Lava bets on 3G enabled budget smartphones, launches Iris 356, Iris 402 for Rs. 4,499 and Rs. 5,499

With focus on tapping the growing budget smartphone market and increasing 3G penetration, Lava has launched two 3G enabled smartphones, the Iris 356 and Iris 402 with price tags of Rs. 4,499 and Rs. 5,499 respectively.   Earlier in February the company launched budget another smartphone Lava Iris 351 for Rs. 3,899. Like the older version the Iris 356 and Iris 402 are also dula-SIM phones. The Lava Iris 356 runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and has a 3.5-inch HVGA display with a resolution of 320x480 pixels. It is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It comes with 256MB RAM. The device sports a 1.3-megapixel rear camera with flash and a VGA front-facing camera. It supports microSD cards to expand storage up to 32GB. It has a 1500mAh battery which the company says gives up to 5 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time. The Lava Iris 356 has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE and 3G as connectivity options. Other features include LAVA Zone, Twitter, Facebook, Gtalk, Google Maps, Local, MX Player and YouTube. The Lava Iris 402 also runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and features a 4.0-inch WVGA display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. It is powered by 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 256MB RAM.  It comes with a 3-megapixel rear camera with flash accompanied by a VGA front-facing camera. It has 100MB user-available internal storage. It has expandable storage of up to 32GB with the help of a microSD card. The device comes with a 1500mAh battery which gives up to 4 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Edge, GPRS and 3G as connectivity options. Hari Om Rai, Co-Founder & Director, Lava International Ltd. said that these entry level 3G android smartphones will now fuel the aspirations of the evolving mobile user in India. He said that the Lava Iris 356 and Iris 402 are uniquely designed smartphones which lets a consumer enjoy the power of 3G by consuming online content.  As 3G-enabled handsets become affordable, mobile internet would be the next big thing in the country which would take penetration to the remote corners of the country. Lava is aiming to drive huge volumes with both models combined." Lava Iris 356 key specifications Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) 1.2 GHz dual-core processor 3.5-inch HVGA display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels 256 MB RAM Dual SIM with Dual Standby 1.3-megapixel rear camera with flash VGA front-facing camera 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS Expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD 1500mAh battery Lava Iris 402 key specifications Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) 1.2 GHz dual-core processor 4-inch WVGA display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels 256 MB RAM Dual SIM with Dual Standby 3-megapixel rear camera with flash VGA front-facing camera 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS Expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD 1500mAh battery