There was a time when mid-range smartphones had been thrilling, with Xiaomi and Realme countering one another with segment-first options. But sadly, issues have grow to be mundane since the pandemic, with repetitive launches, jacked-up costs, and kind of related specs. The Lava Agni 2 strives to vary that for good by providing a curved show, clear software program, and good efficiency at a pretty value. Having used it as my major telephone for the final two weeks and ongoing, here is the full evaluation of Lava Agni 2, together with its execs, cons, and my opinion on whether or not it’s best to give this “not-so-mainstream” model an opportunity with your cash. Read on.
Lava Agni 2 5G Full Review
The Lava Agni 2 is available in a single variant with 8GB/256GB RAM and ROM configuration and Viridian shade. Initially out there at Rs. 19,999 after the financial institution low cost, the Agni 2 is presently being bought at Rs. 21,999 by way of Amazon. Read through our full evaluation to see if it is value spending the cash on and if it is actually the greatest smartphone, round 20,000.
Box Contents
The Lava Agni 2 supplies all necessities inside the field, together with a quick charger and an audio jack dongle. Here’s every thing you get inside the retail packaging:
- Lava Agni 2
- A comfortable, clear TPU case
- 66W PD Fast Charger
- A USB Type-C to Type-C Cable
- USB-C to three.5mm Audio Jack Converter
- Sim Ejector Tool
- Pamphlets and User Manual
Lava Agni 2: Design and Build
The Lava Agni 2 boasts a dual-curve design that appears and feels premium. It is available in a single “Viridian” shade choice, which appears extra like emerald inexperienced. While the body is polycarbonate, the again is manufactured from glass and has a matte end which works effectively in hiding smudges and fingerprints.
The telephone has a placing resemblance to the OnePlus 11R (evaluation), which has a polycarbonate body with the same profile and in-hand really feel. The 202-gram weight is distributed evenly and doesn’t trigger any discomfort or pressure throughout prolonged use.
Barring that, the Agni 2’s big digicam module at the again will be very polarising- some could prefer it, whereas some could outrightly hate the design. Whatever the case, it does entice fairly a number of eyeballs.
The entrance provides a flagship-grade look with a curved display and a centered punch-hole digicam. The bezels are extraordinarily skinny on the sides and also you get display property for media consumption. The telephone does not appear to be a typical Lava by any means, and the model has carried out an excellent job on the design.
Coming to the placements, the quantity rockers and energy buttons are on the proper. There’s nothing on the left edge. The backside homes a twin SIM slot, a major microphone, a USB Type-C 2.o port, and a single speaker, whereas the high will get a secondary mic. The telephone lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot.
In phrases of sturdiness, the entrance is protected by Schott Xensation glass. The display did not come with a pre-applied display protector however fortunately, I have never seen any scratches up to now. The oleophobic coating is nice and retains on a regular basis smudges away.
The Lava Agni 2 feels premium and durable in the fingers. And whereas it comes with a transparent case inside the field, that is one telephone I used to be comfy utilizing bare for the most half. Overall, it’s simply one among the best-built telephones beneath Rs. 20,000.
Lava Agni 2: Display
Update (15 June, 2023): Lava has rolled out an OTA fixing the computerized brightness problem alongside the bug with fingerprint scanner brightnening the full show on lock display.
Update (25 June, 2023): Another OTA has mounted the sudden enhance in show brightness when utilizing fingerprint app lock. It nonetheless occurs however the brightness leap is lesser than earlier. The replace additionally appears to have mounted the palm or false contact rejection.
The Lava Agni 2 has a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED show with a Full-HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) decision and 120Hz refresh charge. It has a side ratio of 20:9 and a pixel density of 388ppi.
The panel has an computerized peak brightness of 950 nits beneath daylight and a typical most brightness of 500 nits. It additional helps 10-bit colours, Widevine L1, HDR, and 105% NTSC/ 109.28% DCI-P3 shade gamut.
The Agni 2’s display is sort of legible for on a regular basis use. The textual content appears sharp and the contents are simply seen even in shiny daylight. It is vibrant however can also look oversaturated in a number of situations. You can change between Vivid and Natural profiles however they each look too colourful in my view.
You can lock the show at 60Hz, or 120Hz, or set it to Dynamic. The latter actively displays when you’re touching or scrolling on the display. In case of inactivity, it switches all the way down to 60Hz however as quickly as you contact the show, it’s pumped again to 90 or 120Hz (supplied the app helps it). This means the telephone is ready to save battery with out compromising on the total smoothness.
The Lava Agni 2 has an computerized brightness sensor- initially, it did not appear to be calibrated effectively. There had been sudden brightness shifts and it lacked consistency- the display both appeared too dim or too darkish at occasions. I needed to disable the auto brightness because it was too laborious to stay with it. The problem is now mounted with a software program replace.
The in-display fingerprint scanner works effectively and unlocks the telephone shortly. However, it brightens up the complete show, which will be annoying when in the darkish. Also, this brightening up doesn’t work in “extra dim” mode, and so does the fingerprint scanner. The replace has resolved the display brightening for the fingerprint scanner on the lock display, however it nonetheless stays for the app lock.
I additionally fastidiously inspected the show for any anomalies. Some could really feel there’s display bleeding alongside the edges of the curved show, however it’s mere refraction that’s current on nearly all curve show telephones, albeit barely extra pronounced on the Agni 2. However, I did discover slight shade banding points, particularly when watching dark-colored content material as found by Mr. Techpedia on YouTube.
There had been no tinting points, however I did discover graininess with a inexperienced tinge whenever you push the show to the decrease brightness ranges with additional dim mode and open a darkish or gray background. However, it’s a tiny problem and doesn’t have an effect on your expertise until you forcefully attempt to imitate the drawback in a darkish surroundings.
Lava Agni 2 in Extra Dim Mode
Lava additionally must implement palm rejection correctly as the contact doesn’t work correctly when your palm is touching the curve areas of the display. I seen it when utilizing the digicam in panorama mode- the shutter button doesn’t work usually, and you find yourself lacking the second.
Overall, the show is sharp, shiny, and appears nice. Only minor software program points like the display brightening with the fingerprint scanner in the app lock and inferior palm rejection are holding again the expertise. But I’m positive these shall be shredded off in the subsequent few updates.
Lava Agni 2: Performance Review
The Lava Agni 2 will get powered by the new MediaTek Demensity 7050 processor which is a rebrand of the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 we’ve seen on Realme 10 Pro Plus, Redmi Note 12 Pro, and Galaxy A54.
It is a 6nm-based octa-core processor paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. As evident, the telephone is available in a single RAM and ROM mixture.
The Agni 2 appears correctly optimized and delivers good on a regular basis efficiency with none lag or stutter. Animations are clean and apps open shortly. The RAM administration is ok too and apps keep in the reminiscence for a very long time.
The succesful processor alongside with the 120Hz show collectively ship a buttery clean efficiency with none heating. And regardless of coming from a flagship telephone, I had no points with the Lava Agni 2.
Gaming and Throttling Test
The Dimensity 7050 shouldn’t be a gaming processor however nonetheless can run all main video games with ease. PUBG New State ran at 90fps whereas Call of Duty Mobile ran effectively at clean graphics with max body charge and excessive graphics with very excessive body charge.
I additionally performed the Genshin Impact, which is the heaviest of the lot, and ran high-quality at low settings. Increasing the graphics or body charge resulted in body drops and uneven expertise, which is comprehensible contemplating the mid-range chipset.
Worth mentioning, there is a Game Booster mode onboard that provides you accelerated efficiency, a recreation sidebar, and display customization whereas gaming. It may also optimize total gameplay by limiting background duties and blocking undesirable interactions whereas gaming.
The telephone has Vapor Chamber Cooling and solely received a bit of heat throughout prolonged gaming classes. I did not discover any overheating besides throughout the telephone’s preliminary setup.
I additionally performed a 15-minute thermal throttling take a look at which stays in the inexperienced zone, indicating the telephone manages warmth effectively and doesn’t throttle simply. You can test the graph above.
AnTuTu, GeekBench, and A1SDBench Benchmark Test
On AnTuTu v9, the Lava Agni 2 scored 5,35,800 factors. Whereas, Geekbench 6 gave a single-core rating of 994 and a multi-core rating of 2351 factors. In storage checks, we received sequential learn and write speeds of 698MB/s and 245MB/s respectively. Whereas, the RAM take a look at yielded 8125MB/s as proven in the take a look at above.
Lava Agni 2: Software and Updates
The Lava Agni 2 comes with clear Android 13 (no adverts + no bloatware) which may be very respectful contemplating most telephones in the section are bloated with third-party apps and adverts. The telephone provides a stock-like expertise, apart from the Settings app which provides packs some additional options we’ll talk about under.
Lava is utilizing its own residence display launcher known as “Quickstep” which is a letdown in my view. While it enables you to customise the app icon and title, you can’t change the grid dimension, icon form, and even the icon dimension. For the identical cause, I had to make use of a third-party launcher as my default.
Coming to the extras, the Agni 2 comes with all the important options one would need. You can customise the always-on show display and use edge lighting for notifications. You may also select between totally different lock screens, fingerprint animations, and charging animation kinds.
Other options embody App Lock, WhatsApp app clone, and Smart contact, adopted by DuraSpeed which boosts foreground apps by limiting background gadgets (I disabled it inside the first few days). The newest replace provides a further dialer to document calls with out warning which will be helpful at occasions.
There’s additionally a singular Background Stream characteristic in the fast settings tile that allows you to play YouTube movies in the background with out premium. And since it is a curved panel, Lava has added a facet software bar that you could toggle from any display to shortly entry your favourite apps.
The telephone, at the time of writing, is operating Android 13 with May 2023 safety patch. Lava has promised to offer Android 14 and Android 15 alongside 3 years of safety updates for the system. However, it will be fascinating to see the timing of those updates.
The software program is clear, has no adverts, no bloatware apps, and is certain to get sufficient updates. Regardless, Lava must squash out the bugs which we count on to be carried out in 2-3 months.
Lava Agni 2: Camera Review
Lava Agni 2 has a quad-camera setup at the rear. This consists of the major 50-megapixel shooter with a 1µm pixel dimension, accompanied by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, a 2-megapixel macro, and one other 2-megapixel depth digicam. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel digicam upfront.
The major 50-megapixel digicam makes use of pixel binning to click on 12.5MP photos by default. Daylight photographs are shiny and have ample element. The dynamic vary may very well be higher in some situations however I’m tremendous completely happy with the outputs in good lighting.
I seen that the topic will be blurry at occasions and you will have to click on the image once more. This has in all probability one thing to do with the focusing algorithm and must be mounted by way of an OTA.
As the night time hits, the digicam begins to battle and you may see grains creeping into the image for apparent causes. There is a Night Mode onboard however it does not assist a lot. Yet, the photographs are satisfactory and can be utilized.
The ultra-wide angle digicam is low decision and therefore is strictly meant for taking pictures outdoor the place you may get an honest image. Moving indoors or in low gentle deteriorates particulars and provides noise and grains. The dynamic vary is subpar too.
Portraits look nice on this telephone with correct edge detection and pure background blur. However, the macro digicam is kind of ineffective with negligible particulars and muddy colours. Lava has given AI mode in the Camera app however it normally finally ends up oversaturating the photographs.
The Selfie digicam is nice and takes social-media-ready photos in good gentle. Even the portrait mode works nice with good edge detection. However, the HDR wants work and it usually blows out the highlights in backgrounds. Plus, there’s important noise in low-light selfies.
The telephone can document 2-4K movies as much as 30fps and FHD movies at 60fps. EIS (or digital picture stabilization) doesn’t work at 4K, and the video is sort of shaky when strolling. Switching to 2K makes issues a bit of higher whereas recording at 1080p at 60fps, and EIS is what offers the greatest end result.
Anyways, movies usually are not a prowess of the system, and it exhibits. Also, it is value mentioning that you just can’t use the ultra-wide angle to document movies that are fairly disappointing. I additionally really feel that the digicam UI and switching between zoom ranges want extra work.
Note: The digicam samples above have been compressed to scale back dimension. You can test full-quality photographs on Google Drive right here.
Lava Agni 2: Speakers, Haptics
The Lava Agni 2 has a bottom-firing single speaker, which is loud sufficient and sounds first rate. However, I might have preferred a stereo speaker setup as the audio will get muffled if the backside is roofed. There’s no audio jack, however you need to use the given adapter, which supplies good output with headphones.
The Widevine L1 assist means that you can play HD content material on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Hotstar, and different streaming providers. The telephone additionally will get HDR playback, however it solely works on YouTube and never on Netflix.
The telephone has fairly good haptic suggestions. The vibration is crisp and does not really feel spongy. Plus, you possibly can customise the interactive haptic energy in the settings. However, it makes a small suggestions noise whereas typing, which can’t be turned off, and is annoying throughout the night time until you disable full haptics.
Lava Agni 2: Connectivity, Network, and Call Quality
Lava Agni 5 comes with 5G mobile connectivity and has a complete of 13 bands, together with 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66, 77, and 78 SA/NSA. It is accompanied by 4G, VoLTE, VoNR, Wifi Calling, Bluetooth 5.2, and Wifi 6802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax.
The telephone additionally packs in GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, QZSS, and Galileo for navigation. I didn’t face any community points on the system, and each Wifi and cell knowledge labored effectively indoors. The name high quality was nice too, and there are not any points in listening to the different occasion and vice versa.
Sensors like Accelerometer, Proximity, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, and Ambient Light are current onboard. The telephone doesn’t have NFC.
Lava Agni 2: Battery Life and Charging Speed
The Agni 2 equips a 4,700mAh li-polymer battery. On a full cost, the telephone lasted us a full day of use with about 4-5 hours of display time. Usage concerned YouTube, social media, and little calling on Wifi for the majority of the time.
Surprisingly, on solely 5G, we managed to get about 6 hours of display time with 17 hours of idle time. Usage concerned internet searching, YouTube, and little gaming. All-inclusive, you possibly can simply count on a day’s value of battery life from this telephone.
Agni 2 helps 66W PD charging, and the model ships a made-in-India 66W quick charger inside the field which expenses the telephone in about 50 minutes. You may also use the charger to cost different telephones and gadgets that assist PD charging, together with MacBook, iPad, and that iPhone.
While I did not face any main points with battery life or charging, there was one occasion the place PD charging merely did not work. Thankfully, it hasn’t occurred once more, and Lava has mounted the drawback with the newest replace.
Warranty, Repairs, and Service Center Availability
The Agni 2 comes with 1 yr of guarantee. And apparently, Lava can be giving a free 1-year substitute guarantee beneath the Agni Mitra program. If you face any {hardware} defects with the telephone inside the first yr of buy, the firm will ship engineers to the doorstep to test and exchange the telephone with a model new unit if eligible.
As for service heart availability, Lava presently operates over 700 licensed service facilities throughout India with a presence in nearly all states and main cities. You can test the full record on their official web site. All in all, there isn’t any problem with the service heart and restore availability for Lava smartphones.
Lava Agni 2: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Premium design
- Curved 120Hz AMOLED show
- Good major digicam and portrait
- Fast charging (charger inside the field)
- Clean Android software program
Cons
- Software bugs
- Below-average macro digicam
- Single speaker
- No NFC
Lava Agni 2 Review Verdict: Is it Worth Your Money?
For a value of Rs. 21,999, the Lava Agni 2 offers you an upmarket really feel in varied points. You get a premium design, stable in-hand really feel, and a curved AMOLED panel with out compromising on battery and charging. The clear Android additional provides icing on the cake.
However, that does not imply there are not any cons. There are bugs affecting on a regular basis utilization, the secondary cameras aren’t that nice, and the telephone has a single speaker. But once more, we can’t name out Lava for that contemplating it is their first telephone in the section and it is fairly near excellent.
If you are wanting ahead to purchasing a mid-range smartphone for round Rs. 20,000, the Agni 2 is a superb purchase supplied you possibly can look ahead to the software program bugs to be squashed out. This is one system that I’ve personally advisable and bought for my pals. And it is a no brainer in case you are conscious of the cons and their influence in your utilization.
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