Curved displays are not a recent phenomenon. In their decade-long run, they were once considered a premium feature as they were limited to only high-end flagship devices. With technology advancing, now more budget and mid-tier devices are seen flaunting the curved display, especially, at a time when flagship devices are opting for flatter and bezel-less displays.
Indian smartphone brand Lava redefined this segment with the launch of Agni 2 (review), one of the most affordable smartphones with a curved screen. In 2024, the company has outdone itself with the launch of the Blaze Curve, which is currently one of the most affordable 5G-enabled curved display smartphones in the country.
Here is my take on the Lava Blaze Curve 5G after extensively testing it for over two weeks:
A premium-looking budget smartphone
When compared to the recently launched devices like the Nothing Phone (2a) (review), the Blaze Curve might look a bit traditional. However, the 3D curved display at the front makes it look like a premium device, and it quickly reminded me of the OnePlus 8 (review). While the overall form factor of this device is similar to the Agni 2, the Curve Blaze with its iPhone 15 Pro (review)-like triple camera setup makes it look unique and complements the curved glass back panel.
Both the display and the back panel seamlessly blend with each other, which gives a premium finish while holding the device.
Flagship-level display
While flagship smartphones are moving away from curved displays for various reasons, the Blaze Curve seems to have retained it. This makes the phone look more elegant with very minimal and uniform bezels. I also liked the fact that it comes with an optical in-display fingerprint, while it isn’t the quickest or the most accurate, it does get the job done.
The Widevine L1 certification ensures that the device can stream content with up to FHD resolution on popular OTT platforms like Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix. While watching YouTube, I felt that the display is tuned to be vibrant, and it accentuates colours like red and green, and everything on the display looks vibrant and contrasty.
Features like edge lighting for notifications, monochrome always-on-display, and a dedicated dark mode ensure that the phone gets the most out of the 6.67-inch curved 120Hz AMOLED screen.
Don’t get this phone for the cameras
The triple camera setup on the Lava Blaze Curve 5G is average at best. While they managed to capture good photos in daylight situations, the camera performance leaves a lot to be desired. Despite being a budget phone, it can natively shoot 4K videos on the primary 64 MP sensor, while the 8 MP sensor can only capture up to 1080p videos.
Here are the camera samples from the Lava Blaze Curve:
Clean Android experience, adequate performance
Lava is one of the few Android smartphone brands that offers a clean Android OS experience with no bloatware, and the Blaze Curve is no exception. It doesn’t even include a native gallery app. However, it ships with Android 13, while most of the phones launched in 2024 come with Android 14. Lava has assured that the Curve Blaze 5G will soon receive Android 14 and is also eligible for an Android 15 update.
The OS, despite being a dated one, is well-optimised, and I did not notice any glitches while testing the device. As this is a clean build of Android, it also takes less internal storage. An 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage (UFS 3.1) also ensure that the device can handle most day-to-day tasks like browsing social media apps, streaming videos, and a bit of gaming without any issue.
The Dimensity 7050 is also a pretty optimised processor, which also powers the recently announced realme 12+ (review) ensuring that the phone can even handle a bit of multitasking. The phone handled tasks like background downloading with video streaming on PiP (picture-in-picture) mode while browsing X (formerly Twitter) without any issue. Even while playing COD: Mobile at high graphics settings, the device did not heat up, and it only got warm after almost one hour of continuous gaming.
All-day battery life
The Lava Blaze Curve with its 5,000 mAh battery can easily last for an entire day on most days, and the smartphone also supports 33W fast charging. During my testing, I witnessed that the device can offer over six hours of screen-on-time, and the device does get slightly warm while charging the smartphone, and you also get a charger in the box.
A premium-looking budget 5G phone
The Lava Blaze Curve is not just a good-looking budget 5G smartphone but is also a practical device with something for everyone. The notable features include its large battery, dual-stereo speakers, and a clean softer experience. If you can look past the mediocre cameras, the Lava Blaze Curve is a great device to consider at Rs 17,999.
