Lava M30

Available now
15th June 2011

A phone from a company we haven't covered before, the Lava M30 is a low cost and stylish music phone aimed primarily at African and Indian markets. Lava Mobiles are a relatively new Indian company, targeting their domestic market and emerging economies with something designed from their own perspective.

The M30 is a dual-SIM music phone, enhanced with audio technology from SRS Labs. On the back is a two megapixel camera with video capture capabilities which can also be used as a webcam, on the front is a 2.2" 240 x 320 pixel display, and the Lava M30 supports microSD expandable memory (with a 2GB card in the box), Bluetooth, it comes with an FM radio and it has a 3.5mm audio socket.

There's a big 1200 mAh battery, and the M30 also has a motion sensor and a tracker in case it gets lost or stolen. All this is wrapped up in a very stylish metallic case design which looks more expensive than it actually is.

The media player is pretty useful and can cope with MP3, AAC and AMR audio plus MP4, 3GP and AVI video. OK, so it's not the most comprehensive list in the world but it is good enough for most people. The SRS technology in the M30 gives a "surround sound" experience.

A quick search online shows that the Lava M30 can be bought for under 3,900 Indian rupees (about €61 or $87). That's pretty cheaply priced by European standards, but you'd have to be pretty well paid by Indian standards to afford it, which makes the M30 a somewhat aspirational device.

It is still early days for Lava Mobiles. Despite the excellent value that their range seems to offer, Lava find themselves against some exceptionally tough competition, especially from Nokia who are targeting this market segment very hard indeed. Still, more competition is always a good thing for consumers, so we hope that Lava carve a successful niche for themselves.

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