The mid-range smartphone market has become quite stale and repetitive at this point. Oh yeah, my phone has the most powerful chip; my phone has water resistance; my phone has ultra-fast charging and the biggest battery. How about transparency, anyone? It’s become an ego-driven competition to attract buyers, and it’s become tiring. However, there’s a new smartphone in the Indian market that sure borrows from its peers but has that X-factor to become a bestseller with its exciting offering.
No, it’s not Samsung, Xiaomi, or Vivo; this smartphone comes from the Indian phone maker Lava and is called the Agni 3 (Sanskrit word for Fire). This smartphone just launched in India, and the specification-to-pricing ratio is mind-boggling.
Dual Displays at a Dirt Cheap Price
Yeah, the Lava Agni 3 flaunts a dual-screen setup. Foldables may come to mind when talking about dual screens. But, there was a time not too long ago when phones like the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra offered a secondary display, aka a viewfinder, alongside the rear camera module. However, at roughly $900, it was nowhere nearly as affordable as the Lava Agni 3, which starts at Rs 20,999 (around USD$250).
While there have been cheap phones like the Unihertz TickTock ($399), it’s still not as cheap as the Agni 3. Not to mention that the Unihertz TickTock carried a 1.3-inch TFT LCD panel. On the other hand, the newly launched Agni 3 offers a bigger 1.7-inch AMOLED secondary display. This is bigger than the Mi 11 Ultra’s 1.1-inch viewfinder by the way.
This secondary display supports animated widgets and lets the user interact with notifications and calls right from there. It also doubles down as a viewfinder when capturing selfies through the rear camera. Needless to say, the secondary panel packs a bunch of utilities, while at the same time, aiming to keep the user from getting too distracted. The Nothing Phone 2a (review) tries to achieve something similar with its Glyph lights.
Moreover, the Lava Agni 3 doesn’t hold back on the main display either, featuring a big 10-bit 6.7-inch 1.5K (2652 x 1220 pixels) AMOLED panel, backed by a 120Hz refresh rate. This is also a curved panel that has HDR and Widevine L1 support. For a great multimedia experience, Lava has also packed a dual-stereo speaker setup, tuned by Dolby Atmos, into the Agni 3.
Moreover, since you will be spending a lot of your time looking at this small display for updates and selfies, Lava has included a 5000mAh battery unit in its phone. There’s also 66W fast charging support, and the rest of the on-paper specifications look equally attractive.
Now, while this display setup is enough to make the Agni 3 stand out in a cluttered market, it’s not the only special thing about this mid-ranger.
An iPhone-Like Customizable Action Button
Well, it’s not just iPhones that have an Action button now. The HMD Skyline recently launched with an action button not too long ago, and now, the Lava Agni 3 is seen flaunting it. They’re calling it the Action Button too; 10 points for originality.
The action button supports short press, long press, and double press actions. You can use it to change your phone’s ringing modes, open an app, trigger voice recording, take screenshots, and more. This is the first smartphone in its price segment in India to offer a customizable button like this one; while OnePlus phones like Nord CE 4 (review) don’t even arrive with an alert slider.
Barely Has Any Other Compromises
The Lava Agni 3 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300X chipset, which delivers more than enough power for the price. For your reference, the Moto Razr 50 (first impressions), which is significantly costlier, uses the same processor.
The processor pairs it with up to 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. It’s good to see Lava not make any compromises here either, and use UFS 2.2c.
Additionally, you also get a decent camera module, which took me by surprise. There’s a primary 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS. The secondary sensor is an 8MP ultra-wide with the third sensor being an 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. At the front, there is a 16MP selfie shooter.
There are no compromises in terms of connectivity options either. There are 14 5G bands, WiFi 6E, and even support for India’s NavIC navigation system.
Usually, when there’s so much good going for a phone in the sub-$250 segment, I know there will be some design compromises. Doesn’t apply to the Lava Agni 3 though. The phone packs a glass back as well. Almost every other popular phone in this segment in India like the POCO X6 Pro, Nord CE 4, and Nothing Phone 2a has a plastic back. There’s the Motorola Edge 50 Neo that flaunts a vegan leather back, but we know how that starts scraping off after a year or so of usage.
On the software front, Lava Agni 3 claims to deliver a bloatware-free experience with Android 14 right out of the box. Lava also promises to offer 3 years of software updates and 4 years of security patches. The only compromise would probably be the software optimization, which was evident in the Lava Agni 2 in my hands-on time with it.
A Call for Mid-Rangers to Break the Mold
So, a dual-display setup, an action button, good on-paper cameras, a great processor for the price, and un-overlooked build quality for just around $250 have really piqued my interest. I can’t wait to get my hands on the new Agni 3 and use it extensively to see if it’s as good as it seems on paper.
Lava has taken the initiative to do something unique in the segment, and for that, I give them my cheers. If a smartphone stands out in a highly competitive market like India, imagine the kind of wonders that a phone like this can do on a global scale.
That being said, what do you think about the Lava Agni 3 and its competitive pricing? Let me know in the comments below!
Sagnik Das Gupta
