I ordered Yureka from Amazon on 29th Jan flash sale. I was ready before 2 PM but still was not able to add Yureka to my Cart. I was on Waitlist. Thankfully at around 2:20 PM I got option to ad it to cart and I place the order within a minute. It was delivered to me on 10th Feb by GATI courier. So I have been using the phone for about 17 days now and this is what I think about the phone after heavily using it for 17 days.
I haven’t found any issue which other users are reporting about Yureka. Neither before update nor after the update. I have updated to latest XNPH05Q build.
Build and Design: The quality of the phone feels really good. The front is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 so it is scratch resistant, but I have placed a screen guard on It which came within the box. The screen guard came with the phone is of very good quality and doesn’t get scratched easily. Moving on to the back side, the best I have seen on any phone. Reviewers say that it somewhat resembles OnePlus One Sandstone finish. Since I don’t have OnePlus One so I can’t compare. The Moondust finish on Yureka is much better than the glossy plastic back covers found on other phones. So overall the phone feels well built.
Display: The display quality is very good. The colors are vibrant and catchy. Some reviewers say that colors are over saturated on Yureka and don’t feel natural. Yes colors are not natural but vibrant colors are always pleasant to eyes. When Sony introduces their BRAVIA Engine to mobile devices to produce more vibrant colors or Samsung uses vibrant AMOLED displays then no one points out that colors are not natural and over saturated, then why for Yureka. In my opinion the display is very good to look at and the 267 PPI feels very good to look at. There os no pixelation on the display and everything is displayed sharp. Brightness levels are very good. The outdoor visibility under DIRECT SUNLIGHT is just about average.
Audio Quality: The audio from speaker is on the lower side. Not very good for listening music through speaker. However bass and treble and overall sound quality from speaker is good. The audio output from 3.5 mm headphone jack is AWESOME. Really loud, great amount of BASS and TREBLE. Just perfect for listening music from headphones. The In Box headphones are In Ear type and are much better than what Samsung supplies with their phones. Sony headphones out of the box are also not that great these days. Gone are the days when Sony Ericsson Walkman phones used to get great In Box headphones. So I am completely satisfied with the sound quality of In Box earphones.
CyanogenMod 11: Yureka comes with CyanogenMod 11.0 which can be customized. But I still think that Stock Android is best and most stable form of Android. CyanogenMod is very good to look at, provides lot more features, and is snappy. But there are times when apps tend to crash and also some random and very rare reboots. I still like CyanogenMod and hopefully Yureka users will get Android Lollipop Update in the form of CyanogenMod 12, just because of Cyanogen Support. Otherwise Micromax is very well known for never releasing any updates. So overall keeping future in mind it is a good thing to have CyanogenMod pre-installed. With CM12 Yureka is likely to have improved performance because it has 64 Bit CPU and CM12 will be 64 Bit OS for Yureka.
Call Quality: The call quality is very good and Network reception is also very good. Earpiece and Loudspeaker both sound clear during calls. Earpiece is very loud so attending a call in a noisy place will not be problem.
Gaming: This is what is most important part of a smartphone. Because with that much CPU and GPU power gaming is an important aspect of the device. I have played Asphalt 8, GT Racing 2, Real Racing 3, and some lighter games like Temple Run 2, Subway Surfers etc. All of them work flawlessly without lag. Of course I must mention that Asphalt 8 works better in MEDIUM Graphics settings(Not High-Some frame drops), GT Racing works smooth in all graphics settings. In case of Real Racing 3 you need to download an app call RR3 Graphics(Graphics Settings for Real Racing 3). Because by default Real Racing 3 runs at high settings and lags a lot. There is no inbuilt option to change graphics in Real Racing 3. So by installing RR3 Graphics all set the graphics to low and the games runs at 60 fps constantly(I mean to say very Smooth). The phone does get hot at the back and on the screen but there is no performance issue. Heat is generated and is dissipated through back and front. The phone heats up during prolonged gaming. There is no heating under normal usage(Internet, Call and general apps). Phone is heated up less if you don’t cover the back portion of the phone(Near YU logo) with your hand.
Camera: The rear camera is excellent and produces great photos. To get best results out of it adjust white balance setting manually. Keep it on Daylight outdoors and on Fluorescent under artificial light. The photos from rear camera are well detailed and sharp. Front camera is also great.
Battery: The battery backup is just about ok for heavy users like me. I used to play games for hours and the battery reaches 14% after about 5 hours. Although for those whose don’t use their phone for gaming, the backup will be way better, as just 2 to 3% battery drops overnight in standby. So for normal users the battery will last for more than one day. Charging time is somewhere between 2 to 3 hours(Don’t know exact). Phone comes with 1A charger.
Verdict: So overall there are few cons like OS is bit unstable and battery backup is average for heavy usage. But OS will get regular updates from Cyanogen and will get better over time(Unlike Others). The battery is also adequate for mixed usage. Of Course continuous gaming is an exception. So all in all for Rs. 8999 it is definitely a must grab deal if your budget is Rs.8000 to Rs.10000. Instead of its price it still packs some serious specifications comparable to HTC Desire 820 which costs above Rs.20, 000. In my opinion YU Yureka is the best phone under Rs.10, 000.
Please drop your Comments and Questions regarding YU Yureka. I will be glad to respond.