First look at Lava Iris Pro 30: Display, build quality impressive, but little else stands out

Lava launched the not-so-phablet Iris Pro 30 in Delhi today and its India price is set at Rs 15,999. Lava claims the 4.7-inch phone has been designed and developed by their in-house team and it does cut a pretty picture. This one is not particularly flashy; Lava has gone with an understated design. Here’s a closer look at the phone through pictures we shot at the launch. [caption id=“attachment_216421” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Here’s the Iris Pro[/caption] The 4.7-inch display seems like the right combination of size and usability. You should ideally have no issues reaching all four corners of the phone. The IPS display is quite sharp and bright, with good viewing angles and the adaptive backlight works as advertised. The phone feels incredibly light and is fairly slim as well, which is good. the display also manages to produce really good black levels. [caption id=“attachment_216422” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Looks like stock, but there are some changes[/caption] While it looks like plain vanilla Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Lava has made some interesting customisations. Core Google apps and Play Store support are present. The UI is also devoid of any noticeable lag. [caption id=“attachment_216423” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] What’s that in my notification drawer?[/caption] Here’s one example of the custom skin. This is a system monitor running in the notification drawer above the quick settings toggles. [caption id=“attachment_216424” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Quite slim at 7.5mm[/caption] Lava says the phone is the lightest in its category at 114g, and with a thickness 7.5mm, it looks to be quite a compact device. [caption id=“attachment_216425” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A classy looking back[/caption] Dual LED flash on the back along with the camera. The matte finish of the phone looks and feels good in the hand, but we can see some iPhone influence in the design and placement of the camera on the back. The subtle branding looks particularly nice. The 8MP camera doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job at indoor pics however. We managed to snap some sample photos from the Iris Pro 30 and the results are pretty average at best. The white balance seems to be completely off in one of them and the level of detail captured is pretty poor. [caption id=“attachment_216430” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] The picture lacks detail when you zoom into the original shot[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_216429” align=“alignnone” width=“768”] Colours seem exaggerated and the white balance has gone for a toss[/caption] Overall, besides the great display, there’s nothing that stands out in the Iris Pro and that could be its biggest downfall. We will be taking a more in-depth look at the phone as well as looking at some of its competition soon. So stay tuned for more details on the Iris Pro.