The Lava V5 is priced at Rs. 11,499 (MOP), has a 13MP rear camera, 16GB built-in storage and a 5.5-inch HD display.
Lava has announced the launch of the V5, a 4G-enabled smartphone with an emphasis on the rear camera. Kicking things off with the specifications of the smartphone, it has a 5.5-inch HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It is powered by a 64-bit MediaTek quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz and 3GB of RAM along with 16GB of onboard storage that can be expanded to an additional 32GB via a microSD card. The device runs Android Lollipop v5.1 skinned with Lava's Star OS 2.0. Lava has guaranteed that it will be upgraded to Android Marshmallow v6.0 later. It is equipped with a 3000mAh battery and comes with support for CAT4 4G LTE as well as VoLTE.
The Lava V5 4G LTE has a 13MP ISOCELL camera located at the back of the device. The camera features phase detection autofocus and a 5 layer Largan lens. The company claims that the device’s camera has an autofocus time of 0.18 seconds and is three times faster than normal smartphone cameras. On the front is an 8MP camera with an 84-degree wide-angle lens and LED flash. The device also comes with Lava’s MagicPix software that offers features like Beauty-fi, Pic Focus, Wide ‘selfie’, Night pro, GIF Maker, Intelligent Selfie, and Multi-Angle view.
Now that we have the specifications of the Lava V5 out of the way, lets move to the build and design of the smartphone. It has the standard candy bar form factor that we have seen on a plethora of other devices. On the right side, the smartphone has the power button and the volume rocker and the top and bottom of the device (when held in portrait mode) have the headphones jack and the micro-USB port respectively. The rear panel is removable, below which rest the two SIM card slots and the micro-SD card slot. It's nice to see that there is no hybrid slot here. Below the display you have the standard back, home and menu buttons. The menu button can be long pressed to reveal the multitasking window. There are better designs that this price range.
Coming to the performance, there was little we could judge since there was no Internet connectivity and we played with the device for barely 20 minutes. But in the time we spent with it, the phone felt fairly smooth and responsive. Star OS 2.0 has a unique look to it and we cant wait to check out how well it is optimised for the smartphone. Coming to the camera, we clicked a few pictures at the event and it seemed responsive but we would like to reserve our final judgment for our review of the Lava V5. At its price point, the smartphone also boasts 4G connectivity, which is a plus point. The device also has regional language keyboards preloaded on the smartphone, which is a nice touch too.
Considering the price point of the Lava V5, it is up against some tough competition in the form of the Lenovo K4 Note, Asus Zenfone 2, Moto G Turbo and the Meizu M2 Note, all of which are great performers considering the price point. Is a good camera and 4G capabilities enough to put the Lava V5 on the map? Stay tuned for our review to find out.
Watch Lava V5 First Impressions Video
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Sameer Mitha
Sameer Mitha lives for gaming and technology is his muse. When he isn’t busy playing with gadgets or video games he delves into the world of fantasy novels. View Full Profile
