The K5 is about as dependable a photographic tool as you could expect for the money - good output when the light is right, less so in dim scenes. Video hasn’t been fixed from when we reviewed the K5 Plus and its erratic focusing renders it unusable at times.
The key differences are mostly in principle, rather than experience, and start with the display, where the vanilla Vibe K5 makes do with 720p resolution. Pixel density aside, the panel is equally good, posting reasonable scores in all tests without deal-breaking weaknesses.
Battery life is quite respectable too, though the lower resolution hasn’t given the K5 much of an edge over the Plus. Performance isn’t an issue either, despite what you might have thought when you see a Snapdragon 400-series chipset - the 415 is closer to the 615s of this world than it is to the 410.
Lenovo Vibe K5 key test findings
Generic, no-frills design with a metal back to add a touch of premium
The display doesn’t excel in any test, but doesn’t fail any of them either. Average maximum brightness and contrast, decently accurate color reproduction in default mode, which can be made even better by tweaking the settings(at the expense of brightness, though)
Battery endurance rating of 64 hours, average numbers across the board. We appreciate the fact that the battery is user-replaceable
The Snapdragon 415 may be a 400-series member, but thanks to its similar octa-core CPU and same GPU it’s only slightly behind 61x models. 720p resolution helps too.
The Android Lollipop on the K5 seems unlikely to get a bump to Marshmallow - such is the fate of most budget models. The custom overlay isn’t perfect, but after a period of adjustment you can get used to its quirks.
Stereo loudspeakers are loud, the Good rating is oddly a notch down from the K5 Plus
Detailed, if a little noisy, images from the 13MP primary camera
5MP selfie camera captures good detail too, you can look past the almost universally clipped highlights
Otherwise decent 1080p video is marred by persistent focus-hunting