Android 
Today we are reviewing the Lava S12. What makes this device special is that it is Lava Mobiles’ first smartphone. Lava Mobiles’ has traditionally been a company that sells low end devices to the masses, differentiating on features like Dual SIM, Dual Memory Card Slot etc. They have taken a bold step and decided to build a lower-mid-range smartphone, the S12. Going for Android as the choice of Operating System was a logical one, but meant the market was already extremely crowded with tons of almost identical devices.
Though it runs 2.2 Froyo, Lava has overhauled the software and differentiated their phone from the lot by including a ’3D UI’. How well does this hold up and is it just a gimmick? Read on to find out!
Unboxing
The S12 has a sleek, attractive packaging. It is on the larger side thought, with more and more companies going for smalled, thinner packaging in an effort to be more eco-friendly. Here’s what you get out of the box:
The S12 has standard Android 2.2 offerings when it comes to multimedia.
The default Android Video Player is present with its uninspired UI and lack of support for .avi and .mkv. However, the popular freeware video player MPlayer installed and ran sucessfully. After downloading the necessary codecs, it was able to play standard 480p 350MB .AVI files relatively smoothly. However, anything 720p and above will naturally not play.
The S12 comes with popular SlideIt keyboard pre-installed. This is a skinnable keyboard with functionality similar to Swype: ie: one can drag their fingers over the letters to make a word.
We found typing in Portrait Mode to be too inaccurate to swipe and type, but it worked well in Landscape Mode. There is also the stock FroYo keyboard present.
Other Standard Features
The newest version of the Android Market is present.
The usual Android File Manager can be found. There is also a partially skinned Calculator present
Contacts and Messaging too are standard Android affairs.
Connecting the device to the PC lets you Sync Contacts or Calendar, or go into Mass Storage Mode.
Note that there is also USB Tethering and Wifi Hotspot support and they both work fine.
Web Browsing is the normal Android default browser. However, there is not flash support. This is understandable as it would choke up the device.
Games
We fired up Angry Birds Seasons, and the game chugged along. It wasn’t the best experience, but was borderline playable.
PreInstalled Software Range aka Why We Would Recommend This Device
The S12 comes with a range of preinstalled apps. Before you groan and try to find out how easily you can remove them, which you easily can btw, know that for once, the preinstalled 3rd part apps are actually useful and add to the experience!
Saavn – Free Easy-On-Bandwidth Music Streaming
An App called Saavn comes preinstalled. This lets you search for any Indian/Bollywood music and stream it for free on your device. It has support for playlists, so you can just select a bunch of songs and keep it running in the background.
We were impressed with the wide range of music they offered. Pretty much everything, even really old music, was found. You could also choose which quality you wanted, depending on whether you were on 2G, 3G or WiFi.
Zenga TV – Live and Prerecorded TV and Movie Streaming
Lava gives you a free One Year Subscription to a service called Zenga TV. This lets you stream a variety of TV Shows, News and Movies. It detects if you are on 2G, 3G or WiFi and adjusts quality accordingly. We tried a bunch of shows and they all worked.
Nimbuzz – Multi Platform IM
Nimbuzz hardly needs an introduction. It offers IM support for pretty much every service out there. This comes pre installed on the S12
ngpay – M-Commerce
Popular Indian M-Commerce service ngpay has an application pre installed. This is similar to Nokia’s Nokia Money.
Markets on Mobile by MoneyControl
This is an app that lets you keep track of the Indian financial and stock markets.
You can search for individual companies too, and see their performance and recent news about them. Definitely useful to have.
Lava Dealer/Service Center Locator
Need to talk to a Lava service center? There’s an app for that. You can locate any Lava Dealer in India, and get address and contact information straight from the app.
Times of India
The TOI Android App comes preinstalled.
Who This Device Is Targetted At
When we booted the S12 for the first time, it came straight to the Home Screen. It did not ask us to Sign In to our Google Account. This is unlike most other Android devices, where everything is Google Centric.
This is a smart move, because Lava has realized that a large part of their demographic will never use GMail, will never log into the Market and download Apps and Games, and will just use the phone out of the box. Moreover, a large number of their customers probably don’t even have Google Accounts. Until a ‘tech savvy’ nephew installs games for them, they use the phone the way it is.
If you look at the S12, you can play any Indian Music, stream almost any Indian TV Show and a wide range of Movies, keep up to date with News, transfer money via your mobile, chat on IM and find your phone’s dealer all out of the box from your device. In short it is nOOb proof!
Conclusion
In summary, the following adjectives can be given to the Lava S12:
Gorgeous, Well-Thought-Out, Sluggish-At-Times.
The software team behind the device did a great job and the 3rd Party App offerings are impressive. However, we wish they had added a better processor into the mix as it would greatly improve everything.
Yet, for the company’s first smartphone offering, a fine effort.
Is the device for you? Well, if you enjoy a lot of custom foolery, want to root your device, take it to the limit this probably is not the device for you. If you want a good looking, well built device and are on a budget, we would recommend the Lava S12.
The Lava S12 has an MRP of Rs. 9999, but can be bought in the Market for Rs. 8200. It comes in Black and Brown. Here’s a Flipkart link for the S12.
can this device support live wallpaper???
cant download angry birds on my lava s12 :( helppp
Nice to read a review for a low end device as every one now a days write only for S2 , galaxy nexus and Droid Razr. i may buy one like this for my father.
even i had the same problem. my phone throws your system not compatable (s12) i hv 2 GB memory card inside the phone. i tried but its not working out. the same case with the fruit ninza game. both are popular games for kids. pls help me out.
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