During the past couple of years that Lava has been actively brining out Android smartphones, they’ve always been a small fish in a big pond. That’s because the company has been catering primarily to the entry-level segment while their sister brand, Xolo, took care of the more premium segment. Now, Lava aims at branching into the premium segment and the Iris Pro 30 is the first phone that’s designed in-house. Indian companies seemed to have caught on to the fact that the general public want more than just a cheap, Chinese clone stamped with an Indian brand name. Lava is the first Indian company to make this shift and we think they’re onto something here.
Design and build
The Lava Iris Pro 30 looks and feels unlike anything Lava has produced so far. It’s a giant leap forward from their previous offerings in this range, and if we may be so bold to say that it’s easily the best looking and built handset, after the Lumia 720. The chassis is made of a magnesium alloy, which gives makes the frame rigid yet, incredibly light. At just 114g and 7.5mm in depth, it’s extremely pocketable too.
The buttons take their usual spots around the phone and are well put together, with no play whatsoever. The rear cover is made of soft plastic and is easily removable. The matte finish also keeps fingerprints at bay. The 8MP camera in the back is accompanied by a dual LED flash, which is very powerful for night shots but a bit too harsh on close subjects. You also get a second microphone for noise cancellation.
The Iris Pro 30 also has an ambient light sensor and a notification LED in the front. You get a blue LED for alerts and orange for charging status. The capacitive buttons also work well and have a soft white backlight which is visible in the dark without being too intrusive. Underneath the rear cover, we have a micro-SIM and a full SIM slot and a microSD card tray as well.
Overall, the Iris Pro 30 is a refreshing change from the typical clones we see dumped in this price range, month after month. The design and ergonomics are just perfect, and a lot better than Gionee’s Elife E6, which we felt was one of the best looking handsets in this category.
Features
On the front, you get a palm-friendly 4.7-inch HD IPS display. The panel uses Sharp’s OGS solution along with Gorilla Glass from Corning. The high pixel count of 312ppi ensures crisp text and sharp and vivid images. Colours are also punchy and black levels are deep and inky. Lava has also added something called Content Adaptive Backlight Control (CABC), which adjusts the backlight based on what’s being displayed. The latter bit tends to get annoying during regular use though as the backlight keeps fluctuating a lot. The change isn’t gradual either which means the change in the light intensity is quite stark and that’s distracting when you’re watching a video or browsing the web.
Design and build
The Lava Iris Pro 30 looks and feels unlike anything Lava has produced so far. It’s a giant leap forward from their previous offerings in this range, and if we may be so bold to say that it’s easily the best looking and built handset, after the Lumia 720. The chassis is made of a magnesium alloy, which gives makes the frame rigid yet, incredibly light. At just 114g and 7.5mm in depth, it’s extremely pocketable too.
The buttons take their usual spots around the phone and are well put together, with no play whatsoever. The rear cover is made of soft plastic and is easily removable. The matte finish also keeps fingerprints at bay. The 8MP camera in the back is accompanied by a dual LED flash, which is very powerful for night shots but a bit too harsh on close subjects. You also get a second microphone for noise cancellation.
The Iris Pro 30 also has an ambient light sensor and a notification LED in the front. You get a blue LED for alerts and orange for charging status. The capacitive buttons also work well and have a soft white backlight which is visible in the dark without being too intrusive. Underneath the rear cover, we have a micro-SIM and a full SIM slot and a microSD card tray as well.
Overall, the Iris Pro 30 is a refreshing change from the typical clones we see dumped in this price range, month after month. The design and ergonomics are just perfect, and a lot better than Gionee’s Elife E6, which we felt was one of the best looking handsets in this category.
Features
On the front, you get a palm-friendly 4.7-inch HD IPS display. The panel uses Sharp’s OGS solution along with Gorilla Glass from Corning. The high pixel count of 312ppi ensures crisp text and sharp and vivid images. Colours are also punchy and black levels are deep and inky. Lava has also added something called Content Adaptive Backlight Control (CABC), which adjusts the backlight based on what’s being displayed. The latter bit tends to get annoying during regular use though as the backlight keeps fluctuating a lot. The change isn’t gradual either which means the change in the light intensity is quite stark and that’s distracting when you’re watching a video or browsing the web.
