Lava Iris Pro 30 Review

Got a chance to experience Lava Iris Pro 30 for just 10 minutes. Wow…Fantastic look; the iPhone 5 lookalike accentuates elegance! The magnesium alloy body imparts weightlessness; at 114 grams, the device is one of the lightest in its category. The black back panel with matte finish also is as elegant as the front panel. Minimal design, with a subtle Lava logo at the back panel. 10/10 in design and feel.

Display

Another highlight of the device is its 4.7 inch HD IPS LCD, based on OGS technology. OGS technology – for those who are not familiar with the term OGS – eliminates a layer of glass on display. Result is reduced thickness. You actually feel like seeing images, videos, and text right on the top panel. It’s really worth mentioning that the device comes with an amazing display, with great color reproduction and great viewing angle. Kudos to Lava.

Hands-on video

Interface

The app drawer, keyboard, notification bar etc are run-of-the-mill, ie, it’s just like any stock Android interface. But it sports a little bit enhanced dialer, giving a better feel. No ornaments for the camera interface.

Hardware

The 1.2 GHz quad core processor, together with and 1GB RAM, is adequate to provide swift performance. Did not get a chance to play a highly graphic intensive game on the device.  But I’m optimistic about the performance even while doing such tasks.

Software

Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean):Though, it is not the most advanced version, it provides you the best of Android so far, in terms of simplicity, speed and versatility.

Connectivity

It comes with almost all the connectivity options including Dual-SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, and GPS. NFC is missing (who cares?? :-), currently it doesn’t apply anywhere). One thing I really liked about this product is its support for USB OTG, i.e, you can simply connect your pen drive to the handset via USB OTG cable and transfer data to and from the device, as easily as you do on a computer. OTG support takes portability and convenience to a new level.

Battery

The 2000mAh is mediocre; just gives you juice for a day of average use. This could have been slightly made better, as the device is intended to use for games and multimedia.

Lava Iris Pro 30 specifications

4.7-inch HD IPS display (1280 x 720 pixels), complemented well with OGS technology and Gorilla glass

1.2 GHz quad-core processor

Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)

Dual SIM (normal + micro)

8MP rear camera with dual LED Flash, 3MP front camera

3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio

1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory (2.43GB user memory), microSD card support ( up to 32GB)

3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG
2000 mAh battery

Verdict

You will fall in love with the device, for sure. It is that elegant! At a price of around Rs 15000, the device is great to own, use and flaunt :-). Go for it..

Lava Iris N350 vs Micromax Ninja 3.5 A57: A Comparison

If a common middle class man can get himself a smartphone, it is all because of Android. You can get an Android powered handset for as less as 3.5K; and the price range goes as high as 40K. But it is the lower end handset section that makes Android the ultimate choice for the common man, especially in a country like India. And today, I am going to write a comparison between two low end smart phones - Lava Iris N350 and Micromax Ninja 3.5 A57 - powered by Android OS; it will help you in making your mind about which handset is better suited to your need.  

Display

Both the handsets sport a 3.5 inch capacitive HVGA screen. Both the screens have 262K color depth. Both of them have multitouch input method. Lava Iris has a dimension of 115 x 61.5 x 11.9 mm and A57 has a dimension of 116 x 62 x 11.5 mm. Without a shadow of doubt this section ends in a tie.  

CPU and RAM

The Lava handset has a 1GHz processor on a MediaTek chipset, the processor is complimented by a 256MB RAM. On the other hand the A57 too has a 1GHz processor presiding over a Qualcomm chipset, the CPU is also seconded by a 256MB of RAM. A tie once again.

Storage Capacity

In the storage capacity segment the Lava Iris N350 sports a 100MB built-in storage capacity, which can be furthered till 32GB via a microSD card. The handset can store up to 1000 phonebook entries and up to 200 SMS. In reply the Ninja has almost similar storage credentials and has similar expansion capacity. So, one more parley. 

Camera

The Lava handset has a 2MP camera on the back side of the body and a VGA camera on the front side for video chat and self portrait. In the main camera segment the Ninja is a better option as it has a 3MP camera on the posterior of the body but unfortunately there is no front camera, hence maladroit or no video chat.   Advantage Lava Iris N350.

Data Connectivity

In the data connectivity arena, the N350 has GPRS, EDGE, and Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity and USB and Bluetooth 3.0 for faster and convenient data transfer. Ninja on the other hand houses all the aforementioned specs and in addition, it has 3G, which readers know is many folds faster than GPRS and EDGE. Ninja A57 wins hands down.

    

Battery 

The Lava N350 has a Li-Ion 1300 mAh battery, which can give the users a talk time of around 2 hours 40 minutes and a standby time of 10 days. In reply, Ninja houses a Li-Ion 1400 mAh battery, which is capable of giving the users a talk time of around 4 and a half hours and a standby time of 6 days. Ninja.

Operating System

As we talked earlier, both the handsets are Android powered devices. Both of them run Android Gingerbread 2.3. So, both of them at the same pedestal in this section too.

The Verdict

Frankly speaking, if your sole motive is video chat go for the Lava Iris N350, since it houses a front camera. But if your liking is faster Internet better, battery, and superior looks; you will have to go for Micromax Ninja 3.5 A57.

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Five Reasons to Go For the All New Spice Mi-425

The response to my last post on the Spice Mi-425 was humongous, people seem to be pretty curious about the handset, but there are people who are skeptical too. There are more than few people who asked me the same question – why should we go for the said handset when we can buy a Samsung or a Nokia handset with couple of thousand bucks more? And they are real queries, you are paying your hard earned money for the handset, you got to be sure enough. This article will give you five reasons to go for the Spice Mi-425.

1.     The most conspicuous and paramount reason is the bright and color rich 4 inch screen of the handset, which happens to be a TFT LCD one with a resolution of 800x480p. The screen supports more than 262k colors. When I first held the handset in my hand I was enchanted for a moment or two.

2.    The second thing that goes in the favor of the Spice Mi-425 is the 1GHz processor, which is not just 1GHz for the name’s sake it functions like one. Fast.

3.    Third thing is the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, which in itself  is a very good operating system and the added advantage is the proposed ICS upgrade. No need to mention that the ICS is the latest and the best Android OS till date.

4.     The fourth thing that makes the Mi-425 special is the marathon 2000 mAh battery. The battery in the handset is better than the Nokia Lumia series and many of the Galaxy series handset as well.

5.     The 5MP rear camera is a boon for the image lover. In the last post, I did give a little bit of demonstration of the camera proficiencies of the handset; no need to say that were above the expectation level, you can see that yourself.

Hey folks,  are you guys in agreement with me or not let me know through your comments.

You might like to read the following articles too:  

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Spice Stellar Mi-425: Review, Tech Specs, and First Impression

As the dust starts to settle after all the hullabaloo created by the Xperia series, HTC One series, the Lumias and the other big names of the world, a handset stealthily entered the Indian market, which is not just cheap but has all the features that that a gadget lover wants in his machine.  The name, dear readers, is Spice Stellar Mi-425.

But before we divulge into a review, I must tell you that in this article I am not going to try to compare Mi-425 with any of the above mentioned names. The reason is simple- they are four to five times costlier than this phone. But I would not hesitate in stating that this handset has almost all the features that aforementioned handsets possess. Let’s find out how much veracity my statement has.

The Pros

First let’s have a look at the specs: the Spice Mi-425 has a 4.0 inch screen with a resolution of 800x480, which, by any standard, is a good screen quality. This mobile phone has a 1GHz processor, which is as good as you want. This handset has two cameras: a 5 MP one on the rear side of the body and a VGA one on the front side. In the battery segment the Spice Mi-425 has a Li-Ion 2000 mAhbattery. This handset saves unlimited phone book entries and has a memory expansion capacity of 32 GB.

Turning our attention towards the software segment of the phone, it has Android Gingerbread OS on board and has the potential to get upgraded to the latest ICS 4.0 OS. For the users, it offers full version of the Google Play so that they are able to download their favorite apps and games. It comes pre-loaded with many Google apps including YouTube, Gtalk, and Gmail and social networking clients including Facebook. It has an Android browser to better the user’s net surfing experiencing. You can also download VoIP clients to have cheap Internet calls.

Spice Mi-425 is a 3G enabled handset, which has a Dual band 2G connectivity. The phone is a dual-SIM handset that gives the users additional liberty to keep two numbers with them. Mi-425 has Bluetooth v2.1 then it has a Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n  and can perform as Wi-Fi hotspot,as well. There is USB connectivity to transfer files.
Below are some of the specimen of the 5 MP camera that this handset has:

The Cons

Though the appearance of the phone is quite pleasing to the eyes, you may feel slightly disappointed with its weight .

The inbuilt memory is so trifling that the phone asks you to insert a microSD card as soon as you try to take your first pic. Spice should have included a microSD card within the box.

 When you zoom the camera the pixels start to crack, which is again a concern for camera lovers.

The Pricing

The price for this feature-rich phone is just 9999 INR, yes that is true, it is not in the five digits. If you compare this phone with phones like Lumia 800, which does not have a front camera, the conspicuous advantage comes to strike you. Even in the battery segment the Mi-425 scores some valuable points. The size of the handset is also bigger than the said mobile. Plus it costs you three times less than the Lumia 800.

The Verdict

All the above mentioned cons get trivialized once the price tag comes to the fore. With this phone you pay a medium sum of money and get features of a real high end smartphone, what else one can ask for. The verdict is all in the GREEN.   
To let you know about the video recording capabilities of the handset, here is an  example - 

Hey folks you comments are most welcome. 

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