The lava Iris 455 comes powered by the same chipset that powered the Lava Iris 501 handset. The 455 sports a smaller 4.5 inch screen with dual core processor and a 5MP rear auto focus camera. The handset is priced at Rs. 7,299.
Iris 455 Box Pack
Inside the box there is the lava 455 handset with an additional free cover. You get a black and a silver back cover. In addition there is a screen guard, data cable, power adapter, battery of 1500 mAh capacity, earphone and user manual.
Design and Display
The handset is light weight at 120 grams with 9.9 mm thickness. After using a 5 inch handset you will really start liking it especially if you were not comfortable with a 5 inch screen. The finishing is very good and the silver line on the sides gives it a premium look. You can switch the rear cover to black or sliver and both blend well.
There are 3 backlit buttons on the front side. The backlit buttons are better visible in the dark. When you plugin the charger the middle backlit button LED turns red (see image) and when the charging is over 90% to 100% it will turn green. Unfortunately the LED does not light up for notifications.
All the buttons (power / volume rockers) are on the left side. The micro USB and the 3.5 mm jack are placed on the top side. The handset comes with G-Sensor, light, proximity and magnetic sensors. Though, the box pack does not mention anything about the magnetic sensor.
The capacitive touchscreen display is 4.5 inches with qHD resolution (960×540 pixel ~ 244.77 ppi) resolution. The viewing angle is okay, and the font/ picture quality is pretty sharp. The touch is smooth and I did not find any issues.
Processor and Benchmark
Lava Iris 455 is a dual SIM, dual core handset with the MTK6577 chipset with PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. The same hardware as on the Micromax A110, Xolo A700, Xolo B700, Xolo A800 and Lava Iris 501 to name a few.
Benchmark scores
- Quadrant Benchmark: 2694.
- Antutu Benchmark: 5987.
- Nenamark2: 24.0 fps.
- Linpack : Single 39, Multi 63.
- Multi Touch: 5 point.
RAM, Storage and OS
The handset comes with 512MB RAM and 4GB storage with micro SD card slot (32GB support). The free RAM is 190MB and 786MB is allocated for app of which 701MB is free and 1.77 GB free as internal phone storage. The handset runs on the Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 OS. You can install apps on the external SD card.
5MP Camera and Entertainment
The still camera output is good. It can record videos in 720p at under 20fps. This may seem low but hold on. First of all I missed out another option i.e. in video mode there is the fine option that can record 720p videos and another HD option that can record in 1080p resolution. There is an option in setting -> battery – CPU Power saving mode. Now if you switch that on you will get a very low frame rate when recording videos, but if you switch that off you can get up to 30 fps. So in all the camera can record 720p at 30 fps and 1080p at around 15fps. However the camera quality is not very good. I feel the camera quality is better on Celkon A200 and slightly better than on the Xolo A700.
You can check the sample images and videos at the end of the article.
The handset can play 720p videos with ease. I did try playing 1080p videos that did work for few seconds but then started lagging. Full HD playback is not that smooth.
Others
There is 3G (HSDPA 7.2Mbps), 2G (class 12), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3, GPS with A-GPS, 3.5mm jack and micro USB. All worked pretty well. The sound (loudspeaker / in call) is loud and clear. I got the first GPS lock in less than 10 seconds.
Battery
The 1500 mAh battery gives talktime of up to 6 to 8 hours depending on 2G or 3G network. There is a CPU power saving mode in battery settings that will limit the CPU usage to conserve battery life and also lower the temperature.
I charged the handset to full 100% day 1 @10:10 PM and the next day at 9:30PM then battery level was at 15 % asking for to connect to charger. At all the time 3G was on, had received 4 calls of less than a minute watched some videos, used the camera, surfed, chat, used whatsapps etc. For moderate usage the battery will last for over 19 hours.
Lava Iris 455 review
A light weight 4.5 inch dual core handset with Jelly Bean OS for a price of approx Rs. 7299. The performance is good. The price is too close to the Xolo A700 model that too comes with similar specifications.
Those looking for a smaller sized handset (less than 5 inch), this is a good option but there are other handsets in the same price range, some with better looks and a slightly better camera. The key advantage with the 455 model is the Jelly Bean OS.
Image Gallery
Sample images
Lava Iris 455 unboxing and review video
Sample 720p video shot using the Iris 455 camera
MC3(Modern combat 3) and Temple run 2 games on Iris 455