Lava Agni 3 Makes Debut With Dimensity 7300X SoC, Dual Amoled Display And Action Key
- 6.78-inch 1.5K curved AMOLED display
- 5,000mAh battery
- 50MP Sony sensor
- 8MP 3X telephoto camera
- Android 14
Lava International has unveiled the Agni 3 smartphone, championing the Made in India, Made for India ideology. Executive Director Sunil Raina made it evident that the company takes immense pride in being an Indian brand. It was quite a surprise seeing an industry captain start his presentation in Hindi.
The Indian smartphone manufacturer raised the curtains off of its new flagship smartphone, Lava Agni 3 with segment-first features at an introductory price of Rs 19,999. The Agni 3 is launched in three variants, 8GB+128GB without charger, 8GB+128GB with charger and 8GB+256GB with charger. The phone is introduced in two colour variants – Heather Glass and Pristine Glass.
“AGNI 3 embodies the fiery spirit of innovation and excellence that defines the series. It's not just a smartphone; it's a testament to India's technological prowess and our commitment to providing quality products with unparalleled user experiences designed in India,” said Sumit Singh, Head-Product, Lava International.
The event also witnessed Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India explain to the audience why the new Dimensity 7300x chip mattered. “MediaTek Dimensity 7300X is a flagship-grade chipset designed with a best-in-class 4nm process node, enabling excellent performance and power efficiency with next-generation capabilities. MediaTek Dimensity 7300X has dual display support, upgraded photography prowess with the MediaTek Imagiq 950, featuring a premium-grade 12-bit HDR-ISP, along with accelerated gaming features facilitated by MediaTek HyperEngine optimisations,” Jain added.
The Agni 3 runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 7300x system on a chip which promises great performance. This is noteworthy especially because the phone costs under Rs 25,000. The chipset also comes with UFS 3.1 memory which is pretty standard given some of Lava's previous launches such as the Agni 2, Blaze Curve and Blaze X.
The phone felt good to hold and not even for a second did I feel that this phone carried a price tag of less than Rs 25,000. Lava really nailed the build quality and credit has to be given for that. Long-term usage will be to be seen, or course.
The 1.5K curved AMOLED 10-bit resolution display is an attention grabber. Deeper blacks and vibrant colours are to be expected. The 120Hz 7.78-inch curved AMOLED display supports HDR and Widevine L1. Add a peak brightness of 1,200 nits to the mix and you get a smartphone that offers a holistic modern-day display.
Things get interesting on the camera front. The Lava Agni 3 comes with a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS ( a 1 micron, 1/1.55-inch sensor), an 8MP sensor with an ultrawide lens (with a 112-degree field of view) and an 8MP sensor with a telephoto lens (3X optical zoom, 30x digital zoom).
On the front, the phone offers a 16MP camera that supports EIS.
One of the key features that differentiates the Agni 3 is the 'Instadisplay' which is a 1.74-inch AMOLED display located right beside the camera unit. This nifty little screen has a lot to offer. Users can now use a primary camera for selfies, the screen can be used to control music, operate the stopwatch, call management, manage notifications, setting alarms and timers.
The Agni 3 also comes with an Action key which is exactly what it sounds like. Similar to what Apple introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro lineup, the Action Key in the Agni 3 will allow users to customise the button to access any preferred app with the click of a single button.
In addition to the features mentioned above, the Agni 3 offers NavIC support, Bluetooth 5.4, Dolby Atmos, IP64-rated protection, drop protection till 1 meter, Android 14 out of the box, zero bloatware, Wifi 6E and last but not least, three years of OS updates and four years of security updates.
Lava has also opted to offer a variant without the charger that offers the phone sans the charging adapter at a lower cost.
The rather gimmicky Instadisplay did feel like a ploy to attract more customers at first, but I did come to realise its value upon using it at the display counters. However, I'm not sure how often users will actually use it.
The action button was the biggest hardware change in the iPhone lineup at the time when the iPhone 15 Pro lineup was revealed. Credit has to be given to Lava for trying to innovate smartphones in the mid-range segment as it tries to replicate the same feature in a sub-25k priced smartphone.
Another feature that stuck with me after the launch was the 3X telephoto zoom. For a phone that costs less than Rs 25,000, offering a 3x telephoto is a bold move by Lava. Quality would have to be checked, of course.
The Lava AGNI 3 will go on sale on Amazon from 9th October, 12 AM.
