LAVA International has added to the growing category of 5-inch phones in India – launching the IRIS 501, priced at Rs 9,999.
The Lava IRIS 501 will compete against the wildly popular Micromax Canvas 2 A110, and to some extent against the Karbonn A30 and the iBall Andi 4.5h.
The Micromax A110 is priced at the same level as the new IRIS 501 (Rs 10,000), while the iBall Andi 4.5h and the Karbonn A30 are priced at about Rs 11,800 and Rs 12,400 respectively.
The biggest competitor to the IRIS 501 will undoubtedly be the Micromax Canvas 2 A110, which remains unsurpassed in customer satisfaction.
In fact, both the Micromax model and the new Lava model are nearly identical. Both have 5-inch displays, dual-core 1 GH processors, 3G HSPA (7.2 Mbps in case of Micromax), and Android ICS.
While the Lava IRIS has a 2300 mAh battery, the Micromax A110 has a 2,000 mAh battery. However, the Micromax model, powered by the Mediatek 6577 processor, has an 8 megapixel back-camera, while the new Lava model has a 5 Megapixel auto-focus camera. Besides, the Micromax model has a 854 * 480 pixel display while the Lava model comes with a slightly lower 800 * 480 screen.
Other than these differences, the specifications look the same on paper. What, however, needs to be checked is whether the display on the Lava IRIS is as good as that on the Canvas phone.
Those looking for the biggest display possible should look at the Karbonn A30, which has a 5.9 inch screen, and costs only Rs 1,800 extra.