Micromax Yu Yureka Plus vs Lenovo K3 Note: Know which one is better?

| Updated: Sunday, October 25, 2015, 9:31 [IST]

After a decent success with the Yureka, Yu Televenture ltd - a subsidiary of Micromax have launched a new iteration of the device named Yu Yureka Plus. In a possible attempt to compete with the Lenovo's K3 Note, the company has put it head on head at Rs 9,999. Let's find out whether the device can kill the K3 Note, or will it be killed at an attempt to do so?

Lenovo K3 Note Smartphone In Pictures

Micromax Yu Yureka Plus vs Lenovo K3 Note: Know which one is better?

Build and the Design:

Both the device come with a polycarbonate shell. The quality of plastics used in both the devices are nearly same. But I love the back case on Yu Yureka more - it takes s cue from the ‘Sandstone Black' of the legendary One Plus One. On the other hand the K3 Note has a matte finish on the back.

On the front both the devices come with a Gorilla Glass screen protection. Do note that the K3 Note lacks a backlit capacitive buttons while that is not the case with the Yureka. There's also a round capacitive button in place of the home button in the Yureka - a design which looks reminiscent of the Meizu devices. Nevertheless if you ask me which is a better looker, I would suggest the Yu Yureka! But let's leave this down to personal preferences.

Under the Hood:

In the chipset department Yu and Lenovo have different allegiances. While Yu has gone with Qualcomm, the Lenovo joined hands with their very own China based SoC maker Mediatek.

The Yureka Plus uses the octacore Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (4 cores at 1.5GHz and four others at 1 GHz each) with an Adreno 405 GPU - an SoC which haven't really been able to make a name for itself. On contrary it has donned the headlines many a times for wrong reasons - heating issues in Xiaomi Mi4i. The company doesn't specify exactly which version of the SoC Yureka Plus uses. If the company has been loyal with their previous chipset viz. the SD615 first gen, then it won't be much of an issue. But just in case the company used a 2nd gen one - I wouldn't recommend it. To bolster the performance, Qualcomm have overclocked the cores, but unfortunately it suffered from throttling and heating issues.

On the other hand the K3 Note played safe by using a trusted SoC the MT6752. It is an octa core with all eight A53 cores clocked at 1.7 GHz each. The Lenovo A7000 had used an under clocked version of the same chip (MT6752M) with cores clocked at 1.5GHz. The GPU is a Mali T760 MP4 clocked at 700 MHz. Performance wise the Lenovo is superior to the Yu Yureka Plus. The Benchmark results too support my statement - Yu Yureka used to record an Antutu score of 31K (with the Full HD display it will now be lower) whereas the K3 Note manages 44K. A marked difference!

RAM on both the cases is the same i.e. 2GB.

Display:

This one area where there is a marked difference between the two siblings namely the Yureka and the Yureka Plus. The latter uses a Full HD (1920x1080) IPS display, instead of the HD display used in the former. The Killer Note also comes with a same resolution display.

Personally I feel the K3 Note would deliver punchier colors and better contrast than Yureka Plus. The Yureka's HD panel was good but not the best - it suffered from color and contrast issues. Hence I don't have high hopes from its bigger sibling.

Camera:

Both devices come with a 13MP rear units. Though Lenovo doesn't give out an information regarding the sensor used, Indian OEM hasn't left any stones unturned to give them a bragging right by using Sony sourced IMX214 unit. It is the same sensor which dons many a successful flagships in the market namely the Mi Note, Mi4, One Plus One and the Oppo Find 7.

Neither of devices can manage 4K videos though - I thought of mentioning this specifically before you get your ambitions too high. Despite the fact that IMX214 is capable of shooting 4K, the Yureka Plus is unable to achieve it due to the limitations set by the processor - SD615 only supports 1080p at 30fps.

But they can shoot good quality 1080p videos at 30fps. Yu has also tweaked the native camera software in collaboration with Cyanogenmod to enable 720p videos at 60fps.

The front cameras on both are quite healthy at 5MP each. But just in case camera is your top priority, then go with the Yureka Plus. The Sony's sensor delivers better quality images with a larger depth of field.

OS:

The devices uses completely different ROMs. While the Chinese company, has gone with their native Vibe UI the Micromax spin-off has gone for full geekiness with the Cyanogenmod.

The Cyanogenmod provides the user with ultimate customisability and usability. Users can even manage app permissions individually using the Permissions Manager in the UI. This a feature that Google has now introduced into their Android M.

But do note that both the devices run on Android Lollipop 5.0.1 - and with Yu, you can expect future updates too for the next two years!

Battery:

There is a mass difference between the two in this department. The Yu packs a rather small battery i.e.2500 mah on contrary to the 3000 mah used in the Killer Note. Despite improving on the display resolution Yu Televentures haven't made any improvement in the battery division. This, I believe is a blunder by the company.

So Lenovo with a larger battery easily edges out its counterpart

Verdict:

At the end of the day it edges out to personal preferences. Depending on your usage style choose the device which suits you the best, as both are equally good in their own ways. I will try to make the choice easier for you though.

Go for the Yureka: