feels like a light, decently built phone, with curved edges and a flat back. The white model is nothing exceptional, but the hot pink one will definitely turn heads.

The S850 has a 1,280x720 HD screen that measures 5 inches across. Andrew Hoyle/CNET

It's hard to see where that extra $80 is going, because they're pretty similar specs-wise. the S850 has the same 1.3GHz quad-core chip, the same 1,280x720 HD screen (albeit a little smaller at 5 inches), and the same 16GB of storage.

It has a better camera too, with 13 megapixels to the S860's 8, and a better 5-megapixel front camera for top-notch video calls.

The only areas it undercuts the S860 are its RAM, with 1GB, and its battery, which is half the capacity at 2,000mAh. Both run the ageing Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software, with an update likely soon after launch. Lenovo's custom skin isn't one of the best, removing the app drawer, so all your apps have to be kept on a home screen.

You can get the S850 in an eye-catching hot pink color. Andrew/Hoyle/CNET

It does have Lenovo's latest custom apps though, with tonnes of options for online storage, sharing and security, and a cool camera app that can beautify you and your friends.

Like the S860, the S850 won't go on sale in the US or Western Europe, but will be widely available elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East and Central America. It makes its debut in June.

CNET's full coverage of Mobile World Congress