Lava Virat Curve review: stands out in more than one way

At a time when most smartphone manufacturers are cutting or limiting key features like cameras and displays to offset high memory procurement costs, Lava takes a different route with the Virat Curve. As the only smartphone in its price class to offer a curved AMOLED display, the Virat Curve is a bold move by the company to bring premium features to the mid-range segment. The handset also offers clean software, a capable processor, and a stylish design.

But how well do all these aspects combine to offer a well-rounded smartphone experience? Find out in this Lava Virat Curve review.

Verdict

The Lava Virat Curve takes a different route from the company’s previous releases by moving into the upper mid-range segment. The handset delivers a vivid curved AMOLED display, a sleek build, extremely clean software, and adequate raw performance for daily use. Its downsides include a dated UI with inconsistent design elements and cameras that do not quite match its rivals.

Design: one of a kind

The Lava Virat Curve takes a different design direction from Lava’s recent releases. Instead of flat edges, the handset sports a sleek midframe and curved display. Weighing just 184g and measuring 73.5mm wide, the Virat Curve is one of the lightest and narrowest phones released this year in the Rs 25,000 segment. As a result, the phone is light to hold, pocket, and carry around.

As for the front and rear appearance, sans the camera module, the Virat Curve instantly reminded me of the Moto Edge 50 Fusion from two years back, given the similar corner curvature, vegan leather back, and bezels.

The leather rear panel hasn’t picked up any scuffs or scratches during my use, even after rigorously putting it in and out of pockets and a backpack without the provided transparent TPU cover. While its battery capacity (6,000mAh) may not be as high as that of its rivals, the upside is a slim, burdenless design that doesn’t cause discomfort no matter how long you hold the phone.

Noteworthy design additions include a top-firing speaker in the earpiece, which, combined with the bottom-firing speaker, delivers sufficiently loud audio, though it has a slightly shrill sound. The handset also includes an IR blaster for controlling home appliances, while an IP64 rating and MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification protect the phone from accidental water exposure and drops on hard surfaces.

Display: vivid tones, great clarity

As its name suggests, the Lava Virat Curve features a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with curved side edges. This panel supports touch refresh rates of up to 120Hz, with 800 nits of brightness and a peak of 1,100 nits. Given the panel technology, the Virat Curve offers a vibrant visual experience, making watching YouTube content joyful. Throughout my use, I set the colour mode to ‘Vivid’, and the media and social media posts were quite colourful.

The 1080p panel delivers sufficient sharpness for daily use, and the screen is bright enough to read content outdoors as long as the app uses a light theme. Indoors, keeping the brightness level at 70 to 80 percent gets the job done. While the entire system runs at 120Hz once you set the refresh rate to “120Hz” in the display settings, I found that the phone randomly drops the refresh rate to 60Hz or so after unlocking it. Fortunately, locking and unlocking it solves the problem. Hopefully, a permanent fix through an OTA update is rolled out in the future.

Mini Screen

What sets the Lava Virat Curve apart from others in its segment is the addition of a “Mini Screen” on the rear. This LED display lights up to showcase the phone’s battery level, time, volume level, and even custom text and emojis. While this is a great cosmetic feature, I didn’t use it much beyond displaying custom text.

Software and performance: UI requires polish

The Lava Virat Curve ships with Android 16 out of the box, with the company’s custom skin layered on top. It’s promised two major OS upgrades and three years of security patches, which may seem low given that the Infinix Hot 70 Pro (review) and POCO M8x (review) within the segment offer three and four major upgrades, respectively.

As for the software experience, much like Lava’s previous releases, the UI combines stock Android aesthetics with the company’s own features. You can even choose between a combined and split quick settings panel.

Under the ‘Special function’ section, you’ll find plenty of features, including Flip to silent, App clone, Double-click headset to capture a picture, AI Sidebar, Three-finger screenshot, Call recording, and more. On the AI front, it includes Google’s Circle to Search, AI Voice Translation in chat apps, and Vayu AI to answer queries like ChatGPT or Gemini. While the UI design is workable for the most part, some elements could use a modern touch, such as the stock Phone app and Settings’ About phone page.

At the Lava Virat Curve launch event, the company announced the “Neo UI”, which should arrive on the phone in Q4 2026, followed by the Agni series. The new interface is expected to possess a revamped lock screen and app drawer, along with some glass touches on the quick settings panel and camera UI. So, hopefully, things will be improved for good going forward.

At the core of the Virat Curve is the MediaTek Dimensity 7100, the same chipset found in the rival Infinix Hot 70 Pro. In our testing, the Virat Curve achieved marginally higher AnTuTu scores than the Hot 70 Pro, while the Geekbench scores were identical. When playing CODM on ‘Very high’ graphics and ‘Max’ frame rates, the phone delivered up to 60 FPS during a 30-minute gameplay session, while Clash Royale ran at 120FPS throughout three to four consecutive matches. For day-to-day tasks, the processor keeps up with fluid performance.

Battery and charging: a day’s worth of endurance

The Lava Virat Curve boasts a 6,000mAh battery, plus 45W fast charging via an adapter included in the box. In our PCMark Battery Drain test, which simulates real-world tasks such as web browsing, watching and editing videos, scrolling through documents, and more, the Virat Curve was able to run for 12 hours and 13 minutes from 100 to 20 percent, which can be considered a respectable score since the Infinix Hot 70 Pro with the same 6,000mAh battery lasted 13 hours and 5 minutes in the same test, which is just marginally better.

Coming to charging, the Lava Virat Curve topped up decently quickly in our tests, taking 77 minutes to go from 20 to 100 percent. Subsequently, 30 minutes of charging should bring the phone to over 50 percent, which should provide enough battery life for a working day.

Camera: trails behind the competition

The Lava Virat Curve features a 50MP Sony IMX752 primary camera with EIS support, plus a 13MP selfie shooter. Both lenses can record video at up to 2K resolution, with frame rates maxing out at 30. Some of the key camera modes within the app include Night mode, Beauty, Panorama, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, 50MP mode, Pro-Mode, Pro Video, Dual View Video, and Film Mode.

Now, coming to how the cameras actually perform, the Lava Virat Curve outputs neutral colour tones with a bit of oversharpening across lighting conditions. Also, contrast levels in bright daylight shots can be off. In low-light conditions, the lack of OIS can make images blurry, but the results are still usable because the scene and subject colours are retained. Overall, with a bit of editing, Virat Curve’s images can be improved to make them social media-sharing-worthy.

To assess how the cameras fare against the competition, I compared the results of the Lava Virat Curve with those of the Infinix Hot 70 Pro:

Daylight

While the sunlight is quite harsh, the Lava Virat Curve fails to control highlights as well as the Infinix Hot 70 Pro, resulting in a hazy effect, especially on the left side of the image. Zooming in also shows that the Hot 70 Pro’s image is slightly more detailed, while retaining the scene’s actual colours.

Portrait

In portrait mode, the Infinix smartphone captures more detail throughout the image and does a slightly better job at edge detection. The Lava photo keeps the subject adequately sharp, though skin and fabric textures appear slightly softer. Its edge separation is respectable, but it trims stray hair along the edges. Furthermore, the added warmth in Infinix’s image makes it livelier, while Lava’s output blows out the highlights in the foreground and background.

Selfies

Just like in portrait mode, the highlights on Lava’s image aren’t on point, making the subject and background look whitish. The Hot 70 Pro does a better job here, adding a hint of vibrancy to the T-shirt and face while delivering sharper details. Though the Virat Curve has the advantage of having a wider field of view.

Night mode

In night mode, the differences are slim, since both phones deliver almost the same colours and handle flares and exposure equally well. However, the Hot 70 Pro still has the edge, capturing the finer details.

Final verdict: Is the Lava Virat Curve a suitable choice under Rs 25,000? 

Priced at Rs 23,999, the Lava Virat Curve stands out as one of the few smartphones in its segment to pair a curved AMOLED display with a lightweight, sleek design, and it delivers. The display is vibrant and detailed, while the build makes the phone easy to carry. The processor is well-chosen for the price, offering strong performance in everyday use and benchmarks, and the clean, bloatware-free software is another highlight.

That said, the software design is the phone’s weakest point, with several elements and sections looking dated and unpolished. The primary camera delivers usable results, but its detail and highlight control lag behind competitors like the Infinix Hot 70 Pro.

As things stand, the Infinix Hot 70 Pro at Rs 24,999 is a better option for those who prioritise stronger cameras, a more mature software experience, and equally good battery life. However, the Lava Virat Curve remains a solid choice if you want a slim phone with a beautiful, vivid display, competent performance, clean software, and a few extras like the Mini Screen.

Editor’s rating: 8/10

Reasons to buy

• The slim, lightweight build makes it easy to carry in pockets and hold for long periods.
• The curved AMOLED display outputs suitable detail for the price and vibrant tones.
• Clean and bloatware-free software experience.
• Performance keeps up with most daily use cases and medium-intensity games.

Reasons to skip

• The software requires polish and refinements in certain areas.
• The cameras don’t deliver the best results in the segment.