Review: Lava Iris Pro 30 is one of the best looking Android smartphones

I have often complained about the not-so-good hardware quality of the mid-segment Android smartphones from the Indian phone makers. But the Lava Iris Pro 30 has changed my perception. Indeed, I don't mind saying it is one of the best looking Android smartphones in the "Rs 15,000" range.

The Iris Pro 30 is Lava's flagship offering. It has got a superb 4.7-inch, 720p HD screen from Sharp. The default wallpaper looked bright and everything was crystal clear on the screen. The text was also crisp and sharp. At 114 grams, it is not heavy and apt for single-hand operations. Lava has kept it slim and sleek at 7.5mm. The looks are good too with neatly curved edges. A metallic look bezel is running around the sides that hold the 3.5 jack on the top, power key and volume controls on the right, while the charging port is at the bottom. There are three touch capacitive keys (back, home, multitasking) that illuminates with a touch below the display. The soft matt back is smooth with an 8 MP camera.  The Lava Iris Pro 30 is a dual SIM phone with the slots hidden below the back panel. There is a regular SIM card slot along with a micro SIM and microSD.

Talking about the innards, the Iris Pro 30 packs in a 1.2-Ghz quad core chipset from Mediatek, which is paired with 1GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.2 and offers merely 4GB internal storage. It offers a decent performance. I launched multiple apps and easily managed to switch between them. There wasn't any delay in gaming either but the phone did heat up after long gaming sessions. I also played a few HD videos from YouTube. It smoothly downloaded apps from the Play Store too.

The 8 MP camera is quite decent. The images captured in bright backgrounds were good. There isn't any shutter lag and it quickly focuses on the objects too. But the internal 4GB storage is a bit too less. I had only 1.5GB of free storage, which isn't enough. It also supports expandable memory card but the more free internal storage, the better.

Even though Lava claims that the screen consumers 30% less power, it wasn't any spectacular as it only lasted me a day on an average use.

Bag it or Junk it: With no major shortcoming, you can consider this. Faces competition from Moto G.
Rating: 4/5
Price: Rs 15,500
Specifications: 4.7-inch display; 8 MP camera; Android 4.2; 1.2GHz quad core processor; 1GB RAM; 4GB internal storage; expandable memory card slot; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G; Dual SIM; 2000 mAh battery; 114 grams @nidhisingal