Lava Iris 406Q

Review in pictures

Good design, solid build

• Resembles the Apple iPhone to a little extent thanks to its compact form factor

• Slightly bulky for its size, but gives a reassuring feeling in the hand

• Thickness of 10.3mm is more than the norm

• Follows a typical design when it comes to buttons and ports

• Comes with a stick-on flip cover to protect the device

Display leaves a tad to be desired

• Features a 4-inch display• With a pixel density of 233 pixels per inch, the display is good

and there’s no pixelation• But colours look washed out• It’s better to set brightness yourself, instead of relying on

automatic brightness

Don’t expect much from the rear shooter…

• Features a 5-megapixel snapper at the rear

• LED flash also available to assist in low-light conditions

• Custom camera app, though the available settings are almost similar to stock Android

• Offers the usual options like HDR, panorama, continuous mode, along with the ability to adjust ISO, exposure, and white balance among others

• The camera is fine under ample lighting, but night shots are very poor

… and front camera as well

• Equipped with a 0.3-megapixel camera at the front

• Good enough for video calling, but not for taking selfies

Image samples from the main camera:

Android with subtle additions

• The Lava Iris 406Q comes loaded with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, with a promised update to KitKat

• There aren’t much changes from stock Android

• Custom launcher also provides an option to change themes

• There are a few preloaded apps as well

Delivers strong performance for its price

• Unlike most of the budget devices, which are powered by a MediaTek SoC, the Iris 406Q gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core chipset clocked at 1.2GHz.

• Adreno 302 GPU for taking care of graphics• Equipped with 1GB of RAM for multitasking• Works smoothly most of the times, though heavy games tax its

performance

Stingy storage makes you wanting for more

• Comes with 4GB of built-in memory, which is average these days

• More than half of it is taken up by the OS, leaving approximately 1.5GB for user data and apps

• You can add a microSDcard of up to 32GB for your multimedia needs

• Sadly, it doesn’t have USB On-the-Go capabilities

All-day battery life

• The smartphone gets power from a 1,700mAh Li-ion battery

• With moderate usage, the Iris 406Q can get you through a full day

• While playing an HD video on loop at 50 percent brightness and volume, the device delivered a run time of around six hours

BatteryGuru is the guru, comes pre-installed

• Comes with BatteryGurupreloaded that helps in increasing the battery efficiency

• The app tracks your usage for a couple of days and then automatically changes sync intervals for the apps

• Other options include a low-power saving mode, which kicks in when battery level drops below a certain percentage

At a glance

• 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixels (233 ppi)

• 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor

• Adreno 302 GPU• 1GB RAM• 4GB storage plus microSD slot• 5-megapixel main camera with

LED flash, VGA secondary camera

• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean• 1,700mAh battery• 3G dual-SIM (3G support in the

first SIM slot only), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS

-• Average display • Below par camera

quality • Poor call reception

Pros and cons

+• Good build quality • Strong performance • Powerful specs for

its price • Promised upgrade

to Android 4.4 KitKat

• Decent battery life

Lava Iris 406Q vs Moto E: the budget smartphone battle

4-inch display (233 ppi) No screen protection 1.2GHz quad-core processor 5MP main camera with LED

flash VGA camera at the front Runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean 1,700 mAh battery

Lava Iris 406Q Moto E

4.3-inch display (256 ppi) Gorilla Glass 3 protection 1.2GHz dual-core processor 5MP main camera without

flash No front-facing camera Runs Android 4.4 KitKat 1,980mAh battery

Price: Rs 6,999

Pricing and verdict

“With the Lava Iris 406Q, the Indian vendor proves that low pricing of a device doesn’t

necessarily mean a compromise in its specs. Despite a few issues with call reception, the Iris

406Q is an all-round package and a worthy option to consider in the entry-level segment. ”