The competition in the Indian mid-range smartphone segment is most fierce, and to stand out, a company must offer something unique. Building on this demand, Lava has unveiled the Agni 3 - a mid-ranger with two displays. Starting at ₹20,999, the phone features a Dimensity 7300X processor, an action key, and improved camera prowess over its predecessor. Let’s find out in detail what are the new features that the Agni 3 has to offer.

Design

The new Agni 3, with its secondary screen, makes it one of the most unique phones in the segment. Available in two colours - Heather Glass (Blue) and Pristine Glass (White), the phone offers a cool glass sandwich look that is further enhanced by a smudge-resistant rear side.

Along with the usual power button and the volume rockers, the phone comes with a third button - the Action Key, which can be customised and programmed for quick actions like capturing screenshots, turning on the flash, triggering an SOS signal, recording audio, or toggling between silent and ring modes. It can be mapped to single, double, or long presses, offering faster access to frequently used functions.

At the bottom, you can find the SIM tray, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille. The rear side houses a rectangular frame holding the camera sensors and the secondary display. There is also the IP64 water and dust resistance certification.

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Display

The Lava Agni 3 comes with two displays, each serving a distinct purpose. The primary display is a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and HDR10+ support. Its 1,200 nits peak brightness ensures vibrant, punchy colours, although the outdoor visibility leaves something to be desired. Indoors, however, the screen performs well, with deep blacks, excellent contrast, and wide viewing angles, making it ideal for streaming content or playing games.

The secondary display, the InstaScreen, adds an element of uniqueness to the phone’s design. This 1.74-inch AMOLED screen is mainly used for at-a-glance functions like checking notifications, controlling music, and viewing the camera feed. While the concept is interesting, the limited functionality, lack of continuity with the primary display, and the inability to interact with notifications directly means that its utility is somewhat restricted. That said, it does offer a novel approach, and future software updates could potentially make it more functional.

OS

The Lava Agni 3 runs Android 14 out of the box, offering a near-stock Android experience that is free of bloatware and ads—a huge plus for users who prefer a clean and uncluttered interface. The company has promised three years of major Android updates and four years of security updates.

Processor

The new Lava Agni 3 uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7300X SoC, a processor designed specifically for dual-screen phones. While the core specs of the chipset closely resemble the regular Dimensity 7300, it offers enough power to keep up with most mid-range phones on the market. During our usage, the Agni 3 handled daily tasks and multitasking smoothly, with no noticeable lags or stutters. The phone comes with a 8 GB/256 GB RAM and ROM configuration.

When it comes to gaming, the phone comes with Mali-G615 MC2 GOU, which performs well. Graphically intensive games ran without significant frame drops. To quantify its performance, the Geekbench 6 test results provide a clear picture. The Lava Agni 3 managed a single-core score of 1078 and a multi-core score of 3283, both respectable figures in the mid-range segment. Additionally, the phone achieved a GPU score of 2638, further reinforcing its solid graphical capabilities.

Camera

The Lava Agni 3 comes equipped with a triple camera setup that includes a 50 MP primary camera, an 8 MP ultrawide camera, and an 8 MP telephoto lens, offering a versatile photography experience for users. Lava has made notable improvements over its predecessor in terms of camera capabilities, making the Agni 3 a solid performer in its segment.

Packed with a 50 MP primary sensor, the device performs well in good lighting conditions. In daylight, images captured with this sensor are crisp, with vibrant colours. The camera excels at picking up finer details in well-lit environments, making it a great choice for outdoor photography. The colour reproduction is fairly accurate, and while the images tend to be slightly oversaturated, the results are visually appealing to most users.

The 8 MP ultrawide camera offers a wider field of view, which is perfect for landscape photography, group shots, or capturing architecture. The quality is decent for the price, though it does suffer from the usual ultrawide drawbacks—slightly softer details and occasional edge distortion.

A unique addition to the Lava Agni 3’s camera setup is the 8 MP telephoto lens, which offers up to 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom. This lens is a rare feature in the mid-range segment and gives the phone an edge over its competitors. The telephoto camera produces impressive results in bright conditions, with minimal loss in quality even when zoomed in. At 3x optical zoom, the images retain good colour accuracy and clarity, although there’s a noticeable drop in sharpness as you push towards the 30x digital zoom.

In low-light conditions, the Lava Agni 3’s cameras perform admirably, but like most mid-range smartphones, there are some limitations. The night mode helps enhance the quality of low-light photos by brightening up the scene and improving the clarity, though noise becomes more evident. The primary sensor handles low-light scenarios better than the ultrawide and telephoto lenses, which struggle to maintain the same level of detail and color accuracy in dim environments.

The front-facing camera is a 16 MP shooter, which produces decent selfies in good lighting. The camera performs well, capturing facial details accurately with natural-looking skin tones. It also supports portrait mode, which does a decent job of blurring the background and focusing on the subject. However, the camera struggles in low light, where details become soft, and noise creeps into the image.

Battery

The Lava Agni 3 is equipped with a 5,000 mAh battery. The battery power is meant to take you through the day on a single charge with moderate use. It comes paired with 66W fast charging and takes around 55-60 minutes to get fully charged.

Verdict

The Lava Agni 3 stands out as a well-rounded mid-range smartphone, combining solid performance, a clean Android experience, and a few innovative features like the InstaScreen and Action Key. While the secondary screen’s potential is not fully realised yet, it’s an exciting addition that could be improved with future updates.

That said, for users looking for a balanced device with innovative touches and a bloat-free experience, the Lava Agni 3 is certainly worth considering. It may not be the most powerful device in its class, but it offers solid everyday usability and features that set it apart from the crowd.