Review Summary
Expert Rating
The Lava Bold N1 5G is the third smartphone in the company’s Bold N1 lineup, following the original Bold N1 and Bold N1 Pro. As the name would suggest, the new smartphone adds 5G capabilities, allowing first-time smartphone buyers or 3G/4G phone holders to experience high-speed internet browsing, downloads, and buffer-less streaming.
Despite the addition of 5G, Lava has managed to keep the price of the Bold N1 5G on the affordable side, starting at Rs 7,499. This makes it one of the most affordable smartphones with 5G support that works with all Indian telecom operators. Additionally, the phone gets an upgraded chipset over the Bold N1 (review), but does it deliver in everyday usage? Find out in this review.
Table of Contents
Short verdict
The Lava Bold N1 5G can be a wise purchase for those willing to experience 5G internet on a budget, while gaining reliable performance and clean software for basic and day-to-day tasks. The large display panel and impressive battery optimisation also add to the experience of using the phone for streaming content on mobile data. However, the cameras underperform compared to their 4G counterparts.
Sturdy frame, glossy rear
The Lava Bold N1 5G, like many smartphones in its class, features a plastic build. While we received the Champagne Gold colour shade for review, the phone also comes in a Royal Blue option. Both colour variants deploy a glossy back panel, which quickly attracts fingerprints and smudges upon picking up the phone and using it for several minutes.
Coming to the extras, the fingerprint scanner is integrated within the power button, and it served me well in unlocking the phone. A 3.5mm headphone jack sits at the bottom for enjoying audio through wired earphones. Speaking of audio, the earpiece doesn’t act as a secondary speaker. This is something I missed on Lava Bold N1 5G, after switching from the Infinix Smart 10 (review). The Lava smartphone also comes with an IP54 rating for protection against dust and water splashes.
A display with sufficient vibrancy
Coming to the visual experience, the Lava Bold N1 5G features a 6.75-inch HD+ LCD display, which offers a decent experience for the price. The display has a resolution of 720 x 1600 (HD+) pixels and a 90Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling the UI elements a tad smoother. I found the panel to have sufficient vibrancy and brightness when watching YouTube videos, while the details felt lacking, but that’s to be expected from a sub-Rs 8,000 phone.
Although the Lava Bold N1 5G offered a legible brightness experience indoors, I found myself cranking up the brightness slider outdoors to comfortably view the display’s content. That aside, the display flaunts a waterdrop notch to house the 5MP front camera, with the earpiece speaker right above it for attending phone calls. Although the sound doesn’t get that high, it produces sufficient levels of volume to hear the caller in a quiet environment clearly.
The thickness of the display bezels is alright for the price, but I personally feel the chin could’ve been narrowed down for a more immersive experience.
Performance that delivers
Under the hood, the Lava Bold N1 5G rocks an Unisoc T765 processor, paired with LPDDR4X RAM type and UFS 2.2 storage speeds. Our review unit featured 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage, while the handset also comes in a 4GB RAM + 128GB storage configuration.
Talking about the smartphone’s 5G capabilities, it works across Indian 5G networks, including Airtel, Jio, and Vi, provided 5G has rolled out in your location. To test how capable the 5G on Bold N1 5G is, I ran a 5G internet speed test through fast.com using a Jio SIM, and the phone conveniently offered 280Mbps download speeds. This was not only on par with higher-end phones but also surpassed them. For instance, the OnePlus 12 delivered 240Mbps at the same exact location using a Jio SIM. While speeds may generally vary every second or so when comparing with other devices, this gives an idea that the Lava Bold N1 5G can provide a high-speed 5G experience.
The raw performance of the Unisoc T765 is also impressive. In our AnTuTu and Geekbench multi-core tests, the Lava Bold N1 5G scored significantly higher than the Infinix Smart 10 and itel City 100, both of which carry the Unisoc T7250 chipset. Surprisingly, it even beats the Rs 9,999-priced Tecno Spark Go 5G in AnTuTu.
As for the day-to-day performance, the Lava Bold N1 5G can handle daily tasks, like opening and closing apps, watching YouTube videos, and surfing websites on Google Chrome just fine. When it comes to playing games, the Bold N1 5G can achieve a maximum of 40FPS (Ultra) in BGMI, while in CODM, it can go up to 60FPS (High) setting.
Clean software, but not modern
The performance on the Lava Bold N1 5G is aided by the clean and light stock Android software. The phone follows the footsteps of the previously launched Lava smartphones by keeping the software bereft of any bloatware or ads whatsoever. The software version is Android 15, and surprisingly, the handset is promised to receive two Android upgrades and three years of security updates.
Coming to the look and feel of the software, the Settings app strikingly resembles ColorOS 15 and appears different compared to previous launches from Lava. In terms of features, the Lava Bold N1 5G gets a collection of useful functionalities under the “Smart controls” section within the settings, which include Mobile Anti-theft Alarm for preventing strangers from unplugging the phone when on charge, Antifake touch mode that prevents the display from turning on, side application bar to access apps from any screen, and more. However, I do feel the UI could get a modern touch and refresh.
Cameras need improvement
Flipping the phone over to its back, you can find a 13MP main camera, an LED flashlight, an unnamed lens, and a large “5G” branding at the top left corner. The rear camera can capture workable shots for the price; however, I found the outputs from the Infinix Smart 10 to be better. The Lava Bold N1 5G struggles with exposure control in good lighting conditions, so I often found myself manually controlling the exposure by tapping on the viewfinder.
The pictures may appear fine at a glance, but as soon as you zoom in, the lack of details and softness is evident. The dynamic range isn’t great unless you manually adjust the focus and exposure, and on bright sunny days, lots of glare is visible in the images. Pictures clicked in low light or night scenarios are noisy, and the light sources in them are often overexposed.
I compared the phone’s cameras against the Infinix Smart 10, and here’s how it fared:
Daylight
As stated above, the Lava Bold N1 5G struggles with glare on sunny days, and the dynamic range is also not on point. Upon zooming in, both outputs lack details. In a nutshell, the Infinix Smart 10 produces a better image.
Portrait
In portrait mode, the Infinix Smart 10 delivers refined subject edges, and its image has a better sense of depth. It also retains realistic colours, whereas the Lava Bold N1 5G has added a blue hue due to the glare.
Selfie
In the selfie comparison, the Lava Bold N1 5G’s 5MP front camera output appears dull, whereas the Infinix Smart 10 has added a dash of warmth. The Infinix smartphone also separates the foreground from the background in the image.
Low light
In low light conditions, the Infinix Smart 10 clearly leads by having better exposure control of the light sources and contrast. However, both smartphones fall apart when it comes to details.
Top-notch battery endurance with slow charging
Just like its 4G counterpart, the Lava Bold N1 5G offers a respectable battery backup for daily usage. I was able to get over 3 hours of screen time over a period of five days, which indicates excellent idle endurance. In our PCMark battery lab test, the Bold N1 5G was able to last 12 hours and 3 minutes from 100 to 20 percent. These numbers are better than the Infinix Smart 10, which has the same 5,000mAh battery.
That said, charging the Lava Bold N1 5G can be a hassle, as it takes more than two hours for a full charge using the bundled 18W charging adapter.
Final verdict: Is the Lava Bold N1 5G worth buying?
The Lava Bold N1 5G is priced at Rs 7,499, just Rs 500 less than Lava’s own Shark 5G, which retails for Rs 7,999. The Ai+ Nova and Redmi 14C 5G, which are priced at Rs 7,499 and Rs 8,999, respectively, are the other budget 5G smartphones you can buy that are compatible with all networks in India.
Be that as it may, the Lava Bold N1 is the latest 5G smartphone with a two-year OS upgrade guarantee, a large display, and impressive daily performance for the price. Compared to its 4G Infinix Smart 10 counterpart, which offers relatively better cameras, the Lava smartphone delivers a clean software experience.
Editor’s rating: 7.7/10
Reasons to buy:
- Among the few smartphones to offer 5G support on all Indian networks. 5G speeds are consistent and on par with higher-priced smartphones.
- The software is free from bloatware and spammy notifications from first-party apps.
- The 5,000mAh battery can deliver great endurance in regular usage.
- Future-proof with support for two OS upgrades and three years of security updates.
Reasons not to buy:
- The Lava Bold N1 5G takes more than two hours for a full charge with its 18W charging support.
- The cameras are not up to the mark in daylight or night scenarios.
