Lava Blaze Curve 5G Review: Awesome Design, Unpolished Cameras

When Lava first re-entered the Indian market, many were skeptical of the brand, considering Chinese smartphones had dominated for over a decade. Fast forward to today, when most Chinese brands are playing in the 20K-30K field, Lava has launched the new Blaze Curve 5G.

Surprisingly, the phone not only boasts an amazing design but also comes with stock Android and no bloatware at a price of just 18,000 INR. Now, the question remains: Has Lava found the budget smartphone king of 2024? Let’s get into the review of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G to find out.

Lava Blaze Curve 5G review: Design and Hardware

In a sub-20K smartphone, most don’t expect the best designs, as brands tend to focus on areas like the processor. However, Lava has done justice to the design of the Curve 5G with a stunning matte glass back panel. This panel not only looks great but also resists fingerprints and smudges. Additionally, the device comes in two colors: Iron Glass and Viridian Glass, which are gradients of black and green, respectively.

Moving over to the camera module, the device houses three separate camera cutouts (more on them below) with a flash module. The concentric circle design in the camera modules, when light falls on them, and how the back curves into the frame make the Curve 5G look expensive and premium. While looks can be subjective, the Curve 5G is perhaps the best-looking phone in the under-20K segment.

The Curve 5G includes a shiny plastic frame. Fortunately, we didn’t see any scratches or dents on the frame in our two weeks of testing. However, it is important to note that shiny plastic frames tend to scratch easily; therefore, we suggest using the included case.

Lava Blaze Curve 5G review: Display

As the name suggests, the Curve 5G houses a 6.67-inch FHD+ 120Hz Curved HDR10+ AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 800 nits. The display felt bright and colorful in our day-to-day testing, making for a great content-watching experience. Moreover, the fact that the device supports Widevine L1 out of the box means that users can enjoy streaming their favorite shows at maximum quality.

However, the same can’t be said for outdoor visibility. With a limited peak brightness, the device felt dim in direct sunlight, requiring us to move to a darker environment to use the phone. Moreover, we also encountered a bug during HDR video playback on YouTube, where colors would look washed out. However, it is important to note that the team at Lava is aware of this issue and is currently working to resolve it.

Refresh rate

With budget-centric smartphones, the automatic refresh rate setting is usually a hit-or-miss, with phones randomly switching refresh rates and ruining the experience. However, Lava seems to have found the sweet spot, as the device never felt jittery or sluggish, with the software easily handling the refresh rate settings. Nevertheless, users also have a 120Hz option, which locks the refresh rate.

Fingerprint sensor and durability

The front also houses the optical fingerprint sensor, which performed pretty well in our testing, unlocking the phone in various scenarios and even with wet fingers. However, the positioning of the sensor could have been better, considering users need to stretch their thumbs to reach it.

In terms of durability, the device includes Dragontrail Star 2 glass on the front and back. In our two weeks of testing, the Curve 5G’s glass held up well, with no major scratches.

Lava Blaze Curve 5G review: Performance and Battery

The Curve 5G houses the rebranded MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset, featuring two Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.6 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0 GHz, along with the ARM Mali-G68 GPU. Additionally, the phone offers up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS3.1 internal storage. Our 8GB + 128GB unit performed very well, with no lags or stutters in everyday usage. Thanks to the UFS 3.1 storage, apps opened rapidly with almost no delay.

Moving to synthetic benchmarks, the device scored 1,095 in Geekbench’s single-core test and 2,567 in the multi-core test, placing it on par with other devices sporting the same chipset. Additionally, the device’s ability to maintain 95% of its performance in a 30-thread 30-minute throttle test indicates that the cooling systems are adequate. Finally, in the AnTuTu benchmark, the Curve 5G scored 575,455 points.

Regarding gaming performance, we tested both BGMI and CODM at medium settings with almost max refresh rate, and the gameplay was smooth with no major lags or issues. However, it is important to note that while the device does warm up during gaming, it is within expected parameters.

Great battery life

With a massive 5,000mAh cell, we had high hopes for the Curve 5 G’s battery life, and it did not disappoint. The phone easily lasted a full day of moderate to heavy usage, including gaming, photography, and social media browsing. Moreover, with the included 33W charger, you can fully recharge the battery in 80 minutes.

Lava Blaze Curve 5G review: Cameras

Cameras often play a crucial role in determining the quality of a phone, as capturing good photos is a fundamental expectation. Unfortunately, in its current state, the cameras on the Curve 5G are hit-and-miss. However, before delving further, it’s essential to note that the device houses a 64MP main camera, along with an 8MP UltraWide sensor and a 2MP macro camera.

Starting with the main camera in daylight conditions, while the preview before capturing photos could be better, the resulting photos turned out pretty well, with ample dynamic range (sometimes excessive), vibrance, and sharpness. However, the phone did occasionally overexpose objects, but this is a common occurrence and is on par with other smartphones in the price segment.

Moreover, since the phone lacks a telephoto camera, the main sensor doubles as the portrait lens as well. The portrait photos looked aesthetically pleasing, with good edge detection and natural bokeh. However, the quality did deteriorate in low-light conditions but not much.

As mentioned earlier, the cameras on the Lava aren’t polished yet. In indoor lighting, we observed a weird behavior where, when capturing human subjects, the phone would overly smooth out details from their limbs in certain areas, giving the impression that the person shaved their arms. However, it is important to note that after a recent update, this issue was fixed with the phone managing the skin tones much better.

During our testing, there was also a significant shutter lag when capturing photos, both in daytime and nighttime conditions, requiring us to wait over a second to capture photos, sometimes even longer. Furthermore, the same issue was apparent with the UltraWide lens. Nevertheless, we contacted the company regarding the issue, and they are currently working on fixing it.

Nighttime photos

Surprisingly, the shutter lag issue wasn’t noticeable when capturing nighttime photos. Although the photos from the camera were usable most of the time, there was some amount of noise in every shot, which is typical of most smartphones. Moreover, it’s important to note that you cannot capture nighttime photos using the UltraWide lens.

UltraWide photos and Selfies

The UltraWide photos suffer from a lack of polish as well. This is because when HDR wasn’t enabled, we came across a purple halo around trees and other subjects in daylight conditions. However, this issue was resolved when HDR was enabled, but then, the photos had excess HDR, similar to previous Pixel devices.

Fortunately, the 32MP selfie shooter captures excellent photos with natural colors, ample HDR, and pleasing skin tones. Moreover, in portrait mode from the selfie camera, the phone also performs surprisingly well, producing a natural bokeh.

Videos

Similar to the front camera, the videos from the main camera of the Curve 5G are impressive. Capable of recording up to 4K@30fps, the videos, especially in daylight, are sharp, vibrant, and stable. However, nighttime videos lack detail, a common issue among other phones in the same segment.

Lava Blaze Curve 5G review: Software and speakers

In the sub-20K price segment, software often takes a major toll as companies bundle pre-installed apps and services to recoup their investment. However, when we first booted up the Curve 5G, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the device featured stock Android with no bloatware installed. This is the best software experience one can have on a sub-20K phone.

However, there is one not-so-good aspect of the software: Android 13. Even in 2024, the Curve 5G comes with Android 13 out of the box, and with the promise of only two years of software updates, the longevity of the device remains questionable.

Turning to the speakers, they are also excellent. With a stereo setup, the sound is loud, rich, and clear, improving the content-watching experience.

Is the Lava Blaze Curve 5G worth it?

At a starting price of just 17,999 INR, the Blaze Curve 5G represents a unique proposition with its impressive design and near-perfect software experience, unmatched by other brands in the same price segment. While the cameras require some improvements, the fact that Lava is aware of the issues and is working on fixing them makes the device a definite go-to option if you’re shopping in this price range.