Micromax’s YU launched the YU YUREKA (AO5510) smartphone. This is the first smartphone under YU brand. It comes packed with features and it is the first official smartphone in India to run on Cyanogen OS. Specifications look great on paper. Is the smartphone worth the price of Rs. 8,999? Let us find out in the complete review.
Unboxing
Box Contents
- YU YUREKA smartphone in Moonstone Grey color
- Micro USB cable
- In-ear earphone with microphone
- 2-pin charger (5V-1A)
- Screen Guard
- User guide and Warranty card
Display, Hardware and Design
The 5.5-inch display at a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and a pixel density of about 267 PPI is bright, offers good sunlight legibility and the viewing angles are good too. It also has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The display is a bit glossy, but it doesn’t attract fingerprints easily. The display is good for the price.
It has a 5-megapixel camera on the front with OmniVision 5648 sensor, 4P lenses and offers 71-degree wide viewing angle. The front camera can record videos at 720p HD resolution. The camera is good for video calls and selfies. Apart from the usual set of proximity and ambient light sensors, it also has a small LED notification light next to the earpiece that is hardly visible when it’s off.
It has the usual set of capacitive buttons below the display. These are backlit and offer haptic feedback when pressed. The home button is colored, hence it is visible clearly even when it is not backlit.
The power button is present on the right side and the volume rockers are on the left side. Both these have chrome finish and have tiny patterns for better feel. Since it has curved finish on the side, it extends from 6 to 8.8 mm. The 3.5mm audio jack is present on the top, while the primary microphone and micro USB slot are present on the bottom.
It has a removable back cover that offer matte finish, which feels good in hands. The 13MP rear camera with LED Flash and the secondary microphone are present on the back. There is a loudspeaker grill on the bottom part of the back. The Yu Yureka comes in Moonstone Grey color. Since the smartphone is not wide, it is easily to hold. The smartphone weighs 155 grams. Overall the build quality is pretty decent for the price.
Removing the back cover reveals two micro SIM slots, a microSD card slot and a 2500mAh removable battery.
Camera
Coming to the camera, the 13-megapixel camera is good. Daylight, HDR and Macro shots are good, but low-light shots had a lot of noise. Flash helps in poor lighting conditions and is not overpowering. Since it runs on Cyanogen OS, it comes with Cyanogen camera app that has several modes. You can select different modes from settings and just swipe the screen to switch different modes.
It can also capture slow motion video. It actually records the video at 720p HD resolution at 60 fps and reduces the frame rate to 1/4th from the original video to 15 fps, similar to Motorola devices. YU has promised 120fps slow motion video support through a software update in future.
Software
It runs on Cyanogen OS 11.0 based on Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) and the UI is pretty smooth. It is almost stock with several features and it is highly customizable. YU has promised Android 5.0 (Lollipop) update in the form of Cyanogen OS 12.0 update soon, but no details about the time frame of the roll out yet. It has also promised to offer at least one OTA update every month.
You can enable SMS encryption, use on-screen keys instead of capacitive touch buttons and use different themes. You can also customize lockscreen, status bar and notification drawer. There are options to change functions of home button, menu button and volume controls. There are different profiles, option to blacklist incoming calls or SMS and filter notifications.
Out of 2GB of RAM, you get 1912MB of usable RAM. About 1.1GB of RAM is free when some apps are running in the background. Out of 16GB of internal storage you get 12.8GB of usable storage. You can’t set the memory card as default write disk or move apps to the SD card, but the internal storage is more than enough if you are not installing huge games.
Apps
Apart from the usual set of Google Apps and utility apps, the Yureka comes with Baton app by Nextbit that lets keep your apps and data in sync across multiple devices and also keep them in the cloud using your Nextbit profile. Other app is the YUniverse browser that is powered by Opera. It doesn’t have any other bloatware.
Music Player and FM Radio
It doesn’t have a separate music app, and you have to use the default Play Music to play audio files. Audio through the loudspeaker is just average. Output using the bundled headset is good, thanks to the custom AudioFX app that lets you set different equalizer presets, adjust bass, surround sound and reverb. The default video player can play full HD 1080p videos smoothly.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has SIM manager option that lets you set a default SIM. Both the SIMs support 4G LTE, but you can use 4G on only one SIM while the other is in 2G. Connectivity features include, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and GPS. It has support for wireless display and has USB on-the-go (OTG) support too.
Battery life
The 2500mAh lasts for a day with average use with both the SIM cards enabled. Video playback doesn’t drain the battery much. With heavy use such as 3G and gaming, it lasts less than a day.
Conclusion
Priced at just Rs. 8,999, the YU YUREKA is definitely a value for money 4G smartphone. YU offers free on-site warranty and offers warranty even if the phone is rooted and its bootloader unlocked. The main problem is the limited availability of the smartphone. YU has promised to increase the number of units gradually. YU should also improve the camera’s low-light performance and reduce heating though software update. Those things aside, YUREKA is a good choice if you are looking for an Android smartphone under Rs. 10,000.
Pros
- Good display
- Cyanogen OS is smooth
- Competitive pricing
Cons
- Gets heated quickly
- Average battery life
