Lenovo Lemon 3 is the all metal rival to the Xiaomi Redmi 3

Lenovo go all metal with their new budget Lenovo Lemon 3 which launched today and promises some hot competition to the Xiaomi Redmi 3.

For those of us in the know, ‘Lemon’ is the name that Lenovo use in China for their budget phones, in fact the highly praised Lenovo K3 Note also came under the Lemon umbrella in China.

The new Lemon 3 is a 5-inch phone so not a successor to the K3 Note, but the new all metal body might hint at what we can expect from one.

With a metal body, 5-inch display, Snapdragon 616 chipset and 2GB RAM the Lenovo Lemon 3 seems spec for spec on par with the Xiaomi Redmi 3 launched this week, but where the Xiaomi opts for a HD display the Lemon 3 has a FHD 1920 x 1080 panel.

Another difference in spec between the Xiaomi and the Lenovo is the inclusion of Dolby Atmos, and Maxx Audio features. These are real plus points for any phone, but is going to make the budget 699 Yuan a firm favourite with music and movie lovers.

Lenovo haven't gone for a huge battery but say the 2750mAh can offer 15 days of standby or 6.2 hours of video playback.

Other features include a 13 mega-pixel rear camera, single LED flash, 5 mega-pixel front camera and LTE.

Lenovo Lemon 3 feature highlights:

• 5-inch FHD display
• Snapdragon 616
• 2GB RAM
• Dolby Atmos
• 2750mAh
• Dual SIM
• Micro SD support
• 142 x 71 x 7.99 mm

Expect Lenovo to be planning to launch the Lemon 3 (under another name) in other markets.