Once a popular Indian smartphone brand, Lava has taken a backseat over the past couple of years as industry heavyweights like Samsung and cash-laden Chinese brands like Realme and Redmi have taken over the mainstream smartphone scene. However, Lava marked its resurgence in 2021 with its Lava Z series. Last year, the company also launched its first 5G smartphone in India called Lava Agni 5G (Review). Now that 5G is rolling out, Lava wants to appeal to buyers who want to experience 5G for less money. For such customers, the company has launched Lava Blaze 5G.
The Lava Blaze 5G currently holds the title of “World’s Most Affordable 5G Smartphone” in India. The smartphone comes with MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, “glass back design” and a triple camera setup. Should you consider buying Lava Blaze 5G? Here’s our review to help you find out.
Lava Blaze 5G price in India
Lava Blaze 5G is available for purchase in a single 4GB + 128GB storage option. The device is available in two colors: Glass Blue and Glass Green. It was available at an introductory price of Rs. 9,999 in India when it launched but is currently trading for Rs. 10999.
Lava Blaze 5G design
Despite being a budget smartphone, the back of the Lava Blaze 5G is made of glass which is quite impressive. The device feels good in the hand, but is a bit heavy at 207 g. Even the green glass that Lava sent us has a matte finish. If you are someone who loves pastel shades, then you must like this color. While the back panel is glass, the flat frame around the phone uses plastic materials.
Lava Blaze 5G in its glassy green color
The Lava Blaze 5G features a USB Type-C port sandwiched between the bottom single speaker and the headphone jack. On the right edge is the power button which doubles as a fingerprint scanner. The volume buttons on the left edge provide good feedback. The phone features a hybrid SIM slot, with support for up to 1TB of expandable storage via microSD card.
The Lava Blaze 5G features a two-tone rectangular camera module on the back that doesn’t stand out much. Up front, the Blaze 5G features a waterdrop notch at the top of the screen. While the side and top bezels are quite thin, the device gets the typical budget treatment with a thick chin bezel.
Lava Blaze 5G has quite a thick chin frame
Lava Blaze 5G features a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with HD+ resolution (720 x 1600 pixels). The screen also supports a 90Hz refresh rate for smoother animations and scrolling experience. Viewing angles are surprisingly good. The screen is bright enough and readable outdoors in daylight, provided you turn the brightness all the way up. Lava Blaze 5G comes with WideVine L1 certification but Netflix detected WideVine L3 certification in our unit.
Lava Blaze 5G specifications and software
The salient feature of Lava Blaze 5G is in its name. With support for eight 5G bands, the device is currently the most affordable 5G smartphone in India and comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC. We have seen the chipset in other budget smartphones below Rs. 15,000 in India, including the recently launched Redmi 11 Prime 5G (review). The phone also comes with a 5000mAh battery. While supporting 15W fast charging, the Blaze 5G comes with a 12W dual USB port charger in the box. In terms of connectivity, the phone supports Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, etc.
Lava Blaze 5G runs on Android 12
Lava Blaze 5G offers a clean, bloatware-free software experience running Android 12. There was no lag as such, and the overall experience for day-to-day tasks was very good. The company has promised to release the Android 13 update but the timeline is still unknown. Lava also promises to provide quarterly security updates for two years. At the time of writing, our review unit had the September 2022 Android security patch.
Lava Blaze 5G performance and battery life
Lava Blaze 5G did not experience any issues when performing basic daily tasks. Whether it was scrolling through social media or switching between apps, the phone did a good job. RAM management wasn’t that strong, but some heavy apps running in the background reloaded when I got back to them. This is despite the multitasking window showing that the phone has about 2GB of RAM.
When it comes to benchmarks, the Lava Blaze 5G scored 507 and 1588 in Geekbench single-core and multi-core tests. In comparison, the Redmi 11 Prime 5G, which comes with the same SoC, scored 521 and 1,757 points. In AnTuTu, Lava Blaze 5G scored 2,69,416 points, far below the Redmi 11 Prime 5G score of 3,37,683 points.
I also played some games on the Lava Blaze 5G. Call of Duty: Mobile, for unknown reasons, took a little longer to load than usual. The game supported “medium” graphics and “high” frame rate settings, resulting in an average frame rate of around 40 fps. The overall gaming experience was decent, but stuttering did occur occasionally. For those who want a more casual gaming experience, the Lava Blaze 5G can do a decent job.
Lava Blaze 5G has a USB Type-C port at the bottom
The 5,000mAh battery easily lasts more than a day, thanks to the SoC and HD+ display resolution. During our battery loop test, the Lava Blaze 5G only ran for 11 hours and 56 minutes, which was surprisingly below average. The bundled charger took more than three hours to charge the phone from zero to 100 percent.
For biometrics, the Lava Blaze 5G has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, which is quick to authenticate. It also supports AI face unlock which, while quick to unlock the device, is less secure than a physical scanner.
Lava Blaze 5G cameras
Lava Blaze 5G has a triple camera setup on the back. However, only one of them is actually useful. There is a 50MP main camera sensor, along with a 2MP macro camera and a VGA sensor. For selfies, the phone features an 8MP front camera.
Lava Blaze 5G features a two-color camera module design
The main camera on the back does a good job when it comes to taking pictures in daylight. While the dynamic range is poor, the sensor manages to capture good detail. However, the colors tend to improve. Another thing to note is that highlights are usually blown out in an attempt to get some detail in the shadows. In low light, the main camera takes decent pictures provided there is some ambient light. However, the lack of any form of stabilization results in blurry images with some missing detail.
I liked the front facing camera the most, which was very accurate in capturing real skin tone. Slightly smoothes the skin texture. The portrait mode also worked well for a phone priced at Rs. 10999.
Lava Blaze 5G Camera Samples (Click to see full size)
A sample of the night mode camera taken with the Lava Blaze 5G
Portrait mode camera example captured on Lava Blaze 5G
Lava Blaze 5G can record up to 2K video using the rear camera, while the front camera can capture 1080p video. Overall, videos captured on the Lava Blaze 5G provide some color boost with decent detail. The dynamic range is also very good, which I didn’t expect from a device.
Rule
Lava Blaze 5G does well in many areas when it comes to a budget 5G smartphone. While the camera performance is its weakest link, it also scores points for its design and performance. Battery life, while decent with actual use, underperformed in our video drain test. The device also provides up to eight 5G bands in India. The viewing experience is also above average for a smartphone in this price range.
Lava’s target customer for Blaze 5G is someone who wants to experience 5G without having to spend a lot. There are some drawbacks but when you look at the price it’s hard to complain too much.
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