Our readers don’t need the introduction of Gobol - the website who sells refurbrished, factory seconds electronics at a very low price. The USP of Gobol stands at the product range, pricing, discounts and quality of the products.
The latest smartphone, which we received from Gobol is Lava Iris 458q. This is the one of the cheapest quad core processor powered Android handset in India. The smartphone is a carton damaged item as listed on Gobol. If you have no idea what does it mean, just go through what Gobol explains it.
What does Carton Damaged means?
It simply means that the outer box of the item has been slightly damaged however the well protected electronic item inside is brand new. The cartons get damaged during shipment due to various reasons and are returned to the manufacturer for inspection and repackaging. Gobol sources such products directly from the manufacturer’s inventory and sells them at great prices with manufacturer warranty unless specified otherwise.
Why should I purchase a Carton Damaged product?
Carton damaged products are free from any structural or functional defects as only the outer box or carton of the product is damaged. These are brand new products inspected and packed again by the manufacturer before selling them to the market at significantly low price. Consumers who opt to buy these products at Gobol can avail huge discounts along with manufacturer warranty unless specified otherwise.
I should clear this to our readers that the smartphone is a brand new product, i.e. no one ever used it though its carton was damaged.
First Impression
The handset was delivered fast via Bluedart. The package was small yet perfect for travelling. The package contains the smartphone, battery, earphone, USB cable cum charger and warranty card.
The phone by looks is very impressive, easily fits on palm and quite lightweight. Like the new Android phones there is no physical key on the front, but lock and volume keys are there on both side. On the top there are ports for earphone and microUSB for charging and data transfers. On the back there is 8MP shooter with flash.
Key Features of Lava Iris 458q (Black)
- 4.5-inch 480 x 854p Capacitive Touchscreen
- 1.2 GHz Quad Core Processor, 512 MB RAM
- Android v4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS
- 8 MP Primary Camera, 0.3 MP Secondary Camera
- Dual Standby SIM (GSM + GSM)
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 720p HD Recording
- G-Sensor, Proximity Sensor
- Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB, 4GB internal
- 2000 mAh battery
Display
It has 4.5 inch IPS WVGA LCD display. The display offers sharp, crisp and vivid eyesight for the users.
Hardware
Lava packs MediaTek MT6589M SoC inside 458q. The SoC includes 1.2 GHz Quad Core Cortex A7 processor, 512 MB RAM, PowerVR SGX544MP GPU - clocked at 156 MHz. With a quad core processor Lava Iris 458q is a breast but 512 MB can be disappointing if your device is loaded with too many apps and they are running background.
In my general usage it never hangs.
Multimedia
The audio playback is good, with my jetAudio and Creative earphone. The bundled earphone is more than enough even for advanced users.
The video playback of 720p videos are super smooth with inbuilt MX Player. But 1080p videos are run with hiccups probably due to slower RAM and GPU clocked at lower specs.
The FM Radio works fine, and FM recording was good in quality.
Camera
The primary camera with 8MP sensor and flash works smooth, though while checking them on larger screen may disappoint you, But with simple edits can may them glow.
Like most other mobile phone cameras it has huge number of features. To get more check out different camera apps on Google Play Store. It supports GPS tagging.
The secondary camera at 0.3 MP is just enough for video calls.
Connectivity
458q has WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth v3.0, microUSB and 3.5 mm audio jack.
Performance
In my usage Lava Iris 458q performs pretty well. Check out the Antutu Benchmarking:
Interestingly 458q comes with almost vanilla Android version with few customizations, which make it faster.
Battery
Iris 458q is powered by massive 2000 mAh battery, which on my moderate usage serves nearly 1 day and 6-10 hours continuously. But with 3G data on the back up time goes down.
Price: New Lava Iris 458q is priced for Rs 7799 at Flipkart, while Gobol is selling carton damaged Iris 458q at Rs 6,059.
Bottomline:
Lava Iris 458q is one of my personal favorite due to its screensize and quad core processor but 512 MB RAM is an disappointment.
Pros
- Quad Core processor
- Elegant Display
- 8MP camera
- value for money
Cons
- 512 MB RAM
