Lava has unveiled three new Android smartphones that will cost under Rs. 4K, making a big splash in the budget smartphone market.
Lava has announced three new entry-level Android phones, the Iris 349, Iris 351 and Iris 355. The phones are built on the company’s philosophy that everyone should be able to afford a smartphone and keeping that in mind, the phones are impressively priced.
All three Lava phones will cost the buyer less than Rs. 4,000 and come with a pretty decent specifications set – a 1GHz processor along with 256MB of RAM, a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, dual-SIM capabilities, and a 2MP fixed focus camera (the Iris 349 and 355 also feature VGA front-facing cameras).
Sadly, the onboard storage on the phones is minimal, but thanks to the provision of a microSD card slot, the storage can be expanded to 32GB, except the Iris 351, which only support memory cards up to 16GB. The only downside to the phones is that they are all running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but given the phones’ low-end hardware, Gingerbread is probably the safest bet for these devices.
It would seem that the three phones are designed for those who are just migrating from feature phones to their first smartphones. The three new Lava phones also come with a decently sized battery (1400 mAh for the Iris 349 and Iris 355; 1300 mAh for the Iris 351), which should suffice for a day’s worth of usage. All three devices support Wi-Fi (with hotspot functionality), GPS, FM radio, and Bluetooth connectivity, while the Iris 355 is the only one of the three to support 3G as well.
The budget phone category has really been heating up, with Micromax and Karbonn bringing premium devices to the masses at decent prices, but it would seem that Lava has taken the temperature up a notch, thanks to the trio of phones which would cost under Rs. 4,000. To be precise, Lava has not yet released the pricing details for the new smartphones, except for the Iris 351, which has been given an MRP of Rs. 3,799.
For a full list of key specifications, please refer to the following table:
|
Model
|
Iris 349
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Iris 355
|
Iris 351
|
|
Processor
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1GHz single core processor
|
1GHz single core processor
|
1GHz single core processor
|
|
RAM
|
256 MB
|
256 MB
|
256 MB
|
|
Display
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3.5 inch HVGA capacitive touch screen
|
3.5 inch HVGA capacitive touch screen
|
3.5 inch HVGA capacitive touch screen
|
|
Storage
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512MB 32GB expandable
|
512MB 32GB expandable
|
512MB 16GB expandable
|
|
Camera
|
2MP Fixed Focus
|
2MP Fixed Focus
|
2MP Fixed Focus
|
|
Battery
|
1400mAh
|
1400mAh
|
1300mAh
|
|
Bundled Apps
|
Cricket Fever, Lava Zone, Ninja Rush, Panditji, News and Weather, Lava Zone, Air Control |
Google, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Instant Messaging, Fusion, Agnipath, Ninja Rush |
Cricket Fever, Lava Zone, Ninja Rush
|