In conclusion, the Lava Blaze Curve 5G packs value with a curved display for binge-watching and a decent design. Performance satisfies, but expect to heat during gaming. Battery life impresses. Yet, its Achilles’ heel is the subpar camera. Despite this flaw, it’s a decent buy overall, offering bang for your buck.
After a few decent entry-level smartphones, Lava launched a ₹17,999 smartphone in March. I am talking about the Lava Blaze Curve 5G, which, as the name suggests, has a curvy body. The Indian brand is doing really well with their budget smartphones and you can include the Blaze Curve 5G as well. I have used this smartphone for over a month now and am impressed with the display and performance, majorly with UI, but not with the camera. This is the review of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G, where I will tell you whether it’s worth it or not. Let’s go!
Curved edges give a good in-hand feel
The USP of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G is its design. It comes with curved edges and is probably one of the very few smartphones that have curved edges in this price range. Speaking of its measurements, the Blaze Curve 5G is 8.8mm thick and weighs 189 grams. Moreover, the in-hand feel of this smartphone is really good. For protection, you also get a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the back, however, on the front, it is equipped with Dragontail, which is not a very good protection.
The Lava Blaze Curve 5G comes in two colour options; Iron Glass (Black) and Viridian Glass (Green). There is a triple camera setup on the back that looks pretty much like iPhone 14 Pro’s camera setup but the camera rings are bigger. Moreover, the whole smartphone looks like a child of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro. I know…weird but looks decent.
At the bottom of the frame, there is a speaker grill, a USB Type-C port, and a SIM tray. While, at the top frame, there is a mic, an infrared sensor, and another speaker grill which means the Lava Blaze Curve 5G comes with Dolby Atmos. The volume rockets and power button is on the right panel and the left panel has nothing.
So, that was the design of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G that feels great in your hand. However, look-wise, it doesn’t look as great but also not that bad.
Also read: Lava Blaze 2 5G review: A must-buy, but not for the ‘Ring Light’
Beautiful AMOLED display
The Lava Blaze Curve 5G is equipped with a 6.67-inch curved AMOLED display, which is just like any other curved AMOLED display, beautiful. However, not every display is responsive and bright enough along with being beautiful, but the one on Blaze Curve 5G is. If you are someone who binge-watches a lot, the display of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G won’t disappoint you.
It is equipped with a 120Hz display that reaches up to 881 nits of brightness. This is a decent brightness which is also visible enough outdoors, although, using the smartphone under direct sunlight could make the visibility a little low.
Apart from that, it is a 120Hz display so it’s super quick and responsive. This means if you want to play games on this smartphone, you can play without any trouble except if something goes wrong with the performance. Why am I saying this? Does this smartphone have trouble when it comes to performance? Let’s find out.
Also read: Poco X6 5G review: Surprisingly good
Lava Blaze Curve 5G: Decent performance but heating issues
The Lava Blaze Curve 5G is packed with a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 processor. Along with that, it features 8GB RAM paired with up to 256GB storage. Additionally, you also get an option of 8GB expandable RAM which doesn’t really improve the performance a lot. However, as much as I have used this smartphone, I never faced any trouble with its performance.
The Lava Blaze Curve 5G operates smoothly when it comes to performance. If you are a gamer, then also the smartphone could be a decent choice. However, there is one performance con of the smartphone, which is the heating issue. To test the gaming in this smartphone, I played the Call of Duty Mobile for just 15 minutes and it got really hot. But what’s more important is that the heating didn’t affect the gameplay a bit.
The Samsung Galaxy M34 5G is the closest competitor to the Lava Blaze Curve 5G that we have tested at Digit. The Galaxy M34 5G was launched last year in July. To compare both smartphones, we ran benchmark tests on them. For those who don’t know, the benchmark tests are like exams for computers. They check how well the computer hardware, software, or systems work compared to set standards. So, here’s our benchmark comparison of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G and the Samsung Galaxy M34 5G:
So that was all about hardware-based performance. Now, let’s talk about its UI. The Lava Blaze Curve 5G comes with stock Android 13 OS. I really like this thing about Lava being a budget-friendly brand, their smartphones don’t come with pre-loaded (unwanted) apps, unlike other brands’ smartphones. Apart from that, this smartphone comes with up to two software updates which is till Android 15, and three years of security updates.
Lava Blaze Curve 5G failed in photography
You get a triple camera setup in the Lava Blaze 5G. This includes a 64-megapixel primary Sony IMX686 sensor, an 8-megapixel Ultrawide lens, and a 2-megapixel Macro sensor. On the front, it sports a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.
Main camera
The word is here that the Lava Blaze Curve 5G has one major con and that’s the camera. Why didn’t I like the camera? The colours it captures are not very true and the pictures look over-saturated. For instance, if I am capturing photos of the sky, it renders the blue overly intense which results in an unrealistic depiction.
Portrait Mode
Speaking of portrait mode, the Lava Blaze Curve 5G captures decent portrait pictures (if you don’t get into the details). However, if you zoom into these pictures, the edge detection is not working very impressively. The edges of the object look blurred, and it should be improved as some of the other smartphones under ₹20,000 capture beautiful portrait shots.
Low-light photography
The low-light photography in this smartphone performs well due to its tendency to produce overly saturated pictures. Because of this, you get pretty colourful pictures even in low light. Good thing, it doesn’t smoothen the pictures but does lack in capturing details.
Front Camera
Coming to its front camera, this 32-megapixel sensor is comparatively better than the other three primary cameras. It captures decent details and the colours are a bit over-saturated but it doesn’t look bad at all. However, it does struggle in low-light conditions, so that’s that.
Apart from how well its camera works, there is one thing I would like to mention. Performance-wise, the Lava Blaze Curve 5G works really well. However, when I was playing around with its camera, there was one thing that I noticed and it was annoying. Whenever I tried to click a picture, every time I had to wait for 2-4 seconds after tapping the ‘camera button’. This lag in the smartphone also ruined some of the shots. I believe this is the problem with its camera app, otherwise, the phone works just fine.
Also read: Redmi 13C 5G Review: 5G companion with a balanced approach
Lava Blaze Curve 5G: Battery
There is a 5000mAh battery in the Lava Blaze Curve 5G that lasts long enough. A single charge in a day would be enough for you to use the Lava Blaze Curve 5G for around 24 hours. We ran some battery tests as well by playing COD Mobile, watching 4K videos, and using Google Maps. Here’s how it went:
- First, I used Google Maps on this smartphone for one hour. Google Maps consumes a significant amount of battery due to continuous usage of GPS, the internet, and other resources. Surprisingly, an hour of Google Maps usage only depleted three percent of its battery, which is quite impressive.
- Next, I played Call of Duty Mobile on this smartphone for 15 minutes. Despite the short gameplay session, it consumed five percent of the battery.
- Lastly, I tested video streaming on the Blaze Curve 5G by playing a 4K video for half an hour. Watching high-resolution content on this smartphone resulted in a battery consumption of approximately 6-7%.
After running these tests, one thing was confirmed the battery consumption of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G is pretty good. Apart from that, it also comes with 33-fast charging that can charge your smartphone from 0-100% in 1 hour and 21 minutes, according to our testing.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, the Lava Blaze Curve 5G offers a lot at its price point. You even get a curved display, which is great for binge-watching. The design is decent and the performance did not disappoint either. You will face some heating issues while playing games on the device, fair warning. And the battery is impressive too. But if you’re looking for a smartphone with a good camera, Lava Blaze Curve 5G should not be on the list. It’s that cherry that ruins the whole cake. Overall this smartphone will make for a decent purchase.
Lava Blaze Curve 5G Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | 05 Mar, 2024 |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
Storage
128 GB
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Battery capacity (mAh)
5000
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Rear Camera Megapixel
64 + 8
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Screen size (in inches)
6.67
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Mustafa Khan
Mustafa is new on the block and is a tech geek who is currently working with Digit as a News Writer. He tests the new gadgets that come on board and writes for the news desk. He has found his way with words and you can count on him when in need of tech advice. No judgement. He is based out of Delhi, he’s your person for good photos, good food recommendations, and to know about anything GenZ. View Full Profile
