Yu Yutopia smartphone: A flagship killer?

On its first launch anniversary, Yu has taken a bold step by introducing its first flagship smartphone Yutopia for Rs 24,999. Until now, Yu had a connect with the youth with its sub Rs 10,000 feature-rich smartphones running Cyanogen OS and UI. But with Yutopia, will Yu be able to compete against the existing selling smartphones such as the OnePlus 2, Motorola Moto Play and Asus Zenfone 2?

Design: Justifying the price tag of a flagship smartphone, Yu has added a metal unibody casing to the Yutopia, which the company claims is aircraft grade aluminium. It boasts a 5.2-inch IPS display with 1,440 x 2,560 pixel resolution and 565 ppi pixel density, which looks stunning. It has rich colours and crisp text. The navigation keys are part of the screen itself. Yutopia has curved edges on the corners and the power key, sitting on the right edge between the volume keys, is very handy. There is a dual SIM tray on the left, with support for a nano SIM and a micro SIM. The Nano SIM slot doubles as a memory card slot as well. While it is a slim device, the circular camera module at the rear has been raised. Just the camera module is the circular fingerprint scanner (similar to the one on Nexus 6P), which doesn't work really well.

Performance: Yu smartphones have Cyanogen OS onboard and Yutopia isn't any different. It runs on Cyanogen OS 12.1, which is built on Andorid Lollipop operating system. Cyanogen is known for the customisation it offers to the end user and just like the OnePlus One on Cyanogen, even here one can customise the theme app. Yu is focusing on the service part and has integrated True caller within the OS.

Around YU is another feature on the smartphone that can be accessed by swiping right on the home screen. It allows you to search and book a cab, flight, hotel, bus, train or even order food. It is very simple to use. Yutopia comes with the basic Google services including the Chrome browser and the Google Play Store for downloading apps. But Yu has added yet another browser, Yu Universe powered by Opera Turbo.

Overall, the Yutopia appeared to be a snappy device. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset and is paired with 4 GB of RAM. It comes with 32 GB internal storage with support for expandable memory of up to 128 GB. The device does heat up after long usage sessions.

Camera: A 21-MP rear camera with auto focus, f/2.2 and dual LED (dual tone) flash sounds good on the paper. And the Yutopia managed to produce some good results in good lighting conditions too. But it stumbled in low light conditions. The auto focus took some time to lock the focus. The 8-MP front facing camera is a pleasant surprise for selfie lovers. There is an optical Image stabilization feature, too, that helps in capturing stable videos.

Battery: The 3,000-mAh battery onboard just lasted me a day on heavy usage. Thankfully, it supports fast charging too which helped in charging the phone just enough to survive a few hours when on the move.

Bag it or Junk it: A great attempt but faces competition from Asus Zenfone 2 with 4 GB RAM.
Rating: 4/5
Price: Rs 24,999
Plus: Cyanogen OS, Build
Minus: Camera, Heats up