Indian handset makers are now bringing their flagship smartphones for around Rs 15,000. Joining the bandwagon, Lava brought this Iris 504q smartphone last month for Rs 13,499.
At this price it is directly placed against the iconic Micromax Canvas HD A116. There are many other good competitors among both Indian as well as MNC brands like Xolo Q1000, Xolo Play, HTC Desire X, Sony Xperia J, LG Optimus L7 II etc.
So let’s see how the Lava Iris 504q stacks up against all these handsets.
Design
With 8.4 mm thickness and 140 gram weight, Lava Iris 504q is certainly one of the thinnest as well as lightest handsets despite the fact that it has a 5 inch screen. Its chief competitor Micromax Canvas HD has 10.7 mm thickness.
Lava is also providing a flip cover with the phone, which is of good quality and very elegant to look at. The flip cover (back panel) comes with very good quality plastic: shiny, but not slippery. However, the flip cover obstructs the use of the volume rocker, which is on the left hand side. There is no such problem with the power button, which is on the right hand side. All in all, it’s a good-looking device, both in terms of construction as well as in terms of looks.
Display
The Lava Iris 504q comes with a 5 inch touchscreen which has 1280 x 720 pixel (high definition) Resolution like Micromax Canvas HD and most other high end smartphones. The display has been made with One Glass Solution technology that not only makes the display thin (thus decreasing the overall weight of the phone as well as its thickness,) it also allows better sunlight legibility and reduces reflection. Besides, it is an IPS display that contributes to wider-angle viewing.
The display has decent touch response for most tasks but while playing games like Modern Combat 2, the display is slow in reacting to inputs.
Camera
There is an 8 Megapixel auto focus rear camera and a 2 megapixel front camera in the Iris 504q. An LED flash is right below the rear camera.
The rear camera does have good auto focus ability and manages to capture colours as they are; you do not have to tinker with the camera settings to achieve results. It has the stock Android camera application, which is itself quite simple, so you need not worry much. The front camera is also very good for self portraits. Below are some sample images we have captured using the rear camera.
Storage
It has 2 GB internal user available memory (4 GB ROM) and 32 GB expandable storage. This is common to most devices of Indian handset makers under Rs 10,000. I had expected at least 4 GB internal user available memory in this.
Battery
The Lava Iris 504q comes with a 2000 mAh Li-Polymer battery, which claims to provide 15 hours and 30 minutes of audio calling over 2G network in dual SIM while over 3G it is said to provide 11.30 hours of talktime. According to Lava, it has a standby of 230 hours. The phone does deliver what the official figures suggest. Once charged, it comfortably runs for one day with normal use like for around an hour of gaming, around an hour of calling, music and browsing. 
To be specific, it gives 7-8 hours of gaming with auto brightness, which is indeed very good. You can also watch YouTube (non HD) videos for around 6 hours with full charge and auto brightness.
Performance
Like other low cost quad core phones, it comes with a 1.2 GHz Mediatek processor, 1 GB RAM, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system. The combination gives a good overall performance. We had played many good games. Of course, as I said earlier, there was a slight lag while playing Modern Combat 2 but that seems to be a problem of the display rather than of the processor.
This also reflects the benchmark results that we have conducted on this phone. For instance, on Antutu, it scored 12996 like Canvas HD and other low cost quad core phones.
Iris 504q comes with Android Jelly Bean user interface with a slight modification.
Connectivity
It has dual SIM, of which one is 3G enabled. There is WiFi (with hotspot capability), Bluetooth, GPS and a Micro USB port in the handset as well.
Conclusion
The Lava Iris 504q is a decent handset at Rs 13,499. It is lighter than its chief competitor, the Canvas HD, and offers features that are common to most quad core phones in the price range of Rs 10,000-15,000.
Moreover, the Lava Iris 504q comes with access to Gameloft games, which are available for a reduced price. This will definitely appeal to game lovers. It has very decent apps preinstalled as well. Other than its display, the Iris 504q impressed us with its battery back up, build quality as well as with its camera capability.
Photographs by: Sushil Kumar