Lava S12 Mobile Phone Review – Low Budget Android Phone
Written by Pavan Kumar on November 14, 2011
Lava Mobiles is one of the mobile phone brands known in Indian market. They have recently launched an Android based smart phone – S12 and I could get a chance to play with the fresh gadget and here is the review based on my experience with it for a week.
As the device was unboxed, the first thing to notice was the design which was pretty good. Its a touch screen phone with a stylish look and a comfort feel. The back of the phone is given a leather finish which protects the phone from scratches and it provides a comfortable grip to hold. The silver finish on the sides adds to the beauty of the phone. Four functional keys in the front, two for volume control and one power button in the left and a camera key in the right makes the physical key set on the phone. A USB port, memory card slot and a headphone jack complete the interfacing part of the device.
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Lava S12 runs on Android 2.2 (pretty old considering the phone got released very recently) and is built with a catching Lava 3D UI which provides a unique 3D experience while switching or editing the home screens. Customizing the home screen itself is a treat for the visual senses as it has come up with a remarkable presentation. The phone is powered by a 600MHz processor. Compared against my Galaxy 3 with 667MHz processor, this phone is pretty fast in handling operations. Even though it is build with such complex UI, the memory consuming applications could be executed in a smooth way, but sometimes I could find my favorite sms app – Chomp SMS failed while I was playing the addictive Bonsai Blast game.
Audio quality of the speakers as well as headphones is good and the SRS quality output adds a surround effect to the sound output especially while on headphones. Even though the audio output quality on headphone is good, the ear buds does not seem to be very comfortable for long usage. The 5MP camera in this device is acceptable when used in natural light, but during dark it takes a lot of time to capture the image. This delay in capturing the image resulted in most of the photos being blur as we are not used to such large delays with any other phones / cameras. Click here for an unaudited image taken from a shaded area on a lighted wide area.
Equipped with a battery of 1300mAh, the phone had a good standby time for my regular usage without any data connectivity, but battery can only be judged once it is used for a considerable amount time. I could also notice a minor glitch several times while switching the home screens which makes the display stuck between two home screens, it required one more swipe to navigate. The phone is pre loaded with a few utility apps which include some Indian apps and a lava service center app to help the end user find the nearest service center.
The MRP of this phone is INR 9999, but I could find it on flipkart at INR 8200 which ensures the price would not go beyond 9000 irrespective of where you buy. Overall, the phone is good with performance and user experience. A little improved camera would make it a very good competitor in the market at this price range.
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