Micromax Yu Yureka: Is this the phone that will take Micromax to the top again?

At ₹8,999, this 'Made in India' dual-SIM budget smartphone competes with Chinese rivals Xiaomi Redmi 4, Nubia N1 Lite and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.

But can it win Micromax the lost ground? Khalid Anzar finds out.

Photograph: Pixabay.com

Micromax, which has ceded some market share to Chinese rivals like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Nubia and Huawei, is looking to the Yu Yureka Black to win lost ground.

At Rs 8,999, this dual-SIM budget smartphone competes with Xiaomi Redmi 4, Nubia N1 Lite and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.

We took the smartphone to test. Here is what we found:

Photographs: Courtesy Yuplaygod.com

Design

The device has a strong metallic body and an all-black design.

It will be available in glossy black and matte black variants.

With a curved back and silver accent antenna lines, it fits well in hand.

The camera bump looks a little odd, and the fingerprint scanner under the screen could have been moved back, as there are no capacitive navigation buttons to complement.

Display

The 5-inch full-HD screen is protected with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3.

The top and bottom bezels are huge, but the display has enough contrast and saturation for vivid looks.

A blue screen filter is missing from the settings, and the on-screen navigation keys shrink the overall screen size.

Hardware

It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, an octa-core SoC, coupled with Adreno 505 graphic processing unit and X6 LTE modem. The SoC offers enough power to keep basics running, but full-HD display slows things down.

There is 32 GB storage space, expandable through microSD, and 4 GB RAM.

Photographs: CourtesyYuplaygod.com

Software

The smartphone runs Android Marshmallow v6.0.1 and a Nougat update is expected soon.

At present, the device feels slow after extended use with lots of apps running in the background.

There is no bloatware and crucial apps like FM radio and file explorer improve utility.

Camera and battery

The handset features a 13MP 5-lens rear camera and an 8 MP front-facing one. There is LED flash with both cameras, and Sony's IMX 258 sensor with F/2.0 aperture.

A 3,000 mAh lithium polymer battery makes sure that the phone does not run out of power even after a full day's usage.

Verdict

For ₹8,999, Micromax smartphone ticks almost all the right boxes. There are very few downsides to the device.