Two years after the release of the Lenovo LP40 earphones of the thinkplus series, which have taken the market by storm by being one of the most selling cheap earphones and by far the most successful, Lenovo has launched a pro version of them, the Lenovo LP40 Pro, with an improved Bluetooth 5.1 chip for better connectivity and lower delay, 13mm dual-frequency large moving coil unit that produces an even better bass than its predecessor, accurate touch control and a 230 mah battery that offers up to 20 hours of total usage in a single charge, not to mention the Environment Noise Canceling technology for calls and last but not least, a new and radically different design choice, is it time to upgrade your headphones to these new ones, this is what we are going to find out in this review by going over its features in details.
Lenovo LP40 Pro – Features
- Speaker Unit: 13 mm
- Improved Bluetooth 5.1 Chip
- 20 hours of battery life
- Call noise reduction technology
- Hi-Fi surround sound
- IP54 water & dust proof
- Environment Noise Canceling technology
- Multifunction Touch control
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Design and build quality
Charging case
The Design of the charging case of the thinkplus LP40 Pro is very similar to the one of its predecessor, the body is a bit slimmer and made out of glossy plastic which looks nicer than the matt one but is more prone to getting scratches & fingerprints, that’s why you should take better care of it by avoiding putting it with contact with any hard metals such as keys, the best thing about the case is that is it very small in size and lightweight, so much that you can put in the small pocket in jeans and carry it with you on the go which is perfect and traveling, the main difference between this and the previous generation is that this new one comes in 5 color options, the colors are Black, White, purple, pink and my personal favorite, the Blue Turquoise. At the same time, the LP40 was only available in Black and White.
From the front we can see the thinkplus logo with the LED dot at the bottom and a small cut in the middle to help you open the lid which is held with a powerful magnet to the case it doesn’t open when you shake, but the hinge is not very strong, I was able to close the lid just with a small shake, from the back side we can notice the Lenovo logo and the hinge, and from the bottom side there simply is the USB C charging port, Unfortunately, the bottom of the charging case is round so you won’t be able to put it standing, but overall, the build quality is good and doesn’t reflect the cheap price it costs.
The earbuds
As for the earphones, their design is one the biggest updates that differentiates the thinkplus LP40 Pro from the regular LP40, it is made out of ABS plastic with a glossy finish that is more prone to scratches and fingerprints so you will have to take extra care of it to keep it looking new for a long time, their size is small and they look elegant on the ear and they weigh very little so you know they are comfortable to wear even for long times.
The LP40 Pro has a semi-in-ear style, the nozzles are oval instead of round like usual which is weird and comes with one inconvenience because even though they stick very well inside the ear and don’t fall, in addition to having a very comfortable fit that won’t hurt your ear, but if you go for a run air will leak through your ears which can be annoying for people with sensitive ears, otherwise the design is sleek and beautiful, the stem is short and curved with a metallic piece at the bottom, the exterior of the stem has a matt finish which helps your fingers when using the touch control which is located in the center of the stem when you put the headphones inside the charging case, you won’t have to worry about them falling off no matter what, since they are held firmly with magnet inside the case while the charge.
In my last Lenovo LP40 review, I talked about how the bulky design of the earphones hurt my ear just minutes after putting them on, I’m glad that they have fixed this problem and made them one of the most comfortable in this market by reducing their size and adding replaceable ear tips to choose from depending on the size of your ears, this way, the LP40 Pros stick very well to the ears and can be used for long periods without hurting your ear and that’s good for productivity.
Lenovo LP40 Pro – Touch control
The Lenovo LP40 Pro earphones have a touch control located right on the curve of the stem which is an optimal location for the touch control to improve its accuracy and avoid misclicking, the touch control is accurate and executes actions only when required most of the time, it offers the possibility to increase and decrease the volume, play next and previous tracks and even answer calls right from the headphones which are very useful to reduce phone usage, especially in crowded spaces.
The touch controls for music playback and calls are as follows:
- Double tap on either earphone to Play/Pause the current track
- A simple tap on the right earphone to increase the volume
- A simple tap on the left earphone to decrease the volume
- Triple tap on the right earphone to play the next track
- Triple tap on the left earphone to play the previous track
- Long press for 2 seconds to launch voice assistance
- Long press on an earbud to turn it OFF/ON
- Triple touch on either earpiece to accept call/ hung up
- Long touch on either earpiece to refuse calls
Thinkplus LP40 Pro – IPX5 Waterproof
The Lenovo LP40 Pro earphones come with a better IP rating than the previous model, the LP40 had IPX4 which was good against light water splashes and droplets such as rain and sweat, and while that’s usually enough, you never know when you are going to need more protection against the water until you need it, that’s why The IPX5 waterproof rating on the LP40 Pros is a significant improvement over the previous generation, this rating protects the earbuds from water jets from any direction which gives the user more confidence when using them under harsher conditions such heavy rain or anything similar, especially for people who like to practice sport, they will never have to think twice before wearing the LP40 Pro and doing a heavy workout session while enjoying their favorite tracks.
Keep in mind that even the IPX5 doesn’t protect the earbuds from submersion under water or from hot and salt water, so you should always keep your device from these sources to avoid causing any damage to it.
How To Pair The LP40 Pro with Phone
The process of pairing the Lenovo thinkplus LP40 Pro with any Bluetooth-enabled device is easy and simple, thanks to the integrated Bluetooth 5.1 chip, these earphones are compatible with most platforms such as Android, IOS, and Windows, and the connection is stable and instantaneous especially if your device has the latest Bluetooth version, to pair your LP40 Pros with your smartphone, just follow these few steps:
- Take your earbuds out of the charging case, they are now in pairing mode
- Turn On Bluetooth on your smartphone and put it in discovery mode
- Find Lenovo Thinkplus LP40 Pro and pair it.
This process is only required the first time, next time you want to connect your earphones with your smartphone you just need to take your earphones out of their case and turn ON Bluetooth on your phone, and the two will connect automatically, additionally, the thinkplus LP40 pro earphones have a dual channel which means each earphone can operate solo, in case you want to preserve battery, or one of the earbud’s battery dies out, you can put one in the case and use the other one separately.
Lenovo LP40 Pro – Sound quality
One of Lenovo LP40 Pro’s main selling point is the sound quality it offers, it has been tremendously improved from the last generation LP40, it is equipped with 13mm moving coil that produces a wide soundstage, which means it handles both the high and low frequencies well, but like most other affordable wireless headphones, the tuning makes the sound tend to be more bassy so you know you will get a thick and powerful bass, but the treble is veil and not well tuned, the good thing is that you can adjust the sound with a third party equalizer to make the sound match your preference, additionally, in the Bluetooth settings you can change to codec to AAC to increase the sound quality knowing that it drains battery faster especially on Android smartphones, the physical aspect has also been improved and it effects the sound quality positively, by adding rubber ear tips on the nozzles, the earphones now have passive noise canceling that does an excellent job of isolating you from the noise in the background to help you focus better on the task between hand.
Just like the LP40, the Lenovo LP40 Pro is very voluminous, but without the distortion, which was another one of my complaints when I reviewed the Lenovo LP40, it used to produce unpleasant distortion at high volumes, fortunately, this problem has been solved with this new pro version thanks to the new horn, even at very high volumes, the sound is always clear, but on certain tracks, you can notice a little bit of wheezing.
Call quality
The Lenovo LP40 Pro is equipped with two microphones one on each earbud, these microphones’ main purpose is to deliver your voice to the other end of the call, the problem is that they are not always reliable in doing this task, even though in quiet places the mics work perfectly, with the help of the electronic noise canceling technology, which reduces the background noises such as a vacuum cleaner or a drill, the recipient can hear you just fine and the call quality is impressive for an affordable pair of wireless headphones, the problem rises when you use the LP40 Pros in a complex environment such as a cafe or the streets, the call quality deteriorates to the point where you cannot pass a call at all, this problem is common in most cheap Bluetooth headphones, but luckily for us, we have some that provide exceptional call quality even at this low price point, check out the Lenovo LP10 or The QCY T20 Ailypods.
Thinkplus LP40 Pro – Latency and gaming
Thanks to the improved Bluetooth 5.1 chip, the delay between the audio and the video is negligible, the Lenovo LP40 Pro offers a decent content consumption experience on any platform offering streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, even the youtube app which is known to be very challenging, it works smoothly and the lip-synching is on point.
As for the gaming experience I would say it is not the worst thing, but don’t get your hopes too high, they are cheap wireless headphones, after all, I was able to notice some delay between the shooting in PUBG Mobile and the sound, the latency could be as high as 400ms, but keep in mind that this is a common thing for cheap wireless headphones because they are not optimized for gaming, nevertheless, I can still myself using these for a casual gaming session on my phone or computer, but, if you are interested in gaming, then I would recommend you check out the Lenovo Thinkplus GM2 Pro earphones with very low latency to give you the advantage you need to win in competitive games.
Lenovo LP40 Pro – Battery Life & Charging
The Lenovo LP40 Pro has a great battery, the charging case is equipped with a 230mah battery that charges through with the USB C cable that comes included in the box in around 1.5 hours, during the charging, the LED on the case will flash red indicating charging, when it is fully charged the LED will light red, as for the earbuds, each has a battery capacity of 30mah and they charge by placing them inside their case where they make contact with the pins and start charging automatically in around 1.5 hours, while their LEDs light red, even though the case doesn’t have an LED that indicates the exact battery level of the charging case or the earbuds, you can still check the battery level of the LP40 Pro in your phone in the Bluetooth settings, and when they are low on battery notification is sent to the phone.
The battery life the Lenovo LP40 Pro earphones offer is decent, in a single charge, the headphones alone provide from 4 to 5 hours of continuous music playback at 70% of volume, this autonomy is excellent for extended sessions of media consumption such a long podcast or a movie, with the charging case, you can get up to 20 hours of total playtime, the case can charge the headphone up to 4 times, this means that you may never run out of battery in the middle of the day and makes the thinkplus LP40 Pro a perfect companion on the go.
final verdict
I personally find the Lenovo thinkplus LP40 Pro a very good choice of economic wireless headphones, it has got it all, for whichever use you may need it for, it will serve you and from the reviews on Aliexpress, well over 85% of customers were satisfied with the purchase, most of them love the bass, the comfortable fit, the long battery life and the instant connectivity with any device be it an android or an iPhone, as well as the touch control that saves you pulling your phone out just to perform a simple task, I find it very annoying that cheap headphones and even pricier option can’t get the latency and the microphones right, I wish that companies focus on improving these two aspects before improving anything else since they can deal breakers for a certain category.
Price and where to buy
The Lenovo LP40 Pro Bluetooth 5.1 headphones are available for purchase on AliExpress Store for a discount, check it out and make sure to grab this great deal.
Package content
- Lenovo LP40 Pro Earphone
- Charging Box
- Type C Charging cable
- User Manual
- Replaceable ear tips
Lenovo LP40 Pro – Specifications
- Model: Lenovo LP40 Pro
- Bluetooth Version: V5.1
- Earphone style: Semi In-Ear
- Speak Unit: 13 mm
- Battery capacity: 30mAh
- Charging Compartment Battery Capacity：230mAh
- Usage Time: About 5 hours（Earphones）
- Total usage time: Up to 20 hours
- Charging Time: About 1.5 hours （Earphones）
- Charging Time: About 1.5 hours （case)
- Interface: USB Type C
- Frequency Range: 20hz-20KHz
- Transmission Distance: Over to 10 meters / 33 feet
