Lava recently announced a few low-cost, 3G enabled Android-powered devices for the Indian market, which included the 3G 356. The device would be selling for 4499 INR in the coming few days. The phone would be competing for market share with innumerable other devices, most of which come from domestic manufacturers, and some from brands like Nokia, etc.
The device will feature a 1.2 GHz dual core processor among other specifications, which do look good for the price. Let us go ahead with the quick review of this device and talk about it’s specifications in detail.
Camera And Internal Storage
This might probably be the only department where the device’s specifications fail to impress. The Lava 3G 356 comes with a 1.3 MP rear shooter, which is coupled with LED flash for low light situations. However, the disappointing part here is that the unit is fixed focus type, so there will be no manual/auto focus, which might result in poor quality images more often than not.
On the front, the device fares well with a VGA camera. Although there are better front cameras out there, just the inclusion of a front unit sounds impressive for a device of this calibre. This unit can be used to make video calls since the phone has in-built 3G support.
At about 4.5k INR, you can’t expect your phone to have a large built in memory. The phone comes with 512MB of on-board memory, which isn’t very bad considering the price the device would be selling for. Also, there is a microSD slot which can work with cards up to 32GB in capacity.
Processor And Battery
The phone does a good job at the processing department. The 3G 356 comes with a dual core 1.2 GHz processor from Mediatek, the MT6572. Unlike the MT6577, the MT6572 has the two cores built on the Cortex A7 platform, so you can expect the phone to be a little less snappier than phones with MT6577. However, there’s only 256MB of RAM installed which might degrade the user experience. This might actually cause the OS to underutilise the dual core system, which is something undesirable.
The phone will pack a 1500mAh battery, which, given the screen size of 3.5 inches, should take you through one day without any hassles.
According to Lava, the 1500mh unit will give you 5hrs of talktime and 200 hours of standby.
Display And Features
As mentioned above, the phone comes with a 3.5 inch screen with a not so impressive HVGA resolution of 480×320 pixels. However, if you’re one among those users who use your phone mainly for productivity (basically anything other than gaming/multimedia), the display resolution and screen size might actually play in your favour since both of those won’t be battery mongers.
Among other features, the phone comes with usual connectivity features such as Bluetooth, WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack, etc.
One plus point on the device is that it will feature Android v4.2 out of the box.
Comparison
Among the long list of low-cost dual core competitors to this device, one can think of the XOLO A500S, ZTE Blade C, Karbonn A29, Videocon A24, Intex Cloud X3 and some other devices from brands like Celkon, Micromax, etc to be major threats. However, it is interesting to note that the Lava 3G 356 is among the cheapest of those, which might give them an upper hand.
Key Specs
| Model | Lava 3G 356 |
| Display | 3.5 inches HVGA 480×320 |
| Processor | 1.2GHz dual core MT6572 |
| RAM, ROM | 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM, expandable up to 32GB |
| OS | Android v4.2 |
| Cameras | 1.3MP fixed focus rear, VGA front |
| Battery | 1500mAh |
| Price | 4,499 INR |
Conclusion
We have to say that the device does look impressive, considering the price tag it comes with. While most other dual core devices are selling for anything between 6-8k INR, Lava has done well to come up with a product with almost the same potential but at a substantially lesser price of just 4,499 INR.
At this moment, we are lead to imagine that the device would do well in the market, thanks to the aggressive approach taken by Lava on pricing.
