The new Lava Blaze X has got a lot of things going for it. Much like its elder sibling, Blaze Curve, the Blaze X sports a curved AMOLED display – a first for the segment. The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset at the heart of this smartphone is a respectable choice given its Rs 15,000 price tag. Lava’s tremendous pan-India home service coverage is another reason why you may want to get this device. We got our hands on the smartphone earlier this month and have been driving it daily for a week. Here is our review of the Lava Blaze X.
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In This Article
Lava Blaze X Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside Lava Blaze X’s retail package.
- Smartphone
- Clear plastic case
- USB Type-C to Type-C power cable
- Power adapter
- USB Type-C to 3.5mm dongle
- SIM ejector
- Warranty card
Lava Blaze X sets the benchmark for design, form factor, and build quality in its price category. The plastic back panel has a matte finish, which lends it a premium in-hand feel. Even though it is a plastic panel, there is no flex to it. The edges of the panel curve towards the frame. The massive camera cutout at the back reminds us of the Vivo X100 Pro. Overall, the design is clean and tasteful.
The plastic frame houses the side button and volume rocker on its right edge. The SIM tray, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille are positioned at the bottom. Up top lies a solitary secondary microphone. There is no secondary speaker on this device.
The 6.67-inch curved AMOLED display is the biggest highlight of this smartphone. The Blaze X is the cheapest smartphone in the market to have a curved display. This AMOLED panel can reach a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. The touch response is sublime and the in-display optical fingerprint sensor is quite snappy. However, its maximum brightness falls a little short in outdoor conditions during the day. Being a curved display, accidental touches are very common while browsing on the smartphone.
The AMOLED panel on the Blaze X produces a splendid viewing experience. The deep blacks and vivid, punchy colours look amazing on the screen. We streamed HD content across platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotsar. The overall experience was very enjoyable. Despite having a single, bottom-firing speaker, the Blaze X produces a loud audio output.
Lava Blaze X Review: Performance and Cameras
Lava Blaze X is available in three RAM variants – 4GB (Rs 15,000), 6GB (Rs 16,000), and 8GB (Rs 17,000). All three variants have 128GB of internal storage space. The phone does not support expanded memory, which is a bit of an issue with the limited internal storage. The OS and native apps occupy 22GB of internal memory, which leaves you with ~122GB of storage space to work with.
Powering the Blaze X is the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset. This isn’t the most powerful SoC we’ve seen in this price bracket, but it does what is expected of it. Upon running Geekbench 6, the smartphone scored 798 points in the single-core test and 2,119 points in the multi-core test. In comparison, the CMF Phone 1 scored 1,023 and 2,894 points when we reviewed the smartphone.
Benchmark numbers aside, the Lava Blaze X puts forward a strong performance while dealing with routine tasks. The touch gestures register quickly and the apps do not take a long time to load. We ran a dozen apps on the smartphone at the same time and didn’t hit any snags.
The gaming performance on display was satisfactory but not out of the ordinary. The frame rate maxes out at 60fps and games like Call of Duty Mobile can be played at medium settings. Lags and frame drops are a very rare occurrence, which is good to see on a sub-Rs 15,000 smartphone. The device does a good job of managing the internal temperature as well. The back panel starts warming up after 40 minutes of steady gameplay. However, if gaming graphics are a big priority for you, there are better smartphones out there.
The software experience delivered by the Lava Blaze X is one of our favourite things about the smartphone. The software is stock Android 14 for the most part, but Lava has added its own special features to improve the overall usage experience. Privacy tools like app locker and app cloner are a welcome inclusion on the device. Features like anti-theft alarm and anti-peeping mode need some more tuning before they find their way into daily usage.
There is no bloatware to be seen on the device, which is incredible for a budget smartphone. Lava’s native ‘Outdoor Toolbox’ package has useful tools like a height meter, compass, magnifier, pedometer, and more. There is a good range of customisation options for the home screen, lock screen, fingerprint sensor, charging animation, and more.
During the review period, we used the Lava Blaze X for tasks like video calling, instant messaging, social media messaging, media streaming, navigation, and gaming. The 5,000mAh reliably got us through the day with 15-20% charge left to spare. The smartphone supports 33W charge and takes almost 2 hours to reach a full charge. This is on par with other smartphones in this price category.
The rear camera panel of the Blaze X comprises a 64MP primary shooter and a 2MP macro sensor. The selfie camera makes use of a 16MP sensor. The front and rear cameras can record 1,080p footage at 30 fps.
The primary shooter takes good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images pack a good amount of detail and appear balanced. However, the colours could have been a little more punchy. While we liked the cool, balanced tone of the pictures, the colours were missing the ‘pop’. The camera performance drops a few levels in limited lighting conditions, which is something to be expected of all smartphones in this price category. The smartphone does a decent job of brightening the subject but the images are soft and have a fair bit of grain in them.
The primary shooter takes well-focused portrait shots but they suffer from the same issue as the regular pictures. The colours appear a little faded out instead of the punchiness we expect from portraits. The camera does a good job of detecting the edges but the blur effect in the background could have been more intense.
The 16 MP front-facing camera takes good selfies in indoor and outdoor conditions. The smartphone keeps the skin smoothening effects to a minimum and processes the skin tone in a natural manner. The selfies are certainly ‘social media ready’ but do not appear overprocessed at all.
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Verdict
The Lava Blaze X is certainly a looker but it backs it up with a solid performance and satisfying software experience. As far as design and form factor are concerned, this smartphone is easily one of the best in its category. The in-hand feel and weight distribution of the device are bothering on premium category. The bloatware-free software experience is one of our favourite things about the smartphone. The curved AMOLED display is ideal for media streaming. The camera performance leaves a little more to be desired in terms of colour richness, but all things considered, the Lava Blaze X is one of the better smartphones under Rs 15,000.
Lava Blaze X: Pros
- Excellent design
- Curved AMOLED display
- No bloatware
- Affordable
Lava Blaze X: Cons
- Pictures lack deep colours
- Only available in a 128GB storage variant with no expandable storage
