Lava Iris 504Q+ with 10-megapixel rear camera launched at Rs. 13,990

Lava has expanded its Iris smartphone family and introduced the successor to the Iris 504Q, called the 504Q+ at Rs. 13,990.

The domestic handset maker has announced that the Lava Iris 504Q+ follows its predecessor and features gesture controls. The gesture motion feature on the Lava Iris 504Q+ allows users to interact with the phone with just a swipe of the hand in the air for clicking pictures using the voice command feature, changing tracks on the music player and video player, switching between screens, tuning FM channels and browsing entertainment gallery on the smartphone.

The company notes that the Iris 504Q+ comes with a free bundled flip cover in the box. Perhaps the highlight of the device is a 10-megapixel autofocus rear camera, which features an Exmor R sensor with sensor size of 1/3.2 inch and 5P lens module, along with a 1.4 micron pixel size. It also packs a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Lava Iris 504Q+ is a dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) device with dual standby. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box. It comes with a 5-inch (720x1280 pixels) HD IPS OGS (One Glass Solution) display and offers a pixel density of 294ppi.

Much like the Iris 504Q, the Iris 504Q+ is also powered by a quad-core processor (unspecified chipset) though it clocks at a higher speed of 1.3GHz alongside Mali 400 MP2 and 1GB of RAM. The Iris 504Q+ comes with 8GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 32GB via microSD.

(Also see: Lava Iris 504Q+ vs. Lava Iris 504Q)

On the connectivity front, the Iris 504Q+ includes 3G, Wi-Fi, Micro-USB, and Bluetooth options. It packs a 2000mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 732 hours of standby time, with no word on talk time. The Iris 504Q+ smartphone comes with dimensions 146.7x72.5x7.9mm and weighs 149 grams. It will be available in Grey and Silver colours.

Commenting on the launch Hari Om Rai, Chairman and Managing Director, Lava International Ltd, said, "Iris 504Q+ was developed with an insight based understanding that we got from our consumers after the launch of our popular smartphone Iris 504Q mid last year. We have enhanced the highly popular gesture motion functionality of Iris 504Q by bringing in advanced voice and command control apart from major upgrades in internal memory and camera. Bringing one of the most popular mobile messaging services BBM on our smartphones is yet another effort to expand the ambit of messaging services for our consumers to connect and communicate seamlessly with their loved ones."

Lava Iris 504Q+

• KEY SPECS

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

1.3GHz

Front Camera

2-megapixel

Resolution

720x1280 pixels

RAM

1GB

OS

Android 4.2

Storage

8GB

Rear Camera

10-megapixel

Battery capacity

2000mAh

Karbonn, Lava to launch Windows Phone smartphones in few months

Domestic handset players Lava and Karbonn will launch Windows-based smartphones in the coming few months.

Karbonn's Windows phones will be in the price range of Rs 6,000-12,000. Lava's price starts with Rs 6,500.

"We will come out with four devices with Windows-based operating system by the end of May or starting of June in the price range of 6,000-12,000," Karbonn Managing Director Pradeep Jain told PTI.

Lava International CEO and MD Hari Om Rai said: "A series of Windows-based phones will be launched under the Lava brand by July. These will be priced in the range of Rs 6,500-8,500."

He said the phones will be based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and will feature Windows 8 platform.

"We expect the Windows-based phones to represent 8-10 per cent volume of Lava smartphones starting July-August time- frame," Rai added.

For Xolo brand of phones, the expected timeline of launch is the coming quarter.

"We at XOLO believe that Windows OS has certain goodness to offer for a certain market segment and it will help XOLO reach a desired 15 per cent share of the smartphone market by end of 2014," a Xolo spokesperson said.

Last month, at the Mobile World Congress Microsoft had announced that it would be working with nine new Windows phone partners, including Foxconn, Gionee, JSR, Karbonn, Lava (Xolo), Lenovo, LG, Longcheer and ZTE.

HTC, Huawei, Nokia and Samsung are already making Windows-based devices.

As per the IDC figures of the last quarter of 2013, Android had a 78.1 per cent share of global smartphone shipments while the Microsoft Windows Phone platform share stood at 3 per cent