Lenovo Legion Phone Duel: Everything you need to know

Lenovo’s first gaming phone is here! The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel has been announced, and as expected, we’re seeing a host of gaming-centric features—including a uniquely placed pop-up selfie camera that’s mounted on the side of the device.

The rest of the Legion Phone Duel’s internals feature some of the best hardware on the market today, and it’s clear that the company has rival gaming phones such as the Asus ROG Phone 3 in its cross hairs. If you’re looking for a new gaming smartphone, this might just be the one for you—here’s a quick breakdown of everything you need to know.

Price and availability

The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel—or the Lenovo Legion Phone Pro in China—will be initially available in China in July 2020, and that availability is to be extended to select markets “later”. In China, official pricing will start at CNY3,499 (~RM2,123), with four variants available at the following prices:

Lenovo Legion Phone Duel – 8GB RAM, 128GB storage – CNY3,499 (~RM2,123)
Lenovo Legion Phone Duel – 12GB RAM, 128GB storage – CNY3,899 (~RM2,366)
Lenovo Legion Phone Duel – 12GB RAM, 256GB storage – CNY4,199 (~RM2,548)
Lenovo Legion Phone Duel – 16GB RAM, 512GB storage – CNY5,999 (~RM3,641)

Two colours are available: Vengeance Red and Blazing Blue.

Specs

As expected, we’re seeing some serious gaming hardware under the hood. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus powering the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel, with 5G support also provided. That’s mated with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, with storage options of up to 512GB of fast UFS 3.1 storage.

You also get a 5,000mAh battery that can be charged via one of two USB-C ports—if you plug in both charging ports, you’ll be able to charge at a staggering 90W. (65W with just one USB-C port). According to Lenovo, you can charge the device from 0–50 percent in just 10 minutes, and a full charge only takes half an hour.

Up front, the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel features a 6.65″ AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate that pushes a FHD+ resolution. A 240Hz touch sampling rate also reduces input lag, and the entire experience has been designed to for”blur-free animations”, according to Lenovo.

As mentioned, there’s a 20MP front-facing pop-up camera that has a unique side-mounted placement; you’re also looking at two rear cameras: a 64MP main shooter and a 16MP ultra-wide angle camera. The side-mounted camera offers an interesting way for gamers to stream themselves via channels like Twitch and YouTube—all in landscape mode.

To add to the experience for gamers, there are also virtual joystick and dual ultrasonic trigger buttons that are embedded. Dual vibration engines provide “life-like feedback” for gamers, too. Dual front-facing speakers are also included on the Legion Phone Duel, along with large 1.4cc acoustics chambers.

And of course, what true gaming device would be complete without RGB lighting? The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel has programmable RGB lighting around the Legion “Y” logo—you can program the lights to dynamically change, or to remain static.

So, what do you think? Does the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel have what it takes to compete with the likes of the Asus ROG Phone 3? Let us know in the comments section below.