It was a terrific and traumatizing experience when I saw the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 snapping into three parts with minimal efforts. The device ridden with innumerable features and really outstanding designs to set it aside from all other gaming smartphones on the market quickly lost its credibility during the durability test despite being built with really high quality materials like a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 but there is in fact more to that.

The device comes with some of the highest specifications on the market as far as the year 2021 is concerned as well as a big batteries. The unique design, its camera locations and the fact that it comes with dual batteries which can be charged in parallel to speed things up using its dual USB-C charging port which bump up the charging capacity to a whopping 90W.

This is definitely the real “Dual” smartphone because everything kind of came in two until it snapped into three according to Zack from JerryRigEverything when he conducted a durability test on the device.

One prominent thing about these big smartphones with dual batteries is how easy they can be broken apart which doesn’t discredit the fact that these devices are truly awesome just not strong enough just as the case with the ROG Phone 5.

But before talking about the flaws of the device, what makes the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 so amazing and unique in every sense possible? The first thing would be the back of the device which unlike conventional smartphones has its camera bump and its entire setup right at the center of the device.

Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 specs

We’re talking about a massive 6.92-inch E4 AMOLED display made by Samsung with a tall aspect ratio of 20.5:9 and a resolution of 2460 x 1080 pixels with a 144Hz refresh and a whopping 720Hz touch sampling rate which makes it the ultimate gaming device considering the fact that at such a high speed, the screen is able to process fast touch and output the response as fast as possible thanks to its powerful chipset.

The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 comes with an 8-bit HDR display with Pixelworks i6 chipset while its display brightness can reach 1300 nits which makes it usable even under direct sunlight.

Powering up all these hardware is the current Snapdragon 888 processor with 8GB of RAM on the base model, 16GB on the mid-range while the high-end variant gets cranked up to 18GB of RAM. There is also a 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage on the base model while the high-end model gets about 512GB.

And still on the specifications of this device, it comes with an OmniVision 64MP f/1.9 1.0 µm primary sensor while the secondary camera is a 16MP f/2.2 123 degree ultrawide angle lens allowing the device to capture a variety of great quality images.

Just the two camera system which makes up for the “Duel” branding of the device but those are not the only dual components on the device but that in a moment.

It’s front-facing selfie camera is a single 44MP f/2.0 sensor which is also implemented right at the middle module allowing game streamers to easily use the device considering the horizontal position the device will always be in during extreme gaming.

The front-facing camera is a pop-up which slides out of the device’s side and is able to capture about 4K while the rear camera setup can capture up to 8K at 24 fps and 4k at 60fps while it can do slow-motion recording in 1080p at 240fps and shoot in RAW format as well as Audio Zoom technology.

You get front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and a game mode that enhances the in-game sound experience. There are four microphones with noise reduction and a dual smart amplifier. It has Wi-Fi 6 for connectivity.

Coming down to the “Dual” aspects of the device, there is a 5500mAh battery on the device but that’s a dual battery that is synced together to aid the super fast charging capacity of the device at a whopping 90watts. This can be triggered via its dual USB-C ports.

Out of the box, you get a massive 65W charger with a dual USB-C ports on it which when connected can help the maximum charging experience.

Still on the dual components, the Legion Phone Duel 2 comes with a dual unique cooling system. So there is a fan that sucks in air while there is an air vent on the side for heat dissipation both working together to reduce heat within the device and make the Snapdragon 888 chipset work more efficiently during extreme gaming situations.

The fan that take in air has 29 mini blades with a 12,500 RPM while the other is an output fan that takes out the hot air. It too has 29 blades but its RPM is higher at 15,000. Lenovo says that the fans have a noise level of 24.7dB and a life of up to 50,000 hours which is almost 6 years.

That is not the only cooling method available. Lenovo has also included a vapor chamber with liquid cooling for passive cooling. The phone also has four ultrasonic shoulder keys, dual force touch sensors, and dual capacitance keys.

Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 Price and Availability

The device will be made available in a dual color options which are Ultimate Black and Titanium White both of which comes in different configurations and that will determine the price you’ll pay for whichever you decide to purchase. However, the base price starts at US$500 while the high-end model could reach US$900. Below s a short breakdown of the price in China, Europe and the US.

1. 8GB RAM + 128GB = CN¥3699 (~US$565)
2. 12GB RAM + 128GB = CN¥4099 (~US$625)
3. 12GB RAM + 256GB = EU€799/¥4399 (~US$672)
4. 16GB RAM + 512GB =  EU€999/¥5299 (~US$809)
5. 18GB RAM + 512GB = CN¥5999 (~US$916)

Lenovo has said that availability in the US is “to be determined”. It will be available for purchase in Europe and the Asia Pacific in May.

Snapped into three

As you can see above, the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 comes with multiple components which makes it really slightly heavier than you would expect. Then there is the oddly positioned camera bump right at center-back of the device making it wobble if you ever try to type with a single hand while the device sits on a table.

The device’s screen protection is based on the Gorilla Glass 5 which began scratching at level 6 and 7 during the JerryRigEverything scratch test but it couldn’t survive the bend test when he tried it. The device quickly snapped and guess where the weak point was…you guess right, just beside the bump at the back.

The snap happened at the device’s 5G antenna area which is usually made with plastic materials even though the other parts of the device was made of aluminum. Zack from JerryRigEverything tried the bend test on the other side of the bump and as expected, it snapped again at the network antenna point which makes it a new “Trio”.

One noticeable thing is the fact that the Gorilla Glass 5 stayed intact despite having to go through the mean hands of Zack.

He also blamed the positioning of the dual batteries on the sides (top and bottom) of the device’ bump while the center is probably where the motherboard is being housed.

Though it comes with a clear plastic casing out of the box, that won’t probably do too much in protecting the device which is why you should keep it in a really safe place in order to not get it bent into three parts.

More on the Legion Phone Duel 2 as soon as we get our hands on the review units here. So watch out for that soon.