About Lava – If you are a resident of India then probably you would have heard about Lava mobiles. In recent years Lava Mobiles have become famous for their low end mobile phones specifically designed for Indian market. Until now, Lava was producing low end phones, but with Lava S12 they have entered into Android smartphone market.
S12 is the first budget android phone from Lava Mobiles, despite the low cost the phone is feature packed and fully loaded with interesting apps. So proceed further and read our full hands on review of Lava S12 Android Phone.
Design and Hardware
The phone is sleek & has an elegant design with matte leather finish at the back, which provides superb grip to your hands, while you are holding this phone, also gives a royal look. Speaking about dimension, the phone is bit larger than Apple iPhone 4 and weighs less than 150 grams. The curve back design will make this phone easy to slip in your tight jeans pocket.
Lava S12 comes with four physical buttons, search, home, back and menu key on the top and volume rocker, power key on the left side and dedicated camera button on the right side of the phone.
Micros SD card slot and USB/Charger slot are provided at the right side of Lava S12. The phone also has proximity senor and light sensor and top of the screen.
The back side of phone has a removable cover to insert the battery and SIM card. A 5 MP camera and speaker makes the final component of Lava S12 design & hardware.
Processor, Memory and Display
The phone is powered by Qualcomm 7227 600 Mhz processor & it has display size of 3.2 inches with HVGA 480×320 resolutions. For performance, we did the Quadrant benchmark test and this phone fairly wells and comes just above Sony Xperia X10i.
The internal memory of Lava S12 is 120 Mb, and it has 165 MB of RAM which we feel is quite low for heavy mobile phone users though you can expand upto 32 Gb with MicroSD card.
The phone display feels smaller especially when you got on-screen touch keyboard and first time users may find it difficult in typing on such a small screen. Also, the resolution & display is just ok, you won’t be able to enjoy natural colors or vividness from HD videos or HD games.
The resistive touch of Lava S12 is far better than most chines phones which are popular in Indian market.
OS and Apps
Lava S12 comes with Android 2.2 Froyo, and it has 3D UI which has been heavily advertised on LAVA S12 packaging as well as on the product page. 3D UI is just restricted to home screens and users have an option to switch between classic or 3D UI. Users can also add new screen and pin their favorite apps to homescreen for quick access. The attempt from Lava to provide customized feel is worth the appreciation. However the 3D UI is just fancy stuff which most users won’t be using after week or two of getting smartphone.
Camera quality is pretty decent and takes amazing pictures in good light conditions however in dark environment this camera fails miserably and lack of auto focus may be disappointment for few camera enthusiasts.
We are quite impressed by the fact that, Lava has kept demands of Indian consumers in mind and have preloaded this phone with lots of useful and entertainment oriented apps. For e.g Lava S12 comes with Hungama My play, Saavn & Zenga TV (free one year subscription) for entertainment purpose. Lava S12 also comes with Android market, which most low end android phones in India doesn’t have.
Accessories
The Lava S12 packaging comes with premium quality leather pouch, USB charger, earphones, 2 GB MicroSD card, manual and warranty card.
Lava mobiles does have their own PC Suite for windows, for synchronizing and backing up data of Lava S12. Once you download and install PC Suite you can sync your S12 wirelessly with PC suite. Users can download Lava S12 Android manage from here.
Price: Lava S12 is priced at 9999 INR but you shouldn’t have any problem in getting this phone for 8500 or less. Infect the Lava S12 is already selling at 8200 on FlipKart.com.
Final Verdict
Despite of plastic build quality, Lava S12 fairly wells in our chart. Leaving minor issues aside, the phone is perfect for first timers who don’t want to invest much but want all the luxury of high end smart phones. Probably a wait for drop in price of Lava S12 will be good move.
Don’t forget to check out our video review,
