Lava Z61 review: Budget smartphone with good camera, adequate performance

The Lava Z61 is a modern-day device designed for social media enthusiasts but lacks the overall dynamism

Home-grown smartphone manufacturer Lava, known for their affordable handsets, smartphones and tablets, has launched Z61, a budget phone with modern features at Rs 6,750. The phone has a 5.45-inch HD+ touchscreen display with 2.5D gorilla glass protection on top of it. It is stretched in 18:9 aspect ratio, which gives it a tall stance. The screen supports multi touch, but the touch response is weak and there is a noticeable lag that dampens multi-touch utility.

The Lava Z61 packs an 8-megapixel primary camera and a 5MP front shooter for selfies. The primary camera has f/2.0 aperture, 1.12 micron pixel size and spotlight flash. The front camera, on the other hand, has f/2.4 aperture, LED and screen flash. Both the rear and front cameras offer great output. The images clicked look sharp and the front flash adds up to the overall camera utility. For social media enthusiasts, the imaging in the Lava Z61 is complemented with features such as beautification filters, funny filters, night shooting, bokeh and microspur, which allows focusing on small details of an object. Beautification filters are also available in video mode.

The smartphone is powered by 1.5GHz quad-core processor and it comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, expandable up to 32GB using a microSD card. Due to low internal storage, the phone starts to hang when loaded with apps and data in internal storage. This is a dual-SIM phone, which boots Android Oreo 8.1 operating system. The phone packs sensors like ambient light, G sensor and proximity sensor. It comes in two colours-gold and black.

The Lava Z61 is powered by a 3,000mAh removable battery. With moderate use, the battery lasts for one and a half day, while with extensive use it would last for 12 hours. But the phone does heat up while charging and while using extensively. Overall, if you are looking for a budget phone with great camera then Lava Z61 is a considerable option. It’s a modern-day device designed for social media enthusiasts but lacks the overall dynamism.