Lava Blaze Curve 5G Review: An Excellent Blend of Hardware, Software, Design, with One Caveat!

The sub-20K smartphone market has become a crowded one since the release of the Lava Blaze Curve 5G back in early March 2024. At the time of its launch, the Lava Blaze Curve 5G was one of the best smartphones under Rs 20,000 in India.

Fast-forward 50 days and does the Blaze Curve 5G still make a compelling case for the best smartphone in the segment? Let's find out in our full Lava Blaze Curve 5G review.

PROS

• Sleek Design
• Solid Performance
• Vibrant Curved AMOLED Display
• Bloat-free Software Experience
• Reliable Battery Life

CONS

• Dated Software
• Difficult to Grip without the Case
• Cameras Need Improving

Design & Build

The Lava Blaze Curve 5G features a sleek design with a minimalist matte finish. The two shades include Iron Glass and Viridian Glass, our model came in the former. There's no camera island on the back, instead, the rear cameras are neatly arranged individually. The rear panel features double reinforced (Gorilla Glass 3 on AG) protection and a Lava logo on the bottom.

However, the main highlight is the curved OLED screen on the front, which also comes with glass protection. The phone's frame is made of plastic, which is unfortunate but not unexpected at this price. The Blaze Curve 5G does have a sleek design, measuring 8.8mm thick, while weighing 189 grams.

The phone has a SIM tray, speaker grille, and USB type-C port on the bottom, volume and power buttons on the right, and a snappy in-display fingerprint reader. You get a case, a USB Type-C charger, USB Type-C cable, and a USB-C to 3.5mm audio jack converter in the box. The Blaze Curve 5G boasts an elegant design and solid build.

While the Lava Blaze Curve 5G does feature a sleek and stylish design, this does come at the cost of comfort as the phone isn't easy to grip. However, the included silicone case does help with that. But I'd still recommend a more rugged case to protect this phone from drops.

Display & Audio

For the display, Lava has retrofitted the Blaze Curve 5G with a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOELD display with 3D curvature and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The screen's bezels are almost non-existent, while the panel offers a peak brightness of 800 nits. The display also features a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate.

You can switch between 60Hz or 120Hz or set it to Auto. The screen features respectable color reproduction and has good viewing angles. It is bright enough to use outdoors but is little hardware to use under direct sunlight. Additionally, Widevine L1 certification allows you to enough your favorite OTT content in high resolution.

The handset also packs stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support, delivering decent audio quality. The display on the Blaze Curve 5G is quite good and perfectly complements the phone's design, while the speakers enhance the overall entertainment experience.

Performance

Lava has equipped the Blaze Curve 5G with a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC paired with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Additionally, up to 8GB of unused storage can be utilized as virtual RAM. The combination of a competent mid-range chip and fast RAM and storage ensures fluid multitasking.

The Blaze Curve can also handle most mobile games without any issue. We tested Call of Duty: Mobile and BGMI, which ran smoothly on high settings, although I preferred using it on moderate graphics for higher frame rates.

I managed a 40-minute gaming session without the phone getting uncomfortably warm, but it does get a little toasty. In Geekbench 6, the Blaze Curve managed a single-core score of 933 points and a multi-core score of 2432 points. The phone also managed an overall AnTuTu score of 561,101 points.

Cameras

For optics, the Curve 5G boasts a triple-camera setup with a 64 MP Sony sensor, an 8 MP ultrawide lens, and a 2 MP macro unit. The main camera supports EIS and 4K video recording at 30fps. Up front, there's a 32 MP sensor for selfies. Now, let's look at real-world camera performance.

The main camera does a good job of capturing detailed shots in daylight. The primary camera tends to overexpose shots at times, particularly with trees in the background. Colors also look oversaturated at times and are not as accurate. Edge detection in portrait shots were also not up to the mark although skin tones were accurate, although details were average.

If you are looking to capture a wider field of view, you can switch to the 8 MP ultrawide lens, although be warned that the results here are underwhelming. There is noticeable distortion on the edges, which is something I am accustomed to with ultrawide cameras on affordable/mid-range smartphones. However, it does maintain consistent colors with the main camera in daylight.

Shots taken on the macro unit are underwhelming as well. After multiple attempts, you are bound to get one or two decent shots if you have enough ambient light. In low light, you can switch to night mode to add more light and detail to a shot, although it is particularly weak when handling darker areas of a scene.

Unfortunately, night mode is limited to the main camera. The 32 MP front camera on the Blaze Curve 5G captures detailed portraits with accurate skin tones. However, photos on the front camera look noticeably softer and edge detection on portrait shots wasn't always on point.

The Lava Blaze Curve 5G can capture 4K video at 30fps, while video recording on the ultrawide is limited to 1080p resolution at 30fps. Footage from the main camera in daylight had a good amount of detail and sharpness. Stabilization is decent, although it would have been nice to have OIS here.

The overall camera performance on the Laval Blaze Curve 5G is average at best. Although since the last update, the cameras here have gotten better. But there's still a long way to go. I'd prefer the cameras on the Vivo T3 5G.

Battery & Charging

Despite its sleek appearance, the Blaze Curve 5G packs a 5,000 mAh battery. In our testing, the Blaze Curve lasted an entire day under moderate usage, consuming little over 10% of power after 30 minutes of Call of Duty: Mobile. Watching a video in 1080p resolution for 30 minutes consumers little under 5% of battery life.

Speaking of charging, the Blaze Curve 5G supports 33W power delivery through a compatible adapter. The charger can fully power up the phone in 80 mins or deliver a 50% charge in just 30 minutes. It is not the fastest charging or largest battery in the segment, but it performs well-above the average.

Software

I was disappointed to see the Lava Blaze Curve 5G running Android 13 out of the box during my first impressions and that doesn't seem to have changed almost two months in. Lava does promise two Android OS updates and three years of regular security updates. But that Android 14 update is yet to arrive.

On the flip side, the Blaze Curve 5G's software offers a clean interface with no bloatware. The overall experience here feels surprisingly light, allowing you to smoothly navigate through the OS. The lack of ads and push notifications and limited first-party apps ensure a smooth software experience.

Verdict

After a deep dive into the Lava Blaze Curve 5G, it is safe to say that it is not quite the best smartphone under Rs 20,000 in India. And this is primarily down to the competition stepping up their game. However, it is far from the worst phone either. With the Blaze Curve 5G, Lava delivers a balanced approach.

The Lava Blaze Curve 5G is a solid performer, has a vibrant AMOLED display, good battery life with fast charging convenience, and a decent front camera. Apart from the camera system, which was a letdown, there are two important aspects of this device that might be a double-edged sword. The sleek and edgy design comes at the cost of comfort, while the bloat-free software experience is perfect but still a generation behind the competition.

However, I don't see those as deal breaks as the phone will get the Android 14 update soon and the included case does solve the grip issue. While the Lava Blaze Curve 5G may not be the best sub-20K smartphone, it is an excellent overall proposition, striking an excellent balance of hardware and software.