Lava Blaze Dragon Review - No-Frills Fire

No one expects a budget smartphone to offer the moon. All it needs to be is a dependable device that can handle the basics without complaints, and that’s exactly what the Lava Blaze Dragon promises to be. On paper, it’s a simple, no-nonsense smartphone, but is that really the case?

To be frank, the Blaze Dragon does feel a little chunky to hold, especially compared to its slightly more expensive sibling – the Blaze AMOLED 2, which I reviewed in the previous issue. Its 210g weight is quite noticeable in your hand. If you still prefer a pair of wired earphones, the Blaze Dragon will be a great match, for it comes with a 3.5mm jack, right next to the USB-C charging port.

Despite being a budget offering, the Blaze Dragon has a large 6.74-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The resolution and picture quality are decent for its price, but the brightness levels could’ve been better. The only thing that I don’t like about it is its noticeably thicker bezel at the bottom.

The phone runs Android 15 out of the box, which is not too bad, considering that it’s powered by the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor. It’s good enough for daily tasks. I think newer and heavier OS versions would only slow it down. It lags a bit while running multiple apps or switching between them, which is not unexpected considering the price. On the plus side, the SoC draws power from a large 5,000mAh battery, which offers impressive screen-on time. The phone comes with an 18W charger, but it takes a little over two hours to charge the phone. I don’t, however, consider this to be a significant issue.

Lava offers the Blaze Dragon with either 4GB or 6GB RAM – our test unit had the former. You don’t need to be a tech geek to know that the 6GB model would have performed better. During my time with the phone, I didn’t face any issues with call quality or internet speeds, regardless of whether I was on mobile data or Wi-Fi.

Overall, the Blaze Dragon is a straightforward, value-first device. It won’t wow power users, but it will comfortably handle the everyday stuff without draining your wallet – or its own battery. For those who just need a dependable daily device, the Blaze Dragon ticks the right boxes.