Lava Blaze Curve first impressions

Lava launched the Lava Blaze Curve as the latest addition to the Blaze lineup last week. We got to spend some time with the Iron Glass version, and here are our first impressions of the phone.

The Lava Blaze Curve comes in a black-colored retail box with a picture of the phone, which doesn't correspond to the color version you are purchasing. The package includes a protective cover, a charging cable, a 33W adapter, a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter, and a SIM ejector tool.

The Lava Blaze Curve packs a 6.67" 3D curved AMOLED screen with FullHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 800 nits peak brightness. The smartphone's ambient light sensor was slow to adjust the screen brightness in our short experience. That said, the phone's panel can display 16.7 million colors and has HDR10+ and Widevine L1 certifications.

The display — protected by Dragontrail Star 2 glass — also has a centered punch hole for the 32MP selfie camera, which is placed in an off-center position inside the hole. It does look rather poorly made, but you'd only notice this if you are looking from really closely.

Additionally, the screen has a fingerprint reader underneath for biometric authentication. We found it to be fast and accurate, but we would've liked it to be placed a bit higher for ease of reach.

On the opposite side, we have a triple camera setup comprising 64MP primary, 8MP ultrawide (120° FOV), and 2MP macro units. The primary camera uses a Sony sensor, supports EIS, and has an f/1.9 aperture.

The Lava Blaze Curve's back panel looks quite simple and doesn't flaunt any fancy designs we see on other smartphones. Some might even find the Iron Glass version we received less attractive than the green-colored Viridian Glass model, but the former makes for a good choice for those who want something that looks formal and stealthy. It also reflects light at different angles, which looks cool.

Regardless of which model you buy, the rear panel - protected by Gorilla Glass 3 - flaunts a 3D glass design with a matte finish. The back cover's curved edges make the phone comfortable to hold. The overall design and build give the Lava Blaze Curve a premium in-hand feel.

It's worth mentioning that the protruding cameras on the back cause the Lava Blaze Curve to wobble on flat surfaces. Their arrangement also makes wiping the dust between them a bit difficult.

That said, the Lava Blaze Curve has a plastic frame, with the right-side frame housing a power button and volume rocker. It has a USB-C port at the bottom with the speaker, primary microphone, and dual-SIM slot. Up top is the IR blaster, flanked by the second speaker and mic.

Lava Blaze Curve's ports and controls

The Lava Blaze Curve is powered by the Dimensity 7050 SoC and has 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB/256GB of UFS 3.1 storage onboard. It runs clean Android 13 out of the box, devoid of ads and pre-installed third-party apps, which is always refreshing.

Lava has promised three years of quarterly security updates for the Blaze Curve with planned upgrades to Android 14 and Android 15. Considering the timing of the launch, we'd have liked to see the phone running Android 14 out of the box. Here's hoping the Indian handset maker will release it soon.

Keeping the Lava Blaze Curve up and running is a 5,000 mAh battery with 33W charging support. It's advertised to go from flat to 50% in 30 minutes and 100% in 80 minutes.

The rest of the Lava Blaze Curve's highlights include Dolby Atmos and 5G support on both SIM slots.

The Lava Blaze Curve will be available in India from March 11. Its 8GB/128GB model is priced at INR17,999 ($215/€200), while the 8GB/256GB model costs INR18,999 ($230/€210).