Micromax Yu Yuphoria

The budget smartphone niche is quickly becoming saturated as many companies compete for consumers in emerging markets. Micromax, an Indian handset maker, has already released on successful smartphone – the Yu Yureka – and hopes to gain an even larger following with their Yu Yuphoria. In an effort to stand out from the rest of the budget phones, the Yuphoria offers a combination of aluminum frame and plastic back cover. While not a unibody, experts consider the metal trim as the highlight of the phone’s design. After a couple weeks, however, they noticed the frame started losing its color once it rubbed off with other metal items. Experts also noticed gaps between the back cover and battery and a general lack of quality control in the build.

Dominating the front of the phone is a 5-inch HD (720 x 1,280) IPS display, which is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass 3 to prevent surface scratches. While the pixel density of 294ppi might not compare to flagship phones, most reviewers considered it crisp enough for everyday use. Unfortunately, it disappointed reviewers with its poor horizontal viewing angles, poor sunlight legibility and inaccurate whites and blacks.

Powering the Yuphoria are a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. When browsing the web or navigating the home screen, experts did not run into any stutters or lag. It isn’t until they started multi-tasking or playing intensive games that they noticed some performance issues and on the rare occasion the entire screen would become unresponsive. Luckily, these issues were not common enough to ruin expert’s overall experience. In addition to the processor and memory, it also comes with 16GB of RAM, a microSD slot expandable to 32GB and two Micro-SIM slots. The 2,230mAh battery is removable and provided critics with eight hours of normal use. Thanks to its quick-charge technology, they had it back up to full in less than an hour.

The Yuphoria also comes equipped with an 8MP rear camera and auto-focus. Thanks to its aperture of f/2.2 experts were able to capture fairly detailed and color accurate pictures in good lighting situations. They describe low light images as “okay” with some patchy areas and noise, which is par for the course for budget phones. They were more impressed with the 5MP front camera as it took very high quality and detailed selfies.

Reviewers have mixed feelings about the Yuphoria. NDTV states, “…the Yu Yuphoria is a great bargain only if you can look past the flaws in its current state…” DNA India adds, “The Yu Yuphoria is certainly not short on the ‘cool quotient.’…If you are willing to ignore some inherent bugs and disappointing low light photography…”