Jan 14, 2014 06:08 PM
5782 Views
LAVA IRIS 458Q
PRICE: A little over Rs. 7, 000/- at Flipkart. May find it a little cheaper on Ebay but I was willing to pay a little extra for Flipkart's reliability, considering this is something of a big ticket purchase.
ANDROID VERSION: 4.2.1 Jellybean
I have only 2 complaints:
1) The camera is not the worst I've ever seen on a phone, but not the best either. Biggest issue with it is low light photos and videos, they don't come through properly without using the flash. If you absolutely must have a high grade camera on your phone, then expect to spend more on an upscale model. Front camera isn't so great either, but that's not a big issue for me because I don't do video calls from my phone.
2) If there is an option for disabling or changing the annoying little tune that plays during start up and shut down, I have not found it. I want the phone to start up and shut down silently, or at the very least not sound like an advertisement for a cheesy Hallmark movie!
Otherwise, it's a great phone, lots of bang for your buck.
1) It comes with very little bloatware, unlike other brands which pack on so much bloat their devices are unusable out of the box. I didn't do much to this phone before I started using it, just uninstalled and disabled some things.
2) Phone comes with some degree of storage space, so you don't have to immediately install an SD card just to use it for basic communications. The storage can be expanded to 32 GB with an SD card.
2) Some of the bloat is easily uninstalled, for others like Google bloat or wallpapers it appears that rooting is required to get rid of these things. I don't use Gmail, Google+, Google Calendar, YouTube or Google Talk so for me these apps count as bloat.
3) The device can be rooted, I just haven't got around to doing that yet.
4) It comes with useful apps pre-installed like Navigation and Google maps, WeChat, Opera Mini, Wireless Input Device app, Notebook, To Do List, Email client, sound recorder(can record phone calls), FM radio, Paytm(haven't used this yet, but am keeping it in case it's needed in future), 3D Weather app, world clock, Pico TTS, Voice Command, Face Recognition, etc. You will have to get the usual social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo! separately from Playstore as they're not pre-installed. This was not a problem for me as I'm not on Facebook and don't want to be, while Twitter and Yahoo! messenger I use only occasionally.
5) You can disable all the Google apps when not in use. If your life in entwined with Google you may not want to do this, but I find it convenient as the only Google apps of any value to me are Maps and Playstore. I enable them only when needed.
6) GPS can be disabled. I keep it turned off unless I need to use Navigation and Maps. Nobody needs to know my location 24/7!
7) Decent security options. You can lock your SIM so that it's completely unusable without customized PIN(Emergency numbers can be dialed but nothing else is accessible), and you can use this option in conjunction with a pattern lock, facial recognition or password. You can customize how often the phone must be unlocked as well.
8) It boots up fast and shuts down fast.
9) It has Bluetooth. I have to mention this because not all "smart" devices have it; for example, one of the Simmtronic Xpad tablets does not have Bluetooth.
10) It had a partially charged battery out of the box, so I was able to start using it immediately.
11) Dual Sim.
Other stuff:
If it matters.Volume rocker is on left, power button on right, 3.5 jack and micro USB port are on top.
The battery cover snaps on and off, you have to pry it off from the top.
Out of the box, it came with a USB charger(with removable adapter for using wall sockets), a less than stellar ear phone, a USB data cable, a scratch guard for the screen and a clear plastic case that stretches to fit over the back and sides. The packaging was good- sturdy but minimal.
A word on WeChat: It looks to be a good alternative to Skype, free alternative to WhatsApp and somewhat less invasive alternative to Line. WeChat is a Tencent app with servers in China.
