Hey there! It’s a bit late but there’s a proverb “Better late than never”. We have finally got hold of one of the limited pieces of Micromax Yu Yureka and here’s our take on it. Well the first thing to tell you is that the price is just amazing and the features are first of its kind in India. Micromax is the leading smartphone manufacturer in India which recently out-numbered Samsung in terms of its smartphone sales in India. Micromax has the special deal with Cyanogen of supplying custom ROMs for the Yu branded smartphones. The device is priced at Rs.8999 (approx $150) which is way more cheaper than Redmi Note 4G. The first interesting fact about this phone is the company sold 10000 units of this model in just 3 secs!
As you go through the review you’ll know that Yu Yureka is an amazing combo of great specs at great price. Now, you decide if it’s cool or quirky?
So let’s start with the first step:
Unboxing the Yu Yurekha
We unboxed the phone. Yu Yureka comes with the The Phone, a Yu Yureka Handset Charger, Cable EarPhones, 2500 mAh Battery, a screen-guard and manuals. We will dig deep into the details of the phone.
Outer appearance: Size, Dimension and Display
The phone has a matte finish look, light body and big screen. Micromax has coined a term for this matte look and it’s called the Moonstone finish.
You can see from the back view that the phone has no where any mark of Micromax but only the Yu mark in vibrant sky blue color. It seems uncanny that the company has dropped out its own name.
It seems Micromax has future plans of rebranding its company name. Apart from Yu, the the box bears the Cyanogen brand name too. We are all aware of the exclusive deal between Micromax and Cyanogen that permits Micromax to be the only manufacturer in India to sell smartphones with Cyanogenmod custom ROMs.
The phone has a huge 5.5 inches IPS display (1280×720 pixels) with 267 ppi which means moderate sharpness. However, the resolution is not up to the mark considering the large screen size. The most impressive feature is definitely the Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Except the resolution, the phone is a winner in terms of stylish look, light weight teamed up with big screen.
The back of the phone contains the Yu brand name, the rear camera, and a loudspeaker. The right side contains the power button and the left side has the volume buttons. The front side has the back button, home button and options button at the bottom panel of the phone. The Gorilla Glass 3 gives the phone a shiny appearance.
Internal Hardware
Yu Yureka sports a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC with 1.5GHz octa-core CPU, the latest in its kind and integrated Adreno 405 GPU. It includes 2GB RAM, 12GB onboard storage expandable via microSD card slot. The internal hardware specifications as set by Micromax at such a lucrative price is really enviable and a core attraction of the smartphone. The custom ROM is provided by Cyanogen.
Camera
Yu Yureka has elegant camera specs as well which includes a 13 MP rear camera and Sony IMX135 rear camera with 24fps burst mode and f2.2 aperture and a 5 megapixel front camera. Here are some snaps taken with our camera. In broad day light the performance of the camera is pretty cool but at night the snaps came a bit hazy. But the affordable price can stand by it as a plausible reason of the not-so-good performance of the camera at low lights.
Sample 1 (Indoor- No Flash)
Sample 2 (Indoor- Less Light- No Flash)
Sample 3 (Outdoor- Good Light- No Flash)
Sample 4 (Outdoor- Good Light- No Flash)
Sample 5 (Outdoor- Bad Light- Flash)
Connectivity
4G LTE connectivity which means fast download and upload speed. Other connectivity specs include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G connectivity, GPS and all that are covered up in conventional smartphones. Yu Yureka has got Dual SIM Support.
Software
Yu Yureka is powered by CyanogenMod custom ROM. The device runs Cyanogenmod OS 11 based on Android KitKat 4.4. Since it’s Cyanogen, the phones leaves a great scope for customization. Unlike stock Android, you can customize the user interface of the phone and change it completely according to your desire. So you’ll never get bored with a single look. This phone has a 64 bit processor which clearly indicates that this phone will surely get the sweetness of 64 bit lollipop based CyanogenMod ROM.
Battery, the most important aspect of any smartphone
The device runs a 2500 mAh battery. Overall battery life is good. We have compared it with a Moto G and Yureka lasted longer than it. It has approximately 9 hours of video playback. In our talk time test it survived for 13 hours and 40 minutes. But the battery suffers a severe drawback leading to the phone overheating. We have observed Mediaserver battery drain issue on YU Yureka. We have published an article regarding Android phone overheating and its potential solutions. If you are facing issue with battery life you may follow the steps mentioned here to fix it.
Overall if I sum up my experience with the phone, I will give full marks to it in terms of look. The phone has got a nice and poised appearance. The CyanogenMod and its flexibility towards customization is a great thing about this phone. The battery and resolution will generally receive thumbs down from users. But the price is the best part of this phone. The first of its kind in India, Micromax Yu Yureka is worth it.
