Lava Blaze 5G Review: An entry-level 5G smartphone that ticks most of the correct boxes- Technology News

Published: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:46 am

Camera module could have been better
Price: Rs 11,999 for the tested 6GB + 128GB variant.
Rating: 3/5
With the sentiment towards certain Chinese smartphone brands right now, it is perfectly understandable if people are looking for a 5G-capable smartphone, made completely in India. Lava, the Indian smartphone brand that has been trying to make comeback into the market since 2021 has some devices to offer. The Lava Blaze 5G is one such device.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
Because the base variant, the 4GB + 128GB variant starts at Rs 10,999, the Lava Blaze 5G is perhaps the cheapest 5G smartphone in India. Besides the price, the smartphone has some pretty solid things going for, it at least on paper. For example, it has a solid 5,000 mAh battery, a 50MP primary sensor, and a bunch of more features.
So how does the Lava Blaze 5G stack up and is it worth your money and time if youre looking for a cheap and capable budget 5G smartphone? We take a look.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
Lava Blaze 5G Review: The design
The Lava Blaze 5G has a very clean aesthetic. Despite its price, Lava has used glass for the rear panel, which in our glass green unit had a matte finish. The frame around the device, despite being made of plastic, does not feel cheap or tacky. We also love how the rear panel deals with fingerprints theres no trace of it ever having some.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
The edges are flat, which gives the impression that the device will feel sharp to hold, but that is not the case. The front and rear panels have been neatly tucked into the frame, which bulges out a little. This makes the device feel very comfortable to hold as well.
The camera island on the top left corner of the rear panel has the triple camera set up placed diagonally, which gives it a somewhat different appeal.
All in all, the device feels solidly built and really nice to hold. The weight of the device only adds to this feeling.
On the front, we get a teardrop notch on the front display that houses the front-facing camera, and some pretty thick bezels on all four sides. The bottom bezel is particularly thick.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
On the right-hand side of the device, we get a power button which also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner. The volume rockers on the left side of the device, along with the SIM tray which can house 2 SIM cards or one SIM and a microSDXC card of up to 1 TB. All buttons on the device feel solid and tactile.
At the bottom, we see a speaker grille, the 3.5mm audio jack, as well as the USB Type-C port, which is rated at USB 2.0 speeds, and a mic.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
All in all, the design of the device is pretty clean and simplistic, with nothing too premium or wild. On the plus side though, it does feel solid and sturdy in the hand.
Lava Blaze 5G Review: The display
Lava has equipped the Blaze 5G with a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD display with a resolution of 7201600 pixels which supports a refresh rate of 90Hz. The viewing angles are fairly decent. If you turn up the brightness to its highest setting, the screen is moderately bright and can be read in broad daylight outside. Unfortunately, thats all the good things that we can say about the display.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
Although the display gets bright, the colours look washed out, even for an LCD panel. You severely miss the dynamic range or good contrast ratio when youre watching content on the Lava Blaze 5G.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
The displays colours appeared to be a touch muted. The display itself came off as somewhat washed out and lacked punch and warmth.
Lava Blaze 5G Review: The camera
We get a triple camera setup at the rear of the Lava Blaze 5G. There is a 50MP primary camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a VGA sensor. Only the 50MP main camera is worth discussing as the other two, dont really contribute in any way. The device also has an 8MP front camera, which is just adequate enough.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
When it comes to taking pictures in the daylight, the main camera on the back does a pretty good job. Although having a low dynamic range, the sensor is nevertheless able to capture fine details. Nonetheless, it does tend to enhance colours. For a smartphone that is about Rs 10,000, the results from the main camera in the day are pretty impressive.
The same cannot be said for low-light photography. As long as there is some ambient light, the main camera produces respectable images in low light. During low light conditions, the images often turned out to be blurry and out of focus, with details blown all over the place.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
As for the front-facing camera, it is an 8MP unit that is placed behind the teardrop notch on the display. When we opened the photographs on our workstations, they were OK, but when we viewed them on the devices display, they appeared a little washed out. The skin tones looked adequate. Although the front-facing cameras photos were highly processed so that even the smallest details in the skin were almost completely lost, they nevertheless had a grainy appearance.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
As for videos shot on the Lava Blaze 5G, they have some slightly boosted colours and pretty decent detail. The dynamic range is also good
Lava Blaze 5G Review: The performance, software experience and UI
The Lava Blaze 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, an octa-core SoC. Our unit was equipped with 128GB UFS 2.2 storage and 6GB of RAM, which can further be expanded by 3GB a total of 9GB RAM.
The Dimensity 700 SoC is a pretty decent processor if youre not a very demanding user. The smartphone handles juggling between apps pretty well, and most daily tasks can be carried out without a hitch.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
The Lava Blaze 5G can handle most games pretty well, but users will need to temper their expectations. Games like Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty: Mobile were playable albeit at medium graphics, during which we were getting about 35-40 fps. You get smooth, playable frame rates, but not at a very good visual preset.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
The software is something that Lava seriously needs to get its act together. The device ships with Android 12 out of the box. Even though the device was launched a few months ago, it still hasnt received the Android 13 update. As of writing this review, the latest update it received was the December security patch.
Image Credit: Tech2 | Mehul Reuben Das
Although Lava has pledged to release the Android 13 upgrade, no specific date has been given. Moreover, Lava has committed to two years of quarterly security updates. The one good thing about the software experience is that the device has almost no bloatware at all, barring a few Lava-specific apps.
For connectivity, the Blaze 5G gets WiFi 6E, BlueTooth 5.0, 8 5G bands, a 3.5mm audio jack and USB-C at USB 2.0 speeds. 5G connectivity is pretty solid o

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