Lava is one of the few Indian smartphone manufacturers that is making sensible phones in India even in 2023, and they have launched the new Lava Blaze 2 5G. Starting at only ₹9,999, this is one of the most affordable 5G phones out there, which really makes sense for most Indians who want to upgrade from 4G to 5G without paying a lot.
Yes, you do have Xiaomi or Realme in that category, but Lava has a unique proposition in the form of “Ring Light,” which to me is more of a gimmick than actual use. While the review packaging looked awesome with that halo light, the actual phone’s right light is too weak to make any difference but can be configured to be handy at times. Now that I have spent almost a week with this Lava Blaze 2 5G, here’s a complete review for your reference:
Lava Blaze 2 5G Specifications
- 1st in the Segment* Ring Light & Premium Glass Back Design
- 16.55cm (6.56″) 90Hz HD+ Punch Hole Display with 720 x 1600 resolution
- Lightning-fast Performance MediaTek Dimensity 6020 Processor
- 4GB+4GB** RAM / 6GB+6GB** RAM l 64/128GB UFS 2.2 Memory
- 50MP AI Rear Camera and 8MP Selfie Camera
- 5000mAh Battery with Type-C Port and 18W Fast Charging
In the Box
- Lava Blaze 2 5G,
- Power Adapter,
- SIM Tray Ejector,
- Phone Case,
- USB Cable
Design and Build Quality
The new Lava Blaze 2 5G sports a basic and clean design with 3 color options, and here we have the black variant, which kind of looks very simple and subtle. The glass-back design here feels good on your hands but isn’t resistant to fingerprint smudges, and when you carry it around, it feels nice and doesn’t look like a budget phone. Though the round camera design might not look the best, the ring light is kind of cool.
Display
Here you get a 6.56″ HD+ punch-hole display; yes, it’s a basic IPS LCD display, but hey, you cannot ask for more at this price, but you could have expected at least an FHD panel for sure. Though the quality of the display panel is quite good, the colors look good, and even when you watch something, you won’t feel the panel is cheap, and the brightness is also quite decent.
Having at least a 90-Hz refresh rate makes sure that your everyday usage with this Lava Blaze 2 5G is smooth, and on a budget phone, this is good enough. From watching YouTube to Netflix, everything is quite good for the average user.
Performance
Lava has not cheaped on the performance of this Blaze 2 5G, which I really liked about this smartphone, sporting a MediaTek Dimesity 6020 alongside 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which can be expanded as well. The everyday performance of this one is quite good, honestly, and I never felt any lag or stutter of any sort. Also, you can play games on this one, but do not expect extraordinary performance out of it.
Here are some benchmark numbers for your reference:
Both in AnTuTu and Geekbench, you see, the numbers are quite good, and the CPU here is strong enough to handle all your day-to-day tasks. The smooth UI and the SoC inside do a fair job here, and for a phone that starts at ₹9,999, the performance is almost mid-range level. Over the years, I expect this Lava Blaze 2 5G to give a good everyday usage experience.
Camera
The Lava Blaze 2 5G struggles mostly in this department; the rear camera is 50 MP and the front one is 8 MP, but the quality of the cameras is not up to par in 2023. Though in broad daylight, the photos are decent, the image sensing and processing could have been better. Honestly, the camera is not the strong point here but is just an additional feature.
Here are some of the camera samples for our reference:
As you see, the camera sensor does its job pretty well in daylight, but sometimes the image processing is not up to par. I would say Lava needs to improve this, and the weakest part of the camera is the color accuracy and night photography. I could only hope Lava works on this next time, but for now, you can skip this one if you feel the camera is important to you or use Gcam Mod.
Audio
The Lava Blaze 2 5G sports a single speaker at the bottom, much like any other budget phone, but the quality of the speaker is quite good; it’s loud, accurate, and crisp. Though there’s no Dolby tuning of any sort, you can use your own equalizer to get things balanced, and overall, the audio is good for music streaming or watching something.
I/O and Connectivity
In terms of I/O, you have a power button on the right-hand side where the fingerprint scanner is baked into it and the quality of it is also decent. Then you have volume rockers above it, on the right-hand side only, whereas both the headphone jack and Type-C port are underneath.
Talking about connectivity, you have Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 for everyday usage, but for 5G, the phone supports a lot of 5G bands used in India, and I was using my Jio sim on this phone to get good network reception. I was surprised to see the quality of the speeds almost matching the speeds I get on my OnePlus 11, which is five times the price of this one, so the 5G experience is quite good.
Software
Lava uses almost the stock Android 13 OS, which feels nice and smooth. The Lava Blaze 2 5G gives a good software experience for an average individual who does not actually care about every little thing and just wants the job to be done. However, Lava, in the future, can do a lot of optimizations and give users new options to fiddle with to give a great experience with the stock Android experience with no bloatware whatsoever, which it’s already providing.
Battery Life
Lastly, coming to the battery life of this Lava Blaze 2 5G, which sports a big 5000mAh battery, for most users, the battery life should be enough for a day, but I think Lava could optimize the software experience even more to increase the battery life further. I do like that Lava gives a charger inside the box with support for 18W fast charging but it takes almost an hour to pump up the smartphone battery which you have to bear.
Verdict
Now, should you buy the Lava Blaze 2 5G starting only at ₹9,999? Well, to me the phone felt quite decent but not well-balanced to be honest, especially on the camera front, instead of putting the gimmicky ring light the camera could have been improved.
However, the rest of the specs like the display, performance, or even the software and especially the 5G connectivity should be appreciated, so, if you can live with the good things about this phone then sure, the phone is worth the try. I also appreciate Lava’s home-based on-door customer support service on this phone as well.
Buy the Lava Blaze 2 5G from Amazon India: https://amzn.to/3QTkxqJ
