After giving a tough competition to leading Indian brand Micromax with its affordable devices and dabbling in the mid-premium segment with its Pro series, Lava has set its eyes on the entry-level smartphone arena. The Iris 406Q was launched just last month at a mouth-watering price, and the brand has made sure that the device doesn’t to compromise on the spec front. So, how does the Iris 406Q fare in real life, and how well it compare to the Moto E? Let's take a visual tour of the review of the Lava Iris 406Q in pictures.

1. Lava Iris 406Q
Review in pictures

2. Good design, solid build
• Resembles the Apple iPhone
to a little extent thanks to
its compact form factor
• Slightly bulky for its size, but
gives a reassuring feeling in
the hand
• Thickness of 10.3mm is
more than the norm
• Follows a typical design
when it comes to buttons
and ports
• Comes with a stick-on flip
cover to protect the device

3. Display leaves a tad to be desired
• Features a 4-inch display
• With a pixel density of 233 pixels per inch, the display is good
and there’s no pixelation
• But colours look washed out
• It’s better to set brightness yourself, instead of relying on
automatic brightness

4. Don’t expect much from the rear shooter…
• Features a 5-megapixel
snapper at the rear
• LED flash also available to
assist in low-light conditions
• Custom camera app, though
the available settings are
almost similar to stock Android
• Offers the usual options like
HDR, panorama, continuous
mode, along with the ability to
adjust ISO, exposure, and
white balance among others
• The camera is fine under
ample lighting, but night shots
are very poor

5. … and front camera as well
• Equipped with a 0.3-
megapixel camera at the
front
• Good enough for video
calling, but not for taking
selfies
Image samples from the main
camera:

6. Android with subtle additions
• The Lava Iris 406Q comes
loaded with Android 4.3
Jelly Bean, with a
promised update to KitKat
• There aren’t much
changes from stock
Android
• Custom launcher also
provides an option to
change themes
• There are a few preloaded
apps as well

7. Delivers strong performance for its price
• Unlike most of the budget devices, which are powered by a
MediaTek SoC, the Iris 406Q gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
quad-core chipset clocked at 1.2GHz.
• Adreno 302 GPU for taking care of graphics
• Equipped with 1GB of RAM for multitasking
• Works smoothly most of the times, though heavy games tax its
performance

8. Stingy storage makes you wanting for more
• Comes with 4GB of built-in
memory, which is average
these days
• More than half of it is
taken up by the OS, leaving
approximately 1.5GB for
user data and apps
• You can add a microSD
card of up to 32GB for your
multimedia needs
• Sadly, it doesn’t have USB
On-the-Go capabilities

9. All-day battery life
• The smartphone gets
power from a 1,700mAh
Li-ion battery
• With moderate usage, the
Iris 406Q can get you
through a full day
• While playing an HD video
on loop at 50 percent
brightness and volume,
the device delivered a run
time of around six hours

10. BatteryGuru is the guru, comes pre-installed
• Comes with BatteryGuru
preloaded that helps in
increasing the battery
efficiency
• The app tracks your usage
for a couple of days and
then automatically changes
sync intervals for the apps
• Other options include a low-
power saving mode, which
kicks in when battery level
drops below a certain
percentage

11. At a glance
• 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixels (233
ppi)
• 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon 200 processor
• Adreno 302 GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 4GB storage plus microSD slot
• 5-megapixel main camera with
LED flash, VGA secondary
camera
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
• 1,700mAh battery
• 3G dual-SIM (3G support in the
first SIM slot only), Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth and GPS

12. -
• Average display
• Below par camera
quality
• Poor call reception
Pros and cons
+
• Good build quality
• Strong performance
• Powerful specs for
its price
• Promised upgrade
to Android 4.4
KitKat
• Decent battery life

13. Lava Iris 406Q vs Moto E: the budget smartphone battle
 4-inch display (233 ppi)
 No screen protection
 1.2GHz quad-core processor
 5MP main camera with LED
flash
 VGA camera at the front
 Runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
 1,700 mAh battery
Lava Iris 406Q Moto E
 4.3-inch display (256 ppi)
 Gorilla Glass 3 protection
 1.2GHz dual-core processor
 5MP main camera without
flash
 No front-facing camera
 Runs Android 4.4 KitKat
 1,980mAh battery

14. Price: Rs 6,999
Pricing and verdict
“With the Lava Iris 406Q, the Indian vendor
proves that low pricing of a device doesn’t
necessarily mean a compromise in its specs.
Despite a few issues with call reception, the Iris
406Q is an all-round package and a worthy
option to consider in the entry-level segment. ”