Lava Agni 4 Review: A Week in Vietnam with Lava’s Most Ambitious Phone Yet

I didn’t test the Lava Agni 4 in a controlled, air-conditioned office. In fact, while Lava was busy flying a few journalists off to London, I didn’t make that list, so I took the phone to Vietnam instead. It became my Google Maps device in Hanoi’s chaotic traffic, my camera on a cloudy cruise in Ha Long Bay, my Netflix screen in cosy hotel rooms, and my hotspot and editing machine in airport lounges.

After that kind of trial by fire, I have a pretty clear idea of what Lava has nailed with the Agni 4, and where the cracks show up once the honeymoon phase is over.

Design

The first thing that hits you about the Agni 4 is that it does not feel like a budget or lower mid-range phone in the hand. The flat aluminium frame makes a huge difference, not just visually, but in how reassuring and sturdy it feels when you grip it.

The back is matte AG glass with a frosted finish, and I really like the way it diffuses light. Under cafe lighting, it looked almost flagship-grade. Fingerprints are still a thing, but they’re not aggressively visible unless you’re looking for them. With the white-ish finish, you’ll get away with casual, case-free usage for social occasions.

Now, weight and size. On paper, 208g and close to 8.6mm thickness sound heavy, and yes, this isn’t a featherweight. But after a week of daily usage, I’d describe it as dense rather than bloated. You do feel it in the pocket when you’re walking around in shorts, but it’s not in the “this is annoying” zone. If you’re used to slim, lightweight phones, there will be an adjustment period.

The horizontal pill-shaped camera module is going to polarise people. I quite like it. It gives the phone some personality and makes it instantly recognisable, especially in this price band where most designs feel copy-pasted. But it does protrude. A case will level things out, but then you lose some of that clean glass-back appeal.

It’s reassuring to know that the Agni 4 gets an IP64 rating, protecting it from light splashes that may occur during daily usage. Overall, the Agni 4’s design feels like Lava trying to punch above its weight class, and for the most part, it succeeds.

Display and Sound

The Lava Agni 4’s 6.67-inch AMOLED display is easily one of its key strengths. With a 1.5K resolution, text and icons are crisp. Reading long Google Docs on flights and editing photos felt pleasantly detailed. Its 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling feel smooth, especially through social feeds and long web pages. The Auto mode does switch between refresh rates in the background, but occasionally, you feel micro-stutters when the system is clearly juggling between 60/90/120Hz.

Indoors and in shade, the brightness is absolutely fine. In the overcast Vietnam weather, I rarely struggled. But under harsh direct sunlight, I did find myself cupping the screen to see finer details. It’s usable, but not “wow, this is super bright” territory.

The presence of high-frequency PWM dimming (1920Hz) genuinely helps during long late-night sessions. I binge-watched episodes in bed with the brightness turned down and didn’t feel the same eye strain I’ve experienced on some cheaper OLED panels.

Talking about sound, the dual stereo speakers are… okay. Not bad, not standout. They get loud enough for YouTube, Reels and casual Netflix. At max volume, though, there’s a noticeable lack of richness, with the sound getting sharper rather than fuller. The dialogues are clear, but the music lacks body and bass. If you’re serious about media consumption, you’ll want to pair this with a decent pair of earphones or TWS buds.

Camera

On paper, the camera setup is straightforward. A 50MP primary unit with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide snapper, and a 50MP selfie camera. In practice, the Agni 4’s camera is very much a “know its strengths, play to them” situation.

In daylight and good lighting, the main sensor is impressive for the segment. Shots from it came out detailed and sharp, even when I zoomed in to crop. The colour tuning leans toward vibrant, but not completely unrealistic. And as for dynamic range, the backlit scenes are handled decently. You get a good balance of sky detail and shadow visibility most of the time.

Having a portrait mode is a plus. Edge detection is surprisingly clean, especially with single-subject shots. Background blur looks more natural than what I expected from a phone in this segment.

Low light is where the cracks show. The Night mode helps slightly with exposure but doesn’t dramatically improve detail. There’s visible noise in dimly lit indoor scenes. If there’s a strong light source in the frame, like neon signs or lit-up cafes in Vietnam, the phone can still pull off some very usable shots, but you won’t mistake them for flagship quality. This isn’t a night photography champion. It’s competent, and that’s it.

The 8MP ultra-wide is handy when you’re trying to fit wide streets or buildings into frame, but detail drops noticeably compared to the main camera. In low light, it quickly becomes mushy and noisy. I found myself using it occasionally in daylight and avoiding it entirely at night.

The 50MP selfie camera is ambitious at best. In good light, it captures plenty of detail. Lava seems to be using sharpening to give selfies that hyper-detailed “social-ready” look. HDR on the front camera is fairly reliable, though if the sun or a bright window is directly behind you, backgrounds can still blow out or skin can look a little washed.

If you’re someone who takes a lot of travel selfies or vlogs, the front camera will serve you well, as long as you’re okay with slightly processed-looking results. In terms of video, 4K 60fps is supported on both front and rear, which is a nice flex at this price point. For Reels and short travel videos, the Agni 4 has more than enough camera horsepower. Just don’t expect it to rescue very dark scenes.

Performance

The Lava Agni 4 comes loaded on paper: a 4nm Dimensity 8350, LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4.x storage. That’s a serious spec combo for its bracket. In normal day-to-day use, the phone mostly behaves like a properly powerful device.

App launches are quick. Switching between maps, camera, Chrome, WhatsApp and Instagram felt smooth most of the time. Animations are generally fluid, especially with 120Hz enabled. But when you push it, especially in hot and humid conditions, you start seeing some of the underlying thermal and software challenges.

I played BGMI and a couple of racing games, and while the frame rates were mostly stable at modest settings, the Agni 4, however, heated up faster than I’d like. When hot, you occasionally feel minor stutters and sluggishness creeping into the UI for a bit, even after you exit the game.

The vapour chamber and Game Mode clearly exist and help to an extent, but they’re not working miracles. This is a phone that has strong silicon but doesn’t yet have flagship-level thermal tuning. Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t a slow phone, but pushing it to its limits does make some chinks in its armour show.

Battery Life

The Agni 4’s 5,000mAh battery sounds standard in 2025, and that’s exactly how it behaves. During my Vietnam trip, my typical day involved 1 to 1.5 hours of Google Maps, camera use sprinkled across the day, social media browsing, emails, WhatsApp, some Apple Music, and some hotspot use for short spells.

With this kind of mixed real-world usage, I got through the day, but rarely with a huge buffer. By the time I got back to my hotel at night, I was often in the 15 to 25% zone. On a lighter indoor day, you can stretch it more comfortably. Where the Agni 4 redeems itself is in charging. 66W wired charging gets you from low to full in under an hour. Even a 15 to 20-minute top-up before heading out for dinner is enough to push you comfortably through the evening.

Software

Out of the box, the Agni 4 runs a largely clean build of Android with very little bloatware. If you’re tired of heavy skins and random preloaded apps, this will be a relief. The UI is simple, familiar, and close enough to stock that there’s almost no learning curve. You get the usual customisation options. But this phone’s main draw is its Vayu AI, which includes an AI assistant with voice input, AI call summary, AI photo editing tools, AI companions and learning tools, and more.

In my experience, these features are a mixed bag. The AI voice assistant works for simple tasks like quick queries or basic system toggles, but voice recognition can be hit-or-miss. AI photo tools like erasing objects or expanding images are fun and occasionally useful, but not yet at the level of Google’s best. The UI consistency in some Vayu-related screens feels a little off compared to the rest of the system. On the flip side, some practical quality-of-life features are genuinely useful.