The smartphone will be available in India for Rs 11,990

Apr 9, 2015 09:24 GMT  ·  By

Lava Mobiles is a well-known Indian handset maker, which brings new smartphones almost every week. Most of these are mid-range smartphones in the affordable price range, which isn't surprising considering the Indian market is extremely competitive.

The latest addition to its portfolio is called Lava Icon and will be available for purchase in India soon for only Rs 11,990 ($190 / €180) outright. According to Lave, the smartphone will be available exclusive via Snapdeal through its online store.

Although the smartphone is equipped with a low power 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and a Mali 400MP2 graphics processing unit, Lava's handset is packed with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, which is great for such a decent price.

Unfortunately, Lava Icon ships with Android 4.4 KitKat operating system out of the box, which is likely to make some Android fans look elsewhere for their next purchase.

Nevertheless, the Icon sports a decent 5.0-inch HD (720p) IPS capacitive touchscreen display with scratch resistant Asahi Dragontrail Glas. MicroSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 64GB) is included too.

It will run Lava's Star OS user interface on top of Android

As expected, the handset offers dual-SIM support and a wide range of connectivity options, including 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS with AGPS.

Lava also confirmed that this is the first smartphone designed by its R&D team, unlike its previous smartphones which are usually OEM designed products.

The phone's main selling point is the 13-megapixel camera on the back, which features Sony's Exmor sensor and dual-LED flash. The main photo snapper features F/2.0 aperture and advanced functions like smoothening and whitening effects.

In the front, Lava Icon packs a 5-megapixel camera with OmniVision sensor, which features 4P lens, F/2.2 aperture and blue glass filters.

Last but not least, the Icon is powered by a 2,500 mAh battery, which is rated for 9 hours of talk time on 3G and more than a day on moderate to heavy usage.

“In line with our constant endeavour to offer products with great value to the consumers, we are delighted to announce the launch of our new premium smartphone – Icon. This is a beautifully designed product with high quality camera featuring Sony Exmor sensor and other built-in features.

“This marks the beginning of a new segment for Lava smartphones wherein we will be coming up with a new range of experience driven devices,” said Navin Chawla, vice president & head product, Lava International.