YU made headlines and went on to become a popular smartphone brand from India when it announced its first smartphone, the Yureka along with Cyanogen OS. The Micromax subsidiary brand currently has a total of three handsets and a bunch of accessories and recently announced its most powerful smartphone, Yutopia. The handset is one of the most expensive offerings from YU and claims it to be the most powerful smartphone one can buy.
On paper it definitely sounds impressive running on a Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor which is usually seen on flagship devices. There is also 4GB of RAM to handle multitasking and 32GB of internal storage which can be further expanded with a microSD card. The display is a 5.2-inch 2K (2560x1440) panel made by Sharp which is said to offer a 1000:1 contrast ratio. There is a 21MP Sony camera at the back and an 8MP front camera. Underneath the rear camera there is a fingerprint sensor as well for added security. YU has once again used Cyanogen OS 12.1 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop which is expected to be updated to Android 6.0 soon. All of this for Rs. 24,999, which sounds like a deal and a strong competitor for the OnePlus 2.
The build quality is also impressive and one of the key highlights of the smartphone as the company has used a slim metal body with a nice frosted finish. This keeps fingerprints away and makes the smartphone less slippery. The company has also used its signature design which includes the ‘saturn-ring’ for the rear camera, the headphone jack and microUSB ports sitting on the top and bottom edges right in the middle and the volume keys sitting on either sides of the power/lock button placed on the right edge. The display, as mentioned above, offers a QHD or 2K resolution and is sharp and offers great colour reproduction. The overall finish of the handset feels really solid and gives off a premium vibe. The only minor issue would be the arrangement of the volume keys with the power button. One tends to hit the wrong key as all of them are placed close to each other and feel very similar.
Day to day performance feels great but Cyanogen OS is somehow is not very smooth and you would see tiny hiccups in animations and when scrolling through menus. The experience isn’t all bad though, it manages to run multiple apps with ease thanks to the 4GB of on-board RAM. Even games ran perfectly well with minor heating. YU has also added a service called AroundYU which is a one-stop platform for a variety of services. YU has partnered with a number of big names including Ola, Amazon, Snapdeal, Zomato, Ixigo and more. AroundYu gives you access to services including ordering food, shopping, booking a cab or flight or hotel or train. While all of the services aren’t fully functional, the company has said that it will be updated in the future to make it more resourceful. It is a good effort though. The fingerprint scanner at the back looks similar to the ones seen on the Nexus smartphones, however it isn’t that responsive. The scanner is inconsistent and there are times when it doesn’t scan properly and you are left with entering your pin to unlock the handset.
The camera on the Yutopia uses a 21MP Sony Exmor RS IMX230 sensor which manages to take some sharp images. Although it doesn’t stand up to most of the major flagship smartphone cameras, it does a fairly good job of producing pictures. Colours look slightly neutral but pictures lack detail even though they look sharp. The camera app is the same as you find on a Cyanogen OS running smartphone which offers some filters and settings by just swiping from top to bottom or vice versa. The camera can also shoot 4K videos which also turn out to be fairly good but nothing awe worthy. The front camera can manage to get looking selfies, again leaving some room for improvement in the details.
The battery was somewhere a bit disappointing as the 3000mAH battery last just about day, probably because of that high-resolution display. Thankfully it supports Qualcomm’s quick charge feature and manages to charge from 0-60 per cent in a little over than 30mins.
The Yutopia is a big step for YU. An entry into a higher premium segment. But sadly it doesn’t come close to a true-flagship smartphone rather it seems to mimic the attempts of the OnePlus 2. If you are looking for an alternative of the OnePlus 2, this is the best you can get, and in some ways better.
