Lava Iris 450 COLOUR Unboxing
The Lava Iris 450 Colour with a 4.5-inch FWVGA IPS display is a new entrant in the entry-level smartphone segment in India and comes quite packed with a distinct design and replaceable colorful backpanels, hence the name. There's the 1.3 GHz MediaTek MT6572 dual-core chipset powering the phone with 512 MB RAM. It comes with quite a lot of accessories within the box and for the price of about Rs. 6900 in the market, it definitely deserves a second look. So, lets have our first look in the Unboxing of the Lava Iris 450 Colour.
Unboxing Video
In the Box
The Iris 450 Colour comes with various free accessories, including a free flip-cover, a second backpanel, screenguard and the usual. The quality of all the accessories is good. However, the Flip-cover needs to be glued onto the backcover, which is something we didn't like, but it does have a magnetic lock which is always welcome.
Here's everything you get inside the box:
- Lava Iris 450 Colour
- Blue(Turquoise) Backpanel
- Flip Cover
- Screenguard
- White headset
- MicroUSB Data-syncing/charging cable
- USB Wall Charger
- User Manual
Hardware Overview
The Lava Iris 450 Colour comes with a 4.5-inch IPS FWVGA (845x480 pixels, 218 PPI) display, it has good viewing angles and color reproduction. MediaTek MT6572 has now become ubiquitous in this segment and its what powers the Iris 450 Colour as well. The name comes due to the replaceable back panels which should be available in the market as well. There's 512 MB RAM and it runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
You have a 4GB ROM out of which 1.27 GB is available as Internal storage and 1.25 GB as phone storage. USB OTG is not supported. However, there are plenty other connectivity options including 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with aGPS support and FM Radio. The Iris 450 Colour is a dual-SIM, dual-standby device just like every other phone in this segment. You also have a 5 megapixel primary camera which has fixed focus but comes with a LED flash alongwith a VGA front-facing shooter. There are three capacitive buttons in the front just below the display for menu, home and back which are generally hidden till you tap on them.
You also have an accelerometer, proximity sensor and a light sensor as well, meaning you do get automatic brightness for the display. More importantly the Lava Iris 450 comes with a 1800 mAh battery which is definitely required for that largish 4.5-inch display.
Build
The Lava Iris 450 is all plastic but not in a bad way. We got the white color for you which has a glossy backpanel, but even then looks good. Its not the cheap kind of plastic that we have seen before from Lava. In the front you have the vibrant 4.5-inch display, which is covered in hardened plastic sheet with the proximity and light sensors as well as the main earpiece up top with the VGA front-camera. You have three capacitive buttons just below the display, which don't show up until they are tapped. They are quite literally invisible till you touch them, really classy. The top and bottom bezels could have bit thinner just like the side bezels which are quite thin.
On the left you have the volume rocker which is a bit mushy and wobbly, same goes for the power button on the right. You don't feel the buttons wobbling but its acceptable. The rest of the build is pretty solid, especially the backpanel which is replaceable. You get a turquoise back panel free within the box which makes a striking contrast with the white front and sides.
Nevertheless it fits in perfectly adding that extra bit of glamour to the Iris 450. Instead of tapering the sides and back, Lava chose to mould them with a triangular edge which fits perfectly in your palm without digging into it. If you look at the back the phone has a wedge shaped design with the middle being the thickest while the top and bottom are the phone's thinnest parts.
At the top you have the 3.5 mm audio jack as well as the microUSB data-syncing/charging port. At the bottom there's nothing, just an expanse of plastic and a space to get the backcover off.
Moving to the back you have the 5 MP camera alongwith the LED flash light up top inside a black oval which is again very well made and designed. Then you have the engraved Lava logo as well as the Iris 450 branding with the speakerphone just below it. On opening the backcover you will be able to see two full size SIM card slots out of which the 1st SIM card slot accepts 3G SIM cards, while the 2nd one is your regular 2G slot. In the middle there's the microSD card slot which accepts upto a maximum of 32 GB storage. Just below the SIM card slots is the battery compartment to house the 1800 mAh unit.
The build of the device is quite solid, there is no flex or creaking anywhere. The backcover fits in perfectly giving rigidity to the device making it feel really good to hold in the hand. The volume rocker and power button too are placed just right for one-handed use.
First Impressions
The Lava Iris 450 Colour is a new entrant but is able to maintain a separate space here due to its distinct design and good build quality. It runs almost a stock build of Android 4.2.2 with some features added and very few apps come pre-installed which is just the way we like it. With a 5 MP camera, LED flash as well as a VGA front-facing shooter available for about Rs. 6900, the Iris 450 color could become the choice of the budget buyer especially consider you get a extra backpanel, a flip-cover as well as a screenguard inside the box. That's a lot of free stuff for a budget device.
The display looks great, it has excellent viewing angles and its quite sharp. The Iris 450 colour performed good as well atleast after our initial boot. There's no lag in the interface and the touch response is also good. The invisible capacitive touch buttons are something I could get used to, they are slick and more importantly the phone is really the perfect size to hold in your hand. Its a bit thick surely, but its angular sides make it easier to hold and moreover its customizable with those backpanels. It would be nitpicking at this point but we would've really liked if the rear camera had autofocus. We will be testing the Iris 450 Colour in our in-depth review alongwith Benchmarks, Gaming and Camera review. There's lot to cover, so stay tuned.
