Lenovo announced a couple of new additions to its Vibe smartphone range during its press conference at IFA 2014 in Berlin.

The first was the tri-layered Vibe X2 and the second was the Vibe Z2, both of which pack in plenty of power. We got our hands on with both devices at the show and here are our first impressions of the Vibe Z2.

Design-wise, the Lenovo Z2 is a very premium looking handset that features a great quality metal build, which looks more expensive than its $430 price tag would initially suggest.

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It features a very square shape but the edges are ever so slightly rounded and it feels nice to hold in the hand. We really liked the slightly gold finish and it didn't feel heavy even though we thought it would.

Strangely, the top and bottom of the device are black, while the rear and sides of the device have the metal finish but we didn't mind this too much as it provided something a little different. Not as different as the Vibe X2 mind.

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The power button, volume rocker and the SIM slot all blended seamlessly with the rest of the design and we liked this about it, but we weren't as sure about the rear of the device where the camera lens sits. 

There is a thick black panel that runs across the rear, housing the camera lens to the far left corner and we felt it made the back of the device look a little bulky. The black panel diverted our attention away from the nice metal finish, which was a shame.

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The camera lens also protruded quite a lot which didn't seem to blend in with the rest of the design that was very smooth and sophisticated. However, as it has a 13-megapixel Sony BSI sensor on board which is said to take excellent night shots, we can forgive this element of the design.

We couldn't test the camera in the short time we had with it of course, but we will do so in our full review and we are especially interested in the 8-megapixel front facing camera with anti-distortion lens that should offer clear and up close shots.

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There is a 5.5-inch display with the Vibe Z2 but the device didn't feel abnormally large for a screen this size. There is very little bezel surrounding it which is a nice feature but compared to the rest of the specs on this device, the resolution is only 1280 x 720 pixels, which isn't much for a 5.5-inch display.

It means the Lenovo Vibe Z2 will deliver a pixel density of 267ppi, which is a little more than the LG G3 Stylus but a lot less than others in the phablet field. That said, on first impressions we weren't disappointed with the display on the Vibe Z2. The colours were punchy and the detail was good enough but we will leave our final judgement until we have spent some more time with it.

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The Lenovo Vibe Z2 makes up for the lower-than-average resolution under the hood though, with a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1.2GHz that will mean this device is ready for future Android systems. We had a quick play during our time with the Vibe Z2 and its performance matched what you would expect, responding quickly with no lag.

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There is also 4G connectivity, 32GB of internal storage, dual-SIM support and a 3000mAh battery on board so the Vibe Z2 has a few things going for it that's for sure.

All-in-all, we liked the premium metal finish of the Lenovo Vibe Z2 and although there were a couple of design aspects we weren't entirely sure about, it's a nice, different device that features some promising specs so it will be interesting to see how it performs in everyday life.