Lava has spent the last couple of months strengthening its entry-level smartphone portfolio. Previously, we reviewed Lava Shark 5G, which is currently priced at Rs 8,000. It is one of the cheapest 5G smartphones you can buy right now. Going for something more affordable comes at the cost of sacrificing 5G connectivity. If you’re fine with that, you might like Lava’s newest offering, Bold N1 Pro. This smartphone has a smooth 120Hz display and packs a Unisoc T606 chip under its hood. We used it for a week and put it through a series of tests. Here is our review of the Lava Bold N1 Pro.
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In This Article
Lava Bold N1 Pro Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside Lava Bold N1 Pro’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- Power adapter
- USB Type-A to Type-C
- Clear plastic cover
- SIM ejector
- Warranty card
Lava Bold N1 Pro’s design is heavily inspired by new-generation iPhone Pro models. The triple camera layout at the back looks identical to Apple’s design. However, only one of the three cameras on the Bold N1 Pro is functional. The square module housing the three lenses has rounded edges. It reflects a mild tint when light falls on it. The good thing is that the camera array does not make the phone wobble on flat surfaces. The plastic back panel is completely flat and has a glossy feel. It registers fingerprints and smudges quite easily. The ‘LAVA’ lettering is branded on the bottom left side of the panel.
The plastic frame houses the volume rocker keys and the side button on its right edge. The side button also doubles as a fingerprint sensor. The bottom edge houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille. The hybrid SIM tray with a microSD slot is placed on the left edge. Up top lies the noise-cancelling microphone. The smartphone weighs 200g.
The 6.67-inch IPS LCD panel has a 120Hz refresh rate. However, this isn’t an out-of-the-box configuration, and needs to be applied in the display settings. The LCD panel maintains legibility indoors but struggles under direct sunlight. It is surrounded by sizeable bezels on all sides. These bezels get thicker around the chin. The selfie camera is housed in a punch-hole cutout on the display.
The LCD panel has a 720 x 1,600p resolution, making it a good display for streaming HD content. During the review period, we used the Lava Bold N1 Pro to stream content across OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and JioHotstar. The image quality was vivid and clear. While the contrast and dynamic range pale in comparison to AMOLED displays, the viewing experience offered by this device is still pretty good. Its bottom-firing speaker produces a boxy and weak audio output, but the good news is that there’s a 3.5mm jack at the bottom to plug in your headphones.
Lava Bold N1 Pro Review: Performance and Cameras
Powering the Lava Bold N1 Pro is a Unisoc T606 chip. The smartphone packs 4GB LPDDR4X RAM and has an internal storage capacity of 128GB. The storage capacity can be expanded by up to 256GB using a microSD card. On the Geekbench 6 app, the Bold N1 Pro scored 393 points in the single-core test and 1,392 points in the multi-core test.
The general performance of the Lava Bold N1 Pro is on par with other entry-level smartphones in its price bracket. The Unisoc T606 processor can handle routine tasks like calling, instant messaging, web browsing, and media streaming pretty well. However, multitasking several apps at once reveals the flaws of this octa-core chipset. Lags and delays are all too common when you’re shuffling among different apps. This isn’t a dealbreaker in this price bracket, but rather a drawback of the segment itself.
The Bold N1 Pro can run games like Free Fire Max and Call of Duty Mobile, but the gameplay experience is riddled with frame drops. The touch response of the display in intense FPS games leaves a lot to be desired. However, titles like Candy Crush Saga run just fine on this device.
Lava Bold N1 Pro runs stock Android 14 OS out of the box. While we like that the stock version does not contain any bloatware apps, it is a bit of a letdown not to get the latest Android 15 OS on a device in June 2025. Having said that, the software experience on this device is optimal. Since it isn’t the full Android version, the software feels light and airy. There are plenty of customisation options for the home screen and lock screen. The gestures are intuitive and make the browsing experience seamless. We like that there’s an option to wake and turn off the screen by double-tapping it.
During the review period, we got a steady one-day battery backup from the Lava Bold N1 Pro. The 5,000mAh battery pack was left with around 15-20% charge at the end of each day. Our daily screen time was between 4-5 hours. The Li-ion battery pack supports 18W wired charging, even though the smartphone ships with a 10W adapter in the box. The charger provided in the box takes over 2 hours to fully charge the phone.
Even though the Lava Bold N1 Pro flaunts a triple camera array on its back panel, only one of these lenses is functional. This 50MP shooter takes good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images pack essential details and showcase vivid colours. In limited lighting conditions, however, the camera struggles to capture enough light. The results are dim and grainy. The Night Mode in the camera app does little to remedy this situation. This is a pervading issue across all devices in this segment.
The primary shooter takes good portrait shots. The smartphone manages to focus on the subject quite well and applies a decent level of background blur. The edge detection can be a bit off sometimes, but it doesn’t throw off the portraits entirely. The selfies taken with the 8MP front-facing camera have good clarity, but the skin tone and texture correction effects are a bit over the top. The front-facing camera can record 720p videos at 30fps while the 50MP rear sensor can record 1,080p footage at 30fps.
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Verdict
The Lava Bold N1 Pro is a decent buy at Rs 6,799 for casual users. If your daily tasks include media streaming, calling, texting, and web browsing, this smartphone will not disappoint. The Unisoc T606 is designed to handle the essential tasks and can get easily overwhelmed by multitasking and gaming. The 5,000mAh battery pack can last a day of moderate to heavy use, which is quite impressive. The 50MP camera takes good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The portraits taken from this camera are some of the best we’ve seen in this segment.
Lava Bold N1 Pro: Pros
- Big display
- HD streaming
- Good battery life
- Affordable
Lava Bold N1 Pro: Cons
- Lacks 5G connectivity
