Lava Magnum X604 review – 6 inch screen with Broadcom quad core chipset

The Magnum X604 sports a 6 inch screen with HD resolution and is powered by Broadcom quad core processor clocked at 1.2GHz. This handset supports dual SIM (3G + 2G) and runs Android KitKat 4.4.2.

Inside the box: Handset, premium quality flip cover, screen guard, earphone, warranty card, user manual, travel charger with data cable and 2800 mAh battery.

Design and Display
The X604 is big and slim. It is 8.99 mm thick however it is not that light weight (204 grams). Build quality is very good and so is the finishing. The design is good but there some limitations. The handset is almost flat on the rear, the camera lens is mildly out. When you place the handset on a flat surface the speaker vents are blocked as a result the ring volume will be almost cut off.

Looks are great, the rear is brownish color with matte finish and the sides are brownish black with glossy finish. Power button is on the right. Volume rockers on the left, micro USB port at the bottom and 3.5mm audio jack on the top. There is single mic on the front bottom.

The IPS screen is 6 inches with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution (245 ppi). Touch is smooth, responsive and the dedicated navigation buttons do light up. Viewing angles are good. There are 3 sensors – accelerometer, proximity and light.

OS, Memory and Storage
This dual SIM handset runs on Android KitKat 4.4.2 with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage. In addition there is 32GB external card support. 854MB is space allocated for apps and 5.29GB is the phone storage. Of the 1GB RAM 503MB is available on the first boot. Apps can be installed on the external storage and OTG is also supported.

Performance
The Lava Magnum X604 houses a 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A7 Quad core processor from Broadcom coupled with VideoCore IV HW GPU. Unfortunately this hardware doesn’t really work well with the 6 inch HD screen. It does lag at times.

Benchmark scores

The FPS is too low and the effects are clearly visible when you play high end games.

Gaming and Entertainment
I installed the Asphalt 8 on the external storage. At first I tried at the highest visual level since, it is a quad core it should have worked, unfortunately there was too much lag, I tried in medium and then set it to a very low visual quality. In very low graphics mode the game was playable but not very smooth.

You can play FHD videos in H/W mode using MX player.

Others
This is dual SIM handset you need 2 normal SIM’s. Only one SIM supports 3G the other supports 2G. Sound is loud but as mentioned if you keep the handset on a flat surface it covers up the speaker vents and you will hardly hear any sound.

The flip cover is of a very good quality made of artificial leather. It gives a very premium look to the handset. 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth worked well.

Camera
There is 8MP rear camera, it is AF with LED flash support and a 2MP on the front. It can shoot videos in 1080p resolution at up to 27 fps. The camera quality is good, you can check the raw images at the end of this review.

Battery
The handset comes with removable 2800 mAh battery. This how the battery performed.

For moderate to heavy usage the expected battery backup is up to 5 hour. You can watch movies with full brightness, Wi-Fi on for almost 7 hours. If you are into gaming you can expect up to 4 hours of continuous usage.

Verdict
The handset is big, comfortable to hold, slim, got premium looks and the battery backup is pretty good. Unfortunately the handset lags; you can clearly feel it when playing games or using heavy applications.  The lava Magnum X604 phablet is priced at approx Rs. 11,500. Definitely not for gaming users. It would be better if you look for some other options.

Magnum X604 image gallery